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Victorian Government Website Standards Compliance Checklist

Compiled October 2011

Below is the list of Victorian Government website standards requirements presented as a checklist.

Accessibility Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Accessibility. Version 3.0 - Date of effect: 4 July 2011

Requirement Yes/No
All websites must conform to version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0).  

Consistent User Elements Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Consistent User Elements. Version 3.0 - Date of effect 31 March 2011

Agencies will ensure that websites contain a consistent approach to the presentation of standard information elements by complying with the Consistent User Elements Requirements below:

Requirement Yes/No
1. All Victorian Government websites must conform to the Victorian Government Website Branding Guidelines  
2. Primary navigation must be located in a single, consistent location on the far left side of the page design or immediately underneath the header banner.  
3. If used, breadcrumb navigation must appear at the top of the content area and contain active links for every breadcrumb except the right most, final breadcrumb.  
4. Navigation items must not be duplicated. (eg., a link to the About us page should not be found in both the footer and a primary/secondary navigation.)  
5. Each web page must contain a descriptive and meaningful title at the top of the content area.  
6. Links to the website terms of use, copyright, disclaimer, privacy and accessibility statements must be contained in a website footer only.  
7. All web pages must contain a link to the About us page  
8. All web pages must contain a link to the Contact us page.  
9. All web pages must contain a link to the website feedback mechanism.  
10. All web pages must contain a link to the website site map and/ or index.  
11. All link types must have consistent colours and behaviour throughout a website.  
12. All web pages must contain a human-readable reference identifying when the page content was last updated, checked or modified. Eg., Page last updated: 17 Nov 2010  
13. Website search fields must be located in a single, consistent location on the far right hand side of page design, immediately above or underneath or within the header banner.  

Content Ownership, Approval and Review Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Content Ownership, Approval and Review. Version 3.0 - Date of effect 31 March 2011
Requirement Yes/No
1. All website content must have an owner, an approver and a forward review date. These details must be readily available through the website's content management system and/or an operational document (or equivalent).  
2. All websites must have documented processes to ensure that all website content is assigned a responsible owner, approved for publishing and regularly reviewed.  

Discoverability Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Discoverability. Version 3.0 - Date of effect 31 March 2011.

Agencies will ensure information on their websites is discoverable by complying with the Discovery Requirements below:
Requirement Yes/No
1. Conduct Keyword research to determine the most relevant keywords for users and incorporate the findings into website content and metadata.  
2. Implement unique, descriptive and meaningful page titles for all web pages using the HTML title element.  
3. Implement descriptive and meaningful values for the keywords and description attributes of the HTML meta elements on all web pages.  
4. Implement descriptive and meaningful values for the mandatory and recommended properties of the AGLS Metadata Standard (AS 5044-2010) on all web pages.  

5. Ensure all non-HTML documents have complete, accurate and descriptive document properties. (Eg., word, excel and pdf documents).

  
6. Register with Victoria Online  
7. Register with the- Open Directory Project (DMOZ) - Victorian Government category.  
8. Register with Business Licensing Information Service (where licensing is involved) and or Health translations directory (where non-English health information is involved)  
9. Register with external search engines  
10. Implement and register a discoverable XML sitemap which conforms to the sitemaps.org protocol and/or provide an A-Z HTML index.  
11. Implement the robots.txt protocol for controlling search engine content-indexing.  
12. Implement one primary domain name and permanent redirects (301 Moved permanently) from alternate domain names.  
13. Implement a website search facility for users.  

Domain Names and Allocation Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Domain Names and Allocation. Version 3.0 - Date of effect 31 March 2011.

Agencies will ensure that web domains comply with the Domain Requirements below:
Requirement Yes/No
1. All Victorian Government websites must have a vic.gov.au domain name. (Websites that are approved to use alternative top and second level domain names, eg., .com and .com.au, are not exempt from the other requirements of this standard.  
2. All new domain names must be considered and approved by the agency's Website Management Taskforce.  
3. Domain names must be user-tested for suitability before submission to the relevant Website Management Taskforce.  
4. vic.gov.au domain names must be consistent with the Commonwealth Government's domain name policies  
5. All domain names must have accurate technical and administrative contact details in their respective domain name registry entries.  

Information Architecture (Structure, Classification & Navigation) Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Information Architecture. Version 2.0 - Date of effect 1 December 2010.
Requirement Yes/No

1. Departments/agencies must develop and maintain ( Website Management Taskforces (WMTs) should determine whether to develop an organisational IA strategy, individual IA plans or both.):

  • a documented information architecture (IA) strategy which describes, justifies and provides a strategic direction for the IA of their portfolio of websites; and/or
  • documented IA plans for each individual website within their portfolio.
  

