We have a well honed process for taking a school district's Web site from concept to completion. This process can take from two to six months to complete, depending on the complexity of the Web site. It includes:

• Planning: Our Web development specialist and a communication specialist will work with school district teams to create the Web site plan. This is essentially an outline of everything that will go into the Web site and how it will connect together. We also help plan the technical aspects of the Web site, such as what Web addresses to purchase, where the site will reside, how it will be maintained, what Web authoring software will be used, etc.  

• Content creation: Good content is the power behind a good Web site. That's why we believe this is a very important part of the process. In many cases, our communication specialists play a leading role in content creation, gathering the ideas and writing the copy for each Web page. School district personnel also often contribute to content creation. The best Web sites are those that draw upon the talents of a communication specialist plus the expertise and knowledge of the people within the school district.   

• Design: Our Web communications and graphics staff members are trained to design Web sites that are attractive to look at, professional in terms of quality, easy to navigate, simple to maintain and quick to load. All these features, combined with strong content, help bring community members back to our Web sites time and time again.

• Database development: We are expanding our use of databases to gather and present information electronically. For example, a common feature of many of our Web sites is an alumni database, where graduates of years gone by can enter their own data right from their home computers and search for information on fellow classmates. We also are developing events databases, sports score databases, and job opening databases. The beauty of these databases is that anyone in your district - a secretary or a coach, for example - can easily enter information into the database. All they need is Internet access and a password (assigned by us). Likewise, your community members can easily search those databases to find exactly what they are looking for. It is an ideal way to bring information together from diverse sources and get it out to the public in a timely manner. 

• Evaluation and feedback: Before we take Web sites live, we like to have them evaluated by a "usability team" made up of people who best represent the end users. This team can include staff members, parents, students, board members, business people, senior citizens, taxpayers without children, etc. We ask the usability team to review the Web site usually at least twice during the development process and give us feedback on the quality of the content and the ease of navigation. Once in operation, our Web sites also include a "feedback" page to allow the public to suggest new features they would like to see. 

• Maintenance and updates: Typically, our communication specialists take a lead role in maintaining, updating and expanding school Web sites. In many cases, however, they are assisted by various people around the school district. For example, the transportation pages might by maintained by a staff member in the transportation department, while job openings might be maintained by a secretary in the human resources office. People within the individual school buildings may also want to be involved in keeping up their school pages. And very often, teachers themselves want to establish their own classroom pages. This team approach, made up of people who willingly choose to be involved in this endeavor, can lead to a truly dynamic school Web site.   

• Training: The Northeastern Regional Information Center (NERIC), which is headquartered at the Capital Region BOCES, provides training in the use of Web authoring software, such as Microsoft Front Page and Dreamweaver. Our staff also provides training to your Web team on the specifics of maintaining your Web site as well as support on an as needed basis. This training usually occurs just prior to a Web site going live, although it can be ongoing as the Web team expands.  

• Implementation: Once the Web site is planned, written, designed, and evaluated, and once everyone is trained to keep it up to date, we turn on the switch, so to speak, and the site goes "live." Typically, we allow for a short period of monitoring and troubleshooting, after which we work with you to advertise and market your site to your publics. 

• Troubleshooting: Whenever you are dealing with technology, problems are bound to arise. We try to anticipate these problems and resolve them before they happen. But if that's not possible, then we are there for at least the first three months after the site goes live to help smooth out any kinks or issues. However, for those districts that are regular subscribers to our communications programs, Web troubleshooting is ongoing.

Other features of our service

• Web hosting: We can host your Web site on our server at BOCES for no extra cost.

• Web trends: We subscribe to a service called "Web Trends," which allows us to measure very specifically just how much traffic is coming to your web site.

• Web project team: All of our staff members involved in Web site development are members of a BOCES Web team, where they share ideas and develop new ways to help schools expand and improve their Web sites. In other words, your Web site benefits from the brainpower and best practices of our entire team!