OSUWMC Site Migration
Timeline: Approximately 1.5 years (2017 - 2018)
Team Makeup: 3 UX Designers, 1 Developer, 1 Scrum Master
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center made efforts to improve digital strategy on their site, https://wexnermedical.osu.edu. The primary focus was to migrate externally facing department sites (Sharepoint sites) to the SiteCore (CMS) platform. This migration included moving 70+ sites (~15,000 pages) in total.
Component Setup: Navigation
Primary/”Main” Navigation Adjustment
As part of this migration, emphasis was placed on modifying the main site navigation so that the multiple site user groups; patients, physicians, pharmacists, nurses, researchers and medical students could efficiently find information relevant to their area of interest.
The “Departments and Centers” section of the site was created so that users looking for professional/research related content would be driven to “Departments and Centers” and patients would be likely to select “Healthcare Services”.
Department Subnavigation Creation
In order to update the site subnavigation, original Sharepoint sites were examined to determine the categories of content that would be classified (as well as a third party vendor assessment).
The sub navigation items evolved to include the following; Overview, Patient Care (links to corresponding Healthcare Services section), Education and Training, Research and Clinical Trials, Our Team, Ways to Give.
Tertiary Navigaton Creation
To further categorize content, a left handed tertiary navigation was frequently used, particularly within the "Education and Training" and "Our Team" sections of department sites. The items in this navigation were designed to be adapted to content that was “department specific”.
Page Layout Creation
To ensure the most consistency across department sites, standard page layouts were established early on in the migration process.
Content Audit
Each individual site included in the migration was examined through a content audit. Audits were completed through a site crawl (using Screaming Frog SEO Spider) and combining Google Analytics.
Using the inclusive report of all site pages and data, content was then classified into categories; keep as-is, archive or optimize.
Sitemap
After stakeholder approval of the content audit, a sitemap was completed. The goal of the sitemap was to arrange a visual view of relevant content into appropriate categories (taking data and content hierarchy into consideration).
Wireframing & High Fidelity Mockups
Once the sitemap was approved, stakeholders would occasionally request that a wireframe or high fidelity mockup be completed before the site build began
SiteCore Build + Final External Review
After the sitemap and wireframes/high fidelity mockups were approved through stakeholders, the SiteCore build (by UX and dev) would begin. Throughout the build, there were frequent internal UX reviews to ensure that all design standards were met and that the layouts were representing content effectively.
Post Launch
Site Redirects: collaboration with developers and third party agency
Redirects were implemented from the old Sharepoint site to the newly designed SiteCore site that would live under “Departments and Centers” on the OSUWMC site and the original Sharepoint site was archived.
Content Owner Updates: collaboration with department marketing managers and admins
Throughout the design process, there was frequent communication with marketing managers and admins in an effort to update outdated content and images. For up to 2 weeks after the launch of a newly designed site, marketing managers and administrators could submit last minute changes and content that would be updated on the site.
The above continuous design process identified would generally repeat continuously for the 70 + department site builds and launches.
Project Outcomes
Built a mobile-friendly/responsive site with an updated look and feel in alignment with OSUWMC’s newly established brand guidelines.
Created navigation helpful to multiple users. Integrated a balance between the content geared towards patients vs. professional user groups.
Reduced the amount of redundant and outdated content, which resulted in a large decrease in page count. Made applicable content easier to access.
Implemented SEO strategy to improve overall site ranking and direct traffic to 1 site instead of multiple.
Created a site that is easier for multiple content owners (in each department) to complete regular site updates.