The outstanding user experience provided by the new website is already benefiting the university community. Pages launched to date include10 faculties and various research and administrative pages. Faculties and units now have the ability to create robust and content-optimized pages that allow them to market and communicate with students and other users more effectively. The new site also includes a digital viewbook for prospective students and UM Commons for incoming students.

“With these considerable changes, we now have a much more attractive site that is easier to navigate and has been reorganized to emphasize the pillars of our Faculty,” says Michael Yellowbird, dean of the Faculty of Social Work.

“Our new site enhances our capacity to recruit new students and faculty, to showcase faculty, research and student accomplishments, and to stay connected to alumni.”

Highlights: UM Commons, new digital student viewbook

The UM Commons, launched in August 2020, helps incoming students find important information they need and connects them to the resources, programs, events and communities to see them excel and thrive as a UM student.

Tino Dogo, vice-president of community engagement for UMSU, states that the new platforms have transformed the student user experience.

“With most of our lives currently operating in the digital world, it is essential to have an accessible and clear hub for information. I’m excited and thrilled by these improvements to the online user experience.”

The digital viewbook for prospective students and their influencers showcases visual marketing pages that highlight the benefits of studying at the UM, and lead directly to program information. Program pages are currently being developed and will provide more in-depth details on programs offered and admissions requirements.

Published a month ago, the digital viewbook has already tracked over 40,000 hits from more than 20,000 users.

Jeff Adams, director of enrolment services, says, “This is impressive, and will be very helpful in informing the evolution of the viewbook. We couldn’t get this very valuable data information from print. Another reason why the creation of the digital viewbook is a great benefit!!”

Universally accessible, responsive design

Other benefits of the new website, housed in the Drupal platform, are the responsive design and universally accessible experience.

Web accessibility ensures “design for all,” making the design accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight and cognitive ability. Responsive Web design is design and development based on the user’s behaviour and environment such as device, operating system or platform, screen size and orientation. 44 percent of UM web users are now accessing content through mobile devices compared to 35 percent at the initial launch.

Out of 100, the new site now ranks 93 on the Google Lighthouse score, a global standard that measures a website’s accessibility performance against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Previous RedDot pages scored between 45 and 55 and the new Drupal pages were 81 at launch. The current score demonstrates the efforts to improve web accessibility at UM, ensuring that users of all needs can access information.

Stay connected

As the university moves into a new school year, it is important for the community to remain connected and stay current using its current digital platforms to access up-to-date information, view content on multiple devices, showcase news, events, stories and research across our multiple units and faculties.

For more information visit the NGWE Project page for current updates on pages launched to date and the future release schedule. The NGWE site migration team is continuing to migrate pages to the new site every week and welcome feedback at ngwe@umanitoba.ca.

That’s when the university’s website was last redesigned. Technology and the way we interact online has progressed considerably since then.

In today’s world where everything is online, the university’s website is our most important tool for communicating with students, faculty, alumni, donors and our broader community. A platform built in 2010 wasn’t built to meet the changing needs of our audience.

Today, that’s about to change.

DEFINING OUR DIGITAL FUTURE

In fall of 2017, a working group met to discuss their vision for a new umanitoba.ca – a website that would not only bring us up to speed and continually evolve, but also establish UM as a leader in accessibility and digital communication.

Led by project sponsor John Kearsey, Vice-President (External) and project executives Lori Yarchuk, Associate Vice-President, Marketing Communications and Mario Lebar, Chief Information Officer, this cross-functional team included representation from Faculty of Arts (Greg Bak), Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (Mark Torchia), Human Resources (Darlene Smith), Indigenous Engagement (Christine Cyr, Ruth Shead), IST (Adam Gerhard), Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management (Doug Brown), Libraries (Lisa O’Hara), Marketing Communications Office (Paul Lacap), Rady Faculty of Health Sciences (Reg Urbanowski), Research and International (Jay Doering), Faculty of Science (Ben Li), Student Affairs (Jeff Adams), UMGSA (Carl Neumann, Ehsan Tahmasebian), and UMSU (Owen Black , Kyra Fanning, as of May 1, 2019).

