ET Website — IA Recommendations

Key structural shift: The new design moves from an organizationally-defined nav (Services & Tools / Initiatives / Planning / About) to an audience-defined nav with a dedicated AI hub at top level. Every visitor's first question — "Is this for me?" — is answered in the primary navigation rather than after a click.

tech.utexas.edu

Utility bar (top): utexas.edu link | System Status pill | Alerts & Outages | IT Maintenance Calendar

For Students

Getting Started at UT LIVE

EID & Authentication LIVE

Wi-Fi & Connectivity LIVE

Canvas (LMS) LIVE

Microsoft 365 LIVE

Free Software & Tools LIVE

Student Tech Hub (landing) NEW

For Faculty

Canvas Course Setup LIVE

Zoom & Panopto LIVE

Research Computing (HPC) LIVE

Microsoft 365 & Teams LIVE

Data Storage & Backup LIVE

Faculty Tech Hub (landing) NEW

For Staff

IT Service Desk LIVE

Device Setup & Support LIVE

Data Center Services LIVE

Digital Certificates LIVE

Virtual Servers & Hosting LIVE

Security & Compliance LIVE

Staff Tech Hub (landing) NEW

Services & Tools

All Services A–Z LIVE

Microsoft 365 LIVE

Duo / MFA LIVE

Canvas MOVED

Wi-Fi & VPN LIVE

Software Library LIVE

Digital ID LIVE

UT Spark LIVE

UT Sage (link out) LIVE

Data Centers LIVE

Networking LIVE

DAC MOVED

↳ Document Accessibility MOVED

↳ Accessibility Resources MOVED

Training & Learning NEW

↳ Training Programs NEW

↳ Software Dev Training NEW

↳ UT Learn (link) NEW

UT.AI ✦

About UT.AI NEW

AI Tools Hub DRAFT

↳ Microsoft Copilot MOVED

↳ UT Spark LINK

↳ UT Sage LINK

↳ AI Studio / Licenses DRAFT

AI Roadmap LIVE

Eight Core Enabling Mechs. LIVE

Guidance for Using AI LIVE

Training & Workshops NEW

About ET

Our Mission LIVE

Leadership LIVE

Our Organization LIVE

Careers LIVE

Strategic Priorities RENAMED

Governance MOVED

Initiatives MOVED

↳ Current Initiatives MOVED

↳ Past Initiatives MOVED

↳ Request Initiative INTERNAL

Annual Reports MOVED

News & Insights MOVED

Events MOVED

Header actions:
Search bar | Get Support (button)

Footer navigation

Services (col) Support (col) About (col) Resources (col) Alerts & Outages ← moved here IT Maintenance Calendar ← moved here Campus IT Policies ← moved here Web Accessibility Policy Web Privacy Policy Emergency Information Site Policies

Your team's action plan is well-reasoned and directionally correct. The recommendations below preserve everything in the plan and add specific refinements where the new design direction creates an opportunity to go further.

