Customer relationship management

At the simplest level, customer relationship management (CRM) means the attraction and retention of visitors by operating a user-focused strategy.

Audience attraction

Audience attraction involves offering the information and services on your website that your user base requires. To do that there must be an understanding of your audiences and their needs if you are to understand what information and services to offer. You will also need to decide if that offering will be identical for each audience segment or whether you will differentiate.

Audience retention

Audience retention involves acquiring and continuously updating knowledge about visitor needs, motivation and behaviour. Applying this knowledge through a process of learning from your successes and failures will ensure that your website is better managed around the user. The aim is to understand, anticipate and manage the needs of current and potential visitors in terms of what is offered and how it is offered.

Relationship management looks at a continuing series of transactions, rather than an individual transaction. This includes supporting your users online and offline, and satisfying them by responding to their requests for information and assistance as soon as possible.

The user-centric strategy allows the integration of people, processes, and technology systems to support the delivery of user requirements. The organisation's whole team will need to be in the business of building customer relationships, both online and offline.

Electronic CRM

With the 'all-electronic' version of CRM, customer relationships become more dynamic and interactive. The creation of a channel and product strategy will define how your organisation delivers its products and services effectively, making sure the right message gets out at the right time and through the right channel. Relevant information can be collected more easily, uploaded automatically and used more effectively.

For example, your department might build a database about its users that described relationships in sufficient detail so that those providing the service can match user needs with products, remind them of the available services and information, and even know what other online and offline transactions a visitor had used. This would provide a web manager with the information necessary to know their users, understand their needs, and effectively build relationships with them.

However, web-based CRM can mean that huge volumes of user information are retrieved, stored, processed and delivered electronically. The IT platforms used must be flexible, adaptive, and scalable. They must also be completely dependable and secure to provide the credibility that will encourage the use of online transactions and resources.

Focusing on user needs - Marketplace

It is vital to know who your target audiences are and how they will access your information. This information will determine how you design and prepare the electronic publication.

However, targeting information on a website is very different from the targeting of conventional publicity and information.

Conventional marketing is effective at getting the information to the intended audiences. Leaflets are sent only to mailing lists of the target audience, or displayed in places they are likely to visit. Advertising is placed in magazines or in TV programs that appeal to the target audience.

This leaves design and text in conventional publicity free to concentrate on the task of communication with particular kinds of people.Anyone with access to the Web can show up at your website, whether your information is for them or not. Websites have to do their own targeting by directing users to the information or services that are for them.

Some industry experts suggest that the different levels of a website should have different aims.

Information on the upper levels of a website will be targeted at a very broad general audience. The aim is to help users swiftly find what is relevant to them. or move on. Design should aim to be professional and sufficiently engaging for a broad audience. In this context Government sites should aim to:

• Make immediately plain that this is a government site.

• Make clear what the owning organisation does.

• Make clear the kind of content and services on the site.

• Build trust in the authority, accuracy and currency of the information.

• Build trust in the security and effectiveness of the transactions on offer.

• Direct regular users to content that is new on that particular site.

• Offer access to the rest of government sites.

• Send different kinds of interested users to content that is aimed at them.

Middle layers of the site can be for people with some interest in content or services. This level of the site should aim to:

• summarise information or available transactions.

• provide enough details or facts to satisfy mild interest.

• provide enough details for people with strong interest to select the detailed information that is for them or who wish to apply for the service.

Middle levels of the site can also be a good place for key messages aimed at the general public. Writing and design can in this case be more clearly targeted at the target audience.

Lower levels of the site will tend to provide the detailed information that government sites so often make available. Here the aim is to:

• secure the interested user’s agreement to read the information.

• and offer users the choice of reading onscreen or different file formats to download.

An exception to this approach is likely to be a website that works as part of a publicity campaign. As advertising is likely to be driving an interested audience to the site, there can be a greater degree of targeting.

The aim of the site should be to add value to the campaign by such means as:

• providing more detailed information than the advertising could carry.

• reporting on progress towards the goals of the campaign.

• providing a transaction that facilitates users’ response to the call to action for the campaign.

An important aim of design will be to make it plain that the site ties in with the look and feel of the campaign. Users should be in no doubt they have come to the campaign’s site. The content and transactions on the site must reinforce the value of the brand.

Campaign sites should be revised as the campaign changes or be taken down once the campaign ends.

