How to request Siteimprove access

Siteimprove access works two different ways depending on your role at Rowan. Access requests will be processed every Tuesday.

If you are a Rowan employee

You can request access on your own. You don't need anyone's permission first.

1. Contact Web Services Support at https://go.rowan.edu/webrequest. 
2. Tell us your name, your department, and which website or section you maintain.
3. A member from the web team will review the request. You'll get a confirmation email when access is ready.

If you are a Rowan student

You need permission from your site's ambassador first.

1. Find out who the ambassador is for the site you want to work on. If you don't know, ask your supervisor or the department's web contact.
2. Contact Web Services Support or ask the ambassador to contact Web Services Support on your behalf. The email should say they approve your access and which site or section you'll work on.
3. A member from the web team will review the request. You'll get a confirmation email when access is ready.

What if I'm not sure if I have access?

Try logging in. If your account isn't set up yet, you'll see an error message. That's your sign to email Web Services Support and ask.

How to log in

Siteimprove uses single sign-on (SSO). That means you log in with your Rowan account. No new password.

1. Visit Siteimprove to login.
2. Choose Sign in with SSO. 
3. Input your Rowan email address and press Continue sign in with SSO.
4. Authenticate the same way you do for any other Rowan tool.

You'll land on the Rowan custom home dashboard called Siteimprove Home.

What the home dashboard shows you

The Rowan custom home dashboard is built for content contributors. It surfaces five issue types we want you to focus on, plus a section for PDF issues.

• Broken links: A link on your page points to a page that no longer exists.
• Misspellings: A word Siteimprove's dictionary doesn't recognize.
• Words to review: Language that may be outdated, biased, or unclear.
• Alt text: An image that's missing alt text or has empty alt text.
• PDF issues: A PDF that fails one or more accessibility checks.

Each widget shows a count and links to the full report for that issue type.

What you should do first

If you're brand new to Siteimprove, don't try to fix everything at once. Pick one issue type. Fix three pages. Stop. Come back next week and do it again. A little bit each time is the only way this work gets done without burning you out.

We recommend starting with misspellings or broken links. They're the fastest to fix and the easiest to learn from.

How to find your site and your group

Siteimprove organizes content into sites and groups. A site is a whole web property, like www.rowan.edu, sites.rowan.edu, or admissions.rowan.edu. A group is your slice of that site property.

Two patterns at Rowan

Pattern 1: Many Cascade wbsites build from a shared site domain like www.rowan.edu and sites.rowan.edu. In Siteimprove, they are each a single site and groups slice it into unique departments and offices.

Pattern 2: Other Rowan sites have their own subdomain. For example, csm.rowan.edu is its own site. Inside it, each department is a group. Psychology is one group. Biology is another. The same pattern applies to other college subdomains.

How to switch between sites and groups

 Click the site selector at the top of the page.

1. Choose the site that contains your content.
2. Once you're on the site, look for the group filter. It's usually in the left sidebar or near the top of the report.
3. Choose your group. The dashboard will update to show only your content.

What if I don't see my group?

A few possibilities:

• Your group exists but you don't have permission yet. Please contact Web Services Support.
• Your group doesn't exist yet. Contact Web Services Support and we'll create it.
• You're looking at the wrong site. Check the URL of a page you maintain and match the site selector to that domain.
• A group could not be created and Web Services Support will show you other ways to filter for your content.

What to do next

Now that you're logged in and oriented, let's roll up our sleeves:

1. Identify an issue type with the highest count on your dashboard.
2. Fix three pages this week. Just three.
3. Come back next week and do three more.
4. Stay tuned to Rowan Announcers and the Web Services blog on future workshops. 

Welcome to the platform. The first week is the hardest. After that, the workflow becomes routine.