Workflow & Procedures

The workflow and procedures below offer a clear roadmap for building a website with the HKUST Website Builder. Be sure to review the steps and estimated timelines to support better planning and a smooth application process.

Get Started

Users should contact MTPC (mtpc@ust.hk / 23586807) on HKUST Website Builder’s features and development process.
MTPC will assist users in applying for a development (DEV) site by submitting a form to ITSO via the Drupal Site Management System (DSMS) with following information:
- Desired production website address (URL/domain name)
- Brief description of website usage
- Owner of the website
- Name and email of:
  1. Primary and secondary contact person
  2. IT Security Officer or Department’s Cybersecurity Coordinator
  3. Site Administrator(s) or Web master(s).
ITSO will help:
- Create a DEV site
- Assign CAS login access to all listed contact (primary, secondary contact persons, CSC, and webmaster)
- Notify users via email upon completion of the DEV site.

Development (DEV)

ITSO/MTPC will:
- Enable multilingual support and modules like News, Events, People, etc
- Assign CAS login access to user/programmer
- Notify users via email upon completion.
If customization is needed, the user or assigned programmer should submit the followings via DSMS: ITSO will review technical specifications and deploy customized code/modules to DEV server.
- Technical specifications for ITSO’s approval
- Scheduled jobs and API integration, if applicable.
To develop the website, the user/programmer should:
- Create pages by adding or editing images and textual content
- Request DEV to User Acceptance Test (UAT) deployment by providing a test plan and signing off on DEV (MTPC can assist new user with this task).
ITSO will help:
- Review technical specifications and deploy code/modules to DEV server
- Deploy website to UAT Server by approx. 3 working days by:
  
  (Deployment requires approx. 3 working days and is only scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday. At least 1-day advance notification is necessary)
  - Reviewing the test plan
  - Setting up basic authentication for UAT
  - Assigning CAS login access to user/programmer
  - Informing user and MTPC when the deployment is complete.

User Acceptance Test (UAT)

User/programmer should:
- Test all functions and confirm/finalize content and layout
- Request UAT-to-Production deployment by:
  1. Confirming UAT completion
  2. Submitting test results
  3. Signing off on UAT
  4. Reconfirming domain and contact information.
ITSO will help:
- Review the test results
- Deploy UAT to Production Server and inform users.
  
  (Deployment requires approx. 3 working days and is only scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday. At least 1-day advance notification is necessary)

Site Launching Preparation

(Once the website domain URL is confirmed, the following tasks can proceed at any time)

The user should register the website by:
- Reconfirming domain URL
- Submitting CAS registration to ITSO by department’s CSC.
ITSO will apply DNS and SSL certificates for the production site (approx. 3 working days).

Production Site Launch

The user should:
- Announce site-launch to stakeholders and update links on HKUST-related pages
- Perform regular content updates
- Monitor site performance and test browser compatibility
- Check and fix broken links.
ITSO will help:
- Renew/manage the SSL certificate
- Remove DEV and UAT sites after 3 months
- Apply Drupal platform upgrades and patches.