Understanding the terminology

Browser - is the web browser used by a visitor to access your website.

bytes transferred - the number of bytes transferred to the client's browser as a result of the request.

entry resource - the first web page viewed as part of a visit to your website.

exit resource - the last web page viewed as part of a visit to your website.

hit - a browser request for any one web resource, for example a web page or a graphic. A web page containing two graphics will take three hits to display that web page in a client's browser.

hits per visit - the number of hits occurring in a given visit to your website.

page impressions - a file or a combination of files sent to a user as a result of that user's request being received by the server. For example, one web page that contains three frames and 2 graphic files will generate one page view but 5 hits. Also known as 'page requests', 'page views' or 'page accesses'. Where service providers, search engines or other organisations cache content, page impressions served from these caches may not be recorded on the originating website.

page view per visit - the number of page accesses occurring in a given visit to your website.

platform - the operating system used by the visitor to your website, eg, Windows ME

session - A series of page impressions served in an unbroken sequence from within the website to the same user. A session begins when a user connects to a website, continues while page impressions are served in a continuous sequence from within the website, and ends when the user leaves the website.

user - this is defined as the combination of an IP address and an 'heuristic'. The user agent string is usually employed as the ‘heuristic’. Because of the use of dynamic IP number assignment, NAT, PAT, perimeter cacheing and dynamic proxying this definition may overstate or understate the real number of users visiting a website. Alternatively, websites may use cookies and/or registration Ids as the basis for identifying user numbers. Often also referred to as 'unique user'.

unique user duration - The total time in seconds for all visits of two or more page impressions, divided by the number of unique users making such visits. In order to measure user duration, a first and last page impression record must exist for each visit. Therefore, users making visits of only one page are excluded, since no interval can be established. This metric is sometimes referred to as 'website stickiness'.

user agent - the browser and platform used by a visitor when accessing your website.

visit - a series of one or more page impressions served to one user, which ends when there is a gap of 30 minutes or more between successive page impressions for that user.

visit duration - the total time in seconds for all visits of two or more page impressions divided by the total number of visits of two or more page impressions.

Downstream caching and pixel tagging

Copies of Web pages served to browsers are often 'captured' by content caching systems. 'Downstream' caching systems are typically operated by third parties such as the ISPs and other organisations through whose networks the pages travel on their route to users' computers. These caching systems are able to serve pages of which they hold copies in response to subsequent requests for them without reference to the origin server.

From an Internet-wide perspective caching content downstream close to the browsers is a good thing: serving content to topologically nearby browsers is quicker and consumes less network resource than transmitting it from the origin servers. It also reduces the load on the origin servers.

In order to have a website inter-operate properly with downstream caches (for example, to avoid out-of-date pages being served to users), it is important that appropriate cache control directives are included in the HTTP headers of the content that it serves. Getting this right normally involves having your server administrator configure the web server software appropriately. Note that it is not appropriate to attempt to control downstream caches by using HTML mark up elements because the special purpose appliances typically used for caching only act upon HTTP directives in the content headers.

There is an important consideration with regard to website traffic measurement arising from the increasing deployment of downstream caches on the Internet. Typically, there will be no record of pages served from downstream caches in your traffic log. As downstream caches are increasingly deployed on the Internet, standard origin web server logs tend to underestimate the number of your pages that have actually been viewed by users.

The pixel tag approach

One way of achieving a more accurate page view counts in origin web server logs is to ensure that every page contains a content element whose HTTP headers mark it as non-cacheable. This can be achieved by including a tiny transparent image referred to as a pixel tag in each HTML page. This pixel tag is typically served from a directory the contents of which the web server has been configured to serve out with HTTP headers marking the content as non-cacheable.In a pixel-tagging regime, page impressions served (including those served from downstream caches) can be estimated by counting the number of pixel tags served. If more detailed information is required about which pages have been served, then all or a part of the page's own URL can be included as a query string on the end of the pixel tag.

Examples of pixel tagging

A basic pixel tag could be generated by including the following image element in HTML pages (conventionally just before the closing tag):


In this example, the directory named 'nocache' resides at the root of the web server. The web server would be configured to include HTTP headers marking any files served out of the 'nocache' directory as non-cacheable. The file named 'trans.gif' would be a one pixel square transparent GIF image.

