How to set up an independent website using Single Digital Presence

This guide covers how to configure and QA a new fully independent website using the Single Digital Presence (SDP) Content Management System (CMS). SDP developers will create a CMS for users to manage, create and approve content for an independent website (separate to the content.vic.gov.au CMS).

If you’re using this guide, it means your department or agency is eligible for an independent website based on the new online content governance model. You should understand your user needs and have a clear content strategy.

If your department or agency isn’t eligible for an independent website, use the guide: How to create a site section.

You must have Site Admin permissions to configure a new website.

On this page:

Roles and responsibilities

Role	Team	Responsibilities
Site admin Note: most independent sites have a separate back end. If you’re part of content.vic.gov.au, you won’t need to create the site taxonomy and vocabularies. Visit: How to create a site section.	Site owner	Create site taxonomy and vocabularies.
CMS approver	Site owner	Complete approver training. Create homepage and contact us page (see below). Review department or agency content to ensure it’s accurate and adheres to the content strategy or communications strategy. Map and add redirects (see below). Link contact us from was this page helpful pages (see below).
Content creator	Site owner	Complete editor training. Create, maintain and edit content.
Content approver	Department responsible for supporting the website.	Review content according to quality and accessibility requirements. Provide support on departmental process, digital and SDP best practice.
CMS access and training	SDP	Ensure editors, approvers and site admins have access and support to successfully complete CMS training.
UX/graphic designer	External vendor	Provide digital assets, including the site’s logo, top and bottom graphics and any other assets required.
Site admin technical support	SDP	Create production, develop and master environments. Add analytics and governance codes to the site. Map and implement domain-level redirects. Manage website go-live.

Accessing the Vic Gov CMS

Submit a request for access and training

Once approved, we will provide selected members of your team with Site Admin access (including a link to the production site and login details). The production site is the place to build your website content.

A develop and master site are created for use by developers. The content on these sites is over-ridden with a new version regularly for testing purposes and cannot be automatically moved to your production site. If you need to use these sites, raise a support request.

Setting up the site taxonomy and vocabularies

You’ll need to configure the taxonomy and vocabularies for your website. This helps content creators and users easily navigate the site and understand its purpose.

Creating a website homepage

Start by creating a homepage and contact us page.

A homepage needs to exist in the CMS for a front-end preview of a website to be generated. It’s OK if the title of the homepage hasn’t been decided. The title and URL can be updated before go-live. A Site admin needs to add the homepage to the site taxonomy.

For steps on creating these pages, use the landing page guide.

Contact us page

A contact us page needs to exist so users can contact your team when a requested page is not available.

For steps on creating these pages, use the landing page guide.

Redirects

Updating the contact us link on the website’s error page (404 page not found)

The default 404 page not found page for each site contains a link to the site’s contact page. For example:

By default, the link takes users who receive the error page to sitename.vic.gov.au/connect-with-us. This will need to be changed before the website goes live.

Create a redirect from connect-with-us to the contact page (e.g. sitename.vic.gov.au/contact-us).

Migrated sites: mapping redirects

If migrating a site from another CMS to the SDP CMS, redirects must be mapped before go-live.

Domain name owners at domain name level are done by Site admin technical support, however, page redirects are completed by Site Admins. To ensure all redirects are in place, create a list of all live URLs in the Old URL column and map these pages to equivalent or new URLs to the New URL column. For example:

Old URL	New URL
https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-victoria	https://www.health.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-victoria

Use the URL redirects to add each redirect to the CMS. This should be completed after go-live.

Linking to Contact us from Was this page helpful?

It’s a Victorian government standard to gather visitor feedback on all of our sites.

If the Was this helpful? form is enabled on a page, when the user selects yes or no, they see the below message ‘We're unable to respond to queries or requests for contact via this form. If you have a question and would like to receive a reply, please use our contact us form.’

By default, the link is sitename.vic.gov.au/connect-with-us. You will need to set up a redirect to your site’s contact page if you’re using a different URL (similar to the 404 example above).

Completing a website QA before and after go-live

Use the website QA guide to understand the minimum checks to complete before and after go-live.