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ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies

November 20, 2008 (Change Log)

Table of Contents

Purpose of Policies

ED.gov Mission and Information Architecture

Administrative Roles and Responsibilities

Funding Model and Contract Support

Technical Architecture and Operations

Content Management

Performance Metrics

Appendices

For the user's convenience, this document is also available in the following formats:

Please direct any questions or comments about this document to:
Office of Communications and Outreach
U.S. Department of Education
Attn: Jill James, LBJ-5E308 400 Maryland Ave. SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
jill.james@ed.gov

Purpose of Policies

Why You Should Read This Document

This document establishes the policies and procedures that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) uses to make information available on the agency's official website at http://www.ed.gov/.

ED.gov is the Department's newsstand, library, and marquee. For most Americans, it is the only encounter they will ever have with the Department. In September 2003, a redesign of ED.gov was launched. The resulting website is aimed at advancing the goals of the president and the secretary and the mission of this agency.

The redesign aligns to the President's Management Agenda and directly contributes to the strategic objectives cited under the goal, specifically effectively using the Internet to enable citizens to penetrate the federal bureaucracy to access information and transact business. One of the major benefits of the redesign was the renewed focus on our customers' needs. The new site offers "information paths" for our most frequent visitors—students, parents, teachers, and administrators. The redesign also implemented a radically different look, imposed consistent branding and navigation on all content, and introduced extensive templating to make updates more efficient and consistent.

The ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies were revised to support the goals of the redesign and to keep pace with advances in technology.

What This Document Is and Is Not

This document provides global guidance to ensure high quality and consistent content, organization, and presentation of information on ED.gov. For the purposes of this document, ED.gov includes the Department's public web servers, with www.ed.gov as the primary entry point, and excludes Federal Student Aid systems, the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics, the Education Central Automated Processing System, and other web-enabled business systems.

This document outlines the mission of ED.gov, its technical and information architectures, its content management practices and how its success is measured. The ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies is intended as the primary reference document for all who publish information on ED.gov. Offices and programs within ED may also produce local guidance that expands upon policy in this document.

This document is not a style guide for content contributors; nor does it provide a complete checklist of procedures for launching Internet projects, although many procedural issues are addressed. ED and contractor project leaders are expected to consult with the Development Services Team in the Office of the Chief Information Officer before beginning projects that require contractor support. Specific Department technical standards can be found in Appendix C: Technical Standards and Guidelines. Because technology changes quickly, content contributors will benefit from consulting additional reference materials.

To limit the length of this document, related policies are referenced, not repeated, where appropriate. Links to references are provided at the end of the document, not within text, to ease reading. A limited glossary can also be found in the appendices.

ED.gov Mission and Information Architecture

Site Goals

ED.gov is the first and only contact with ED for many citizens. It must:

Legislative Mandates

ED.gov supports the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) by providing a technology infrastructure for cost-effective deployment of electronic versions of business process transactions. The ED website also meets the legislative requirements of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (formerly called Information Technology Management Reform Act (ITMRA) (P L. 104-106, §§5001-5703) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended (42 U.S.C § 794d), which establish goals for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of ED's operations and delivery of services to the public through the best use of information technology.

Administrative Roles and Responsibilities

While publishing on ED.gov is decentralized, management is centralized. Senior management ensures that the website strategy aligns with the Department's organizational and strategic objectives. This strategy guides the daily operation of the website. Content contributors in principal offices (POCs), which are the primary organizational divisions within ED, receive guidance on the strategic objectives from ED.gov management, polices and procedures, and an agency-wide working group, the Internet Working Group (IWG). What follows is a detailed outline of the administrative roles and responsibilities.

ED Senior Management

ED senior management, in particular the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach (OCO), in consultation with the Senior Editor, establishes the strategic direction and priorities for ED.gov. The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) has operational and technical responsibility for the technology platform, support contractors, and direct program management. The OCO Assistant Secretary and the Senior Editor are the conduit for guidance from senior managers. The Senior Editor and the OCO Web Team provide editorial leadership to POC Editors and Authors. Editorial duties include:

OCIO Development Services Team

DST, which is a division of the Office of the Chief Information Officer, provides technical and budget support for ED.gov to the Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO). DST has primary responsibility for the tasks listed below.

