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WordPress Policies

WordPress is an open source project that is free to use, however, authorization to develop and maintain a site on behalf of the University, its schools/colleges or departments, is the responsibility of the Office of Website Management, in conjunction with Information Technology and IT Security.

Office of Website Management

The Office of Website Management serves as the administrator for WordPress across campus. Areas of responsibility and associated details are as follows:

Account Management

Only the Office of Website Management and the identified support person (determined by the Office of Website Management) will have an admin account. Other WordPress users will have an editor or contributor account with restricted access.

Dashboard Users

  • Users should work with their personal WordPress account that is attached to their individual TCU email address. The default user account is reserved for the Office of Website Management.

WP Engine Installation

  • All WordPress installs are created inside the TCU account of our dedicated hosting platform, WP Engine.
  • Installs are backed up on a daily basis and may be accessed in the WP Engine control panel. When installing new themes, plugins or updating the WordPress core, manual backup is required. If an error occurs during an update, you are required to restore the install to a previous working version.
  • WordPress core and plugins should be upgraded once a month to ensure the most stable version is being used.

WP Engine User Authorization

WP Engine SFTP accounts

If a designated site user needs SFTP access, a user account will be created for them. The majority of tasks can be performed using the WordPress dashboard.

WP Engine support

The Office of Website Management will install, migrate the database and make the domain name request. Third-party vendors do not have WP Engine access.

SSL Certificate

All WordPress sites should use the secure HTTPS protocol. TCU Website Management will ensure that the necessary certificate is installed for each site.

 

WordPress Themes

TCU Website Management provides official themes and plugins for use on authorized TCU websites. Development of custom TCU-branded themes must comply with brand guidelines and be approved by University Marketing and Website Management before a website is launched publicly.

 

WordPress Plugins

WordPress provides a host of plugins designed to extend and expand the functionality of the content management system. TCU permits the use of plugins that meet the guidelines set forth by IT Applications, IT Security, the Office of Website Management, and WP Engine.

The list of approved plugins for WordPress and WP Engine may be accessed in the web visual guide section. The use of any unapproved plugin violates TCU’s compliance protocol and will be removed.