Issued 4/1/19

Last update: 02/13/25

Why is web governance important?

Our digital presence is the public face of Bentley University. For many, it is their very first interaction with our institution. We want all of our digital visitors to have a productive, unified, easy-to-use digital experience consistent with the Bentley brand and values.

These guidelines and policies will ensure a consistent look and feel for Bentley’s digital presence through standard processes, roles, responsibilities and practices. A unified site with consistent, on-brand messaging and a frictionless user experience strengthens the university and supports our constituents. 

It is important to note all sites that fall within the bentley.edu domain are strategic assets that belong to the university, not individual departments or divisions. Drupal Users serve as caretakers of their websites, experts in their content, and stewards of our brand. 

All Bentley digital initiatives are guided by the following three principles:

Our Users Come First

Our digital audience includes prospective and current students, alumni, donors, corporate partners, staff and faculty, and people new to Bentley. All of our work, from content to design to allocation of resources, is created with their needs in mind.

We Are Consistent with Our Brand

The Bentley brand is our reputation. Our website will elevate our commitment to hands-on learning, academic achievements and positive and ethical business … the sum total of which means we deliver more than a business education. It is critical that every aspect of the Bentley experience reflects that positioning — including all of our digital resources and assets.

We Are Aligned with Our Strategic Plan

The Bentley strategic plan is the roadmap for our future. Like all other Bentley initiatives, our digital presence must support these efforts.

The bentley.edu domain includes 80+ individual department, office, center and program websites. Each of these sites has a Drupal User identified to fulfill each of the roles below. 

Drupal Users are responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of certain sections of the website and must stay current on Drupal training. They are responsible for ensuring all content, including text, photo, videos and PDFs, on their website(s) is

1. Aligned with the current brand message, voice/tone, etc. and Bentley brand platform. 
2. In accordance with the governance guidelines and the Bentley Computing and Network Policy and meets WCAG AA standards issued in training.

In addition, Drupal Users must abide by the following policies.

Account Access

Your Drupal account is for your use only. If we become aware that you have provided someone else with your username and password to log in, we reserve the right to revoke your access. 

Your Drupal account must only be used to edit pages in the sections for which you were originally trained.

Accessibility

All sites must meet the following success criteria to comply with WCAG 2 level AA standards:

• Alternative text success criteria
  • Alternative text is required for all images, form image buttons, and image map hot spots. 
  • Images that do not convey content, are decorative, or already contain content conveyed in text are given null alt text (alt=””). 
  • Form buttons must have a descriptive value and form inputs have associated text labels. 
  • Embedded multimedia is identified via accessible text. 
  • Frames and iFrames are appropriately titled.  
• Color contrast success criteria. On components with text against an image/photo background (such as hero components), WCAG 2 level AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, and a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 for graphics and user interface components (such as form input borders). Large text is defined as 14 point (typically 18.66px) and bold or larger, or 18 point (typically 24px) or larger.

WAVE is the preferred tool to analyze contrast ratios for all page text elements at once and the Chrome or Firefox extensions provide seamless evaluation. If your contrast is failing and you need help evaluating why, the WebAIM color contrast checker is a great tool that educates as it tests. Siteimprove is another tool to use in checking accessibility. 

Branding

The official Bentley branding is the only visual identity system you may adopt for your website. You cannot alter the existing Bentley logos and branding in any components, and in no cases may you create your own. The university has the full legal right and obligation to protect its materials, and certain non-authorized uses may violate the Computing and Networking Policy, various handbooks, and Bentley’s Mission and Values.

Content Approval

Requests to create pages, etc. in support of new programs, committees, activities, events, etc. must be directed through a VP’s office or with VP authorization for the particular section. Please refer to the following site sections and VPs:

The VP for these sections are subject to change

Copyright

Copyright violation is a serious offense that comes with strict penalties for which the university itself could be held liable. It is your responsibility to ensure that all of your content, including text, images, video and music, complies with all copyright laws. Any content on the Bentley website that infringes on copyright will immediately be removed by the development team. The Bentley Library’s copyright guide offers more information.

Please also note that Bentley is obliged and empowered by law to actively monitor the use of its own copyrighted materials and to protect them as necessary from unauthorized use, even by members of the Bentley community, whether on websites or on official social media accounts. Unauthorized uses of the Bentley logo, for example, on student or departmental projects, even for humorous purposes, may constitute a copyright violation (as well as a violation of Bentley’s Computing and Network Policy and other Bentley policies), particularly if such materials are made publicly available.

