Information Architecture



The Umbrella Site

The Umbrella Site is the main University of Wisconsin System / UW System Administration (UWSA) website. It provides a broad overview of UW System functions and organization, and promotes the mission and values of the University of Wisconsin System as well as UW System Administration Offices.

The Umbrella Site is managed by Public Affairs & Communications:

  • Office Snapshot pages are a joint venture between Public Affairs & Communications and individual UWSA Offices, Strategic Communications has editorial control over the content.
  • The curation and maintenance of Gateway Pages is a joint venture between Public Affairs & Communications and individual UWSA Offices.  Strategic Communications has editorial control over the content.

Facilitating Access

The Umbrella Site incorporates 3 principal strategies for facilitating access to other UW System & UWSA websites:

  1. Features and Promotions - on the Landing Page, News, and other strategic parts of the site
  2. Gateway Pages - curated collections of links grouped by Topic / Audience
  3. Office Snapshots - these Office profiles promote UW System Offices and link to related community sites

Office Snapshots

Office Snapshots are brief overviews of all UW System Offices. Each Office Snapshot uses a standard format, to facilitate browsing and “apples-to-apples” comparisons of business functions, structures, etc. The purpose is to provide an consistent overview of all UW System Offices together in one place.

The Office Snapshots section of the Umbrella Site serves both of the site’s primary objectives.

  • The Office Snapshots promote the value of UW System by providing an overview of all UWSA Offices together in one place.
  • The Office Snapshots facilitate access to UW Sites by providing connections from individual Office Snapshots to the Community Sites maintained by the office or has a stake in maintaining.

Review details about Office Snapshots.

Gateway Pages

Gateway Pages are curated collections of links to pages that exist in community sites, grouped by Topic or Audience (Community).

Gateway Pages are one of the 3 strategies the Umbrella Sites uses for facilitating access to UW Sites.

Community Sites

Community Sites are the individual websites maintained by UWSA content editors.

Content has a stated purpose and scope, and is organized around an audience or topic rather than an office structure.

Community Sites are maintained by UWSA content editors, either individually or collaboratively with other content editors.

The business purpose of each Community Site is directly related to the needs of a particular audience. The purpose and scope of each Community Site is established with the Digital Content Manager when the site is created or revised.

Community Site Menus

  • The “Main Menu” from the Umbrella Site is the “Top Menu” on all Community Sites and is not editable by content editors of the Community Site.
  • Each Community Site has its own Main Menu.  Community Site content editors are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the site’s main menu throughout the lifecycle of the site..

Community Site Footer

  • The 1st column is the Umbrella Menu and is not editable by site Content Editors.
  • The 2nd column repeats the Main Menu of the Community Site.
  • The 3rd column is editable by the Site Content Editors.
  • The 4th column contains the contact information for the site's Content Editor..