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Website Management Framework FAQs

Office of the Chief Information Officer

June 2004

1. What is the Website Management framework (WMF)?
2. Which departments and agencies must comply with the Website Management Framework?
3. How will the Website Management framework be implemented?
4. Are there changes to the way websites are developed or maintainted?
5. What is the website business case process?
6. What are the website standards?
7. Does my department or agency need its own website guidelines?
8. Could there be gaps in the standards?
9. What other projects will affect Victorian Government websites?
10. What is the difference between the Online Communications Review Group and the Website Management Taskforce?
11. What is the difference between the Website Review: Assessment, Consolidation Planning and Performance Improvement and the WMF?
12. What are the governance bodies involved in Victorian Government website management?

1. What is the Website Management Framework (WMF)?

The WMF is a co-ordinated approach to the planning, creation, operation and retirement of government websites. It was approved by the ICT Strategy Board in June 2004. The WMF has four key outcomes:

  • creation of a multi-disciplinary taskforce in each department or agency to co-ordinate website activity
  • adoption of a business case process for all websites
  • creation of authoritative policies and standards for websites, and
  • implementation of a consistent approach to monitoring and reporting on websites across the Victorian Government.

2. Which departments and agencies must comply with the Website Management Framework?

  • The 10 government departments
  • The four inner-budget agencies: Environment Protection Authority, State Revenue Office, Victoria Police, VicRoads

At this stage, the WMF does not cover intranets and extranets. It is expected that they will be included at a later stage, as well as all statutory bodies in Victoria.

3. How will the Website Management Framework be implemented?

The WMF will be implemented in incremental steps commencing with the establishment of the governance bodies (Website Management Taskforces - WMTs) and implementation of the WMF Business Case for new websites. In parallel with these activities the Standards and Guidelines for website delivery will be revised and re-released through a process of consultation managed with the WMTs. The Standards will then be implemented in a timeframe that is in accordance with the Standards impact assessment performed by departments and agencies. Finally websites will be required to report on their performance and compliance to Standards via the WMTs.

4. Are there changes to the way websites are developed or maintained?

Yes. The major changes are:

  • Each Department/Agency has a multi-disciplinary Website Management Taskforce (or equivalent body) set up to co-ordinate website activity.
  • New websites are required to be built, maintained and retired following the website policies and standards. This includes annual reporting on compliance.
  • All new websites will require a WMF business case, approved by the department/agency Website Management Taskforce (or equivalent body). It is then referred to the Government Communications Review Group to ensure alignment with whole-of-government communication objectives.

5. What is the website business case process?

From 1 July 2004 all new websites must have a business case, which is approved by its department/agency Website Management Taskforce (or equivalent body). Applying the business case to existing websites will not be introduced at this stage.

The Website Business Case is a tool to:

  • ensure strategic alignment of websites to government policies and initiatives;
  • encourage planning throughout the website lifecycle;
  • provide opportunity for co-ordination of website initiatives across Government;
  • identify opportunities for technology re-use and manage operational risks; and
  • establish key performance indicators that will be measured throughout the life of the website.

6. What are the website standards?

The WMF identified the need for consistent standards across Victorian government websites.

Website standards will:

  • establish consistent practice across government;
  • support the WMF goals and principles;
  • set the minimum levels of conformance;
  • be supported by compliance and reporting processes to ensure the implementation of standards. Prime responsibility for reporting and checking for compliance lies with departments and agencies, supported by the Office of the CIO; and
  • be subject to ongoing development and maintenance to ensure that the standards have appropriate scope, relevance and current.

The standards portfolio, processes and procedures will supersede the Victorian Government Web Guidelines and relevant IT&T policies over time.

The initial set of standards will be distributed to WMTs for impact assessment during July. These cover record keeping, accessibility, discoverability, legal compliance, privacy, and content approval and review.

These standards will then be presented to the ICT Policy Committee for approval.

7. Does my department or agency need its own website guidelines?

This depends on your department/agency line of business. For example, some departments will be using geospatial standards. While these may not apply to all, we would like to know about all guidelines and standards that are in use by departments and agencies. We can then assess whether they should be added to the Victorian Government website standards.

8. Could there be gaps in the standards?

At this stage, yes there could. This is partly because we are only releasing new standards incrementally, and partly because we may have overlooked some of the more niche standards.

Please advise the Office of the CIO if you wish to discuss a standard or standards that are not included in the website standards.

9. What other projects will affect Victorian Government websites?

Government has a focus on introducing management processes designed to bring long term improvement to departmental and agency websites. Projects include:

  • Work being undertaken by the Strategic Communications Branch (SCB) of Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC)
  • Integrated web measurement and demographic profiling of Victorian Government Websites
  • Enterprise content management systems

10. What is the difference between the Online Communications Review Group and the Website Management Taskforce?

The Website Management Taskforce is a decision-making governance body endorsed by the ICT Strategy Board. The Online Communications Group is run by the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s Strategic Communications Branch. It is a closed (invitation only) community of practice.

11. What is the difference between the work that DPC Strategic Communications Branch is doing and the WMF?

The work being carried out by SCB focuses the departments on addressing current issues identified with their websites, whereas the Website Management Framework establishes an ongoing co-ordinated approach to the planning, creation, operation and retirement of government websites.

12. What are the governance bodies involved in Victorian Government website management?

From a whole-of-government perspective there are a number of governance bodies that have some responsibility for matters relating to the web.

The Office of the CIO and the Strategic Communications Branch of DPC report to separate subcommittees of cabinet that have different responsibilities and accountabilities relating to the web as outlined in the diagram below:

Diagramatic representation of the responsibilities and accountabilities relating to the web of the Office of the CIO and the Strategic Communications Branch of DPC.


During the development of the WMF it was agreed with SCB that the Business Case for a new website in a department would firstly be endorsed by the Website Management Taskforce within the department. Subsequent to this the GCRG would give a high level review to ensure that website did not cause conflicts with WoVG communications strategies and the OCIO would review to ensure that the technical implementation of the website/service would conform with standards and optimise reuse across the department and government more broadly.

The faqs document is available for printing or download in pdf format. (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.) (60kb)

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Last updated: 24 August 2007