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Intranet design

Discussion articles

• 6 steps to productive discussion forums on your intranet
  "I used to work for a company that takes pride in encouraging open dialogue. They have an excellent intranet, and a few years ago they wanted to implement forums to promote productive conversation. After 4 years and 3 major revisions to the forums, usage is sporadic at best. The technology works, the culture is right, and the company is big enough (over 500 employees). What's wrong? When you have a small base of users (say, under 10,000), everything has to be perfect to create effective discussion forums. Here are 6 guidelines."
  (Chris McGrath - One Intranets)

• 10 ways to continuously improve your intranet
  This article outlines 10 practical ways that an intranet can be improved incrementally without yet another redesign. Although some of the methods may require mini-projects to be set up within the intranet team, many of the methods can be applied alongside the team's usual maintenance activities.
  (Donna Maurer and Tina Calabria - Step Two Designs)

• 34 ideas for promoting your intranet
  The promotion of an intranet is never-ending. From the day it's launched, through to its eventual retirement, an intranet must be constantly advertised to staff.

• Achieving success with intranet-based online communication (PDF)
  The key to achieving a successful online documentation implementation on the intranet is to understand that the
  resulting system is indeed a ‘system’. The need for well written, formatted and structured documents is necessary
  but the interactive framework in which those documents exist is equally important. It is crucial to understand the
  role of each individual involved in the system from reader to author and IT provider.

• Anatomy of a corporate intranet project (PDF)
  Today more and more companies use intranets to communicate with employees and to help them perform
  their jobs. By examining a Unisys Corporation employee communication intranet project you can learn how to
  manage corporate intranet projects effectively.

• A solid intranet in eight steps
  Because intranets have become commonplace, it's easy to assume they're well designed and usable. Unfortunately, most intranets have grown undirected and unchecked, like weeds in a garden. To dispel the myth that good intranet design just happens, let's look at the rules that my colleagues and I follow when we design corporate intranets.

• Be a white hat SEO for your intranet - it's good for accessibility
  "SEO means Search Engine Optimiser. Some are white hats; some are black hats. Just like in the old Wild West! The SEOs with white hats conduct legitimate optimising of web pages to make the site come up appropriately in the Search Engine Results Pages. The back hat SEOs implement tricks to appear high in the results pages even if the web site is not necessarily relevant. The range of tricks is astonishing (many infringe copyright) and when search engines detect them, the site is usually thrown out of their index database. I soon realised that (1) most of the techniques used by white hat SEOs were similar if not identical to the guidelines given by accessibility experts. The very things you do to make your web site more search-engine friendly also make it more accessible. (2) These guidelines can also be applied to intranets."
  (Jane McConnell - Globally Local, Locally Global)

• Best practises for successful intranets
  Thinking big in the first phase of intranet planning is the nature of e-business, but then it's time to start asking the tough questions. One needs to figure out where the business goals and the user goals need to meet in order to create an intranet that offers the most value.

• Beware the bleeding edge and feature creep
  You want to make sure that your systems have a certain amount of longevity--prolonging system lifecycle, avoiding the risk of obsolescence, and maximizing your return on investment--by making use of current technologies while not hastily chasing bleeding-edge promises of some sort of high-tech eden. It's our job, as IT professionals, to understand our users' needs and then determine what technology to implement, how much of it, and when it's appropriate to do so. After all, technology--for all it's done to improve our business processes--still requires a good amount of old-fashion human judgment and common sense.

• Building intranets that matter
  Despite best intentions, intranets often fail to deliver on the value they promise. Why? Companies take an 'if we build it they will come' approach. Too often, intended users don't come. And if people don't use the intranet, it will never deliver value.

• Canonical intranet homepage
  "In recent years, intranet homepages have become very similar in their basic layout. Intranets that look the same can nonetheless differ drastically in usability due to different features and content."
  (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

• Card sorting for intranet information architecture
  "A relatively large navigation list (about 50 content areas) of ‘un-substructured’ finance related material. The intranet in question uses single menu pages for each of 8 main information groups and the above list was part of the wider finance information group. Some work had already be done on other subsections (i.e purchasing). But the rest of the content, which included policies, procedures and other reference material, was all in the same sub-section. The list was structured by alphabetical order only."
  (Nick Besseling - Contextia)

• Choosing an intranet project sponsor
  Numerous surveys across a diverse range of IT projects have identified that the lack of support from senior management (project sponsorship) is one of the biggest causes of project failure.The demand for effective project sponsorship is even greater for an intranet, where decisions will affect many business units and staff across the organisation. This briefing explores the need for a project sponsor, the role they need to play, and how to choose one.