Office of Communications and Outreach

While DST has the lead on managing the technology and budget for ED.gov, OCO is responsible for managing ED.gov content. OCO has primary responsibility for the tasks listed below.

In addition to the tasks above, the OCO Senior Editor and the OCO Web Team have specific duties.

Senior Editor

OCO Web Team

Principal Offices

Principal offices provide information directly to ED customers. As the primary content contributors, they have the following tasks.

In addition to the tasks above, the POC Authors and POC Editors have specific duties.

POC Authors

POC Editors

Internet Working Group

The IWG is made up of representatives from each principal office. It is chaired by the OCO Senior Editor. Members have some technical background and can speak with authority for their principal office. Members have the following responsibilities.

Funding Model and Contract Support

Budget

OCIO provides primary funding for the overall operations of ED.gov. The OCIO Internet budget supports hardware/software maintenance, version upgrades and technology refresh, and the IAS Contract. ED.gov is also dependent on the OCIO network operations budget to provide Internet connectivity, networking infrastructure, network security, server administration, operating system, database management systems, and off-site disaster recovery facilities.

Rising costs have gradually overtaken OCIO's Internet budget; therefore, more costs and tasks have been shifted to the principal offices. Principal offices provide resources for content preparation through staff and task orders on the IAS Contract.

Internet Application Support Contract

DST administers the IAS Contract as the primary support vehicle for ED.gov. The purpose of the IAS Contract is to provide administrative and technological support for a robust Internet server environment and related software applications and services for the Department and its component offices and programs. IAS Contract services include:

Content contributors are most likely to take advantage of the services of the IAS contractor in content preparation. While POC Authors and Editors prepare most of ED's content for posting, the IAS contractor can provide design, creation and maintenance of web documents/applications through task orders. Task order funding can also support application development, website design and development, and document conversion.

The IAS contractor provides principal offices with monthly task order reports on work and funding status. Principal offices are responsible for reviewing and approving the contractor's work and for monitoring the level of funding on their task orders. Questions about the task order reports should be directed to the Contracting Officer's Representative in DST.

Coordination with External Contractors

Principal offices are encouraged to employ the IAS contractor for all of their content preparation and application development needs that require contractor support. Any other contractor is considered "external," even if the contractor has on-site staff. The involvement of an external contractor in development for ED.gov adds a layer of complexity and often adds time and cost to a project. The only hope of keeping costs down when an external contractor is involved is for communication to begin early and continue throughout the project. Success depends on communication among the external contractor, the sponsoring principal office, OCO, OCIO, and the IAS contractor. (See "Centralized Management of Web Servers" and "ED-Sponsored Content" for additional information that applies to projects hosted on external servers.)

All but the simplest projects require a kick-off meeting to:

The POC Editor must provide the external contractor with access to the ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies and the additional guidance on the ED.gov technical environment found in Information for Contractors Developing Content or Applications for www.ed.gov. The POC Editor must notify the OCO Web Team as early as possible about the work to be contracted out and provide a target date for posting the web pages or application to the ED.gov site. To determine the target posting date, the POC Editor should allow time for principal office review and approval, for OCO review and approval, for integration testing by the IAS contractor, and for revisions at each step.

Once the files developed by the external contractor have been approved by the principal office and by OCO, the POC Liaison will coordinate integration testing with OCIO and the IAS contractor. Files must be transmitted to the IAS contractor no less than 3 weeks in advance of the target posting date.

The IAS contractor is responsible for conducting integration testing. Testing is required for all web pages/applications developed by an external contractor (as it is for all web pages/applications developed in-house) so that OCO, OCIO, and principal office and contractor personnel, including the external contractor, can review the work in the ED.gov technical environment. When migrating web pages and applications from the external contractor's test environment to the ED test environment, the IAS contractor typically must invest significant time in reviewing and adjusting the code and markup to work effectively and efficiently on the ED.gov site. Some development practices make that job harder. Historically, several types of external contractor web site development have proven to take a significant amount of time to adapt to the ED.gov environment:

Approved files that require changes that affect the systems, infrastructure, and/or data and communications integrity of the Department's internal network, EDUCATE, must undergo additional review by OCIO's Change Advisory Board (CAB). This approval process may affect the project timeline.