If it is required to track actual pages visited by users. In this case, the pixel tag for example, in the file at:

http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/insideoee/index.shtml, would be:

Evaluation Website - Not the full picture

You should be aware that there are limitations to the information that can be discovered from the analysis of Web server log files .The principal issues are:

• Most ISPs use dynamic IP addressing. This means they maintain a pool of IP addresses from which an IP number is ‘loaned out’ to each dial-up call for the duration of the call. A particular IP number will therefore be used by many different users and a particular user may appear at your website with many different IP numbers. The firewalls used at the interface between the Internet and corporate networks typically use a process named Network Address Translation (NAT) which has a similar effect. Firewalls also often use a process named Port Address Translation (PAT). With PAT, many users behind the firewall ‘share’ a single Internet IP number. The result of all this is that a specific IP number only rarely corresponds to a specific user and it is inappropriate to attempt to base estimates of the number of visitors to your website on a count of the different IP numbers found in server log files alone.

• Caches - almost all ISPs and many corporate users deploy 'perimeter caches' to conserve their Internet connection bandwidth and improve the speed with which web pages can be served to their users. These are often set up to work ‘transparently’ regardless of whether users have configured their browser’s cache settings. . Perimeter caches work by storing a copy of pages fetched by the client systems on whose behalf they are deployed. Subsequent requests for pages from other users behind a cache will be served from the cache if it already has a copy of the page. This may be done without any further reference to the origin server. Therefore web pages may be served to users without the creation of any record being captured in the origin server's log file.
  

• Dynamic proxies - dynamic IP addressing and perimeter cacheing make the identification of page requests from specific users uncertain. This uncertainty is further compounded by the fact that some organisations assign proxy devices such as perimeter caches dynamically during the course of a user’s Internet session. The result is that a sequence of page requests that is in fact from a single user may appear to come from several users even during the course of a single visit or session. AOL is an example of an organisation that uses dynamic proxying.

• Cookie manipulation - users can delete, or otherwise manipulate cookies stored by their browsers. Browsers can convert persistent cookies to session cookies. Cookies cannot therefore be relied upon as the basis for accurately measuring the number of users of a website or for identifying users that revisit a website.
  

• Browsers - some browsers are known to incorrectly identify the referring URL by indicating the previous page that the client was viewing even if the user recalled a bookmarked URL or typed a URL in to their browser’ as opposed to following a link on the displayed page.

• Anonymisers - some clients use 'anonymisers' which deliberately send false browser and referrer data.

All of these issues mean that there have to be reservations concerning the reliability of estimates derived from standard web server logs of the number of users of a website or of their browsing behaviour when they visit a website. The Internet advertising industry develops and promotes standard website traffic metrics and methodologies for calculating them. It is recognised that the measurements are flawed for the reasons outlined above, however, it is believed that the metrics provide the basis for comparing one website's usage with another on the basis that these issues will affect all websites to broadly the same extent. There is, however, no sound basis for this belief.

The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK and Ireland

JICWEBS is the body created by the UK and Ireland media industry whose aim is to ensure independent development and ownership of standards for measuring use and effectiveness of advertising on electronic media.

The International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations

The IFABC Web Standards Committee promotes similar aims on a worldwide basis.

• www.jicwebs.org

• www.ifabc.org

User agent masquerading

The term 'user agent masquerading' refers to browsers that transmit an incorrect browser identification string in the requests that they send to servers. Some browsers just do not properly identify themselves and are therefore not being identified in server log file records. Deliberate masquerading is also used for a number of reasons:

• Some websites alter the content they serve based on the browser identification string, so masquerading can be used to work-around this.

• Some websites reject requests from browsers that they are not intended to work with, so masquerading can be used to work-around this.

• Some users simply wish to remain as anonymous as possible.

Evaluation and website metrics - Advanced techniques

Log files can be further analysed through advanced techniques. For example:

• Sessions and visits - the identification of sequences of page requests from individual users.

• Session and visit duration the measurement of the length of time that individual users spend viewing a website.

• Categorisation - a process whereby similar items, eg URLs, browsers, platforms, a specific directory, are grouped together for pattern matching.

• Aggregation - a process by which all combinations of entities and their resulting measurements are combined.

Other website server software may also keep logs that can provide useful insights to the way visitors use your website. For example, it may be possible to configure search facility software to record the search terms that visitors have used when they are attempting find information on your website. This information can be useful when considering whether there are areas of the site that are not easy to find and can help with organising navigation. It also may indicate what other information users are expecting to be on the website, which would be of use when considering whether additional content should be included on your website.

