Partnership websites and items of web content

Advisory

The information on this page is provided for internal training purposes, to help those working with University web content in partnership with other organisations. This information may not, therefore, be appropriate or correct in web partnership contexts outside the University.

Defining 'partnership'

A partnership website or item of web content is a product created in partnership with one or more organisations outside the University, making all parties jointly responsible for the product.

When working on partnership websites or web content, any elements that were funded, developed or controlled by the University, must be accessibility-compliant.

Collaborations that are not partnerships

Work privately commissioned from the University

If the product is made by the University for another organisation, and it is neither funded nor controlled by the University (i.e. the other organisation entirely funds it and determines its content), then web accessibility should still be followed as good practice, but responsibility for this does not fall within the University's remit.

The level of accessibility required for privately commissioned web products should be included in the design brief, which may in some cases actually be higher than the regulatory requirements followed by the University for its own content. If accessibility is not mentioned in the design brief, this should be queried, especially if the commissioning organisation is within the public sector, as in that case its omission will be an oversight.

In either case, the level of web accessibility described in the design brief should be followed in this situation, rather than the guidelines on this page.

Work commissioned from a third party by the University acting alone

If the University, when acting alone, commissions an external organisation to create a website or web content on its behalf, then the University will be entirely responsible for the web accessibility of that product. In this situation you should refer to Guidelines E: Commissioning a third party to create a website or Guidelines F: Commissioning a third party to create an item of web content, as applicable, instead of the guidelines on this page.

Who creates the product?

A partnership web product that represents the University's activity in some way, may be created:

by the University, with input from the partner(s).
by another member of the partnership, with input from the University.
by a third-party, commissioned by the partnership.

Some content may involve a combination of these for different elements of the overall product.

Determining responsibility

The final web product may be on any scale, from a single document or video intended for online use, to a large website. Sometimes the University's responsibility will only be for one element of a larger piece of content, and sometimes it will be for an entire website, depending on the level of involvement.

Remember that the University has, at least, shared responsibility for any content that it funds, develops or controls.

Ensuring compliance when creating the product

This will depend on who is creating the product, and the level of responsibility that the University has.

Websites managed in-house

If a partnership website is to be managed by the University in-house, its creation will either be:

overseen by the Web Team, Digital Team, Design Studio, IT Services or FX Plus
or
stand-alone.

If it is a) then the team producing it will follow standard web accessibility legislation, and when editing it you should follow the appropriate guidelines for the platform the site is created on. For T4, this is the foundation-level training for T4 editors.

If it is b) then please refer to the guidance for stand-alone web content.

Websites created externally

If:

the University has shared responsibility for an entire website
and
either:
- one of the partners is creating it
  or
- the partnership is commissioning a third party to create it

then refer to Guidelines E. While the project may be managed by one of the partners, these guidelines can inform discussions to ensure that the product is compliant.

Items of web content created in-house

In this context, 'item of web content' means a self-contained element, such as a document, video or database feed, to be uploaded or embedded within a website. It does not refer to content written in web code or created by the web editing system itself (e.g. tables and links).

If, as part of a partnership, an item of web content is to be created by the University in-house, then the procedure to follow to ensure web accessibility compliance is as follows:

If the item will be published on T4 and it is not a database feed, refer to content created using third-party applications and uploaded or embedded into T4.
For all database feeds, refer to Guidelines C.
In all other cases refer to Guidelines B.

Content published in multiple locations

If the content is to be published in multiple locations, then among those there should be one definitive 'home' location. This is so that readers can be told that if the content is later published in an updated version, the home location is where the most up-to-date edition can always be found.

Items of web content created externally

If:

the University has some responsibilty for a single item of web content (e.g. a video or document)
and
either:
- one of the partners is creating it
  or
- the partnership is commissioning a third party to create it

then refer to Guidelines F. While these guidelines specifically refer to the commissioning of third parties to create content, they can nevertheless be helpful in informing discussions with partners who may have this role, to ensure that the resulting content is compliant.