Permanent course closure on TerminalFour

The following information identifies the process for permanently removing a course from the website. This takes into account SEO best practices and ensures our users have the best possible experience in this circumstance.

Summary of process

Stage 1

• Remove course description and other core components by setting the content to expire.
• Add note to course explaining it is no longer offered, with links to alternative courses.
• Remove course from site search, subject area pages and any other places it is referred to. You can find out where a course is linked to by going to the main T4 site structure view and clicking "Delete section" - this will flag where the course is linked to from and you can update accordingly - however, do not go through with deleting the section at this stage.
• Add 60 day reminder to review traffic through Google Analytics.

Stage 2

• Remove course page entirely by moving into course archive. Ensure course is stored in archive in case we are required to access historical changes.
• Create a 410 response for the URL to ensure Google removes from index.
• Remove from all forms. 

Process details

Stage 1 - Initial course closure process

1. Once the approval has been received, locate the course in TerminalFour.
2. Add a new course entry with minimal details (course name, qualification, level, study option
3. Set the existing course entry to expired
4. Within the 'Section config' remove the subject area, and replace the abstract with, replacing the level and subject as applicable: This course isn't currently accepting applications. Please refer to our undergraduate Biomedical Health and Human Biology courses for similar courses.
5. Within the 'Course description' section/content, set the existing content to expire and add a new text block with a list of suitable alternative courses that might be relevant to a user visiting that page:
   1. You may be interested in similar [undergraduate/postgraduate/short] courses within [subject]:

      [Bulleted list with courses section linked]

6. In all other subsections of the course set the content to expire.
7. Set the 'How to apply', 'Courses fees' and 'Entry requirements', 'Module stage' content from the main section to expire. However if any of the content is mirrored instead of expiring you should remove from the current section.
8. Remove from the Clearing form (if required).
9. Set the course section to exclude from search and not show in navigation (moderator task).
10. Add a 60 day reminder to review traffic to this page.
11. Notify CRM to ensure they know about the course closure
12. Update course list in Gecko

Stage 2 - Course page removal

At the point traffic has dropped to a low level we can permanently remove the course from the website.

1. Un-publish the course page and move the course to the 'Site archive > Study > Courses' section in TerminalFour. Do not remove the course page from TerminalFour entirely as we may need to refer to this information in the future. If the course is a UDOL course and has a subfolder containing Study Patterns, these will need to be moved to Study > Online learning > Study patterns, where UDOL can manage the Study patterns content accordingly going forward.
2. Ensure that any internal links are updated within TerminalFour. If there are any internal links these are flagged when marking the course section as inactive. Ensure to mark the course section back from inactive when you've finished.
3. Perform a search on Google for any pieces of content that reference the course using the following search string: site:derby.ac.uk "Construction FdSc"
   1. Remove any references to the course as identified in the results list.
4. Notify Kate Haresnape (k.haresnape@derby.ac.uk) to remove the course from any course lists in Gecko.

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