Using a server log file

A standard HTTP server log entry may look like this:

193.63.182.194 [03/March/2001:11:30:35]
‘GET/webguidelines/index.htm HTTP/1.0’ 200 35000

What this means:

• 193.63.182.194 is in principle the IP number of the client’s (the visitor’s) host name or computer making the request. In fact it may actually be the IP number of a ‘proxy’ device that made the HTTP request on behalf of the real user. Such devices include the web content caching appliances that ISPs are increasingly deploying (‘perimeter caches’) and the firewalls that are typically deployed between corporate networks and the Internet. See section 1.4.5 Not the whole picture!

• 03/March/2001 indicates the date of the access.

• 11:30:35 indicates the time (hours:minutes:seconds) of the access.

• ‘GET/webguidelines/index.htm HTTP/1.0’ is the request that the browser sent to the server.

• 200 is the HTTP status code with which the request completed (code 200 means that the file was served successfully. See annex I Common HTTP server status codes.

• 35000 is the size in bytes of the file that was transferred to the client’s browser.

Depending upon the logging capabilities of the web server software and how the web server logging has been configured, web server logs may contain a large amount of additional information such as:

• HTTP_REFERRER this records the URL of the web page that referred the visitor to the current page. This actually records how a user (client) makes their way through your website.

• USER_AGENT this records the program name and version number of the browser that the user (client) employed. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer/4.04 (Windows 95).

Understanding user statistics

Website usage statistics are generally obtained by analysing the server logs. A typical HTTP server log contains in a log entry for each HTTP request (or hit) on the server. This entry will contain information about the web resource requested and the browser to which it was served. Software can be used to analyse and process these log files and provide a picture of the traffic to the website.

• the number of visitors,

• visitor duration and traffic pattern,

• visitor origin including which country, when it can be identified,

• visitor IP address,

• visitors’ technical preferences, such as browser type and version, platform.

This analysis will also indicate:

• traffic peaks and troughs against time of day and day of the week,

• average daily user load,

• what obstacles may turn visitors away,

• which pages get high traffic,

• which directories are getting high traffic,

• which graphic files are acceptable in terms of size and download time,

• type of browsers (user agent) being used.

There is a wide range of software available for processing and analysing the potentially huge amount of raw data contained in web server logs. This ranges from the commercially available Webtrends product family through to ‘shareware’ packages such as Wusage and free software like Analog.

• www.webtrends.com

• www.boutell.com/wusage/

• www.analog.cx

Evaluation and website metrics

Is the web strategy working? Does the navigation get people to the information they need? Is the server reliable? Measuring audience satisfaction, looking at feedback, understanding access statistics without measures such as these you will not be able to demonstrate value for money, or that you are meeting the needs of users and the aims of management. Therefore, regular (quarterly will be sufficient), formal evaluation exercises of both the content and the technology are strongly recommended.

Evaluation of website design and content can be carried out by drawing on:

• Website access statistics provided by the ISP/hosting service provider. (The ISP/hosing services provider may either supply the raw web server logs or the results of their having been processed by analysis software);

• Responses via feedback tools (forms, databases, email addresses);

• Feedback from contributors to the website;

• Conventional audiences research, for example, focus groups and professionally authored online questionnaires.

The effectiveness of the website can also be judged by measuring achievement in other ways. For example, one recruitment website was evaluated on:

• The number of recruits that applied via the website.

• Their performance of web recruits measured against that of staff recruited by other means.

• The cost per recruit measured against the cost per recruit of publicity in other media.

If the ISP/hosting service supplier provides the results of analysing the web server logs as opposed to providing the unprocessed raw logs, the minimum information that should be required from them is statistics on:

• number of unique users (visitors)

• number of visits ,and

• page impressions (page views).

Some examples of other relevant metrics that can be identified from web server logs are:

• error message counts (indicating that pages and other content were not served successfully); and

• traffic analysis focussing on peak times (to assess bandwidth requirements) and ‘dead’ times (should it be necessary to switch the site off while maintenance is carried out)

Additional useful information can include:

• successful requests;

• unsuccessful requests;

• most frequently visited pages;

• least frequently visited pages;

• top entry pages;

• top referring websites.

This information can be used to do such things as:

• identify the most popular content,

• review the navigation system for example, identifying orphaned pages,

• identify referring websites (the sites from which users arrive at your website),

• audit the level of response to electronic forms,

• assess the effectiveness of marketing/PR campaigns in bringing traffic to the website,

• provide information on users’ platforms and browsers,

• identify users’ DNS domains and thus visits from abroad or from within government.

