Below I’ve listed some basic examples of managing an Intranet/Internet system. They are suggestions only and not hard and fast models. These are based on my experience and what I have seen work.

Large Enterprise organisations usually have some structure in place for managing an Intranet/Internet System. It’s interesting that in my experience with large enterprises, the marketing and communications sections usually have been the managers of these systems.

That’s probably the most appropriate place.

The rise and fall of any Intranet/Internet based system does not rise and fall on an organisation’s structure and governance model, however, it rises and falls on the dedication of champions; people who take ownership of the system, use it, market it, manage it and improve it.
As the previous section flags, consideration will need to be given on who will manage the system and the appropriate governance model over its management.
For smaller enterprises, these items seem a little trivial at this time, however a process of authoring and approval will need to be put in place to effectively manage the site and assist in ensuring the quality and integrity of the information. It also provides a basis for the growth of system as the business grows.

Below are some models to consider in managing a Web Based Intranet/Internet System.

Small Enterprise 0-10 people

The Author Developer

Role: Administers, develops and manages the Internet/Intranet system. Content could be sources from other employees.

Small Medium Enterprise 0-30 people

The Intranet Webmaster

Role: Administer, develops and controls the Internet/Intranet system. Content could be sources from other employees.

The Author Developer

Role: Backup Administrator, develops content, forwards to the. Content could be sources from other employees.

The Author

Role: Develops Content, forward to the CMS Manager for hosting.

Larger Enterprises

Larger Organisations work best with a distributed publishing model. Depending on what school you come, many people see that a centralise publishing model as a hinderance to publishing environment.

The best value for an Intranet Team is to manage standards, design and find ways to assist Authors in publishing their content easily. This is important when it comes to the use of collaborative systems such as wikis, blogs, forums, groupware type systems,etc.

The Intranet Team

Role: Administer, develops and controls the Intranet/Internet System. Their focus is on governance, standards, design, processes, systems maintenance and development, systems innovation.

The Author Developer

Role: Backup Administrator, monitors and assists in standards conformance, liaises with the Intranet Team. Content is usually sourced from other employees.

The Author

Role: Develops Content and forwards to the Author/Developer for editorial review and publishing.

In closing

There isn’t one size that fits all for this, there will be other considerations. My hope is that you arrive at model that works best for your organisation, the most important thing is to make sure that people:

1. Are able to publish content easily
2. They know the rules and guidelines for publishing
3. They can maintain their information easily