How should a school plan its website and alumni systems?

Before choosing a website platform, list the jobs it needs to support and the people responsible for them. School communication, admissions, alumni membership, events and fundraising may share information, but they do not all need the same workflow or access.

Separate the audiences and their tasks

List what parents, prospective families, staff, alumni, sponsors and administrators need to find or do. Then identify what belongs on the public website and what should be available only to authorised people.

An alumni directory, for example, needs decisions about access and member information. An archive needs decisions about what can be published and who will manage it. These should be planned before uploading records.

Follow the work beyond the form

For each enquiry, registration, membership update or donation, decide who receives it, where it is recorded and what happens next. Include confirmation messages, exceptions and record maintenance in the brief.

Review the tools you already use. Replacing a website does not automatically mean replacing every connected system, but integrations and ownership need to be understood.

Plan for the people maintaining it

Agree who will update content, manage access, handle supplier accounts and deal with an outage. Ask for training and documentation that suit those people. Keep ownership of the domain, accounts and agreed deliverables clear.

I help with school and alumni websites and systems, including planning, development, integration and handover. You can get in touch with an existing brief or ask for help defining the work.