It is, in addition, recommended that web teams should:

• give more importance to visitors, unique visits and page impressions than to hits;

• take as much notice of error logs as of any other statistics;

• determine who is using the website the most;

• monitor current bandwidth use, and attempt to project future requirements;

• archive server logs to use for monitoring trends over time.

The web strategy and management team should ensure, at the procurement stage, that ISPs/hosting services are offering to provide a full range of server log information.

It is acceptable to use HTTP cookies or session identities to track visitors' paths through the website (and this will be essential in e-transactional sites). The website should contain a clear statement of policy on the use of cookies.

Good practice dictates that the need for attention to the accuracy and timeliness of information will increase as the level of activity of a site increases.

Web managers should, in the interests of open government, consider publishing a summary of usage statistics on their websites

The commercial value of credits

The giving of credit to suppliers of web services that you employ directly within the functionality of your website can have commercial value. Significant reductions to the cost of features such as search engines can be negotiated especially if logos and links to suppliers’ sites are granted. The value will vary with the popularity of the specific web pages, and the relevance of the service to your readership.

The giving of credit to suppliers of web services, for example, by name, by email address, particularly if within your metadata will also have commercial value. Reductions to costs should be negotiated.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship may be a useful means of saving public expenditure. Like all government publicity projects, websites should observe the guidance given in the Cabinet Office Guidance for Departments on Sponsorship of Government Activities. This document can be found online at: http://www.gics.gov.uk or published in the Directory of Civil Service Guidance. These guidelines should be consulted in full. Like all government guidelines they are subject to amendment and update.

In general, sponsorship:

• must avoid any suggestion that the sponsors will be sympathetically regarded for other purposes;

• must be seen to add significant benefit;

• should add to, not replace, core funding for the project;

• cannot be given by firms which are involved in significant commercial negotiations with the department or are licensed/regulated by it;

• should be sought in an open and even handed manner between organisations in a particular field, using the appropriate public sector procurement methods to secure the contractual arrangements;

• must not be an endorsement by Government of the sponsor or its products or services;

• must not dilute the effectiveness of your website or the message that lies behind it. Sponsors cannot influence, the messages of Government communication in their business area;

• must not bring adverse publicity to the project;

• must be of websites and not of individual Ministers or civil servants;

• does not place a Minister or a Department under an obligation to a sponsor.
  

Sponsorship of individual amounts, including value-in-kind, of more than £5,000 must be disclosed in Departmental Annual Reports.

To measure the value of in-kind sponsorship, where the sponsor provides goods or services that benefit of the project, Departments should consider the opportunity cost, ie, how much it would have cost the department if it had paid for the support provided. Ongoing costs should also be taken into account for the lifetime of the sponsorship agreement.

Returns to the sponsor must be specified in writing as part of the sponsorship agreement. The agreement should cover, for example, the display of the name of the sponsor or whether there is to be a link to the sponsor’s website.

Credit to a sponsor must never create confusion about branding or your website’s identity.

Credit to a sponsor should only occur on those parts of your web space where the sponsor is directly contributing to its provision. This should be specified in the sponsorship agreement.

Acknowledgement should be concise. A company logo, if used, must not distract from clear branding of your website’s own identity or any government branding. A sponsor’s logo must comply with the universal accessibility and graphics requirements of these guidelines.

A company logo must be seen as appropriate and must not be of a size that is visually or perceived to be visually larger or more important than any official or campaign logo. A link to the sponsor’s own web page is perfectly okay. To retain your audience, you may wish to have it open in a new browser window.

If these guidelines have been followed, then no specific disclaimer for this instance of sponsorship should be necessary. It should be evident that the source of sponsorship is appropriate. It is, however, your responsibility to ensure that this relationship cannot be misinterpreted.

In the case that a disclaimer is necessary to avoid the semblance of an inappropriate relationship with the company, then it should be placed next to the credit line in the same heading level and typeface and on the same page. This is because disclaimers that are a link away from a credit have not in practice proved to be effective at avoiding the appearance of a problem.

It would be useful if the government’s policy on sponsorship is included were the disclaimer information just off the home page together with an assertion that all sponsorship of the site meets these criteria.

The buying of advertising space on other websites

As the market place is in constant evolution and having a strategic approach to Internet advertising is required. Unlike traditional advertising space, the Internet does not benefit widely from independent audience audits. Traffic claims can be variable and you must ask for specific information - page impressions, from where specific information and pages are requested, etc - and make judgements on the effectiveness of an individual site against the site operator’s claims.