The Department will not be held responsible for correcting and implementing poorly designed web pages that do not comply with the ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies. The external contractor retains responsibility for ensuring that the application performs efficiently and correctly under real-world load on the live site. In the event of major problems, files will be rejected by OCO in conjunction with the POC Editor and returned to the external contractor for rework.

Contractor Responsibilities

External contractors will develop content, including web pages, graphics, databases, scripts and forms, for posting to ED.gov in accordance with the following procedures:

Contract Language

The following language must be included in all contracts that produce deliverables to be posted on ED.gov.

"The contractor shall provide all deliverables intended for posting on the ED web site in accordance with the following:

Deliverables that are created specifically for the web and do not have published counterparts in print form shall follow the same guidelines. Hardcopy shall be submitted along with the electronic files through appropriate Department clearance and sign-off requirements, which will be the same as or equivalent to those for publications.

Deliverables shall meet the requirements for posting on ED.gov stated in the ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies."

Technical Architecture and Operations

Centralized Management of Web Servers

Internet services are developed and maintained centrally by OCIO to meet the needs of principal offices. The purpose of centralized management of web servers is to provide optimal customer service and cost control by ensuring adherence to Department quality control standards, increased security, and uniformity of presentation.

Principal offices may not, in general, purchase servers for agency content or convert existing servers for that purpose, or provide funding to grantees or contractors to host websites on external servers on their behalf. However, principal offices may provide funding for content on external webservers if:

The IWG Co-Chairs may agree to allow principal offices to fund external webservers in other circumstances, on a case-by-case basis.

Websites hosted on external servers are considered to be official Department websites if

Principal offices are responsible for ongoing review and maintenance of content on external web servers, including official Department websites on such servers. Principal offices must ensure that content undergoes an internal clearance process and complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and federal and ED.gov standards.

Domain Names

OMB Memorandum M-05-04, Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites, requires that Federal public websites use .gov domains, and not .com or .org domains. As a result, all websites hosted on Department-owned servers will have ed.gov domain names.

Official Department websites on external servers are considered to be Federal public websites, and must also have .gov domain names. The principal office funding the external site is responsible for coordinating with DST and the external contractor or grantee to obtain and set up the .gov domain names.

In almost all cases, official Department websites on external servers, like those on internal servers, will be assigned an ed.gov domain name. Exceptions may be allowed in very limited circumstances, with the approval of the Senior ED.gov Editor.

Contract Language

The following language must be included in all contracts that include a website on an external server as one of the deliverables:

The contractor shall, in consultation with ED, develop and maintain a Web site to use throughout the life of the project. The Web site shall be hosted by the vendor, and will be compatible with ED's Web site, www.ed.gov, and follow applicable sections of the ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies (http://www.ed.gov/internal/wwwstds.html) and the ED.gov Style Guide (http://www.ed.gov/internal/styleguide/index.html). The Web site shall feature any appropriate deliverables associated with the project. Therefore deliverables, where indicated, should be submitted in such a way so that they can be hosted on the vendor's or ED's Web site. Web applications will use software compatible with ED's Web site (i.e., Macromedia ColdFusion, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM WebSphere) to facilitate migration to www.ed.gov for hosting at the end of the contract; ED may waive the compatibility requirement on request on a case-by-case basis.

Technical Architecture

ED.gov consists of the main web server, machines supporting the main web service (e.g. server boxes, load balancing front-end), and various applications and services (e.g. site search, database applications, streaming media, listservs, web content management, etc.). The following functional and technical characteristics are currently in place:

Standards Used:

Content Management

Creating/Posting Content

To ensure accuracy and consistency with the Department's mission and web strategy, content undergoes multiple reviews before posting on ED.gov. Two reviews are built into the workflow of ED's content management system, while others may be performed as necessary outside of the workflow.

POC Approval

Most content originates in ED principal offices. Each office is required to implement an internal clearance process that ensures all content has been approved by senior management. Clearance processes may vary by office, but at minimum they must adhere to the following guidance.

A POC web clearance process must be overseen by a senior manager who assumes day-to-day responsibility for ensuring that content is reviewed and proofread appropriately and in a timely manner. The process should include a roster of good proofreaders - no fewer than two individuals in each office - who, as a team, are available and on-call throughout the day to provide 24-hour turnaround. While Assistant Secretaries may authorize a senior manager to oversee the clearance process, ultimately each Assistant Secretary is responsible for any content generated within his/her office.

