Designing for the Corporate Intranet

There is an interesting shift that occurs when developing an intranet as opposed to a public website. The primary project leader for a public site is a marketing director, however, the technology director is normally the primary project leader for an intranet project. Because of this shift, a company may not think to discuss their intranet with their marketing agency. This is an oversight that can potentially limit the effectiveness of the intranet. An intranet, while being lead by a technology director, needs the influence and involvement of others (such as marketing, HR, customer service, etc.). While the marketing and design concerns of an intranet may not be as crucial as they are in a public site, they are nonetheless important.

This newsletter will review ways in which strategic thinking about branding and positioning applys to intranets as well as public websites. We'll also give an overview of the technical aspects of intranet development, and how Newfangled's grayscreen development process and content management system can address a clients' intranet development needs.

Intranets are often grass roots efforts initiated from within an organization. This approach is appropriate because an intranet is ultimately for internal employees, and the more ownership they feel of the site, the better it will be. However, while a grass roots full participation approach is very important to an intranet, it also can cause some real problems when it comes to future growth and usability of the intranet.

Because full participation is so important, many companies have developed their intranets in a very loose and organic way, allowing content to be added spontaneously. Usually there is some attempt at establishing HTML and design standards. These standards tend to change and shift over time, and adherence is spotty. When intranet content is created by various individuals using PDFs or HTML tools like FrontPage, Dreamweaver, or the "save as HTML" features of Word and Excel, the consistency and organization of the intranet deteriorates over time. This deterioration can result in the needless duplication of content and poor searching capabilities. This approach makes the intranet like a library where each librarian files information according to their own method. As the intranet grows, these problems can become extreme. These problems are compounded because the tools used to create the static HTML pages mesh the design, navigation, and content together. Changes to the site then need to be retroactively applied to older documents. Fixing these problems can become as problematic as the "Big Dig." Anyone who has traveled through the Boston area is aware of the massive engineering project known as the "Big Dig." A tunnel has been constructed to run completely under the city. Part of the challenge of the Big Dig was trying to construct through an area that has developed haphazardly over centuries. At every stage of the project, an incredible amount deconstruction was necessary before any real construction can take place. Traffic and utility systems were re-routed, temporary structures were built, old structures destroyed, and only then could sections of the new tunnel be constructed. The complexity of this project was due to the complexity of the existing structures that have been built up bit by bit over time.

In cases where an intranet has grown haphazardly over time there may be a lot of deconstruction necessary to repair the flawed foundations. This is one good reason to urge a client who has not yet developed their intranet to do so in a carefully managed way with the appropriate tools for maintaining the integrity of the intranet's structure as it grows over time. The more flexible and well thought out the initial design, the less work (destroying and rebuilding existing pages and structures) will need to be done in the future.

Intranets, as their name suggests, are primarily internal projects. However this does not mean that outside help isn't important. Companies tend to become myopic and an outside vantage point can help clarify thinking. This is why they usually seek outside help when trying to determine their branding and positioning. Likewise, the structure and design of an intranet is affected when designed by those "too close" to the details. Often an internal organizational chart becomes the foundation for the structure of an intranet. Org charts are not usually a good place to start when defining an intranet's structure. Sometimes it just takes an outsiders view to help an internal development team work through the planning of an intranet.

Another reason for the agency to be involved is that outsiders have the freedom to ask questions that those inside the company may not feel free to ask. Lois Rosenfeld and Peter Morville point out two important factors in their book "Information Architecture,"

"The great thing about outsiders is that they can get away with asking naive questions considered suicidal by insiders... an outsider can ensure that the organization chart isn't the site's architecture, and challenge confusing orgspeak."

An outside consultant is able to ask questions and work through internal political struggles in ways that members of an organization cannot. These issues must be faced and dealt with if the ultimate design is to be effective for the people who use it. Again, it can be very difficult for an organization to get past their own orgspeak and internal understanding of their own structure.