• Conducting intranet needs analysis
  "The fundamental question to ask for all intranets is: what is the intranet actually for? While this is an easy question to ask, answering it meaningfully involves gaining an in-depth understanding of staff and organisational needs. There are a range of practical 'needs analysis' techniques that can be used to identify staff (and organisational) requirements. This article provides an overview of these techniques, as well as discussing how to analyse and use the results of the research."
  (James Roberston - Step Two Designs)

• Corporate intranets: your job is never over (PDF)
  A corporate intranet is an effective tool for bi-directional information sharing. At last year’s STC conference we
  discussed how to build a successful intranet. Once you’ve built your intranet, your job is by no means over.
  Now you must maintain it and ensure that it becomes a part of your company’s corporate culture. To ensure
  this you must give attention to 1) the information, 2) site design, 3) marketing and 4) support. We’ll discuss and
  demonstrate things you can do in these 4 areas to ensure that users continue to have successful experiences with
  your corporate Intranet.

• Create a strong intranet brand
  "The intranet needs to have a strong brand, a sense of identity that, at a basic level, distinguishes it from the public website and other information sources within the organisation. Beyond this, the intranet brand should be designed to build staff trust, and to convey a clear sense of what the intranet can offer and when it should be used. This briefing explores the role of the intranet's brand identity, as well as outlining how to put it into practice."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Creating an upwards spiral for your intranet
  " Many intranets are trapped in a 'downwards spiral': process and resources issues lead to poor-quality content, which reduces trust, which leads to more problems, and so on. This briefing explores the nature of the problem, and outlines some approaches to reshaping the intranet into something that grows and prospers."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Debunking five common intranet myths
  "Over the years I've received many e-mails from readers with some pretty wild, and even dangerous, misconceptions about intranet development and management. In this article I'll take a look at five of these common intranet myths."
  (Paul Chin - Intranet Journal)

• Designing an effective intranet/extranet (PDF)
  The Internet created a revolution in electronic documentation. Now corporations are creating intranets
  (internal networks) and extranets (secured Internets for customer use) for the distribution and access of corporate documentation, manuals, and training using Internet technology. You’ll learn how to determine what should go on your intranet/extranet, how to ensure information meets users needs, and how to design effective electronic materials.

• Designing a website for a corporate intranet (PDF)
  Offers suggestions for creating an effective corporate intranet.

• Developing an departmental intranet site: from fantasy to reality (PDF)
  If you are considering or planning an intranet site, you know it can be an overwhelming experience. Given all the
  hype around the World Wide Web and HTML these days it’s easy to become overwhelmed--we were too. We were given the task of developing an intranet site for our department. We lost sight of the fact that, as technical
  writers, we are skilled at learning new tools and new technology and we are trained to present information in
  an effective manner. There will always be new tools and technology, but the process of good information design
  remains the same.

• Don't forget to add the tax(onomy)
  "So what is taxonomy? How does it differ from information architecture? And how do you create an effective taxonomy for a successful intranet?"
  (Cathy McKnight)

• Escaping the organisation chart on your intranet
  At the core of the structure of many intranets is the organisation chart. This is not surprising as many intranets grow organically with little central control. Business teams create their own areas on the intranet, include information about what they do, and disseminate it to their internal clients.While matching the organisational structure is often the easiest approach for an intranet, it doesn't serve the needs of many staff.

• Five intranet reviews, five different results
  "This case study presents the findings from five different intranet reviews, with the aim of exposing some of the issues being confronted across different organisations. These reviews also show that even within seemingly-similar organisations, the intranet issues can be quite different. This highlights that there is no 'one size fits all' intranet solution, and emphasises the value of conducting meaningful 'needs analysis' activities, such as those outlined in this article."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Five key intranet policies
  "Most intranets have some form of policies and procedures, typically focusing on authoring guidelines and standards. The question is: are these the right policies to have? In many cases, intranet teams have established policies that they find difficult to enforce, while missing the opportunity to develop policies that will be much more beneficial for both the intranet team and the site itself. This briefing takes a different look at the role of intranet policies, and outlines five policies that all intranet teams should develop."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Five-minute intranet self-evaluation
  This briefing presents a simple checklist that will allow you to judge just how much work will be required to bring your intranet back to top performance. Work through this checklist, and tick all those statements that apply to your intranet.

• Five ways to identify intranet usability issues
  This article provides five techniques to identify likely usability problems in your intranet. Some techniques provide indications about where the main problems lie, others provide concrete evidence. Each technique can be used alone, or in combination to give you a rich picture of usability issues.

