Communicators Toolkit

Access resources in Microsoft Teams as a member of the Communications Liaisons for VPFA group. If you're unsure who your liaison is or need changes to the liaison membership, please email Mary Kvetkosky. The Teams channels provide role-specific information. Team members should check there for updates and announcements. 

Microsoft Forms is a good option and is widely available. Access to our Mailchimp and Formstack central accounts is granted case-by-case and reserved for complex data collection and workflow. While these tools are appropriate for independent use, larger public-facing forms and surveys should be centrally reviewed and managed.

Complete the questionnaire to request a new form or survey. A member of the project coordinator's team will be in touch to discuss the next steps.

Tips for designing user-friendly forms and surveys.

Identify the Goal

Define a clear, attainable goal, then use it as a reference to prioritize the top questions you want to ask.

Short vs. Long

Short forms work better because they:

• Are less intimidating. People don’t like filling out long forms
• Are easier to complete on mobile. The less scrolling, the better.
• Force you to reconsider your questions and cut out the fluff.
• Take less time to fill out, minimizing form abandonment.

3 Ways to Tackle Long Forms

1. Embrace the multi-page form. Break long forms into smaller chunks across multiple pages. 
2. Let users track their progress. Some people become anxious when they don’t know how long a task will take to complete. Include a progress bar to prevent those people from dropping off.
3. Simplify your form with logic. Create the illusion that your form is shorter than it really is via conditional logic. This lets you show or hide questions based on how someone responds to fields on the form.

Optimizing Your Questions

• Be clear, concise, and easy to understand. 
• Group related questions into sections if your form has more than six fields. 
• Be certain you’re only asking for the necessary information.
• Know when it's appropriate to use radio buttons, checkboxes, and dropdown fields:
• Use radio buttons when only one answer can be chosen.
• Use checkboxes when multiple options can be chosen.
• Use a dropdown if there are 5 or more options and only one can be chosen.
• Use copy to guide your users and show them how to fill out a field correctly. Field labels help explain why you need certain types of information or how it needs to be formatted.
• Focus on using closed-ended questions. These questions are easier for respondents to answer and provide you with quantitative data to use in your analysis.
• Don’t ask leading questions. Try not to put your own opinion into the question prompt.
• Stay away from asking double-barreled questions. Double-barreled questions are when you ask for feedback on two separate things within a single question.

Form Branding

• Use UB colors https://www.buffalo.edu/brand/creative/color/color-palette.html
• Use unit lockup when appropriate https://www.buffalo.edu/brand/resources-tools/downloads.html
• Use UB fonts https://www.buffalo.edu/brand/creative/typography/families.html

Need help sharing important news or announcements? Our communications team is here to assist! Request support for distributing your message across our organization's various channels. We’ll help ensure your news reaches the right audience effectively.

Access to our Canva account is granted to many individuals in VPFA units. Let us know if you want to use our Canva account. While Canva is suitable for some tasks, designs related to larger or centralized projects should be reviewed by our content specialist.

Examples of content services you can request:

• Graphic Design
  • UB Marketplace Tiles    
• Video
• Email Campaign
• Copywriting
• Copy Review
• Accessibility Review

Our division enjoys a coordinated governance model in which liaisons across VPFA are empowered with the tools and resources to be successful stewards but select projects critical to the high-level functions of VPFA are centralized.

Primary strategic direction and support for VPFA sites and assets are led by the VPFA web team, working closely with senior leadership, university communications, and other web administrators. The web team provides oversight and strategic direction, reviews stakeholder requests, and sets priorities in consultation with senior leadership.

Contact the web team when:

• You've got a huge logic problem to solve
• You need coaching on how to have a tough conversation
• You just don't know where to start
• You need a gut check

Each VPFA website has a designated web liaison who can edit and publish content. If you're unsure who your web liaison is, contact Mary Kvetkosky.

Each page in your site must undergo a quality assurance process periodically — the images, information, and any special features should be reviewed for accuracy, relevance, and functionality. Using the Stewardship tab in Page Properties, you can assign a UBCMS author to receive email notifications from the UBCMS, on a specific date and time, as a prompt to perform a content review.  

Affected Fields in Stewardship Tab in Page Properties 

At the very least, complete the following fields, as they also appear on Page Reports. Page Reports list the status of your pages, including modification and stewardship details (if set).  

• Steward UBITName: person responsible for the page
• Steward Name 
• Steward Department
• Site Manager UBITName: person from whom the email notification is sent 
• Authoritative Source (contact who is knowledgeable about the page's subject)
• Authoring Notes: displays a full-width banner at the top of the page, with key instructions for all authors 
• Review Date: set an intended date (and time) to guide future maintenance
• Notification: 'Email steward on review date': enable automated email notification to page's Steward on specified Review Date 
• Review Frequency: indicate an arbitrary interval (e.g. monthly, quarterly, by-semester, annual)
• Date Approved: indicate the last date (and time) the page was signed off on 
• Stewardship Notes: any Stewardship Notes will be included in the notification email

Stewardship Emails

Using the setting Notification: 'Email steward on review date' in the Stewardship Tab in Page Properties, an email will automatically be sent with a helpful stewardship reminder. The page needs to be published.

The following details are required:

• Site Manager UBITName: the value in Site Manager will be used as the email's From field. If no value is set, the value in the parent page will be used.
• Steward UBITName: person responsible for the page; multiple values are supported, separated by a space or comma. This person must have viewer access, at least, to the UBCMS.
• Review Date (and time) must be set
• Stewardship Notes: any Stewardship Notes will be included in the email.

Need a photo or image? We have an iStock account, or if you require graphic design, complete the content request form.

Each VPFA website has an analytics liaison. Contact Mary Kvetkosky if you need help finding your liaison or accessing and reporting data from GA4.

The UBCMS has a reporting tool that can generate different types of reports depending on what information is needed.

Planning, building, and testing for website accessibility is crucial not only to avoid legal action but also to provide equal experiences for users with disabilities. All of us are responsible for creating and maintaining accessible material. Contact us to evaluate your material for accessibility.  

SUNY has partnered with AbleDocs to provide PDF remediation services to the UB community at reasonable costs. To access this service or to request a quote, please complete the UB AbleDocs request form. A password is required to access this site. VPFA communications liaisons can find this password in the accessibility channel in Teams.

SUNY has entered into an agreement with Deque Systems Inc. to provide accessibility training across all SUNY campuses. Need a Deque login? https://www.buffalo.edu/access/services/deque-university.html

It's important to keep our UB websites accessible as it's required by federal law. It's your team's responsibility to identify and fix any accessibility issues found during SiteImprove scans while building web pages. Every VPFA unit has at least one person who can log in to Siteimprove. If you're unsure who your Siteimprove person is, you can contact Mary Kvetkosky.

All account holders for official VPFA social media accounts must share their login information with an administrator. This policy is mandatory and strictly enforced with the full support of the University Communications department. 

Some VPFA units have social media channels. The stewards for these channels can find guidance and other relevant announcements in the VPFA Communications Liaisons team in Microsoft Teams. 

Members of the UB community may request contributor access to the event calendar, but only those authorized by unit senior communicators or calendar team leads may contribute events to the calendar. 

Most VPFA units have a designated calendar liaison. If you're unsure who your liaison is, contact Mary Kvetkosky, our calendar team leader.