The involvement of a marketing and communications firm in an intranet project can bring the skill of the information design to an internal development team. Information design bears great influence during the early development stages of an intranet. We have found that designers (whether they are web designers or not) are more sensitive to information design issues than other members of a development team. The balance that designers bring to the information design process is especially important when designing an intranet because IT staff often have a disproportionate influence on intranet design. While the role of IT is critical to an intranet, their role as information designers is not always as helpful. This is due to the fact that IT people spend their days designing data systems. The way data is organized and designed to work efficiently in a network schematic will color their view of how the site should be organized. A logical network or database scheme is not usually the best way to organize something from a human perspective.

Much more can be read about the process and skill of the information designer in our book Client/Developer Wars The second half of the book delves into the subject of information design.

One of the most important ways an agency can bear influence in the development of their client's intranet is by focusing on how the intranet will brand and position the company to their employees. Some companies assume that their employees have a good grasp of what's going on within the company. In fact it's often the employees that lack the big picture of their company's goals. This can cause confusion over why the company might make certain decisions or take the direction that is does. In the same way that many agencies get involved with creating corporate newsletters, the same strategic thinking that goes into a newsletter needs to be included in an intranet. Putting forth the corporate vision, communicating the brand, and positioning the company needs to be done in the mind of the employees as well as in the marketplace. The intranet is a great place to do this work.

Keeping the message and brand image consistent throughout a company's intranet will help to keep personnel focused and employee morale up. Simply posting marketing pieces and press releases to the intranet will help to provide a clear message to the entire organization. Allowing employees to ask questions and communicate across departments will also help motivate and educate the staff. Intranet based polls that illicit input from the staff can demonstrate that management values the ideas and perspectives of the entire company. An employee highlight area can provide a broader view of what's happening in the company as well as show how individual achievement is recognized and rewarded. These kinds of ideas are often not considered when an intranet is designed. The perspective of the agency can help craft a greater vision for how the intranet will impact the entire company.

There is much to be gained by having the agency involved in the development of an intranet. This involvement may be limited to giving advice or providing layouts for the look and feel, or it may be as extensive as leading the project.

When you begin to take a role in developing your client's intranet, there are some political and technological issues you need to be aware of. The following section describes some of these concerns so that you will have a level of comfort navigating the waters of intranet development.

Intranets are truly company-wide endeavors. As previously mentioned, getting an entire company to "buy into" the intranet is critical to its success. As you may have encountered (or at least seen as a common theme in Dilbert), marketing and technology departments tend to be diametrically opposed to each other (see WebSmart newsletter "The IT Guy". Because an intranet project will involve both groups (as well as others including secretarial support staff, HR, reception, customer support, etc.), the relational tensions need to be handled delicately. The most critical department to have on board is technology. This is because an intranet is usually hosted and maintained inside a company's Local Area Network (LAN) which is the highly protected domain of IT. Because intranets often need to integrate with other internal third party software (i.e. HR software, time entry and analysis software, etc.) the intranet usually has to be hosted inside the corporate network. For this to take place, IT will have to give complete approval and support to the effort. The best situation is when IT is fully on board with the way the project is being done, but also values the role of marketing in the project. Fostering communication and appreciation between these two departments during the development process is an important political dynamic to keep an eye on.

Determining the hosting needs of an intranet is the first technology consideration when discussing an intranet project. When intranets are to be hosted internally to the company, the cooperation and approval of IT is essential. However in cases where an intranet does not need to be hosted internally, the need for IT approval is not as critical. An externally hosted intranet might make sense for a smaller company without a dedicated IT staff, or for an intranet that is primarily a communications tool (publishing an internal newsletter, or posting corporate information, for example). If the intranet is limited to publishing and posting of information rather than as a working tool for daily tasks (like managing time entry) the intranet can be hosted outside of the company's network. An externally hosted intranet will be easier, less complicated, and less expensive to build. Of course the intranet would still need to be password protected and easily maintainable by internal staff.

If the intranet must be hosted internally, the level of openness IT has toward dealing with an outside company is the very first thing to be determined. Openness from IT is a green light. A red light from IT, when discussing an internally hosted intranet, would make it very difficult to develop an intranet in an effective manner.

