UCCS adopted the Acquia's platform to streamline the maintenance of over 200 websites, enhancing stakeholder communication and accessibility improvements.
reduction in quality assurance issues
reduction in accessibility issues
Established in 1965, the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs (UCCS) is one of the distinct campuses of the University of Colorado system. Today, the university has almost 12,000 enrolled students, more than 800 experienced faculty members, and more than 800 devoted staff members.
The UCCS website is dedicated to providing all students with equal access to information and plays a vital role in facilitating daily operations across campus. The website is primarily managed by the web services division of the IT department, and Michael Schaming, a web designer from that team, owns part of the responsibility for maintaining the university’s more than 200 domains. Schaming’s team assists in solving any accessibility issues or errors that arise. He explained, “Our students deserve equal access to the content they need, so they can be successful at UCCS. And our job on the web services team is to minimize and reduce any barriers.”
Because he works on website maintenance most days, a web governance platform is vital to making Schaming’s daily workflow more efficient and cost-effective.
The web team’s goal is ultimately to provide the best possible website for the UCCS students, staff and community. To that end, UCCS had previously used a web governance solution, but it lacked the option for more advanced reporting. In addition, UCCS was looking for a consolidated platform to reduce the training needed for staff.
In October 2019, UCCS decided to replace its previous solution with the Acquia Optimize platform, which provided a more robust reporting solution with the option for reports to be sent to internal stakeholders, as well as detailed reporting on website focus areas, such as accessibility.
With more than 200 websites to maintain, the Acquia Optimize platform provided the UCCS team with a more structured approach to tackling website maintenance and management. Stakeholders across the organization can submit website changes or errors via a ticketing system to the web services team. For greater efficiency, UCCS uses the Acquia Optimize Policy module to identify all the places across the website that need the update.
Acquia Optimize’s Accessibility Fast Track feature has helped speed up accessibility improvement. For example, it has allowed UCCS to identify inaccessible code across the website and swiftly replace it in all instances. Schaming noted, “The ability to make accessibility updates in bulk with Fast Track has saved us significant time. Instead of making the update 20 times, you just need to do it once.”
UCCS' proactive approach to content quality assurance, in combination with the Acquia Optimize tool, helped them reduce content quality issues on their homepage by 96% in a four-month period. In addition to quality assurance, UCCS is working to improve the overall accessibility of their websites. With the large number of websites, it’s an ongoing process and the Acquia Optimize Accessibility module has been crucial to help them identify high-priority errors. Notably, UCCS was able to reduce the total number of accessibility issues on the homepage by 94%.
Acquia Optimize has simplified website maintenance for UCCS, making it possible to continuously improve the website experience. The all-in-one platform reduces the number of tools needed to successfully manage the websites. UCCS has also regularly made use of Acquia Optimize’s in-app chat function for quick assistance on more complex tasks.
“Web governance requires time and dedication, but the Acquia Optimize platform’s insightful in-tool tips, help center, and live chat save us time and increase productivity,” noted Schaming.
The robust reporting that Acquia Optimize provides has also been beneficial to help secure the continued use of the platform. Schaming commented, “The reporting in Acquia Optimize is incredibly valuable. Not only can we document the historic value that the platform provides, but we can show the university leadership the return on investment of having the tool.”
Beyond website maintenance, an added bonus of the Acquia Optimize platform has been its use in educating the student development team on how to integrate web accessibility in their development practices. Acquia Optimize’s PageAssist personalization toolbar on the UCCS website has also been warmly received by the community as a clear signal that the university is invested in providing equal access for all. Going forward, UCCS will continue to focus their efforts on improving the overall quality and accessibility of their many websites.
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