When to create a Service start

Create a Service start when you want to:

• link to an online service, tool, or transaction outside bath.ac.uk (Agresso, iTrent, Moodle, car parking permit application, and so on)
• explain what the service does and how to use it
• describe any requirements or restrictions for using the service

Don't create a Service start to link to something that isn’t a service, tool, or transaction (like a page on an external website)

Naming your Service start page

Use the full name of the service without acronyms ('iTrent Employee Self Service', not 'iTrent ESS', or 'iTrent').

Writing a Service start summary

Use the summary to describe who can use this service and what tasks they can complete through it. Include any colloquial names if necessary, for example:

Title: iTrent Employee Self Service
Summary: University employees can use iTrent ESS to book annual leave, record sicknesses, access payslips, and manage personal information.

Adding labels

We use labels to pin content items onto Topic pages. Only add a label if you know that your content item is going to be part of a Topic.

Labels are not typical website 'tags'. Don't add a label just because you think it might be relevant. You must know what labels the Topic uses. If you don't know, ask your Faculty Web Editor or contact the Digital team at web-support@bath.ac.uk.

To add a label to a content item, select from the drop-down list in the Labels section and click 'Add label'. You can add a maximum of 12 labels to a single content item.

Writing usage instructions

Explain any essential information users need to complete their tasks or will need to have ready before they begin.

If you need to include detailed instructions, create a Guide and link to it from the Service start using the 'Related Guides' field in the publishing platform.

Make it absolutely clear when an action is required by the user ('To access these records, you must log in to SAMIS' rather than 'log in to SAMIS').

If the service is hosted or owned by a third party, say who this is ('Our laundry card top-up system is managed by Circuit').

Things to remember when writing your usage instructions

Do:

• write concisely and in plain English
• break content up into sections that are easy to read
• structure your content so that the most important information is at the top

Don't:

• include technical terms in headings unless unavoidable - and then only if you've explained them on the page

Resources to help you write your Service start content

The University's style guide will help you make sure you're using the same terminology, style and tone as the rest of the website. This is important so that website users can understand us easily through the consistency of our content.

Our formatting guide will help you create appropriate headers, links, lists and other formatting for your page. This is important because it makes the information we provide clearer to website users.

Adding a call to action

A call to action is the next thing you want the user to do after reading your content. There are special fields in the publishing platform for entering the call to action.

Make sure your call to action:

• is active ('Log in to iTrent ESS', not 'iTrent log in')
• makes the destination of the link clear to the user
• does not end in a full stop

Adding responsible Organisations and Groups

After you have added all your content - including any images, media and contact details - you will able to select an owner or associated group for your page. This allocates permissions for who in the organisation is able to maintain the content.

A guide for adding responsible Organisations and Groups is available to help you do this.