• From producer logic to user logic: the greatest challenge you may ever have
  "Moving an intranet structure from a producer logic to a user logic is probably the hardest thing an intranet manager will ever have to do, especially in large, complex organisations."
  (Jane McConnell, Globally Local... Locally Global)

• Full site redesign? Start by addressing the home page
  "When an intranet isn't working effectively, many organisations attempt to tackle the problem with a full-scale redesign of the site or the implementation of a content management system. But these major projects can create as many issues as they resolve. Rather than embarking on a major project at the first sign of trouble, consider tactical solutions such as the redesign of the home page."
  (Iain Barker - Step Two Designs)

• Headline syndication for intranets
  So you have an intranet. Perhaps it's supported by a costly and complex content management system. It's full of rich, useful content that could enhance many types of projects and collaboration throughout your enterprise. Unfortunately, most people within your organisation probably only access a small, narrow portion of the of that information. They aren't aware of what the rest of the intranet can offer because they don't browse beyond their normal "info-grazing" range.

• How to scope an intranet release
  Intranet functionality is often delivered in stages, with each 'intranet release' providing additional content or functionality. The most crucial release is often the initial 'go-live' of the intranet. This must demonstrate the value of the intranet, and build sufficient interest to ensure the site develops further and grows. When developing intranet releases, however, intranet teams often find themselves very constrained by both time and resources. The challenge then becomes delivering sufficient content and capabilities to meet business and user expectations, within the project constraints. This briefing introduces a simple approach to scoping a release that takes all of these factors into account.

• Human-centered intranet design
  "The role of the developer is to ensure that their systems don't put undue stress on users simply for the sake of technology. Developing for technology alone helps no one. It may showcase the advances in the industry and impress those in-the-know; but after the oohing and aahing stop, it does little to ease the disconnect between the user and the tool."
  (Paul Chin - Intranet Journal)

• Improving intranet search
  "This report provides a practical methodology for improving intranet search, including a wide range of guidelines and approaches that cover every aspect of the search solution. All of the recommendations are designed to be within the reach of every intranet team, and do not require in-depth technical knowledge or unlimited budgets."
  Note: report must be purchased.
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Improving your intranet, task by task
  "When faced with an out-dated and ineffective intranet, a common response is to launch a redesign project. This can involve spending the next three to six months researching staff needs, creating a new information architecture, and authoring new content. If redesign efforts are based on a solid analysis of business and user needs, this can be an effective way to improve an intranet. However, it takes considerable time and resources, and does not result in a measurable payoff for several months. For some organisations, a full redesign is therefore out of the question. One method that is certain to provide immediate business benefit is to improve the way the intranet supports key tasks. In fact, by selecting only one task at a time, improvements can be made in a manageable and cost-effective manner."
  (Tina Calabria - Step Two Designs)

• Intranet authoring: a hobby?
  "This briefing looks at the role of intranet authors, and challenges organisations to either take intranet authoring seriously, or to let go of unrealistic expectations regarding content quality and timeliness."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Intranet change: evolution or big bang?
  "This article discusses the differences between the big bang and evolutionary approaches to intranet development. Guidelines are provided on when to use each approach, along with a range of practical tips and suggestions."
  (Sarah Owen - Step Two Designs)

• Intranet communications: improving HR service and communications
  "At the heart of your intranet is the employee - your target audience and most important stakeholder. Organizations that have effective employee communications reap the rewards with better morale, collaboration, organization loyalty, faith in management, and productivity. Effective communications requires two-way, synchronous communications - not just messages pushed on a one-way street from the top floor executive offices."
  (Toby Ward - Intranet Blog)

• Intranet communication versus traditional communication
  A way to measure return on investment (ROI) for your intranet is to answer two basic questions. How does the intranet increase the level and quality of communication? How does it replace traditional forms of communication? To develop such an ROI model, you need to be clear on the current level and type of communication within your organisation.

• Intranet managers must be managers
  "While intranets often have someone appointed as the intranet 'manager', do they spend their time actually managing the site, or publishing pages? Observing many organisations and intranets, one of the critical success factors is to have an intranet manager who is free to focus solely on the management of the site. The intranet manager should not be writing HTML or publishing pages."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Intranet portals and scent are made for each other
  "On intranets, the pull to use search is stronger, since it promises an easy way to drive users directly to their content. However, our research shows that users only resort to search when they can't find the trigger words on the page. They turn to search, typing in a query representing the scent they had hoped to find -- in essence creating their own links. Search logs are a great way to identify what scent is missing from your portal. When going through the logs, you want to look at both the queries and the pages from which those queries originated. The scent is telling you where the scent is lost and what link the user desired."
  (Jared M Spool - User Interface Engineering)

• Intranet portals: a tool metaphor for corporate information
  Internet portals are virtually dead, but a portal approach can tame the unruly chaos on internal company networks. Intranet portals overcome many Internet portal limitations, and might be the best hope for productivity and a unified user experience.

