Quality assurance

Updating the content of a website, e-newsletter or an online catalogue held on a third-party's website should not be conducted without some checks and balances in place.

The person who reviews and edits the content should verify the quality and accuracy of new content and ensure that it is uploaded to the right place and in a timely manner. Here is a sample checklist that you might like to adopt when verifying the quality of your website's content. Click on the link to download this document into your word processor.

What to do

The content editor of a website can make the job more efficient and effective by establishing and administering a quality assurance procedure.

• Establish a pro-forma that all contributors to the website use to submit new content or changes to existing content or functions. It should identify such things as:
  • the format for the content
  • how to indicate requested links
  • where in the site the new or revised content is to be placed
  • sign-off procedures.
• Ensure everyone in the organisation knows about the proforma and how to complete it.
• Confirm that the content supplied for updating does not infringe anyone's copyright, intellectual property rights or is illegal in any way - eg privacy laws.
• Proof-read the new content and seek approval from the author for changes prior to uploading.
• Determine whether new content should be signed-off by the management team.
• Develop a method of reporting problems.