Website Redevelopment project 2023
Background
In May 2023 the Scouts ACT IT Committee began a project to redevelop the Scouts ACT website.
The purpose of this page is to share information about the progress of the redevelopment project with everyone: Youth, Parents and Carers, Leaders, AA Teams, Committee members and all the other valuable people involved with Scouts in the ACT.
The project is being conducted by Andrew Newbery under the guidance of the IT and Digital Coordination Committee and the Communication, Marketing & Publicity Committee. Andrew (Darzee) is a Scout Leader from Lake Ginninderra Sea Scouts.
Make a suggestion - yours ideas count!
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Use this Feedback Form if you have any suggestions, ideas or comments on how to improve the Scouts Act website. |
Consultation has begun!
The official consultation process began on 5 September 2023 at the Group Leaders Meeting (Jumbanna).
The consultation period is planned to end on 30 October 2023, so make sure to get your suggestions and ideas in by then!
Suggestions so far
The 2 purple tables below list most of the Content ideas and Management ideas received so far. Not everything sent in should be published, but rest assured if you sent it in using the form and it's not here, it will be in the lists of feedback in the Final report to the IT Committee.
The plan is to update the tables at least weekly, but don't hold me to that: like everyone else, life happens!
# |
Idea |
Suggested by |
Status |
1 | Scout youth can't access the information in the Member's Area. | ||
2 |
Branch Youth Council ideas pre-August 2023:
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Branch Youth Council | |
3 |
Ideas from Branch Scout Council - August 2023:
Types of content Scouts would like:
How to appeal to young people:
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Branch Scout Council - August update | |
4 |
Include more information about Groups on the Scout Groups page. Include: their website, external and internal pictures of halls... |
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5 |
Create a page to upload and share Youth Programs so that Leaders can re-use what others have done. Could be a table of the following: program name, summary of program, youth group aimed at (Joeys, Cubs, Scouts, Vennies, Rovers) document file that has all details in it, who posted it (not who made it), maybe a rating system for how good it was?. Uploaded documents would need approval before being published to avoid unpleasant postings. For example, I could share my Scouts Chariot Night program or my Orienteering at Weston Park program. |
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6 | Could be cool to have a forum (where posts need to be moderated probably) for things like finding verifiers for OAS/assessors for SIAs or general help running activities that aren't AA e.g. finding leaders/youth who are great at golf to help run a golf night on a program | Madeleine W | |
7 |
These were the ideas from brainstorming at the Branch Scout Council(BSC) meeting on 13 Sep
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Branch Scout Council 13 Sep 23 | |
8 |
Tell people how to subscribe (and unsubscribe yourself) to emails or alerts that certain pages have changed. I suspect that the existing ScoutsIT list <scoutsit@scoutsact.com.au> does this, but do people know they can subscribe to this? (I didn't)
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Andrew N | |
9 |
Have a SiteAdmin person (previously 'webmaster') whose job it would be to keep an eye on emails and other info sent out to Scouts ACT and make sure it gets onto the ScoutsACT website. Maybe have an idea submission form linked to a new SiteAdmins@ScoutsACT.com.au email address advertised on the website. This would expand to a group of volunteers over time. [Andrew N raised this with the Communication, Marketing & Publicity Committee on 21 Sep 23. The Committee agreed and Andrew Newbery was appointed for an initial 6 month trial term.] |
Andrew N | Approved |
10 |
Scouts Australia useful links page? I didn't know that Scouts Australia published their research and results of surveys! You get to it at the bottom of the Resources pageand here is the link that takes you directly to the information. I particularly liked the adult_experience_survey_-_noc_presentation_-_june2023.pdf |
Andrew N | |
11 | The Branch Venturer Council (BVC) long term plan is to migrate all the BVC content from https://www.actventurers.com/ over to the main ScoutsACT website and allow the BVC members to edit their pages directly. | BVC | |
12 | Could we set up something [on the public part of the website] like the Victorian adventurous activities page for the ACT AA teams, including when you click all the way through to their calendars?: https://scoutsvictoria.com.au/activities-events/adventurous-activities/ | Andy B | |
13 | Scouts NSW have a really nice calendar. The functionality is really good and it look really nice. the filters and nice big format make it easy to use. https://nsw.scouts.com.au/events-calendar/ | Andy B |
# |
Idea |
Comments |
Status |
1 | Allow a representative from each Adventurous Activity group access to edit their own website page in addition to Branch Office doing updates. [This can only be done by SiteSuite support and does not work well] |
Can't do | |
2 | Broken link check to report on internal and external hyperlinks that need fixing. [SiteSuite does not have this capability] |
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3 | Scouts ACT to be able to manage user access to edit pages. [This can only be done by SiteSuite support] |
Can't do | |
4 |
Version-ing of pages. Currently any page change anywhere on the website that is saved gets published whenever anyone clicks "Publish". This means changes that are in-progress but not finished get published.
