Start with public tasks, not the organization chart
Residents may need to report a problem, find meeting information, pay a bill or understand eligibility for a service. List the tasks that matter most and the department responsible for each one. Check whether a task crosses several pages, forms or external systems.
Build navigation around the language people use to find those tasks. Department names can remain available, but they should not be the only route to a service. Ask front-desk and call-center staff which questions arrive repeatedly; those questions are useful inputs to content planning.
Inventory the content and name its owners
- List existing pages, documents, forms and connected systems.
- Mark each item to keep, rewrite, combine or retire.
- Assign a person who can approve each content area.
- Identify documents that need separate accessibility work.
- Decide how outdated notices, duplicate pages and archived material will be handled.
Work with your records and legal staff on retention requirements rather than treating a redesign as permission to delete an archive. Give content owners examples and deadlines; a blank request to “send your content” is difficult to act on.
Bring purchasing and IT into the plan
Identify the purchasing route, approval chain and contract requirements with your internal staff. Explain security reviews, hosting restrictions, data handling, integrations and account access in the brief.
Put review time into the schedule. A project that needs an IT review, department sign-off and a purchasing milestone cannot be planned as if one person approves everything. Record who makes decisions and how unanswered questions will be escalated.
Test the journeys you intend to launch
Evaluate representative templates and essential tasks throughout the project. Include accessibility, mobile usability, forms, search and external service handoffs. Ask content owners to test with realistic information rather than only checking a homepage screenshot.
Define the accessibility standard and scope with the people responsible for the project. The audit and remediation guide explains how to separate evaluation, repairs and verification in your scope.
Make launch a set of assigned responsibilities
Create a redirect map for important old URLs. Confirm domain and hosting access, backups, analytics, search-engine setup and an owner for each launch check. Test contact addresses and public forms before the switch.
Agree on a content freeze, the go/no-go decision and a rollback approach. Then schedule a post-launch review: broken links, search results, form deliveries and frequently requested tasks. Give staff an editing guide and a way to request help.
Use the readiness checklist to identify the decisions your team still needs to make.
Prepared by Awesome Cause with AI assistance. These guides provide planning advice; project scope and estimates are agreed individually.
