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RFP No. 743-2026-RFP-1515

Our approach to rebuilding ten Institute websites. One network, one standard, three overlapping phases.

This page is the Amplus proposal for the Valdez Institute for Economic Development, written as a working website rather than a document. Every section below describes part of how the project would run. Nothing on this page is a marketing homepage.

Read the approach See the finished sample site

Approach, part one: the network

One template. Ten sites. Zero rebuilds.

This is the centre of the proposal. Choose a center below to see the same base template carrying that program's name, colours, navigation and content. Accessibility fixes, security patches and layout components are published once at the network level and every site inherits them.

https://iedtexas.org Site 1 of 10
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Same template. Only the site name, palette accent, menu and content changed. Layout components, accessibility behaviour and the header pattern are inherited from the network base site.

Approach, part two: scope

Shared where it saves work. Separate where it matters.

The most common objection to a shared template is that every center ends up looking and sounding the same. The split below is how we avoid that. The network owns the plumbing and the accessibility standard. Each program director owns everything a visitor actually reads.

Network level Published once, inherited by all ten

  • The accessible base template and its layout components
  • WCAG 2.1 AA behaviour: reader controls, focus, landmarks, contrast
  • WordPress core, plugin and security updates
  • The header, footer, required university links and SBA statement
  • Hosting, backups, SSL and uptime monitoring
  • Global search and the cross center referral pattern

An accessibility fix is written once here and reaches all ten sites the same day.

Center level Owned by each program director

  • Site name, tagline and the accent colour drawn from the UTSA palette
  • Navigation, menu order and which sections exist at all
  • Homepage section order, chosen from the approved component set
  • All copy, imagery, staff profiles and success stories
  • Events, news and any center specific custom post types
  • Forms, calendars and the tools that center already relies on

All of it edited in WordPress by a staff member. No tickets, no developer, no code.

Content migration

Every legacy site is assessed first. Where the source allows it we migrate programmatically, carrying posts, custom post types, taxonomies, media and permalinks across intact. Where it does not, pages are rebuilt by hand against the approved template.

Redirects are mapped page by page so existing links and search rankings survive

Third party tools

The tools each center already depends on are reconnected rather than replaced: appointment scheduling, event registration, CRM handoffs, analytics and the SBDC reporting systems.

Nothing is retired without the program director agreeing to it first

Training and handover

Two sessions per center, recorded, plus a short written guide covering the components that center actually uses. Editors leave able to build a new page unaided.

Thirty days of post launch support, then an agreed maintenance arrangement

Governance after launch

A documented process for adding site eleven: who approves it, which template it starts from and what has to be true before it goes live.

The network is built to be extended, not frozen

Approach, part three: WCAG 2.1 Level AA

Accessible by default, not by remediation.

Accessibility is built into the base template, so every site created on the network inherits it on day one instead of being audited and patched afterwards. The list on the right is not a promise. It describes the page you are reading right now.

Try it: use the Text, Contrast and Reduce motion controls in the blue bar at the top of this page. Your choice is remembered across the whole network.

  • Reader controls in every header Text scaling to 125 percent, a high contrast mode and a motion switch ship with the template, not as a bolt on plugin. SC 1.4.4, 1.4.12, 2.3.3
  • Keyboard first navigation Menus, the center switcher and the tour all operate on Tab, arrow keys and Escape with a visible focus ring. SC 2.1.1, 2.4.7
  • Proper semantics and landmarks Real headings, skip links, ARIA tab patterns and live regions so screen readers announce changes correctly. SC 1.3.1, 4.1.2
  • Contrast checked, not guessed Every text and background pair in the palette is measured against the 4.5 to 1 threshold before it reaches production. SC 1.4.3
  • Alternative text as a workflow Editors cannot publish an image without alt text, so compliance survives staff turnover. SC 1.1.1
  • Respects the operating system Reduced motion and dark preferences set on the visitor's device are honoured without them touching a control. SC 2.3.3

How the ten sites get built

Three phases that overlap by design. Each one closes with written stakeholder approval, and approved work keeps moving while a decision is still open elsewhere.

The phases are interconnected, not strictly sequential

We do not wait for one phase to finish before any work in the next one begins. The bars below show how the work overlaps rather than fixed dates. The dates themselves are in the work plan and schedule submitted with the proposal.

  1. Phase 1, network and base template Begins at project start
  2. Phase 2, deploy the ten sites Starts on approved sites before every Phase 1 item has closed
  3. Phase 3, migrate and validate content Starts on a center as soon as that center's site exists
  4. Content assessment and migration preparation Runs from early in Phase 1, independent of approvals
  5. Site configuration, QA, accessibility review and training Continuous, center by center, through to the final launch

Project start Final site live

  • Phase work, closing in a written approval gate
  • Approval gate for that phase
  • Work that continues across phase boundaries
  1. Phase 1

    Network and base template

    Stand up the Multisite network, build one accessible base site aligned to the official UT San Antonio theme, configure plugins, security and the navigation framework, then validate it with the Web Accessibility and SEO Coordinator.

    Running in parallel While the template sits with the Web Accessibility and SEO Coordinator, we begin the content assessment of the ten legacy sites and prepare the migration tooling.

    One approved template
  2. Phase 2

    Deploy the ten sites

    Create each site on the network, apply the approved template, then work with every program director on branding, menus and homepage layout so each center still sounds like itself.

    Running in parallel Centers are picked up as their directors become available. A site waiting on a branding decision does not hold up the other nine, or the migration work already under way.

    Ten live WCAG 2.1 AA sites
  3. Phase 3

    Migrate and validate content

    Assess each legacy site, migrate programmatically where the source allows and by hand where it does not, carry across posts, custom post types and taxonomies, reconnect third party tools and QA every page.

    Running in parallel Migration begins on a center the moment its site exists, so content work overlaps deployment instead of queueing behind all ten of them.

    Content verified page by page
What happens while an approval is pending

An approval gate is a decision point, not a stop on the whole project. While we wait on a stakeholder decision in one area, the team carries on with everything already approved: migration preparation, site configuration, content assessment, accessibility review and QA. The work is sequenced so that a single outstanding answer never leaves the rest of the project idle, which is the same approach set out in the work plan and schedule.