Action Plan Item	Verdict	Recommendation	Effort	Impact
Launch "Connect with Tech" as main navigation Move technology audience pages to their own main navigation item	Go Further	Don't use a single "Connect with Tech" parent dropdown. Instead, promote three separate top-level nav items: "For Students", "For Faculty", "For Staff." This eliminates a click and makes audiences immediately visible in the nav bar itself. Each gets its own dedicated landing page (Tech Hub).	Low effort	High impact
Adjust Services & Tools navigation All services as child pages; DAC moved here; AI tools page created	Agree	Fully support this. Additionally: add Canvas as a child page (it's missing from the current nav despite being the highest-traffic destination); add a Training & Learning section as a child here (resolves the open question on Training Programs); move Software Developer Training here, not to Careers.	High effort	High impact
Rework Governance + Strategy into "Planning" Merge into a new top-level nav item	Change	Disagree with "Planning" as a top-level nav label. Students and faculty don't navigate to "Planning" — it's internal jargon. Recommend folding Governance and Strategy (renamed "Strategic Priorities") into About ET instead. The content stays, it just lives somewhere visitors expect to find institutional context. This also reduces the nav from 5 items to a clean structure.	Low effort	Medium impact
Move News and Events into header nav Out of About, back into primary navigation	Modify	Move News and Events out of About — yes. But rather than adding them as a top-level nav item (which competes for nav real estate), surface them prominently on the homepage and as a dropdown section within About ET. The homepage News & Insights section does the heavy lifting of discoverability.	Low effort	Medium impact
Move Alerts & Outages + IT Maintenance Calendar to footer	Agree	Fully agree. Replace them in the utility bar with a real-time system status indicator (green/red pill linked to StatusPage or equivalent). This conveys the same information more elegantly and saves two nav slots.	Low effort	Medium impact
Move Campus IT Policies to footer Currently under Governance	Agree	Yes. Footer is the right home for compliance/policy links. Also move Web Privacy Policy, Web Accessibility Policy, Emergency Information, and Site Policies all into a consistent footer "Policies" section.	Low effort	Medium impact
Elevate UT.AI to top-level navigation Not in original action plan — new recommendation	New	UT.AI is your flagship initiative and a marquee differentiator. It should not be buried inside Services & Tools. Giving it a dedicated top-level nav item (standalone, no dropdown) signals institutional priority and matches how peer institutions (MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech) have elevated AI strategy in their web presence.	Low effort	High impact

The IA document surface several unresolved questions from Amanda Walker and the team. These are answered below based on audience research norms, the new design direction, and what peer institutions have done.

Amanda Walker

Should "Training Programs" exist in Careers? Should this be a new area geared more toward certification / on-the-job training? Could link to UT Learn.

Training Programs should not live in Careers. Careers is for job seekers; Training is for current UT community members. These are entirely different audiences with different intents.

Recommendation: Create a "Training & Learning" section as a child of Services & Tools. This is where Software Developer Training, Training Programs, certifications, and the UT Learn link all live. Cross-link from each audience path (students/faculty/staff pages) to the relevant training resources.

✓ Decision: Training & Learning → child of Services & Tools

Amanda Walker

Canvas is not on the upcoming services/tools list — but should it be?

Yes, absolutely. Canvas is very likely the highest-traffic destination linked from tech.utexas.edu — students and faculty navigate to it constantly. Its absence from the nav is a meaningful gap.

Canvas should appear in three places: (1) as a child of Services & Tools, (2) in the For Students dropdown, (3) in the For Faculty dropdown. It also deserves a card in the homepage Quick Access section.

✓ Decision: Add Canvas to Services & Tools + audience dropdowns

Amanda Walker

"Software Developer Training" — should it exist in Careers? Should it have its own area?

Move it out of Careers. Software Developer Training serves current staff and community members who want to upskill — not external job applicants browsing an org chart.

Place it under Services & Tools → Training & Learning. If the program grows into something substantial (certification tracks, cohort programs), it earns its own child section within Training.

✓ Decision: Move to Services & Tools → Training & Learning

IA Map note

"Connect with Tech" as a single nav item vs. separate audience items. Northeastern (connect-to-tech.northeastern.edu) was the inspiration.

The Northeastern model is a good inspiration, but they've implemented it as a separate microsite — a standalone portal separate from their main IT site. That's a bigger lift.

For the new design, the audience segmentation is built directly into the primary navigation as three separate items: For Students / For Faculty / For Staff. This provides the same orientation benefit without requiring a separate site to maintain.

✓ Decision: Three separate top-level audience nav items (not a microsite)

IA Map note

AI is split: tools live in Services & Tools (AI page, Copilot, UT Spark, UT Sage) and initiative content lives in Initiatives. How to handle?

The action plan's approach is correct: separate the two concerns. But go further by giving AI its own top-level nav item.

UT.AI nav item = AI hub page, tools (Copilot, UT Spark, UT Sage, AI Studio/licenses), AI Roadmap, Eight Core Mechanisms, Guidance for Using AI, Training.

Services & Tools retains links to UT Spark and UT Sage as service pages, but the strategic/initiative content lives under UT.AI.