• Intranet portals get streamlined
  "An analysis of intranet portals found slimmer information architectures and a renewed emphasis on fresh content and useful applications.All in all, intranet portals are definitely maturing. The user interfaces are simpler, and teams are getting better at managing both the portal itself and its relationship with other departments and content providers. We definitely see a continuing need for better ROI measures. Nonetheless, many portal projects achieve significant improvements--which are almost as easy to gauge as the spectacular failures."
  (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

• Intranet portals: the corporate information infrastructure
  Over the last half year, it has become popular for large and medium sized companies to build portals to their intranets which have been spinning out of control for years. Still, many companies don't even have a single default starting page for all of their employees: some leave browsers set to boot with the browser vendor's page (an utter waste of bandwidth and time) and others have a smattering of department pages but no company-wide internal home page.

• Intranet return on investment case studies
  An intranet can deliver return on investment (ROI) by either reducing the cost, or expanding the ability, to communicate. By shifting manual processes to the intranet, the cost of accessing and processing information is reduced. The intranet speedily delivers information to large numbers of people. This gives the organisation a greater capacity to change.

• Intranet review toolkit
  "While there are a number of published heuristics (guidelines or criteria) for reviewing public websites, up to now there has been no equivalent set for corporate intranets. Supported by an IA Institute Progress Grant, Step Two Designs has now developed and published the most comprehensive set of publicly-released intranet heuristics."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Intranet Roadmap
  "The Intranet Roadmap provides the first truly comprehensive methodology that describes all the activities required to develop (or redevelop) an intranet. Beyond just implementing software or redesigning the site, the Intranet Roadmap covers activities in five key streams: strategy, design, content, change and communications, technology."
  Note: must be purchased.
  (Step Two Designs)

• Intranets and knowledge sharing
  Much has been made of the emphasis on people and process in knowledge management. While it is certainly true that knowledge management is not a technology issue, effort must still be spent in providing a suitable environment to facilitate knowledge capture and sharing. For most organisations, this role is most easily taken on by the corporate intranet, the existing information resource that is available to most (if not all) staff. While many intranets are still languishing as a dumping ground for business documents, there is the potential to make intranets a valuable tool to support knowledge management initiatives

• Intranets as a news channel
  "Improving the effectiveness of internal communications is often one of the key goals underpinning corporate intranets. In practice, this is often reflected in 'latest news' section on the home page of most intranets. While news on the home page is certainly widespread, the question needs to be asked: how effective is it? This article explores the role of the intranet as a news channel, revisiting some of the assumptions about how best to deliver online news within an organisation."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Intranets as the first source of information
  "All too often, intranets become a dumping ground for "second-hand documents". Information is sent out via email, or other mechanisms, and then stored on the intranet as an afterthought. Where this is the case, intranets deliver few real benefits, while still shouldering the full cost of maintaining an increasingly large collection of pages and documents. "
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Intranets: brave new worlds?
  At the heart of all information is the word. It doesn't matter if you wrap it in silicon, package it in neon, or slap a couple of fins on it and call it a fish, it's still our little friend the word when the curtain falls, communicating ideas, thoughts, numbers, whatever. Now, with the surge in popularity of the Internet, we're slinging words to the edges of cyberspace and back in the twitch of a gnat's wing, communicating information faster and to more people than ever thought possible.

• Intranet search reports
  A range of statistics are typically gathered on intranet usage, but of these, search engine reports are by far the most useful. This briefing explores two key search engine reports that should be implemented on all intranets, and looks at how they can be used to improve the effectiveness of the site.

• Intranet shuffle: give your team direct access to corporate data
  Today's data-intensive sites have moved far beyond the simple "brochureware" that once dominated the Web. Intranets, in particular, have grown in complexity, as organisations are now transferring more and more of their historically paper-based tasks to online applications.The issue that inevitably arises is how to allow your users efficient access to that information. As a site grows, traditional navigation schemes can become cumbersome. Many layers of menus can be time-consuming, and without a meticulously planned architecture, your employees can wander off course. More often, users may want to access information in unforeseen ways, and may become frustrated by the limitations of your existing browser-based applications.

• Intranets look vainly to knowledge management
  I have been watching the knowledge management boom for 15 years. I would love to belive that knowledge management was a valuable field. But to the extent that it's about capturing "knowledge" in documents, it goes against everything I know about successful organisations. Like artificial intelligence, it seems based on a mistaken idea about what knowledge is, and about how knowledge-based economies function. I've thrown my lot in with Peter Drucker, who knows all about knowledge-based economies but who famously declared that "you can't manage knowledge".

• Intranets: losing the language of enforcement
  "All too often, centralised intranet teams find themselves battling with decentralised authors to enforce consistency and quality standards. Not only is this fighting ultimately fruitless, it can be very damaging for the morale of all participants, and potentially crippling for the future of the intranet itself. In these situations, intranet teams need to find a new approach, and new ways of working with their decentralised authors. The first step is to lose the language of enforcement."
  (James Robertson)

• Intranets: strategy first, usability second
  "More and more intranet teams are buying into the need for usability. However, usability is not a strategy, and without a clear strategy, usability can become a pointless, wasteful and counter-productive exercise."
  (Gerry McGovern - New Thinking)

• Intranet trends to watch for
  What is in store for intranets next? As an intranet manager, what should you be worrying about? How can you create greater business value through your corporate intranet? Is your intranet going to be most impacted by a new technology, a new business idea or something else? Or is it all just about information retrieval?