Over the last year, more than 1,000 prospective and current students, as well as staff and faculty members, participated in workshops to explore possible website features, information architecture, wireframes, intranet and content lifecycle. Close to 700 provided further feedback through extensive online testing.

Indigenous stakeholders from across campus, as well as donors and alumni, also played a key role in discussions on discovery, design and development.

THE CHANGES YOU’LL SEE

A clear picture of our digital future began to emerge.

Our UM community told us that our new website needed to be:

• User-centred, with improved navigation and search
• Mobile-friendly
• An accessible experience
• Visually appealing with a common look and feel
• Easy to update for content creators
• Improved performance management and measurement capabilities

To deliver on all our priorities, the university partnered with Domain7, a digital design firm with extensive experience working in the higher education sector.

We also adopted a new content management system, Drupal, and will be parting ways with our current, outdated, platform RedDot. Drupal is popular in the higher education sector, widely used across the U15 and at top colleges in the U.S. It works with any modern browser, and allows authors to easily update content and configure their sites with additional functionality to meet specific requirements.

Drupal is also designed to support accessibility standards WCAG 2.0 and ATAG 2.0. Also, accessibility standards will be included in content guidelines to ensure everyone keeps accessibility top of mind when creating web content.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW

August 8, 2019 is the start of our new digital journey together. Today, the university launches phase one of the new site with top-level webpages aimed at guiding students, faculty and staff through the new academic year beginning this fall.

The remaining webpages will continue to migrate to the new site in stages, with faculty and department content moving over within the next 18 months.

“Congratulations to the Next Generation Web Experience board and project team, and to all of our community members who have been instrumental in this digital transformation,” says Kearsey. “The results of your efforts are outstanding, greatly improving our website for the benefit of our entire community.”

As with any exciting new venture, umanitoba.ca is a work in progress and will be updated continually with improvements based on feedback from our community.

Join us, as we welcome and embrace this new digital journey together.

We want to know what you think – please leave your first impressions of our new website in the comments below.

Frequently asked questions:

WHAT IS THE TRANSITION PROCESS FOR THE NEW WEBSITE?

The NGWE project contains five phases. We are currently in phase 3.

Our approach has been to focus on the university’s strategic priorities, transitioning to the new website in a gradual staged approach.

On Thursday, August 8 we will reveal the first phase of the new site, reflecting a select number of top level pages.

Following this initial launch we will gradually migrate content in stages. Faculty and department web content will move to the new website over the next 18 months.

As we transition, RedDot and Drupal will run in tandem.

Following is a tentative release schedule with Release 1 being migrated in the fall of 2019. This is a draft schedule. The project team will work with each unit to refine the release migration plan.

DOES THE NGWE PROJECT INCLUDE INTRANET?

Much of the content currently published on umanitoba.ca is for an internal audience. To better meet the needs of all of our audiences, an Intranet solution is being explored as an initiative in parallel to the umanitoba.ca website.

HOW IS CONTENT FOR THE NEW WEBSITE BEING CREATED AND/OR MIGRATED?

The process for content creation and migration includes the NGWE project team, the Marketing Communications Office (MCO), Information Services and Technology (IST), our campus partners and –– for the Initial Site –– our partner vendor Domain7. After Initial Site launch, and for the duration of the site migration, content creators and quality assurance experts on a newly formed NGWE Site Migration team will be supporting new content creation and migration.

All content created for the website during the NGWE project will be reviewed within the Marketing Communications Office (MCO) and by the respective faculties and units before publication.

IF I’M A CONTENT CREATOR, HOW DOES THIS IMPACT MY WORK?

The new content management system, Drupal, is easy to use. The transition from Reddot to Drupal will simplify your web content updates and also make is easier for our students and researchers to access information. We ask for you to be patient and keep an open mind on how we can use these tools to best support learning and research as we develop the new content together.

WILL TRAINING BE PROVIDED?

Yes. The NGWE project team is currently developing a training strategy and plan.

WHO DO I ASK TO MAKE A CONTENT UPDATE?

Feel free to reach out to your contact in the Marketing Communications Office or the site migration team.

WHAT ABOUT TEMPLATES?

The new website is being built using a Design System that includes a large Component Library and guidelines around those components. There will be an ability for units to create pages that align with their specific content needs and priorities.

