Operating a Website Guidelines

ManWeb and Hosting Services are the branches within Manitoba Energy, Science and Technology's Manitoba Information and Communications Technologies division that is responsible for government internet services.

The Manitoba government has a development server (staging area) and the live servers.

Development Server

The development server is to be used to view pages prior to going live. It is not intended as a workspace. Proper maintenance is required, including backups and deletion of unused and dated files. Please contact ManWeb (workorder@gov.mb.ca) to request a development account.

Access to the development server will not be granted to web developers or organizations outside the government of Manitoba.

Consult the Enterprise Architecture's ICT Standards for acceptable web editing tools.

Development to Live Environment

Once changes have been made to website, files then should be uploaded to the development server. A request should then be made, by way of an emailed work order, to ManWeb (workorder@gov.mb.ca) to upload the changes to the live server. The request should include the full path for each of the files to be uploaded as well as the destination. As soon as files are uploaded to the live server they are viewable by the general public.

Live Servers

Direct access to the live server will be considered on a case-by-case basis when files need to be updated outside of regular business hours (8:30-4:30). Requests for live access should be sent to ManWeb (workorders@gov.mb.ca) for review. The request must include the files to which live access is required as well as the business requirement as to why this access is needed.

When the direct access to the live server is granted, please refer to "Responsibilities of Live Access."

Responsibilities of Live Access

When live access is granted to a specific group of files, a lead person within the program area must be identified as a point of contact and will be ultimately responsible for the content and access to those files 365 days per year, 24 hours a day.

ManWeb will no longer have access to the files so it is necessary that an appropriate backup be selected and trained in the event that the lead staff member is unable to perform the upload(s)(home sick, on vacation, etc.). Contact information for the backup person(s) must be submitted to ManWeb at the time the request is made.

We recommend that the backup person(s) be given an opportunity to perform the required tasks on a semi-regular basis so that their knowledge remains current.

Uploading files

Web developers must be fully trained in the use of an FTP client prior to being granted access to ANY government web server. Contact ManWeb (workorder@gov.mb.ca) for more information about software or training.

ManWeb requires at least 3 working days notice for posting new sites or replacement sites to the live environment. This is to ensure that adequate time is available to run link checks to validate the site against the Website Development Standards.

For simple content changes there is a 24-hour turnaround for upload requests. If a file must be uploaded at or before a specific time, ample notice must be given to ensure that staff are available.

Large files

Notify ManWeb before large amounts of data (100MB+) are uploaded to a web server. If this is a regular occurrence, arrangements can be made to accommodate your requirements by contacting ManWeb.

Web Traffic Statistics

WebTrends® is the tool currently used to provide statistical reports on website traffic. The reports can be access from the following webpage, http://www.internal/est/mict/manweb/web_reports.html. For more information, please contact ManWeb (workorder@gov.mb.ca).