2. IA plans must, at a minimum, address and document all of the following IA components ( IA plans can be documented using the WMF template (WEB/TEMP/02) or a suitable alternative.):

  • business needs analysis;
  • user research and analysis;
  • content inventory;
  • controlled vocabularies and metadata;
  • website navigation and hierarchy;
  • website layout;
  • search model and behaviour;
  • usability testing;
  • monitoring and maintenance;
  • change management; and
  • ongoing review.
  
3. All IA strategies and plans must be reviewed annually to ensure they remain current and relevant to users.  
4. All new and refreshed IA strategies and plans must be endorsed by the department's/agency's Website Management Taskforce (WMT).  

Legal Compliance Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Legal Compliance. Version 2.0 - Date of effect 1 October 2010.

Departments and agencies will ensure that website content, services and processes are aligned with departmental/agency and government legal compliance practices, to protect the rights and interests of citizens and manage operational risks.

Requirement Yes/No
1. Ensure disclaimer, copyright and privacy notices are prominently displayed in line with relevant whole of Victorian Government (WoVG) standards  
2. Ensure conformance to all department/agency and government guidelines.  
3. Ensure third party materials are not published without adequate rights to do so.  

4. Ensure compliance with all applicable Acts, taking into account the purpose and functionality of the website. Such Acts may include, but are not limited to the:

  

5. Ensure that adequate documented processes are in place to enable the immediate removal of any material on the site that is:

  • found to be in breach of any law or regulation; or
  • contrary to policy or the function of the department/agency.
  
6. Ensure that the terms of service of all third party products and services are reviewed on commencement of use and regularly thereafter by legal counsel.  

Minimum Information Provision Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Minimum Information Provision. Version 3.0 - Date of effect 31 March 2011.

Agencies will ensure that websites comply with the minimum information provision requirements applicable to each website type, as described in Minimum Information Requirements below:

Requirement Yes/No
Requirements - all websites  
1. A statement that outlines the purpose of the website on the home page.  
2. An About us page that describes the website owner.  
3. Copyright, disclaimer, privacy and accessibility statements  
4. A website site map and/or index.  
Additional Requirements - Corporate Websites  
5. A complete list of legislation the respective agency operates under and/or administers, accompanied by a link to the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website.  
6. The agency's organisation chart  
7. The agency's most recent annual report  
8. The agency's corporate plan, business plan and/or organisational strategy (or equivalent)  
9. Information on the agency's Minister(s), including responsibilities and contact details  
10. Information on services provided and/or program details, including hours of opening or other availability and service delivery points.  
11. Information on available publications and how they may be accessed if not available online.  
12. A Contact us page containing detailed contact information for the agency including street address and/or postal address, phone and fax numbers (with national and international codes) and an email address.  
13. A link to the Victorian Government media releases page.  
14. Careers information and a link to the Victorian Government Careers Website.  
Additional Requirements - Program and Issue Websites  
15. A complete list of legislation under which the agency or program operates accompanies by a link to the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website.  
16. Information on services provided and/or program details, including hours of opening or other availability and service delivery points.  
17. Information on available publications and how they may be accessed if not available online.  
18. A Contact us page containing contact details for the program the website is representing.  
19. A link to the parent agency's corporate site.  
Additional Requirements - Thematic and Portal Websites  
20. A Contact us page containing contact details for the initiative the website is representing.  
21. A link to the parent agency's corporate website  

Privacy Standard

Whole of Victorian Government ICT Standard - Privacy. Version 2.2 - Date of effect 14 April 2009.

Departments/agencies will ensure that website content, services and processes conform to privacy legislation and principles.

Requirement Yes/No
Departments and agencies will comply with the Information Privacy Act 2000 (Victoria) in the design, management, operation and content of websites under their control.  

Web Analytics

Whole of Victorian Government Standard - Web Analytics - Version no.: 1.0 - Date of effect: 26 September 2011

At a minimum, all public-facing websites must implement the tracking code for the Whole of Victorian Government (WoVG) analytics account.

Requirement Yes/No
At a minimum, all public‐facing websites must implement the tracking code for the Whole of Victorian Government (WoVG) analytics account  

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Added: 9 May 2011 Page views: 3,872 Rating: 0 Votes: 0
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Last updated: 17 October 2011