• Intranet usability: the trillion dollar question
  The average mid-sized company could gain $5 million per year in employee productivity by improving its intranet design to the top quartile level of a cross-company intranet usability study. The return on investment? One thousand percent or more.

• Is communications up to running intranet?
  "The natural home of the intranet is in communications. However, intranet management requires particular skills that many traditional communications departments don’t have."
  (Gerry McGovern - New Thinking)

• Is your intranet trusted by staff?
  "This briefing looks at the issue of trust, and presents some simple steps that can be taken to further build staff trust in the intranet."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Is your intranet 'under construction'?
  In the early days of the web, it was very common to find entire websites marked as 'under construction', complete with animated roadwork icons. Although the practice is less common on websites than it once was, many intranets still contain a large number of sections 'under construction'.

• Keeping your intranet healthy and effective
  This article outlines a range of approaches which can help to ensure that your intranet remains healthy and effective. Few of these involve large expenditure, instead they focus on putting in place viable processes that guarantee intranet viability.

• Key benefits of a single intranet or public website
  "A single website is more connected and credible. It is more consistent and cost effective. It is easier to manage and measure. "
  (Gerry McGovern - New Thinking)

• Leadership tips for intranet teams
  "Intranets require strong leaders if they are to be more than just publishing platforms for occasionally-used information. The intranet team must take on this leadership role, and drive the evolution and enhancement of the site. This is not an easy role for some intranet teams to play, but ultimately it is one that is satisfying for the team, and greatly beneficial for the site itself. This article outlines a range of practical tips that can be applied to help intranet teams operate more effectively in this leadership role. These are all small (but important) steps that can be taken immediately by any intranet team."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Look before you leap: the importance of an intranet pilot
  Truth of the matter is that it makes sense to ensure the success of a greater whole by first tackling a smaller piece. Simple HTML-only document management systems of the early 1990s have given way to more robust, content laden intranets with dynamic database integration. With all the different uses for intranets now compared to a decade ago, it's vital to tackle a smaller working model before investing the time, effort, and money into achieving nirvana in one try.

• Make sure your intranet is well perceived by staff
  "Many intranets are only now beginning to show their true potential. However, many staff, having had unsatisfactory previous experiences of the intranet, may need quite some convincing that the intranet is now genuinely useful."
  (Gerry McGovern - New Thinking)

• Making information work on the World Wide Web (PDF)
  The amount of information that people need to perform their jobs is increasing. Many organisations are looking
  to the Internet to help manage and distribute this information. Unfortunately most organisations are not aware of the design and writing skills necessary to create quality web pages that are effective for users. This paper briefly describes the business context for web technology, and outlines a proven process for structuring information to be effective online. This process is based on the premise that an online application will only be effective if its designer considers the people, information, and technology involved.

• Making knowledge management work on your intranet
  "In the information economy, the longevity of an organisation is based as much on the sophistication of its knowledge management practices as it is on traditional differentiators such as the strength of its products, the talent of its employees, and its marketplace reputation and partner relationships. Simply speaking, as actionable and insightful information becomes the currency of an organisation, there are few other ways to tap into any latent potential lost in the office corridors."
  (Shiv Singh - Boxes and Arrows)

• Meeting your intranet users
  "This article discusses the challenges in delivering information to all staff within an organisation, and outlining practical approaches that ensure efforts spent publishing intranet content are not wasted."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Nine ways to fix intranet search
  "Search is often the greatest source of frustration on intranets. Irrelevant results, hard to read results pages and 'untitled document' entries plague many intranet searches. This article outlines nine steps that can be taken by all intranet teams to improve the effectiveness of search. References are made to previous articles that outline specific steps in greater detail."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Not all content needs to be of equal quality
  "One of the greatest challenges confronting intranets is ensuring that content is up-to-date, accurate and useful. In many organisations, much thought and effort is put into maintaining (and enhancing) the quality of published content. What must be realised, however, is that not all content on an intranet needs to be of equal quality. Only once this is recognised can successful strategies be put in place to support content authoring and publishing."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Paradox of delivering to isolated staff
  "Staff in geographically isolated locations are most reliant on information sources such as intranets. In practical terms, however, these staff are the hardest to reach. This is a central paradox for intranets, and while there are no easy answers, there are some practical steps that can be taken to better meet the needs of these isolated staff. "
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Practical strategies for creating a successful intranet
  "Designing, developing, and deploying an intranet can be expensive, time-consuming and organisationally tricky. But certain strategies, when carefully executed, can simplify designing and managing your intranet."
  (Shiv Singh - Boxes and Arrows)

• Practical tips for improving website and intranet usability (PDF)
  There’s a large body of theory available to guide web and intranet design, but concentrating too much on theory sometimes leads designers to overlook basic things they can do to improve the usability of sites. This article
  presents, in no particular order, seven simple ways to make your website or intranet more usable.