An exception to the above web clearance process is made for content previously cleared for print publication. If the web version is substantially the same as the print publication, it does not require additional clearance.

POC Authors ensure that content has been approved before preparing it for posting. Principal offices may have multiple POC Authors. Some small offices do not have any authors, but rely on the POC Editor to prepare all content. POC Authors submit files to a POC Editor for further review using the Department's content management system, Interwoven TeamSite. The POC Author Checklist outlines the steps that an author must follow.

Every principal office has one POC Editor who may also serve as the office's Internet Working Group member. In busy offices, the POC Editor may be a full-time job. The POC Editor reviews files submitted by POC Authors and/or prepares content for posting. The POC Editor has the option to reject files to the POC Author for correction. Once their reviews are complete, POC Editors submit files to POC Liaisons for further review in TeamSite. The POC Editor Checklist outlines the steps that an editor must follow in reviewing content.

Web Team Approval

All content undergoes technical review by the POC Liaisons. Technical review includes ensuring files have been validated; meet browser compatibility and screen resolution requirements; and comply with agency and federal standards/laws, including the ED.gov Style Guide and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Each POC Liaison is assigned to one or more principal offices and builds an expertise in the subject areas of those principal offices. POC Liaisons review files submitted or approved by POC Editors and/or prepare content for posting. POC Liaisons have the option to reject files to a POC Editor or Author for correction. Once their reviews are complete, POC Liaisons approve files for posting to the production website.

Additional Approvals

OCO Approval

In addition to the POC web clearance process, content that has policy implications, is high-profile or is sensitive, must undergo review by OCO. Examples of such content include: lists of books and authors; the program guide; information about new legislation, a program or initiative; or a new website. Contact the Senior Editor to request OCO clearance.

It is the responsibility of the principal office to determine whether OCO review is necessary. If there is any doubt, the POC Editor should consult with the POC Liaison or the Senior Editor. If OCO approval is necessary, it must take place before the POC Editor submits the web content for further review by the POC Liaison.

Information Collection Clearance

A request for identical information from 10 or more members of the public requires additional approval. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 requires that these information collections be approved by the Office of Management and Budget. Information collections can include customer satisfaction surveys, applications, and online forms. However, requests for general comments that do not ask for responses to standard questions do not require clearance.

It is the responsibility of the principal office to determine whether information collection clearance is necessary. Content contributors should consult with their office's Information Collection Coordinator and the Guide to the Information Collection Clearance Process. If clearance is necessary, it must take place before the POC Editor submits the web content for further review by the POC Liaison.

Privacy Policy

OMB Memorandum 03-22, OMB Guidance for Implementing the Privacy Provisions of the E-Government Act, governs the collection and use of personal information on ED.gov.

  1. Whenever personally identifiable information is collected and the information is maintained in a system of records, additional approval is required. The Privacy Act controls how federal agencies collect, maintain and use information about individuals.

    It is the responsibility of the principal office to determine whether publishing a Privacy Act system notice is necessary. Content contributors should consult with the Privacy Act Officer in OM for additional information. If publishing a system notice is necessary, it must take place before the POC Editor submits the web content for further review by the POC Liaison.

  2. OMB specifies that federal agencies should provide privacy policy notices at major entry points, as well as at any web page where the agencies collect substantial personal information from the public. While all pages in the ED.gov template include a link to descriptions of why ED collects and how it uses certain categories of information, these notices do not cover all uses. And web applications or pages created outside the template - for example, over-wide pages with the ED lite banner, or applications - do not automatically include the standard link to a privacy notice.

    It is the responsibility of the principal office to determine whether a content-specific privacy notice is necessary on a templated page and whether to add a link to a privacy notice on non-templated ED.gov content. Content contributors should review the ED.gov Privacy Notice.

  3. OMB restricts the use of persistent cookies on federal web sites. OMB states that persistent cookies should not be used unless the following conditions are met:

    • A compelling need to gather the data on the site
    • Appropriate and publicly disclosed privacy safeguards for handling of information derived from cookies
    • Personal approval by the head of the agency

    To comply with OMB guidance, the Secretary has delegated authority to the CIO to approve persistent cookie use on ED.gov. Content contributors should inform DST of their intent to use persistent cookies. To test files created by an external contractor, consult Procedures to Test for Cookies in Appendix C: Technical Standards and Guidelines. The CIO will examine the instances of persistent cookie use and permit such use only when there is a low risk of raising privacy issues and strong functional (customer-focused) justification.