✓ Decision: UT.AI as top-level nav; AI tools cross-linked from Services & Tools

IA Map note

"Governance" and "Strategy" currently at top level or under Planning. Where do they live in the new structure?

Both move under About ET. "Strategy" is renamed "Strategic Priorities" to sound less internal. "Governance" stays as-is — it's a well-understood term for the stakeholders who actually navigate to it (faculty governance reps, IT leaders, board members).

The "Planning" label from the action plan is dropped — it's ET-internal language that doesn't map to any external visitor's mental model.

✓ Decision: Governance + Strategic Priorities → About ET

IA Map note

"Request Initiative" page — where does it live?

This is an internal-facing form, not a public-facing page. It should either move to the ET Intranet or be buried deep under About ET → Governance → Request an Initiative (accessible but not prominent).

It should not appear in the main navigation or homepage. Visitors who need it know to look for it; it doesn't need to compete for nav real estate.

✓ Decision: Move to About ET → Governance (or ET Intranet)

IA Map note

D2I (Data to Insight) — where does it live? Currently listed as upcoming.

When launched, D2I should live under Services & Tools as a child page, alongside Data Centers. If it grows into a significant initiative with its own brand, it could get a cross-link from the UT.AI section as a data/analytics initiative.

Don't pre-create empty pages. Add it to the Services & Tools nav when the page is ready to go live.

✓ Decision: Services & Tools → add when page is ready

The action plan rates items by effort and impact. Below is a recommended phased implementation sequence that lets you ship meaningful improvements quickly while the higher-effort work is underway.

Phase 1 — Ship immediately

Low effort High impact

Rename nav items: "Connect with Tech" → three separate items: "For Students", "For Faculty", "For Staff"

Add UT.AI as a standalone top-level nav item (it's already a live section)

Move Alerts & Outages and IT Maintenance Calendar out of utility bar → footer

Move Campus IT Policies from Governance → footer

Add system status green pill to utility bar (replace text links)

Add Canvas as child page to Services & Tools nav dropdown

Remove "Powered by UT Drupal Kit" from footer

Rename "Strategy" → "Strategic Priorities" (one word change, big clarity gain)

Phase 2 — Near-term (4–8 weeks)

Med effort High impact

Create three audience landing pages (Student Tech Hub, Faculty Tech Hub, Staff Tech Hub) — these don't need to be complex, just well-organized link hubs

Create Services & Tools A–Z index page with all services linked

Move DAC under Services & Tools (already in action plan)

Create Training & Learning section under Services & Tools; move Software Developer Training here

Fold Governance and Strategic Priorities under About ET; remove "Planning" as a top-level item

Move Initiatives section under About ET

Phase 3 — Medium-term (redesign sprint)

High effort High impact

Build and launch the new front-end design (per homepage mockup)

Implement full footer sitemap with 4-column link structure

Create and launch UT.AI hub page with tools, roadmap, training, and policy sections consolidated

Create AI Services & Tools page (clone + adjust AI initiative page — already in progress per action plan)

Implement audience-path quick links on homepage with scannable task lists per audience

Implement homepage search with autocomplete to services and knowledge articles

Phase 4 — Strategic (6–12 months)

High effort Strategic value

Evaluate decoupled front-end architecture (Next.js / headless Drupal) to escape UT Drupal Kit design constraints permanently

Build public IT status/dashboard page surfacing real-time service health

Integrate UT.AI hub with live AI tool availability, license request workflow, and training calendar

Commission usability testing with students, faculty, and staff to validate audience path navigation — adjust based on findings

Explore interactive Annual Report / Impact page to replace static PDF

Evaluate D2I and other upcoming services for IA placement as they launch

Final proposed primary navigation structure

Reduction from current: 5 nav items → 6 items, but the audience items replace the non-intuitive "Connect with Tech" parent and the jargon-heavy "Planning" label. Net effect is a nav that any UT community member can immediately read and understand.

ET Website — IA Recommendations

Proposed information architecture and implementation sequence