Web Governance with Teeth

As Lisa pointed out in her definition, formal Web Governance is a way to mitigate risks and liabilities associated with large Web sites. Using a framework to develop and document Web-specific policies and standards creates a playbook by which an organization can manage its Web presence. In an ideal world, everyone would immediately fall in line and start following those rules as soon as they're published. But we all know that things are never that straight forward. So how do you keep Web policies and standards from becoming "shelf-ware"? Like any new policy, the answer lies in the implementation and enforcement.

Here are three key things you can do to ensure effective Web Governance:

1. Secure Senior Management Support

ideally senior management is directly involved in Web governance at the policy level. At the very least, senior management needs to deputize those involved with governance and formalize their authority to implement and enforce Web policy and standards. Communicating senior management buy-in grants legitimacy to the governing body and reinforces the underlying business case for formal Web governance.  It also closes potential loopholes where people may attempt to skirt policy by going over the heads of the governing body and therefore erroding their authority. Getting senior management support requires their understanding of the underlying risks and exposures and promoting an operational strategy for the Web. If senior management support is lacking, you may want to address this need first before investing too much time implementing Web policies and standards.  

2. Execute the Roll Out of Web Policies and Standards

A sure way to kill support for Web Governance is to issue an unfunded mandate. It's not enough to merely announce new policies and standards. To be successful, Web governance must be integrated with overall Web Operations Management. There needs to be a plan in place for executing policies and standards, which may mean changing the roles and functions of the Web team, adopting the use of technology, changing Web workflows or all of the above. Coordinating the rollout of Web policies and standards with the Web Execution tier of WOM ensures that they are implemented universally and that there is an infrastructure in place to provide support.

3. Enforcement

Full compliance is unlikely, especially in a large organization. It's critical then to have a plan in place for the enforcement of Web policies and standards. The plan should address questions like, how will complicance be evaluated, how will violations be reported and what happens when someone is found to be uncompliant?  There may be several tiers of enforcement that include the use of technology, such as a Web CMS to enforce a workflow, to site audits and even the removal of Web content in extreme cases. The point is to make sure there's a plan and adequate resources in place to ensure the Web policies and standards are adhered to.

Following the above guidelines will help ensure that Web governance is effective. It's also important to ensure the governance framework includes a feedback loop so the broader Web community has the opportunity to suggest changes to policies and standards.