• Productivity in the service economy
  It is possible for white-collar workers to work smarter and become more productive. While intranet usability provides substantial initial gains, workflow usability can go much further and will save millions of jobs.

• Providing intranet access to records
  "This briefing outlines a simple scenario in which the intranet helps staff find key corporate information, while the documents accessed are stored in the document/records management system."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Quantitatively test the effectiveness of your home page
  "Staff should be able to confidently, quickly and accurately step from the home page of the intranet towards the information they require. If staff can't achieve this without resorting to search, the home page needs to be redesigned. As discussed in Full site redesign? Start by addressing the home page, many home pages fail because they are exclusively devoted to exposing new and useful content. Both of these have a place on a home page, but they should be kept in proportion with its role as a gateway to all site content. This article explains a quick and effective technique for assessing whether your home page is an effective gateway to site content."
  (Iain Barker - Step Two Designs)

• Search should work like magic
  "Staff should not have to learn complex search options, or spend time carefully considering the most effective search terms and options. Regardless of what the user is searching on, the right results should be returned."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Selling old school management on an intranet
  You can't convince someone to support a concept they see as a threat; something that will upset their routine or their job--and technology is about as upsetting to someone with an old-school mentality as gravity is to Wile E. Coyote. Out of self-preservation they will do everything in their power to incorporate as much of the old into the new as possible. So how do you get old-school management to support and finance an intranet when they themselves are not likely to use it?

• Sixteen steps to a renewed corporate intranet
  While the current intranet may be languishing in a state of disrepair, the process for renewing it is both known, and achievable. By following this sixteen step process, the intranet can be made to deliver substantial benefits, in support of overall business strategy. By putting in place effective content and supporting processes, you can also ensure that the intranet is sustainable over the long-term.

• Staff directories: designing and implementing an effective online staff directory
  "If you are implementing a new online staff directory as part of your intranet, this report will be invaluable. If you are enhancing an existing directory, the best practice guidelines and suggestions will provide many ideas on the next steps to take." Note: report must be purchased.
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Taking information into your own hands: critical issues in the design and implementation of employee self-service
  Employee self-service can be a winning proposition for both employers and employees. It can enable individuals to take control of their work-related information, at the time and place when it most suits their needs. At the same time, organizations can achieve both monetary gains and improved employee satisfaction through automating routine inquires, focusing limited resources on higher value-added activities and reducing the amount of paper handled throughout the organization. However, we have seen the successful adoption of these systems be heavily dependent upon a detailed understanding of different segments of the employee population. Recognizing that many workers do not use a traditional desktop as part of their work environment, self-service systems need to be flexible enough to encompass a wide variety of access channels and delivery modes.

• Taming the data tangle
  Intranets are complex because they have complex objectives, whereas Internet sites cast a wide net and filter audiences into a few focused paths that eventually lead to a single call to action (such as a purchase transaction). Intranets provide all of the information available on a topic and let readers cull the data they need to complete the task at hand. Intranets cast a wide net, but the filtering is much more difficult. This is a major problem when more and more content gets jammed into an intranet by various corporate divisions. The result is often a resource that's too cumbersome to use.

• Taming the monster: creating an effective government intranet
  "All organizations that disseminate information start with a dream: multiple websites integrating seamlessly into an intranet that minimizes the effort of managing content and maximizes stakeholder satisfaction. But for too many operations, the dream has become a nightmare, a Frankenstein’s monster of mismatched components that lurch onto monitors, terrifying audiences and causing managers’ sleepless nights. Government organizations face unique challenges when setting out to tame the monster, starting with the focus necessary to organize the task. They can’t work with the obvious profit-drivers that enable private sector organizations to assess the damage being done when a monster enters their midst, or develop the return on investment (ROI) models that tell them the dream has been realized."
  (Julian Mills, Tom Marciniak - Prescient Digital Media)

• Ten best intranets of 2005
  "On average, this year's winning intranets increased site use by 149% with designs that supported bigger screens, multinational users, collaboration, easily updated content, and factory-floor workers."
  (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

• Ten best intranets of 2006
  "This year, we saw increased use of multimedia, e-learning, internal blogs, and mobile access. Winning companies also encouraged consistent design by emphasizing training for content contributors."
  (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