THE NEW WEBSITE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE IMPROVED SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY BUT THE SEARCH ISN’T WORKING WELL. WHY ISN’T SEARCH IMPROVED?

The search functionality is currently based on Google Search tools which are continually crawling through the internet to find new content. A copy of this content is then saved and used for Search. It often takes a couple weeks for new content to be incorporated into search tools.

WHERE DID PEOPLE SEARCH AND RESEARCH EXPERTS SEARCH GO? WHY IS IT NO LONGER ON THE HEADER?

People Search and Research Experts Search has been moved to the Footer of the main page. This tool has been moved making it still accessible to those who need it while minimizing use by those accessing it to solicit staff and students.

HOW AM I SUPPORTED?

Questions, or Feedback: Connect with the project team through NGWE [at] umanitoba [dot] ca

Technical Issues with the Website: for example, error 404 page not found? Please contact the IST Service Desk to report the issue.

A few short weeks from now, students, faculty and staff will begin a new academic year and the new umanitoba.ca is tailored to their journey.

Students can look forward to a highly responsive, mobile-friendly site that complements their busy lives. Whether in class or at the gym, users will be able to view information easily across any device, including desktop, tablet and phone.

Some of the first webpages available on the new site are dedicated to helping students adjust to campus life, including admissions information, how to apply and student supports. On each page, elements of the university’s new brand welcome them into our colourful, vibrant and inclusive UM community.

Faculty and staff will appreciate that the new umanitoba.ca is built for storytelling. Photos, videos, and other rich media are front and centre to allow users to get their news and communicate to the university community in a variety of engaging ways.

Other improvements include a new content management system which allows authors to easily create and update pages. It will also be easier for authors to view in-depth analytics to see how users are navigating and using their content.

“In our world where everything is online, the university’s website has become our most important tool for communicating with students, faculty, alumni, donors and our broader community,” says John Kearsey, vice-president (external) and project sponsor.

“This new site is the result of extensive collaboration with all our UM community and we couldn’t be happier with the results. Thank you to all the community members who have contributed to getting us to this important first step. The collaborative effort by so many was critical to getting us where we are today. So, thank you again!”

Thursday’s launch is the first of many. After the initial launch on August 8, the remainder of the current site will be addressed in a series of releases over the next 12 to 18 months. Improvements will continue to be made throughout the process.

To learn more, please visit the FAQ page for the new site by clicking here.

The Next Generation Web Experience (NGWE) strives to turn umanitoba.ca into a strategic communications tool for the whole university focused on individual user journeys… but what does that really mean?

“Intuitive user journeys are central to every great website,” says Paul Lacap, Director of Digital Strategy and Engagement in the Marketing Communications Office. “Focusing on the experiences of students, faculty, staff and wider U of M community, even before they touch a device, is important for creating a digital experience that is relevant and engaging. This focus on user experience is central to our website moving forward.”

Since March, the NGWE project team has met with almost 50 groups from around the university, asking for feedback from their specific areas about what their users need from the new website. This feedback is shaping the new site structure and content strategy, directly influencing how users will experience our website.

“User journey mapping is very important so we can understand what information they need to make decisions and how they get there,” says Lacap. “This feedback process is very important for the project team to hear the different goals of areas throughout the university and how they all fit together.”

As the project team works on information architecture – the foundation on which the site is built – consultation with areas from around the university has continued through workshops and meetings. Proposed information architecture was also presented to the Web Community of Interest (WCOI), a group of RedDot content authors and people interested in improving umanitoba.ca, in June, and user testing on the proposed information architecture will take place in October.

“To create a website that exceeds our users expectations of a modern web experience, we need collaboration from across the university,” says Lacap. “We’re hearing people are excited about the project and the opportunities to come as a result.”

The internet has changed substantially since umanitoba’s last major design improvement in 2010 and as a result, umanitoba.ca has not kept up to the expectations of our users – prospective students, current students, faculty, staff and the community at large.

However, the project to build a better umanitoba.ca is underway.

The Next Generation Website Experience (NGWE) strives to change both the website and the way we all communicate with the U of M. With a phased roll-out starting in mid-2019, the NGWE will touch all aspects of the user experience.