Accessibility Testing

All ED.gov content must comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 508 requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Pages that are created in the ED.gov template and abide by the ED.gov Style Guide do not usually require additional testing to ensure that they are accessible. However, new web applications, forms, PowerPoint presentations and PDF files should be scrutinized carefully.

It is the responsibility of the principal office to determine whether accessibility testing is necessary. Principal offices that lack the necessary skills/software to determine whether accessibility testing is necessary should consult with the OCO Web Team. Content contributors may contact the OCIO Assistive Technology Team directly to schedule accessibility testing. If testing is necessary, it must take place before the POC Editor submits the web content for further review by the POC Liaison.

Approval for EDUCATE Changes

Changes that affect the systems, infrastructure, and/or data and communications integrity of the Department's internal network, EDUCATE, require additional approval. OCIO's Change Approval Board (CAB) oversees system change requests, technical reviews and implementations. While this rigorous review is not necessary for most postings to ED.gov, new web applications, such as databases or surveys, must receive CAB approval prior to posting. The CAB approval process must be incorporated into the project timeline. It is the responsibility of the principal office to inform and involve DST during the planning stages for a new application.

Featuring Content

Any content contributor may request that the Senior Editor feature new/updated content on the ED.gov site. In practical terms, POC Authors and POC Editors will most often funnel their requests through their POC Liaison. Methods to feature content include:

Linking to External Content

Linking to external organizations raises two key issues: (1) avoiding the appearance of endorsement or favoritism; and (2) using limited resources efficiently and effectively.

To avoid the appearance of endorsement or favoritism, content contributors must:

To ensure efficient and effective use of ED's limited resources for web development and maintenance:

ED-Sponsored Content

Information on servers operated by or directly representing organizations or individuals under Department funding is considered to be "ED-Sponsored" content. Such content must be related to the purpose of the award under which the project is funded. The Department of Education should be identified prominently, and the ED.gov logo should be displayed prominently and made a link to the ED.gov home page. Also, a link should be included to the sponsoring principal office. In the case of organization/grantee websites where ED-sponsored content resides with other information, ED-sponsored content must be clearly identified and distinguished from other information.

The individual or office responsible for the project is responsible for the coordination of all ED-sponsored pages. However, the sponsoring principal office should decide how closely the site needs to be monitored to ensure that the content and technical integrity of ED-sponsored pages are consistent with Department standards. The level of monitoring by the office is determined by the following factors:

Archiving/Removing Content

One of the challenges confronting the Department is using the website to provide information about initiatives that have been reauthorized by Congress while also maintaining historical information about previous programs and initiatives. Creating a linked, searchable archive of outdated information is the approach the Department has chosen to take.

Principal offices are responsible for determining if the information within their subject areas is current, needs to be updated, should be archived, or should be deleted. Outdated files should not be deleted unless they are:

Archiving a file means:

  1. Removing links to the file from the current files on ED.gov and presenting links to it only from other archived pages or a page clearly identified as a library of archived pages.
  2. Changing the status of the file in its metadata to "archived." This ensures the file will only appear during searches on ED.gov when the user specifically requests archived files.
  3. Marking the file with the archived background stamp. If a file is templated, the archived background stamp will be automatically applied when the metadata status is changed to "archived." For non-templated and non-HTML files, other methods for marking the file are outlined in the ED.gov Style Guide.
  4. Adding "Archived:" to the page title.

Performance Metrics

Measures

DST assesses the success of the website using a combination of objective and subjective measures. In general, the quality indicators are:

Methods

The methods for gathering data to judge success include web logs, error analysis, online customer surveys, customer support telephone lines, network monitoring service logs, and usability testing.

DST receives statistics on the website from a number of support services. Red Alert, a service that monitors a number of URLs every 15 minutes 24X7, provides data on reliability. LinkScan, a website validation tool, provides data on errors such as broken links, orphan files, and code problems. Urchin combs through web logs and provides the number of times each file was accessed, when, from which Internet address and using which web browser.