In line with your overall media communications strategy specialist agencies are best placed to carry out the following tasks for you:

• planning an internet advertising campaign using various sites and methods of reaching your target audience;
• negotiating the approved plan to ensure maximum value for money;
• implementing the approved plan to ensure that the adverts appear on time and in the right place, and
• optimising campaigns through identification of the most appropriate web pages to be used for advertising, analysis of page impressions and 'click through' and the published performance of individual sites.

This is a specialist area and you are advised to refer to the Guidance on the Work of the Government Information Service

Advertising

Using the Internet for advertising falls into two distinct categories:

• Selling advertising or sponsorship space on your website, and

• Buying advertising space on other websites.

Selling advertising space on Government websites is not an easy task. This is a rapidly evolving and fiercely competitive area and a dedicated, trained resource is required to managed, sell and promote this service. You are advised to source help from specialist agencies, eg, COI Communications.

The full value should be obtained from the sale of advertising on government websites.

Departments and agencies need to judge carefully the balance between the effort required to achieve the maximum value and the income that is earned. Payment for web advertising may not be based on space alone, but on the number of page downloads or ‘clicks on the ad’. Alternatively, an advertiser may wish to sell ‘button space’ on your website. These are fixed graphics with links to the advertised organisation’s own website or campaign, paid for at a fixed rate for a fixed period of time, sometimes regardless of the number of page impressions or ‘clicks through’. Advertisers may expect there to be a link between known user interest and who sees the advert. You will probably need to be able to prove levels of access .

• in designing pages, you should ensure that advertisers' brands do not compete with or detract from the effectiveness, integrity and appearance of their own branding or that of the government as a whole.

• attention should be given to avoid any implication of endorsement of products or services or of contradiction between government messages and those of advertisers.

• website users are often irritated by pop-up advertisements and related technologies (variously referred to as ‘interstitials’, ‘superstitials’) and particularly by those that draw animations within the main window overlaying the page content. It is therefore recommended that advertisements on government websites should be confined to the use of banners and buttons.

• where banner and button advertising space is included in Web pages, it is recommended the dimensions should conform to those of the industry-standard Interactive Marketing Units (IMU) defined by The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) at:

Advertisers should be advised to bear in mind the range of connection speeds used by visitors to government websites and the implications for viable file sizes of advertisement content.

• if you are using information about user behaviour to sell advertising space, you must not breach your own website’s published privacy statement and if in any doubt you must ask the advice of your Data Protection Officer.

Contract management

The management of advertising or sponsorship arrangements can be established using the following routes:

• in-house management of web space to be made available for advertising or other means of publicity agreed under a sponsorship agreement, or

• the use of a third party supplier to manage the advertising or sponsorship web space on your behalf.

The available costs, benefits and expertise are key factors when deciding which route will suit your organisation. All must be examined and included in the evaluation of the business case for making use of advertising or sponsorship to raise potential commercial revenues

Management documentation

Whether the organisation's website has been produced internally or by a design agency, it is important that each element of the construction is fully documented.

Personnel within the website management team will eventually move on and need to be replaced. Without adequate formal documentation a great deal of time will be lost in new staff determining, eg, what markup to use in order to maintain a consistent look and feel.

A number of standards should be developed for the life cycle of a website or document, covering many of the following:

• the management structure that a document must be passed through before it can be published;

• the production of HTML pages, whether they are manually constructed or dynamically generated from a database;

• the production of other document formats, such as PDF and RTF from the source document;

• the organisational publishing standards, eg housestyle covering colour usage, font specifications, logo placement, writing styles, etc;

• the lifespan control of on-line documents;

• the organisation's designated web authors and their roles and responsibilities;

• the management and storage of archived documents, both electronically and paper based (records management);

• the management of the web-hosting service-provision contract;

• the administration of the web server (if controlled internally);

• the information back-up routine that has been adopted;

• the management of existing third party contracts for publishing or design work;

• records of software and license agreements that are used by the website team;

• the administration and use of any escrow agent(s);

• the maintenance of an asset register of all domain names/sub-domains registered by/owned by the organisation, eg, date registered, when to be renewed, and corresponding IP numbers;

• record of permissions granted by third parties for you to link to their website(s);

• record of intellectual property rights permissions obtained, eg, for text, graphics, audio or video materials used;

• manage passwords keeping a record for emergency situations.