Meet the Web and Development Solutions Team

The Web & Development Solutions (WDS) team provides web and application-based solutions to the University community. The WDS team consists of:  

• The Web Solutions Team, who provide website platforms (Drupal, SharePoint, etc.) and web-based training for University colleges and departments.  

• The Collaborative Applications Team, who manage and support the following applications: 

  • The Microsoft 365 toolkit of services, including Gryph Mail, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc. 

  • Gryph Forms, U of G’s tool for business process automation and digital workflows 

  • ImageNow, a document imaging system used for capturing, organizing and managing documents. 

• The Digital Accessibility Resource Centre (DARC), who provide training, tools and support for the creation of accessible digital content.   

A Typical Day for the WDS Teams 

Web Solutions Team 

A typical day for the Web Solutions team involves project work, development work and supporting client requests via Footprints. The team uses the agile scrum method – a sprint-based project management system designed to optimize productivity and collaboration among team members. Each sprint is two weeks long, with the end goal being a deliverable product for their clients. The team participates in daily standup meetings: short check-ins where team members report on their daily work and collaboratively solve any issues blocking progress.  

Collaborative Applications Team 

The Collaborative Applications team’s work varies depending on support requests, system upgrades and maintenance. They spend most of their efforts maintaining, updating and supporting their many applications as well as project work. Similar to the Web Team, they participate in daily standups to provide updates, communicate progress and troubleshoot challenges together. Recent expansion to the team includes Joel Hubbert providing services and support for Gryph Forms. 

DARC Team 

The DARC team consists of one full-time staff member, Aleshia Armstrong, and two part-time students. On a daily basis, this team supports University clients by providing education, training and resources to enable the creation of digital content that is accessible for all users. They also use tools like Site Improve to monitor and test accessibility compliance on U of G websites. While new to the role, Aleshia aims to build strong relationships with Student Accessibility Services, the Library and the Office of Diversity and Human Rights to ensure their team can effectively meet the diverse needs of our community.  

Current projects for WDS:  

The Web Team, along with the central Communications & Marketing team, are building the next generation platforms for website content. Together, they hope to reimagine the way websites are designed across the University in an ever-evolving digital world. The ultimate goal is for web content to be easy to find, reliable and aligned with the goals set out in the IT Strategy.   

The Collaborative Applications Team has started work to audit all the organizational and sponsored central login accounts in use by the U of G. This team project aims to optimize licensing costs and improve the University’s security practices of access to Microsoft services. The team is also working to enable domain-based message authentication known as DMARC. DMARC is a standard email authentication process that helps prevent hackers from impersonating U of G community members, thereby reducing the impact of phishing campaigns across the University. DMARC will enable better security and provide a safer online environment at U of G. 

The DARC team plans to perform accessibility audits across U of G websites with the purpose of informing and educating site owners about ways to improve accessibility and functionality of their sites. The team is also preparing to meet the next wave of AODA compliance regulations together with digital content owners at U of G.  

Who’s on the WDS Team?  

Craig Hyatt (manager)     Aleshia Armstrong     Joy Banerji     Rob Foster  

Brent Harp     Joel Hubbert       Lalit Jairath     Paul Kopacz     Miranda Mafe

Garrett May      Tanya Qureshi      Jon Spenceley     David Wood 

If you are interested in getting involved in these projects or have questions about the Web & Development Solutions team, reach out to Craig Hyatt at chyatt@uoguelph.ca