“The goal of the project is to create a strategic communications tool for the whole university,” says John Kearsey, Vice-President External Relations and project board chair. ” We want to create a web presence that shares important information effectively across a wide variety of devices, and showcases the many stories of the University of Manitoba and our community.”

A cross-functional project team has been created with representation from IST, MCO, and HR, and in the fall 2017, the U of M partnered with Domain7, a digital design firm with extensive experience working in the higher education sector.

Over the past year, the project team has met with over 500 students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors, learning more about their needs for our website. Work has begun on foundational aspects such as information architecture and solution design since the new site improvements will go far beyond just aesthetics. Improved accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and the ability to evolve with changing technology are all integral to the project.

Another part of the NGWE is the implementation of a new content management system. Drupal, an open-source platform, has been chosen as the new content management system to replace RedDot. Drupal is a popular content management system for universities and is widely used across the U15 and at top colleges in the US. Drupal will allow authors to easily update content and customize their sites with additional functionality to meet specific requirements.

Have questions about the Next Generation Web Experience? Contact ngwe@umanitoba.ca

The following frequently asked questions have been compiled from feedback we have received from the U of M community about the NGWE project. These questions will be updated regularly as the project progresses.

Have a question that isn’t answered here? Contact ngwe [at] umanitoba [dot] ca

WHAT IS THE NEXT GENERATION WEBSITE EXPERIENCE PROJECT?

The Next Generation Website Experience (NGWE) is an initiative to create a modern, user-focused umanitoba.ca for the entire university community.

Benefits of the new umanitoba.ca will include:

• User-centred design, improving navigation and search
• Responsive design, supporting mobile users
• An accessible experience
• New visual design along with a framework for a common look and feel around the site
• Improved performance management and measurement capabilities
• Improved web capabilities through a modern Content Management System (CMS), Drupal

Our website is the University’s most important communication tool, it’s the first impression of the University of Manitoba. Our current website was designed when websites were just for sharing information and can no longer meet user’s expectations for a great online experience due to its age.

WHO IS LEADING THE PROJECT?

The NGWE project sponsor is John Kearsey, Vice-President (External) and the project executives are Lori Yarchuk, Associate Vice-President, Marketing Communications and Mario Lebar, Chief Information Officer. Members of the NGWE project board include:

• Jeff Adams, Student Affairs
• Greg Bak, Faculty of Arts
• Doug Brown, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management
• Christine Cyr, Indigenous Engagement
• Jay Doering, Research and International
• Kyra Fanning, UMSU as of May 1, 2019
• Adam Gerhard, IST
• Paul Lacap, MCO
• Ben Li, Faculty of Science
• Lisa O’Hara, Libraries
• Ruth Shead, Indigenous Engagement
• Darlene Smith, Human Resources (HR)
• Ehsan Tahmasebian, UM Graduate Students’ Association
• Mark Torchia, Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
• Reg Urbanowski, College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences

Thank you to Carl Neumann, UM Graduate Students’ Association and Owen Black, UMSU VP External for their support and contributions while serving on the board.

WHEN WILL THE NEW UMANITOBA.CA LAUNCH?

You will see the new website when you wake up on August 8, 2019.

HOW ARE WE TRANSITIONING TO THE NEW WEBSITE?

The NGWE project contains five phases. We are currently in phase 3.

Our approach has been to focus on the university’s strategic priorities, transitioning to the new website in a gradual staged approach.

On Thursday, August 8 we will reveal phase one of the new site, reflecting a select number of top level pages. 

Following the initial launch we will gradually migrate content in stages. Faculty and department web content will move to the new website over the next 18 months.

As we transition, RedDot and Drupal will run in tandem.

Following is a tentative release schedule with Release 1 being migrated in the fall of 2019. This is a draft schedule. The project team will work with each unit to refine the release migration plan.

HOW DO WE STREAMLINE THE LARGE VOLUME OF CONTENT ON OUR EXISTING WEBSITE?

Reducing the volume of content on umanitoba.ca will improve the user experience. There is content for a variety of audiences including students, prospective students, researchers, alumni, staff, retirees, the community and many more! To better meet the needs of all our audiences, the plan is to introduce a protected tool (Intranet) along with our new website, which will be available by the end of 2019.