• The "all together" rule for intranets
  "The primary purpose of intranets is to support staff in doing their jobs, to help them complete common business tasks. In practice, however, this can be very frustrating on many intranets. Policies are located in one section, procedures in another section, and forms in a third. Information then needs to be hunted out in order to complete even simple activities. The effectiveness of intranets can be greatly enhanced by bringing together all of the information and tools relating to a task or a subject, and presenting them in a single location. This is the basis for the "all together" rule for intranets: aggregate content together, to help staff to find required information, and to complete key business tasks. This article explores some of the issues currently experienced on intranets, and discusses alternative models that can be put into practice."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• The difference between intranet and Internet design
  Your intranet and your public website on the open Internet are two different information spaces and should have two different user interface designs. It is tempting to try to save design resources by reusing a single design, but it is a bad idea to do so because the two types of site differ along several dimensions.

• The ins and outs of intranets
  Sooner or later, most web designers will be called upon to create an internal site. And will quickly learn that one’s own company can be tougher to deal with than any client. Linabury offers tips on surviving the process.

• The intranet gets serious: part 1 - putting someone in charge
  Finally, organisations are getting serious about how they manage their intranets. The intranet is now moving out of an evolutionary, experimental phase into a more systematic, managed phase. It is being seen as an asset, a driver of productivity. However, return on investment measurement for the intranet still requires a lot of work.

• The intranet gets serious: part 2 - making knowledge sharing work
  The intranet is beginning to restructure the organisation in more ways than one. Content is now an asset, and the people who manage it need to treat it as such. Managing editors, and their team, understand how technology can facilitate effective publishing, collaboration and self-service focused application development.

• The intranet gets serious: part 3 - publish what you can manage
  There is a view in some organisations that an intranet is only for staff, so you can publish what you want. Quality content matters as much on an intranet as on a public website. Get your content right to begin with. Keep it right by removing out-of-date content.

• The intranet gets serious: part 4 - if you can't measure it, you can't manage it
  Intranets don't self-organise. Without planned, centralised information architectures and clearly defined published processes, they become unproductive. Intranets often have applications that either don't work properly, are too difficult to learn, or have no clear business benefit. Applications, like content, must be able to establish a clear return on investment.

• The two faces of intranet success
  There are two fundamental aspects that must be satisfied if an intranet is to succeed: the intranet must meet staff needs; sufficient content and functionality must be created to meet these needs.

• The value of intranet feedback
  There is one feature that you can implement on an intranet that can be tremendously effective in ensuring content is kept up-to-date, assisting with change management, and promoting wide-spread cultural change. This feature is a simple but effective intranet feedback mechanism for staff to use. This is something that we have used to great effect in the past, and it's more than just putting a "feedback" link at the bottom of every page.

• Three approaches to intranet strategy
  Every intranet is different, and every section of a company’s Intranet can be used differently. There are a number of different methods to how an Intranet can be used to benefit a company. However, the three most popular and most valuable are knowledge management, collaboration and communication, and task management.

• To be or not to be: intranet justification
  "Iintranets are more than mere applications. An intranet is a community--made up of technology and personnel--that represents and supports an organization's collective knowledge and culture. And as such, the benefits of an intranet are not always apparent. Perhaps they're taken for granted as normal part of day-to-day operation; only in its absence will we truly discover the worth of an intranet."
  (Paul Chin)

• Top 10 intranet design mistakes
  Since access to intranets is restricted from public view, I find it interesting so many intranets share common design mistakes. I've grouped these design faux paus into something I call the top ten intranet design mistakes.

• Top 10 ways to lose your intranet users
  Intranet developers and content owners are able to grab the attention of their users through momentum. Interest--caused by curiosity, marketing, word-of-mouth, or hype--is raised during initial rollout. And there will always be a surge in your web server's usage logs during this period. But once the novelty has worn off, will your intranet have enough true substance to transform that initial momentum into regular usage?

• Using the World Wide Web in your company's own little world (PDF)
  When a company uses the World Wide Web for internal communication, the web is called an intra-network, or intranet. Companies are turning to this solution because of a number of advantages. However, as with any change that involves technology and corporate culture, the advantages of an intranet come with several challenges including introducing the intranet successfully, managing it without chaos, getting the employees to use it and use it properly, as well as maintaining the web of corporate information accurately.

