Benchmarking Study on the Situation of the United Nations System and Development Institution Websites Results of the World Bank Conference Web for Development: Learning from experienceNovember 20-21, 2003

CI - BPI/WEB – January 2004

Table of content

Method Results Competitive advantages and

weaknesses Elements for improvements

Method Survey conducted by the World Bank toward the following

international institutions: ADB, BIS, CEC, CGIAR, CIDA, Development Gateway, FAO, IAEA, ICAO, ILO, PAHO, Red Cross, UN, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP, UNOPS, Wold Bank, WHO, and 11 other unspecified organizations

Documents from the Web for development: Learning from Experience conference, organized by the World Bank (november 20-21, 2003)

Interviews: CI and BPI/WEB

Navigational comparison of organizations websites

Results of the survey organized according to the following key aspects of web building :

– Portal purpose– Audience’s definition– Content– Structure of Information and User Interface– Technical architecture– Organizational design– Management– Marketing

Results: Purpose of a portal

Internet needs to be used as a valuable tool to interact with stakeholders

– World Bank: “Web catalyse institutional change”

– WHO: “Web shows a unified organization which delivers relevant information and interacts with its public”

– UNPD: “All stakeholders benefit from a service environment”

– OECD: “The civil society ask for more dialog and transparency”

Results: Audience definition

Audience definition is essential to build useful websites

– IAEA: audience surveys used for feedback and response on user outreach development

– World Bank: multiple audience evaluation to get better profile data, perceived value of the site and areas of interest

– UNICEF: surveys help implement internal web culture

Results: Content

Content comes from internal and external sources Intranets become Knowledge Management tools:

– IAEA: KM tool is a motor for the website development– OECD: collaborative practices favour internal communication and content

development English is the rule; multilingualism is rare. To develop it:

– UN: agreements with universities– WHO: full time translators– Other: central translation team

Most content is available for free

Results: Structure of Information & User interface Structure of Information is user-oriented

– BIS: “you should always know where you are and where else you can go to”

– UNICEF: sites were first organized on organizational chart, while now on needs and interests of target audiences

– OECD: customization devices sometimes reduce the scope of knowledge and content availability

Navigational standards– Tool bar on the top– Navigation bar on the top and on the left– Navigation is coherent everywhere in the site

Results: Technical architecture

Choice and implementation of a CMS, and a search engine are among of the first main challenges faced by organizations

Content editing needs standards and guidelines to optimise CMS and search engine choice

– ADB: web posting guidelines systemize standards

– IAEA: start with a prototype site

– Development Gateway: to transform data to XML, standards and tools have to be set

Results: Organizational design

Most web-publishing activities are decentralized with central monitoring– Most central team range from 1 to 4 persons, with 25

staffs members involved as a whole– UNESCO: central team comprises 5 to 10 persons

working with 50 to 100 staff members across the organization

Optimising organizational design benefit the website– General issue: lack of human resources– Standards and tools for information sharing

participate to the optimization of standards and tools

Results: Management

General lack of senior level policy guidance– ADB: Strong senior level support is key for success,

ensures standards implementation and quicker website harmonization

No outsourcing to keep control on standards maintenance and continuity of the sites

Results: Marketing

External marketing devices range from:– Press releases; Brochures and hand outs; Attendance at

conference; Presentations by CIO and other big names; …

To– Site newsletters; Logo placements on other websites;

Special web based events; …

Internal marketing means promoting web thinking internally

Competitive advantages and weaknesses

of UNESCO’s portal

in comparison with

other international institutions websites

Competitive advantages

50 years of experience, and solid networks 8 years of experience and content spreading

on Internet: UNESCO’s presence on the web dates from 1995

Many staff members involved in sector’s websites or web cross-cutting projects: acquisition of experience, creation of online communities, development of the technical infrastructure

A central web team: BPI/WEB exists since 2002

Weaknesses

No Knowledge Management policy or tools: decentralized content workflows, heterogeneous databases,..

Historical impulse is technical: no initial editorial or navigational coherence, no data standards

 

Elements for improvement

Elements for improvement (1/2)

Audience surveys to define portal’s audiences and communities needs – Focus groups, statistics, individual interviews

Content workflow, knowledge management, and communities of practice: – Knowledge Management system – Solid workflow between Intranet/Extranet/Internet– Set of objectives regarding communities involvement– Set of clear standards and guidelines

Elements for improvement (2/2)

Organizational design and management:– Steering committee: define portal’s

objectives and internal promotion– Active support of top management– Central operational team: implement the

project