Access and User Roles in Public Website WordPress

Trained Web Editors and Publishers in BCIT schools and departments use WordPress, BCIT’s content management systems, to create and maintain BCIT public web content like textual content and images and the BCIT Web Content tool in Sharespace to manage web documents, like PDFs (WordPress users have the same level and scope of access in the BCIT Web Content tool in Sharespace as they have in WordPress). Web Administrators in IT Services take care of design, standards, and more complex functionality like web applications and forms.

User Roles

In WordPress (and the BCIT Web Content document management tool), there are two main user roles: Editors and Publishers. The primary difference between the two is whether or not the user can immediately publish their content to the public website or whether it needs to be checked by another person.

In WordPress Sections that they have access to, Editors can:

Make revisions to existing pages, posts, events, programs, and program or course umbrellas;
Create new pages, posts, events, and program or course umbrellas;
Delete or restore unpublished drafts/draft revisions;
Upload new image and other media files;
Add existing/created forms to a page;
View attendee lists for events; and
Re-title pages and change the order that they appear in the navigation menu (without changing the overall structure)

IT Services offers regular training sessions for potential WordPress Editors. See the current list of training dates in the Loop or go the PD Registration System and sign up under “Computer Skills”.

Everyone who wants to edit content on the public website must attend WordPress Editor training.

Publishers can do everything Editors can do, and in addition they can:

Publish submitted content to the web, immediately or at a future date;
Trash and restore files (within a certain period of time);
Change the structure of their site (not just the order) (Note: significant care is needed; please consult IT Services before attempting); and
Download form responses.

Publishers cannot:

Create new top level pages (www.bcit.ca/toplevel/);
Create or edit new page templates;
Add new users;
Create or edit forms; and
Alter non-content website elements, such as menus, headers, and footers.

Becoming a Publisher

In order to become a WordPress Publisher, a WordPress user must:

Have completed Editor training and have at least six months of trusted Editor work in WordPress (in some cases, this requirement is relaxed in cases where a person with significant prior web experience has been hired specifically to take on the Publisher role in their area).
Understand and be able to follow through on all web content responsibilities, with little external assistance.
Have the support of their department head/manager.
Have the support of IT Services.
Be able to set aside the equivalent of three to four hours per week to review and approve content for their workgroup. Although the time needed to do Publisher work will likely fluctuate over time, it is important that this work be given priority in a Publisher’s workload.
Have demonstrated skills in:
- WordPress,
- Effective web writing,
- General page layout best practices,
- Basic graphic optimization techniques, and
- Excellent attention to detail.

Publishers must demonstrate technical competence in WordPress. They also require an understanding of the principles behind good web design and the theory behind BCIT’s website design. BCIT offers several flexible learning courses to expand your skills.

If you think you should be trained as a Publisher, and believe that you fit the above criteria, or if you are already a Publisher and feel that you need a refresher on your skills:

Take the Publisher skills self-assessment. This is an educational tool intended to both test and educate you about Publisher responsibilities and the needed skills. It should take you between five and fifteen minutes to complete.
Submit a request for Publisher training. Publisher training is scheduled as needed and in response to requests.

Who is my Publisher??? (And which other users have access to a Section?)

This is a pretty frequent question and to address it, we’ve created a report in WordPress that Editors and Publishers who already have access to a Section can use to see the full list of users with that access.

To view this report, in WordPress:

Ensure that the correct Section (the Section you’re curious about) is selected in the Section Selector at the top.
Hover over Reports in the WordPress menu and click on Current Section Users in the list that appears.

The list of all users in About BCIT section (with names blurred out)

The report shows all users with access to the currently selected Section, their email address, and their role.