Data on customer satisfaction is provided on an ongoing basis by the online ED.gov Survey. Multiple choice questions allow users to rank the website on a number of factors. The survey provides insight into important customer characteristics that cannot be gleaned from statistical tools.

Customer input is also gathered periodically through usability testing. The tests are designed to measure how effectively the site design aids targeted users' in completing top tasks. Observers watch users attempt to complete predefined tasks, analyze the results, and identify opportunities for improving ED.gov.

Appendices

Appendix A: Definitions

Term Definition
Content Data or documents, basically the raw material for a web page. Content may take many forms, including a print publication, speech or press release.
Content Contributor ED staff responsible for preparing content for use on the Internet, including creation of new material and the conversion of existing textual, tabular, and graphical material into preferred or required file formats; ED or contractor staff needing guidance on the specific standards which apply to the ED site when preparing or converting content.
Content Management System (CMS) A system used to manage the content of a web site. The features of a CMS system vary, but most include Web-based publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search, and retrieval. (derived from searchWebServices.com)
Contracting Officer A person duly appointed with the authority to enter into and administer contracts on behalf of the government.
Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) An individual designated in writing by the Contracting Officer to act as his/her authorized representative and perform specific contract administrative functions within the scope and limitations as defined by the Contracting Officer.
Contractor The contractor, its subsidiaries and affiliates, joint ventures involving the contractor, or any entity with which the contractor may have merged or any individual or entity that assisted or advised the contractor in the preparation of a proposal under this solicitation.
Cookie Small piece of software that is placed on a web user's hard drive to collect information or keep track of a user's session.
EDUCATE ED's electronic network, which connects ED staff, who are located in several buildings occupied by ED staff in Washington, D.C. and ten regional offices distributed across the country, to each other and to ED's computing and telecommunications infrastructure.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language. A hypertext document format used on the World Wide Web. Built on top of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language. "Tags" are embedded in the text. A tag consists of a "<", a "directive" (case insensitive), zero or more parameters and a ">". Matched pairs of directives, like "<TITLE>" and "</TITLE>" are used to delimit text which is to appear in a special place or style.
Information collection The obtaining, causing to be obtained, soliciting, or requiring the disclosure to an agency, third parties or the public, of information by or for an agency by means of identical questions posed to, or identical reporting, recordkeeping, or disclosure requirements imposed on, ten or more persons, whether such collection of information is mandatory, voluntary, or required to obtain or retain a benefit.
Java A simple, object-oriented, distributed, interpreted, robust, secure, architecture-neutral, portable, multithreaded, dynamic, buzzword-compliant, general-purpose programming language developed by Sun Microsystems in the early/mid 1990s. Java supports programming for the Internet in the form of platform-independent Java "applets."
Listserv An automatic mailing list server. The original listserv software was initially written to run under IBM's VM operating system by Eric Thomas. Listserv is now used generically to refer to the entire category of "mail reflectors" used as topical or special interest discussion forums and to disseminate information.
Metadata Data about data. Data definitions describing aspects of actual data items, such as name, format etc. Also used to describe the HTML-specific implementation through which descriptive information about a document can be hidden in the HTML <head> for use by indexing, retrieval, and other software.
System of records A group of any records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.
Template A form available to users in the content management system that standardizes both the capture of data from the user and the presentation of that data on the website.

Appendix B: Contacts

ED.gov Contacts

Appendix C: Technical Standards and Guidelines

ED.gov Style Guide

The ED.gov Style Guide defines the design principles and cascading style sheet used on ED.gov. It provides libraries of standard images and code, a style sheet reference section, and tips to help content contributors follow ED's styles and conventions. The ED.gov Style Guide is maintained online to provide access to internal content contributors and external contractors: http://www.ed.gov/internal/styleguide/index.html

Content Management System (TeamSite) Documentation

Training materials on ED's content management system are continuously updated. Topics include how to: navigate the TeamSite directory structure, update existing files, add metadata, post new content in the ED.gov templates and review and approve TeamSite jobs. Training materials can be found on an internal site for content contributors: http://www.ed.gov/internal/TeamsiteManuals/index.html.

Accessibility

ED's Requirements for Accessible Electronic and Information Technology (E&IT) Design govern all content intended for posting on ED.gov. In addition, ED provides helpful tips on how to meet the requirements of Section 508: http://www.ed.gov/internal/accessibility.html.