Please secure prior authorization for all uses of the Bentley logo and other copyrighted materials in your online media. Unauthorized and/or inappropriate use of copyrighted Bentley materials may result in sanctions, including the removal of web pages and disciplinary action against individuals and organizations by their authorized governing bodies.

Editorial Guidelines

All content must adhere to Bentley’s editorial guidelines. The Communications team has broad authority to oversee, edit and remove content that does not comply with these policies.

Course Listings

To comply with official accreditation rules and regulations, all course listings must be pulled directly from CourseLeaf through a feed maintained by the Registrar’s Office. Exceptions may be granted only for special topics and experimental courses that do not have descriptions in CourseLeaf. 

Data Capture/Forms 

Data capture via forms must comply with Bentley’s Data Classification and Usage Policy and Drupal Users should aim to access this data “only when business requires such use and all controls shall be appropriately designed to allow for authorized access only.”  

A review of data capture has identified 3 main categories of forms. Moving forward, the following solutions will support data capture across the site with the data requestor/owner creating forms indicated by *.

Event Listings & Promotion

All events promoted on campus via emails and/or posters should be published in the Bentley event calendar powered by Localist. Anyone with a Bentley username and password can create an event — Reach out to Kevin Wong for information on how to create an event listing.

Measurement

The university uses Google Analytics and SiteImprove to measure traffic to the Bentley website and other metrics. All Drupal Users may request access to this data for their site.

Navigation and Search

Requested material changes to site-wide navigational elements (mega menu, directory) and the site-wide search experience will be reviewed by the Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

Photos, Video and Web Streaming

Drupal Users may embed a photo (stock or original) on their site if it’s been approved for web usage and sourced from WebDAM. They may also embed a video if it is hosted on the Bentley YouTube channel and meets generally accepted guidelines found in the Computing and Network Policy as well as YouTube’s Terms of Service. 

The web development team does not support the direct streaming of events except for certain institutional events (ie, Commencement).

Supporting Requests for Web Updates

Campus stakeholders seeking web updates will request updates through the Wrike Web request form. Please complete requests within 1-2 business days unless the request is incomplete (ie, requires new photos, content, etc.) or requires VP approval (see content approval). 

Using Wrike (rather than email) as a workflow will allow us to monitor the volume of requests, route requests to the appropriate Drupal User and provide back-up support to  users when they’re out of the office.

Social Media

Drupal Users must comply with social media guidelines developed by the Communications team. If you have any questions about embedding social or blog feeds on your site, please contact the Social Media Associate Director.

Subdomains

Subdomains (ie. xxxx.bentley.edu) negatively affect site performance and maintenance for a few reasons:

• Bentley subdomains are set up as redirects. All subdomains redirect to a URL
  (ie. bentley.edu/xxxx/xxxx) which is the actual location where the page resides within the Bentley.edu domain.
• Redirects affect site performance. We have dozens of subdomains and all of these redirects have a negative impact on server performance.
• Redirects require additional maintenance support: Redirects require additional support & maintenance from both developers in Marketing and Network & Services staff who support DNS servers.

Third-Party Advertising

No third party advertising such as banner ads or affiliate links is allowed on the Bentley website. Instances of this will be promptly removed.  

Third-Party Tracking Code

We are often asked to place third-party tracking code on Bentley.edu pages and will support the request provided it meets these requirements:

• The third-party platform will be paid for and actively managed as part of a marketing campaign by requestor for at least 3 months and will reside on a page(s) that generates at least 1,000 pageviews/month to support statistical analysis of data generated
• The third-party code does not interfere with any existing tracking code on the page(s) (ie, Google Analytics, etc.) nor does it negatively impact server, site or page load performance in any way

Training 

Drupal Users must participate in training and demonstrate baseline skills before being certified to make changes to the Bentley website. It is their responsibility to remain up-to-date on changes released to Drupal Users in training and/or through Sharepoint.  In some cases, we may require mandatory Drupal retraining, at our discretion. 

Vanity URLs

A vanity URL is a descriptive, memorable and pronounceable URL used to redirect URLs from one location to another. In the simplest terms, a vanity URL is a long URL that has been shortened for use in a brochure, print ad, etc. and contains a descriptive keyword. 

For example, rather than print this URL (http://admissions.bentley.edu/graduate/mba) in a brochure for the MBA program, a marketer would prefer to use a vanity URL (bentley.edu/mba) which would redirect to the longer URL. 

Vanity URLs do not expire on their own and can be requested by using this form. 

Updates to Web Governance Policy

Marketing reserves the right to update the governance policy and will notify Drupal Users of relevant changes that affect them.