Designing a better IT experience for staff and students

That’s a wrap! After a complex, multi-phase project, we’ve finished rebuilding the IT Services web pages. 

As my first major project in this role, I can honestly say it was a beast. I’ve learned so much. There were complexities I didn’t anticipate, many questions asked and a sinkhole of time spent staring at a spreadsheet wondering if anything actually belongs anywhere.

But I now know exactly what an IT service catalogue is (and it might be part of my personality forever).

The Big Bang numbers

We didn’t just move things around, we decluttered big time. By merging competing content and deleting the legacy stuff, we achieved:

• Total page count: 🔽 Down 48% (699 public-facing web pages to 366).
• Stale content: 🔽 Down 78% (tackled 445 pages that were untouched for over a year).
• Low-value content: 🔽 Down 70% (pages with fewer than 100 views cut from 378 pages to 114).

What actually changed?

Essentially, we cut the noise. We worked through three phases, going from an unruly beast to a slick structure that’s clean, logical and makes sense. Throughout, we’ve adopted a self-service first approach:

• Streamlined navigation: We cut the main menu from 21 items to six, highlighting the things our users really want.
• Live service status: We added outage and maintenance alerts to pages where users look for them, and a permanent link in the nav.
• New service catalogue: We built a standardised home for 200+ tools, that’s searchable and filterable. Everything has a consistent template and a dedicated owner. 
• User-centred guides: The new ‘Guides, help and training’ section prioritises self-service. We’ve simplified cyber security guides and revamped audience-specific information for new starters and leavers.
• Projects showcase: Our new ‘About us’ section features a project gallery – a behind-the-scenes peek at strategic work that gives new talent a taste of what it’s like to work here.

A lasting impact 

We avoided the guesswork. We audited every page in a mega spreadsheet, interviewed 20 stakeholders and ran workshops to map user needs. This ensured our decisions were underpinned by data, not just feelings.

To make sure it stays tidy, we have:

• A content governance and quality assurance plan: Every page now has a knowledgeable owner and follows an annual review cycle.
• Plans for an IT editorial board: The group will bridge the gap between IT Services, the Digital Skills team and Communications (the key teams that manage the content), keeping our content strategic and aligned.

Wrapping up

The project taught me the power of plan, plan, plan! It was a huge collaborative effort involving over 70 colleagues across the University. We also had a brilliantly engaged working group and project sponsor. Everyone involved steered this success.

And a huge thanks to Tasha Kidd, my manager, who knows a heck of a lot about content strategy and design. 

Want to know more?

If you want to dive deeper into what we did, check out our previous blogs for this project:

• Fresh new look for IT Services’ web pages
• Easy access to IT tools, software and services