Request a thing

Ask Communications and Marketing team for publishing access, advice, training or to create something new.

Devolved web author access 

Request a new user access 

 You can submit a request using the web request form to:

  • request training and a new user access to Umbraco CMS
  • request a new user access for new/existing microsites Umbraco Cloud CMS

For Umbraco CMS, new devolved web authors must complete the required writing and publishing web content training before they can have an account and access to Umbraco CMS

Change an existing user access

You can submit a web request to:

  • change users areas of content management
  • change a user’s access level
  • request to be assigned as content owner for specific web page/section 

You can also remove a user.

Training 

What training you can get depends on if you’re a new or existing publisher.

New devolved content authors

You can request training for new devolved content authors to:

Existing devolved content authors

Request refresher training for an existing publisher using the create new user or request training form.

Content change 

There are different ways to request a change to web content 

If you are a member of staff

To request a web content change you would need to submit a  web content request through an online form.

If you are a member of the general public  

If you come across any content on nottinghamshire.gov.uk that you feel is out of date or factually incorrect, you are able to submit a request for the content to be updated or removed via our customer service centre. 

What to include in your request

So we can work on your request faster, you would need to include: 

  • a clear title that explains what needs to change - for example, ‘Update phone numbers on Universal Credit guide’

  • the URL of the webpage that needs to change - for example, https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/business-community/cost-of-living-support

  • the reason for the change - how it helps meet the user need

  • how many users are affected (if you know)

  • the consequence for the user if the change is not made - for example, a user misses out on a benefit/funding they’re entitled to because the eligibility criteria are wrong

  • evidence to support the change - for example, call centre feedback, user research or policy change

  • any deadlines or embargoes, and why - for example, an upcoming policy change or a new service launch

Explain as much as you can in the request itself. Write your request clearly and in plain English. Avoid acronyms, jargon and legal language.

It’s fine to suggest wording if it helps to explain what’s changed. However, the content team cannot put your copy straight onto nottinghamshire.gov.uk, even if it’s ‘signed off’. They’re responsible for presenting information in a way that users will understand.

What happens next

You’ll get a confirmation email with a reference number to quote when enquiring about the status of your request. 

How your request is prioritised

Small changes will usually take up to 5 working days but often are actioned within a day if they do not need a fact check. These are things like:

  • phone numbers 
  • postal addresses
  • email addresses
  • opening times for phone lines
  • fees
  • a supplier on a list
  • upload/replace a document

More complex requests such as full rewrite of webpages, consolidating areas as well as new content,  will be sent to the relevant Communications and Marketing Business Partner that deals with requests from your department and prioritised against their other tickets according to:

  • any deadlines
  • the impact on the user
  • whether the change is editorial or factual
  • any evidence you provide that supports the requested change

Content advice 

You can ask for content advice from the Communications and Marketing team. This could be about:

  • content types
  • nottinghamshire.gov.uk style
  • structuring content
  • writing in plain English
  • designing accessible content

It may be a quick question about content you’re working on or a request for a formal response you can share with colleagues in your department. Whatever the nature of your request, you need to clearly explain:

  • what you need
  • what your deadline is

This will help us prioritise the work and understand how much detail to give in our response.

Request content advice from Senior Communication & Marketing Business Partner using the web content support form (link).

Short URL 

Submit a request for a short URL at least 2 weeks before you need it. We might not be able to meet your deadline if we do not get the full 2 weeks’ notice.

How to request a short URL

Submit a a short URL request using the web content support form.

You’ll need to tell us:

  • the reason you need a short URL
  • the content or page the short URL will link to
  • how your short URL will be used in marketing and promotion - the channels you will be using, the number of users who will be targeted
  • what the main message will be in your marketing and communications
  • how many government departments or organisations will promote the short URL

We will work with you to decide on a short URL. You can make suggestions - they should meet the URL standards for nottinghamshire.gov.uk. All nottinghamshire.gov.uk URLs must meet these standards.

What happens next

Someone from Communications and Marketing (C&M) team will get in touch with you within 5 days to discuss your request.

When your short URL goes live

Communications and Marketing will create the short URL once the page it is pointing to goes live. Let us know if there is a strict deadline on when the page and short URL must go live.

Because short URLs can only point to live content, please do not publicise the short URLs until both the content and the short URL are live. If you do it before they’re live, you’ll send your users to a ‘This page cannot be found’ error page.

Communications and Marketing may pre-approve a short URL if you can share a draft of the page before it goes live.

Analytics 

Google Analytics reports

If you do not have a Google Analytics account, you can request reports from Communications and Marketing team, you can make a request through the support form.

Data will always be sampled in segmented reports.

Google Analytics accounts

You can request access to Google Analytics for you or for a devolved author in your team.

We will only give analytics access to people with a @nottscc.gov.uk email account.

You’ll need to create a Google account with your work email address. You cannot use an existing personal Google account, or add your work email to it as a backup address.

Downtime messages 

You can request downtime messages for services we link to from nottinghamshire.gov.uk

Most downtime messages will take this format:

“This service will be unavailable from [date and time] to [date and time].”

If the service is down and you do not know when it will be up again, we can use one of the following:

“This service is currently unavailable.” “This service will be temporarily unavailable from [date and time].”

You should also add a downtime message to the service itself if possible.

When to request downtime

Give us as much time as possible if more than one service is affected. We’ll always try to give users at least a day’s notice of downtime.

How to submit a request

You can make a request using the content requests form  and tell us:

  • the url of the pages which needs the message (and the position of the link on the page if it’s an external service)
  • the date and time the service will be down
  • the date and time the service is going back up (if you know)
  • whether or not the downtime is confirmed

When we do not add downtime messages

We generally do not add downtime messages if:

  • the downtime is very short - under 2 hours (unless you send us data showing it would affect a high number of users)
  • it’s requested too late
  • there may be intermittent problems but no expected downtime
  • the service is only partially down - the service should present the downtime message in the appropriate place
  • it’s out of hours - we’ll make changes during working hours for scheduled and unscheduled downtime

Request a feature slot on the homepage 

To request a featured slot (top task or image banner) on our homepage, use the content requests form.

Featured slots are planned and updated regularly by the Comms team to ensure they are timely, topical and relevant to user needs. 

For a request to be considered, the content must:

  • be high profile (for example, the Budget)
  • be time sensitive (for example, apply for a school place)
  • have a significant impact on a large number of people
  • usually communicate a clear action for the user to take
  • meet our web content standards 
  • be on nottinghamshire.gov.uk, exempts site or any other approved partner site. 

Send the request at least 4 working days before you want the featured slot to go live.

The ‘Top tasks’ section is based on user data and is regularly updated by the Comms and Marketing team. 

To request a ' Top tasks' feature, you need to include:

  • a clear and specific title - ideally 25 characters or less
  • the link to the content - make sure the content is up to date and follows the style guide
  • the date you want the link to go live (and removed if appropriate)

To request a banner image feature on the homepage, you will need to include: 

  • a clear high resolution image - ideally no less than 1000 w x 300h 
  • the link to the content - make sure the content is up to date and follows the style guide
  • the date you want the link to go live (and removed if appropriate)

We may remove your homepage feature without warning in the event of a major incident.