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5 | Multifactor Authentication (MFA) far all accounts that can edit the website. |
Helps prevent defacement. Good security. |
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6 | Do we need MFA on the Member's area? |
prevents access via a stolen or copied password prevents password sharing |
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7 | Site editing accounts require password change every x months or they are disabled. | Catches people who leave or no longer doing changes. | |
8 | Audit who has access to change the website and disable anyone without a current need. | Helps prevent defacement | |
9 |
Allow representatives of the Branch Scout Council, Branch Venturer Council and Branch Rover Council to edit their own webpages (similar to #1) |
Branch Youth Council | |
10 | Create customised forms and surveys for use on the website (feedback etc) [This can only be done by SiteSuite staff at a cost] |
Andrew | |
11 | Enhance security (no generic website admin userids [names only], MFA, change logs) | ||
12 | Error trap page to replace the built-in. This will make us look more professional and friendly. | Andrew N | Done |
13 |
Pictures on the website & Privacy.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) also has advice on their website here: |
Andrew N | |
14 | Add a favicon file so that the URL gets a Scout branded icon in browser tabs. [This can only be done by SiteSuite support] |
Andrew N | Done1 |
Notes:
1. Press SHIFT & Refresh button to force a cache refresh in Chrome and Edge to see the icon.
Consultation plan
Here are the planned consultation methods for this project:
- Feedback Form on the website
- Attend Committee meetings
- Attend Branch Council meetings
- Survey sent to all Scouts ACT members (via Operoo)
- Newsletters that Committees and BEC email out
- Attend Scout Group and Rover meetings.
Other Scouts website links
A separate pagehas been created with screen grabs of each website to facilitate a comparison of pages.
scouts.com.au |
scoutsact.com.au |
nsw.scouts.com.au |
scoutsqld.com.au |
nt.scouts.com.au |
scoutswa.com.au |
sa.scouts.com.au |
scoutsvictoria.com.au |
tas.scouts.com.au |
scouts.nz |
Consultation so far...
Here's a list of specific consultation done so far. I've talked to lots of people along the way, but these are the specific meetings i've been to.
# | Date | Consultation |
1 | 31 Aug | Rob F |
2 | 5 Sep | Group Leaders meeting (Jumbanna) with Craig |
3 | 11 Sep | Craig R |
4 | 13 Sep | Branch Scout Council with Jay |
5 | 18 Sep | Branch Venturer Council with Jay |
6 | 21 Sep | Communications, Marketing and Publicity Committee meeting |
7 | TBA | Sarah S |
8 | 16 Oct | Combined Branch Scout & Venturer Council with Jay |
9 | TBA | Branch Executive Council |
Other details about the project
Andrew plans to visit as many Scout Group meetings and Committee Meetings as he can so that there is direct consultation and feedback from youth and volunteers around Canberra.
Website Redevelopment Project Plan
Below is the table showing the overall project plan.
# | Document | Status | Target date |
1 | Project Plan | In progress | 22 May 2023 |
2 | Analysis of existing Scouts ACT website | In progress | TBA |
3 | Analysis of other Scout websites | In progress | TBA |
4 | Stakeholder consultation | In progress | 30 October 2023 |
5 | Website management system and hosting | In progress | TBA |
6 | Final report to Scouts ACT IT Committee | Not started | 30 October 2023* |
Note*: On 25 July the ICT Committee approved an extension for this project from 28 Aug to 30 Oct. I'll have to request another extension. :P
I've also been updating the existing Scouts ACT website where I can along the way.
This page last Updated: 3 December 2023