HOW IS CONTENT FOR THE NEW WEBSITE BEING CREATED AND/OR MIGRATED?

The process for content creation and migration includes the NGWE project team, the Marketing Communications Office (MCO), Information Services and Technology (IST), our campus partners and –– for the Initial Site –– our partner vendor Domain7. After Initial Site launch, and for the duration of the site migration, content creators and quality assurance experts on a newly formed NGWE Site Migration team will be supporting new content creation and migration.

All content created for the website during the NGWE project will be reviewed within the Marketing Communications Office (MCO) and by the respective faculties and units before publication.

HOW HAVE STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF BEEN ENGAGED IN THE PROJECT?

In the last year, more than 1,000 prospective and current students, as well as staff and faculty members, participated in workshops to explore possible website features, information architecture, wireframes, intranet and content lifecycle. In addition, close to 700 participated in online testing on the information architecture with most testers being prospective and current university students.

HOW HAS THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY BEEN ENGAGED IN THE PROJECT?

The project board includes Christine Cyr and Ruth Shead from Indigenous Engagement who have been instrumental in informing direction at each stage of the project. Additionally, Indigenous stakeholders from across campus have participated in many of the NGWE workshops and sessions that have been required for discovery, design and development.

HOW WILL U OF M ENSURE CONTENT IS ACCESSIBLE?

The U of M’s new Content Management System (CMS) is designed to support sites that comply with accessibility standards WCAG 2.0 and ATAG 2.0. Also, accessibility standards will be included in content guidelines to ensure everyone keeps accessibility top of mind when creating web content.

WHO DO I ASK TO MAKE A CONTENT UPDATE?

Feel free to reach out to your contact in the Marketing Communications Office or the site migration team.

WHAT ABOUT TEMPLATES?

The new website is being built using a Design System that includes a large Component Library and guidelines around those components. There will be an ability for units to create pages that align with their specific content needs and priorities. 

WILL A NEW VISUAL IDENTITY BE PART OF THE NEW WEBSITE?

Yes! The new website will launch with an exciting new look and feel.

WHAT WILL REPLACE REDDOT?

Drupal is the CMS that will replace RedDot. Drupal is a popular CMS in the higher education sector, widely used across the U15 and at top colleges in the U.S. Drupal will allow authors to easily update content and configure their sites with additional functionality to meet specific requirements.

WILL DRUPAL CONNECT WITH EXISTING PLATFORMS OR FEEDS?

There are many third-party platforms that are linked from our current website. Some can be easily integrated with Drupal. The NGWE project team will be connecting with faculties and units about third-party integration throughout the project.

IS THERE A BROWSER PREFERENCE FOR DRUPAL?

There is no preference, Drupal works well with any modern browser.

THE NEW WEBSITE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE IMPROVED SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY BUT THE SEARCH ISN’T WORKING WELL. WHY ISN’T SEARCH IMPROVED?

The search functionality is currently based on Google Search tools which are continually crawling through the internet to find new content. A copy of this content is then saved and used for Search. It often takes a couple weeks for new content to be incorporated into search tools.

WHERE DID PEOPLE SEARCH AND RESEARCH EXPERTS SEARCH GO? WHY IS IT NO LONGER ON THE HEADER?

People Search and Research Experts Search has been moved to the Footer of the main page. This tool has been moved making it still accessible to those who need it while minimizing use by those accessing it to solicit staff and students.

IF I’M A CONTENT CREATOR, HOW DOES THIS IMPACT MY WORK?

The new content management system, Drupal, is easy to use. The transition from Reddot to Drupal will simplify your web content updates and also make is easier for our students and researchers to access information. We ask for you to be patient and keep an open mind on how we can use these tools to best support learning and research as we develop the new content together.

WILL TRAINING BE PROVIDED?

Yes. The NGWE project team is currently developing a training strategy and plan.

HOW AM I SUPPORTED?

Questions, or Feedback: Connect with the project team through NGWE@umanitoba.ca

Technical Issues with the Website: for example, error 404 page not found? Please contact the IST Service Desk to report the issue.