• Us versus Them - vocabulary makes a difference
  "Vocabulary used when talking about intranets reveals a lot about an organisation's model and approach to becoming more international, or global. Which raises the question: what's the difference between global and international?"
  (Jane McConnell - Globally Local... Locally Global)

• Value-driven intranet design
  "Fundamentally, your intranet must be tied to value creation like other business services within your organisation. If it does not result in value creation for your business, the intranet is a failed service. Establishing value creation can be tricky. Intranet objectives such as increased employee communication, collaboration, and knowledge management are hard to quantify and measure. As a result, some corporations choose to establish tactile goals in the form of metrics such as page views, total hits, and customer satisfaction ratings. This approach is not effective for understanding and measuring the value creation driven through your intranet. Measuring the value is difficult, as the intranet’s greatest benefits to an organisation are not in a measurable, packaged, and corporeal form. So how do you determine the value of an intranet?"
  (Shiv Singh - Boxes and Arrows)

• What to include in intranet search results
  "Intranet search often fails to meet the needs or expectations of users, with confusing and complex results provided for even the simplest searches. While there is much that can be done to improve the effectiveness of intranet search, a good starting point is to improve the design of search results pages. The first question to ask is: what to include (and what not to include) in search results? This briefing is designed to provide a simple checklist that can be used to assess (and then redesign) intranet search results pages."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• When intranet discussion forums work
  "Intranet discussion forums are an often used mechanism within organisations. While they are implemented using a variety of tools and technologies, they all serve the same basic purpose of supporting communication and discussion. In practice, however, many discussion forums fail to prosper, with few (if any) posts being made to them. In other cases, discussion groups are hailed as great successes. This article explores the differences between these experiences, and introduces two critical success factors for intranet discussion forums: a clear purpose, and a common community. "
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Who should own the intranet?
  "One of the first challenges when establishing an intranet is to determine who should have overall ownership of the site, and where the intranet team should be located. This briefing explores a number of common intranet owners, and discusses the pros and cons of each group. It then presents some general guidelines and approaches for selecting where to place the intranet team."
  (James Robertson - Step Two Designs)

• Why an intranet must constantly be updated, and steps to take to make sure it is
  The single most important thing to realise about an intranet is that it is a growing entity. If you wipe your brow in relief after rolling out your intranet and think that that was all there was to it, you are going to be in for a surprise.

• Why are intranets structured like the organisational chart?
  "Many intranets are structured around the organisational chart. It is well known that this method of grouping content is difficult for staff--they can't find information if they don't know who is responsible for it. However, it often seems too difficult to move from an organisational-based structure to a more intuitive topical structure. Before moving to a better structure it is necessary to identify why the intranet is currently designed around the organisational chart, and address these issues first."
  (Donna Maurer)

• Why is corporate communications seen as fluffy?
  "In many organizations, corporate communications doesn’t get a lot of respect. The intranet gives a rare opportunity for corporate communications to get the respect it deserves."
  (Gerry McGovern - New Thinking)

• Worlds apart: the difference between intranets and websites
  Beyond a common use of HTML, intranets and corporate websites (internet sites) are very different animals. The needs they meet, the content they contain, and the users that access them are all very distinct. These differences need to be understood by site designers, and reflected both in the design process and the final product. This article summarises some of the key differences between intranets and websites.

Research articles

• 10 best intranet designs of 2001
  The best intranets of 2001 emphasise iterative design and standardized navigation, and feature collaboration tools and content management systems. On average, companies saw intranet use increase by 98% following their winning usability redesigns.

• 10 best intranet designs of 2002
  This year's winning intranet designs emphasised integrated support of international offices, long development times (two years on average), one-stop start-up screens and single sign-in, and usability testing of interfaces for content contributors.

• 10 best intranet designs of 2003
  This year's winning intranet designs emphasised workflow support, self-service content management, and offloading tasks from email to collaboration tools. On average, companies spent three years between redesigns, and one year on the redesign itself.

• Ten best government intranets
  Redesigning an intranet for usability often more than doubled the use of these award-winning designs from ten public-sector organisations.

• The intranet as ecosystem: a model for sustaining development (DOC)
  Intranet support is more challenging that it seems, for several reasons. Change, in both technological and human systems, is constant; standards and guidelines are therefore often out of date as soon as they are published. People, tools, information, and work requirements are all diverse. The nature of the intranet itself encourages bottom-up development and horizontal communication--beneficial traits in themselves, but difficult to organise and control. On the other hand, the diverse elements of the intranet are actually quite interdependent, so a completely decentralised intranet is unlikely to fully support organisational needs. A Masters' research project.

Case studies

• How we developed an intranet: using the web to inform employees, manage projects, and save money (PDF)
  Data General’s R and D organisation had developed disparate web sites. It was hard to find relevant information and difficult to know what others were doing. We volunteered to create a unified web presence to solve these problems. Taking initiative while building consensus, we crafted a highly used and highly useful intranet. This paper describes how we did it.

• The role of an intranet information architect (PDF)
  A website’s information architecture is a model of the relationship between information objects in the site; it is the
  aspect of web design that makes information retrieval more effective and easier to do. The information architect on a web development team focuses on developing the information architecture but also performs a number of related tasks such as gathering and analysing requirements, performing usability tests, creating production templates, and creating the business strategy of the web site. This paper provides information about these tasks from a case study of the intranet development at Guidant Corporation.