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Intranets – What are they?

February 6, 2010 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

Intranets and Internet ImageIntranets are the equivalent of the Internet inside an organisation, sometimes called a ‘private version of the Internet’.

They allow groups within an organisation to communicate to each other utilising web enabled technologies.

Examples of Intranet site uses are as follows:

  • Publicise activities
  • Provide access to documentation, forms and multi-media more easily
  • Provides the opportunity that allows other teams to communicate to the originating team through a web form.
  • Provide access to back-end systems, e.g. special development environments and tools
  • Post policies and procedures online for people to access
  • Provide newsletters for team activities
  • Provide access to schedules for release and change management
  • Provide access to log reports
  • Provide online conferencing access and information
  • Provide a gateway to other systems
  • Internal room and vehicle booking systems
  • Stationary requests
  • Feedback and Contact

An Intranet allows an organisation to leverage its current internal communications to provide additional and sometimes more effective coverage than previously available.

Why an Intranet?

A reasonable question… After looking at the above list of possibilities, let’s have a look at the reason why many organisations use Intranets

Increased Workforce Productivity

Most users in an organisation have access to a web browser, for example Internet Explorer. If an Intranet is implemented correctly, users can find information quickly allowing them to perform tasks more efficiently. A worker can access information anywhere from a workstation within an organisation where a browser is connected to network and security allows them.

Better use of Time

More corporate information can be made available to parties, minimizing the amount of email traffic, correspondence and time consumed between workers searching for information, through other channels of correspondence such as meetings, telephony, etc.

Improved Communications

Intranets provide an excellent platform for communicating to the masses within an organisation. This is especially useful for sharing for example, strategic information. Another feature is the potential ability (if the reporting tools are deployed) to monitor traffic and measure access to the information.

Extensibility for Business Operations

Besides the useful points of communication, improved productivity and time, an intranet can be extended to integrated web based applications to undertake tasks. An example of this could be as follows:

  • Requesting an official file
  • Booking systems
  • Travel systems
  • Logs to backend system analysis
  • Display of communications traffic
  • Online pro-active analysis of production environments

Cost Effective

Instead of maintaining hard copy physical information (a manual), an Intranet can store the information online where it can be easily accessed and printed if and when required.

Promotes corporate culture

Everyone is viewing the same information from the same source.

So, what then is the motivation for an organisation having an Intranet?

It can be said… “Team A utilises an Intranet site to provide a communications channel to its stakeholders across the Corporations network. This allows Team A to more easily fulfil its goals stated in the Organisations Communications Plan.”

Several examples to support the reason behind this are stated in the table below taken from the Communications Plan.

Aligning the Intranet with the Organisation’s Communications Plan

It is important to always relate the purpose of an Intranet back to the Organisations Communications Plan.

Technology for an Intranet

Whether you are a large or small organisation you can build an Intranet on a variety of Technology platforms.

Large organisations usually use a proprietary commercial off the shelf system for this type of activity. On the other hand a small business could use even Microsoft Excel to start off an Intranet. Cheap, easy, crude, but hey, it can be done!

Who manages a Web Based Intranet/Internet System

February 6, 2010 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

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.

Image of Intranet Organisation Larger Enterprises

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

Designing and Managing an Intranet

February 6, 2010 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

Let’s throw some terms and issues on the paper to understand where the Intranet best fits into the organisation:

  • Document Management System
  • Intranet
  • File Server
  • Internal Memo
  • Unit Newsletter
  • Release Update

An Intranet is a technology that enables a team within an organisation to deliver services (communications, information, reports, etc) to stakeholders in an organisation. In Australia, there is a guide by AGIMO (Australian Government Information Management Office) that is titled “Designing and Managing an Intranet”. This document would assist in providing some information prior to deploying an Intranet Site. Let’s have a quick overview of what’s it about.

“Designing and Managing an Intranet”

Distinguish between Websites and Intranets

  • Business Goals
  • Audience
  • Users familiarity with the site
  • User Browsers and Platforms
  • Site size content and structure
  • Appearance of site
  • Frequency of updates and authoring models
  • Metadata
  • Integration with other systems
  • Legal liability
  • Consider the potential of the Intranet to enhance the operation of the organisation

Policies and Procedure

  • Check out other organisations to see what they’ve done
  • Identify Staff and Business Needs
  • Determine Intranet Goals
  • Establish a team(personnel)  to manage it
  • Have a organisation sponsor
  • Consider the appropriate governance model

Design and Content

  • Determine Authoring Model
  • Apply user-centred design techniques
  • Schedule regular evaluation of the Intranet Site
  • Incorporate “Killer Applications” and make the Intranet a place for “doing things”
  • Ensure High-Quality Content
  • Consider the most appropriate structure for the Intranet
  • Establish Content Review processes
  • Ensure that the Intranet meets accessibility standards
  • Consider Recordkeeping issues
  • Consider implementing a content management system

Communications and change management

  • Build Trust in the Intranet Site
  • Market the Intranet Site

If you want to check out this resource, go to http://www.finance.gov.au/e-government/better-practice-and-collaboration/better-practice-checklists/intranet.html

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