Metadata Documentation

An online reference tool provides up-to-date information on the controlled vocabularies used to catalog resources on ED.gov: http://www.ed.gov/admin/reference/index.jsp. Documentation on all ED.gov metadata elements is also available online: http://www.ed.gov/internal/EDWebMetadata/index.html.

Security

The ED.gov Security Plan provides an overview of the security requirements for ED.gov and describes the controls in place or planned for meeting those requirements. The system security plan also delineates responsibilities and expected behavior of all individuals who access the system. Contact the ED.gov System Security Officer for information about the Security Plan.

Procedures to Test for Cookies

Content contributors must ensure that all new web pages/applications comply with OMB guidance on the use of cookies. The procedures below identify persistent and session cookies in HTML, JavaScript, and CGI/PERL scripts. Cookie detection for Java programs and other applications such as ColdFusion and WebSphere must be performed through other means as part of integration testing.

To detect cookie placers located in cgi or perl scripts search for the string: Set-Cookie

Here's an example of what a cookie setter in a perl script might look like:

Content-type: text/html Set-Cookie: foo=bar; path=/; expires=Mon, 01-Jan-2001 00:00:00 GMT

To detect cookie placers located in html meta tags search for the string: Set-Cookie

Example:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Set-Cookie" Content= "id=10; expires=18-Jul-2001 12:00:00 GMT; path=/; domain=.authors.com;">

To detect cookie placers located in javascript search for the string: document.cookie

Examples:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> document.cookie="foo=bar; path=/; expires=Mon, 01-Jan-2001 00:00:00 GMT"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> function setCookie (name, value, expires, path, domain, secure) { document.cookie = name + "=" + escape(value) + ((expires) ? "; expires=" + expires : "") + ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") + ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") + ((secure) ? "; secure" : ""); } </SCRIPT>

This function requires that a name and a value are passed, with all other parameters optional. A sample use of this function could be the following:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> setCookie("foo", "bar", "Mon, 01-Jan-2001 00:00:00 GMT", "/"); </SCRIPT>

If a cookie placer is found, search the file for the text "expires=". If this date is later than the current date then the cookie is persistent. If there is no "expires=" text then the cookie is a session cookie.

Procedure to Identify, Remove Web Bugs

As part of regular technical review of content created by principal offices or an external contractor, POC Liaisons ensure that web pages/applications abide by OMB guidance on collecting personally identifiable information from Internet users. They use the following procedures to identify, remove and prevent Web bugs, hidden forms, embedded client scripts, and links to anonymous FTP servers.

Identify

For web bugs, POC Liaisons use Linkscan to search for all links to external .jpg, .gif, and .png files. For any that are found, the POC Liaison examines the server on which they reside to determine if they are issuing persistent cookies.

For embedded client scripts, POC Liaisons use Linkscan to search for all external links to javascript files. If any are found, the Web Team inspects them to see if they are collecting personally identifiable information.

Remove

For web bugs, POC Liaisons determine if the image can be copied to www.ed.gov. If it can, the Web Team copies the image and changes the appropriate link. If the image cannot be copied the link to the image is removed from the page.

The Web Team removes hidden forms and embedded client scripts from any pages containing them.

The Web Team removes links to ED anonymous FTP servers.

Prevent

To prevent Web bugs, POC Liaisons inspect all new files searching for all images and see if any reside on a server other than www.ed.gov. If such images are found, the POC Liaison must determine if the server on which the image resides is issuing persistent cookies. If it is, the POC Liaison rejects the job and asks the POC Editor to either provide a local copy of the image or redo the page to eliminate the image.

To prevent hidden forms, POC Liaisons search all new files for the <form> tag. If found all such forms must be inspected to see if they are hidden and collect personally identifiable information. If such are found, the file will be rejected and the POC Editor will be asked to remove the hidden form.

To prevent embedded client scripts, POC Liaisons search all new files for the <script> tag. If found all such scripts must be searched for any external references (i.e., links to a server other than www.ed.gov). If found, the POC Liaison rejects the job and asks the POC Editor to remove the external references from the script or remove the script.

Appendix D: Other References

This page last modified April 21, 2015 (jer).

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