Prospective communities should contact Communications and Marketing to see if a corporate web site would suit their needs. Help to develop a communications plan for the new website may also be provided.

Step 1: Meeting the criteria for a PC website
Contact the Learning Place to request a meeting. During this meeting your community's needs and purpose would be discussed. Your Professional Community and any Sub-communities must meet the following criteria:

• Have as its core purpose a focus on education;
• Pursue only non-profit activities;
• Conduct its on-line community activities for the benefit of Education Queensland and in a manner supportive of Education Queensland initiatives;
• Maintain its capacity to sustain the Community Web Space and, in particular, to regularly update the content on the Community Web Space;
• Maintain a sustainable network of members; and
• Continue to offer quality professional learning for its members.

Step 2: Does a PC website suit your network's needs?
Needs of professional community are ascertained to confirm that a Professional Communities Website is the most appropriate online environment to meet those needs. Other choices could include:

• Blackboard community - password protected
• Other websites within EQ (corporate websites)
• Project rooms - chat, blog and forum tools
• Email discussion lists

Step 3: Contract
Each Community must sign a contract with Education Queensland. As information is published on the Internet, it is important that your network take full responsibility for copyright and IP infringements. This contract is a legally binding document for Professional Communities that are governed by bodies outside of Education Queensland.

Before a new parent community is created, the contract is read by the community contact, terms and conditions are explained, and the contract is signed.

3 copies will be distributed:

• one copy to document management;
• one copy to new community manager (on behalf of their association); and
• one copy filed with Learning Place.

Step 4: Payment for the PC site
$3000 (ex GST) is to be paid for initial set up costs and ongoing system maintenance, hosting, system enhancements, training and helpdesk support.

In subsequent years, the cost is much less and depends on the number of sub communities. Payment is typically due every July (at the start of the new financial year).

• Main community only = $500 (ex GST)
• Main community and up to 10 sub communities = $1000 (ex GST)
• Main community and up to 20 sub communities = $2000 (ex GST)

Step 5: Training, planning and storyboarding
The Learning Place will provide a full day training (or similar) to up to 10 of your page editors to be held at a venue in Brisbane. Data conferencing sessions and teleconferences would be provided for new communities outside of Brisbane (and LP Mentors where possible).

Community managers are encouraged to storyboard initial community needs and site requirements, to enable a rough plan and structure of site to be created.  Site structure and menu will continually evolve on consultation with other community members.

Step 6: Parent site created
Your Professional Community parent website is created and community manager's details are shown as contact details on the footer of each page of the community website.

These main website are called Parents as they can create children called Sub Communities. These sub communities are full websites with all the functionality of a Parent community, except they can't create sub communities and they can't host the event registration tool.

Learning Place Support
The Learning Place provides a full time Professional Communities Project Officer to support your community manager and community members in ongoing maintenance, helpdesk, system enhancement, training and advice.