Another technology issue to consider is the use of third party software. Certain intranet tasks such as time keeping, real-time HR forms, and accounting processes are usually best left to specialized third party software. There are many choices of special software for these tasks and most offer web-based interfaces. For example, if a company used a particular software package for entering time sheet information that integrates with back-end accounting systems, recreating an intranet time keeper would be a waste of time and money. It would be better for the intranet to simply link over to the time keeping software itself. Often these third party solutions will allow for custom interfaces to be added to them so that look and feel can be maintained across the intranet. But even if this is not an option, it is still better to leave specialized tasks to the software that has been specifically designed to handle them. Don't reinvent the wheel.

Software integration is a technically challenging task that is sometimes needed or expected in intranet development. This section will define software integration so that you can identify this expectation when discussing intranet development with a client. If software integration is either needed or expected (and there is a huge difference between the two) the project is likely going to be complicated and expensive. A third party software integration consultant will need to be brought into the project.

Software integration, or getting data from one piece of software to interact with information in another piece of software is hard to do. Uncovering the expectation for software integration can be hard when planning and designing an intranet with non-technical clients. IT departments usually appreciate the complexity of integration work, but non-technical people sometimes have unrealistic expectations about software integration. Technological hype tends to create unrealistic expectations about what technology can automate. While there is a lot that technology can do, accomplishing some of these tasks is costly. Clarifying expectations about software integration is important in the early stages of planning an intranet. Keeping the boundaries between each of the various systems involved in an intranet distinct from each other is the best way to address integration expectations.

For example, an intranet might allow users to enter time sheet information that could automatically go into the back-end accounting system and provide current project status based on that information to project managers. There are accounting systems available that have web based interfaces that would be useful for this kind of function. This accounting function is distinct from the general content management function of the intranet. A separate system, such as Newfangled's content management system could be used for general site content management. The boundaries of these two systems need to be clearly defined. Data that enters one system will not necessarily be entered into the other. When the real time passing of data from one system to the other is necessary, software integration needs to take place.

The simplest and least expensive approach, which usually is more than adequate for most companies' intranet needs, is to separate the functions and use the systems independently of each other. The look and feel of the two systems can be matched so that the user experience is not interupted.

Newfangled's grayscreen prototype development process is very well suited for intranet development. The need for company wide "buy in" and a broad team approach to intranet development are meet by grayscreen prototyping. By creating the prototype early in the development cycle, as many people as needed can review and comment of the site's content, structure, and functionality. Modifications to these areas are easily applied and by the time the intranet has been fully prototyped, the entire organization has had opportunity to make it their own. Grayscreening also enables an intranet to be built with as much speed and flexibility as possible.

The Newfangled content management system adds two aspects to the intranet development process that make it a great option for intranets. Most importantly, it allows the company to easily manage and maintain the content of the intranet by themselves. The NewfangledCMS can create multiple administrators with limited access to information allows many people to safely maintain various areas of the site. This ease of management is essential for any intranet. Because NewfangledCMS is a database/template approach to web development, the integrity of the structure and formatting of the site is maintained while content can be added at will. Changes to the design or structure of the site are much easier to make in the future because only the site templates need to be adjusted rather than every page in the site.

Through the NewfangledCMS the actual development process is improved. That is, the prototype of the site can be "whitescreened" before any visual design is completed or approved. This allows content to be entered into the site before it's completed. This speeds up the development process, and gives the client familiarity with the back end of the site. Those adjustments to structure and functionality that are usually only discovered as the site is used, can be identified and adjusted before the site is finalized.

NewfangledCMS has many components also well suited to the needs of an intranet. Another critical way that the NewfangledCMS meets the needs of intranet development is that Newfangled does not charge for our CMS software, but only our development time. With this approach the client can get a highly functional intranet at a price that would typically only cover the cost of licensing content management software. This focuses a client's intranet investment on its development and not on software.

An intranet can be a fun and exciting project to work on. Intranets (and extranets) often show the most return on investment of any kind of website. When done correctly, they can improve morale and communication, increase efficiency, build a greater sense of corporate culture and community, and provide an extremely effective vehicle for the distribution of company information.

The agency can play a key role in the development of an intranet. Your involvement can help your clients discover ways of maximizing the effectiveness and success of their intranet.