30 More Ways to a Better Intranet

By Andrew Wright (@roojwright) Sep 27, 2011

The previous article, 50 Ways to a Better Intranet, listed 20 ways an intranet can be improved in the areas of finding information, completing work tasks, interactivity and improving intranet performance. This article provides 30 more ideas for a better intranet in the areas of content, maintenance (governance) and look and feel.

All of the information is based on case studies from the Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC), a free web-based intranet benchmarking service.

Content

The following table lists tasks that can improve the way your intranet delivers content.

Task	Description/Benefit
21. Update staff details	Run a campaign to get staff to update their own details (if your intranet allows this). Otherwise update as many details as possible from your enterprise resource management system. • 14 Tips for Intranet Employee Profiles • Putting people at the centre: social staff directories
22. Develop a process for publishing news	Develop a process for ensuring news items are published regularly and contain quality content that is interesting to most staff. • Does news add any value to an intranet? • 5 Tips To Create a Successful Intranet: Part Three — Front Page News
23. Analyze news effectiveness	Analyze the effectiveness of your current new publishing process. Which articles are popular? What headlines get the best response? Which authors are most popular? Modify your publishing process based on this feedback. • 6 ways to measure effectiveness of news on your intranet • Should there be news on the front page of the intranet?
24. Provide external news feeds	Consider providing external news feeds to news items relevant to the organization. This could include a Twitter feed, news about your company name, key customers or industry.
25. Provide online forms	Identify key tasks (based on discussions with end-users) and convert them into online forms complete with workflow. • Intranets should be task-oriented • Where to get your task list from
26. Provide templates	Identify templates required by the organization and ensure these are all located in one place. Use meta tagging and a contextual integration approach to enable templates to be accessed from more than one location. This could include common email templates or letters.
27. Create a repository of re-usable documents	A repository of reusable documents could include things like business cases, proposals, project plans and presentations. This will help staff avoid reinventing the wheel when they need to create a similar document. • 9 intranet content types that add value to your organisation
28. Create a library of policies and procedures	Create a single location for all organizational policies and procedures.
29. Provide information about your products/ services	Create a list or database containing information about your organization’s products/services. This could include information about who to contact for more information. • Discovery Health staff say their intranet is the best
30. Provide information about your customers	Create a list containing information about your organization’s customers. This could include information such as the history of the customer, latest news, key customer contacts and who to contact for more information.
31. Provide reports/ dashboard information	Identify key performance information and determine the most effective way to provide this information. It may be possible to provide real-time online performance data via a dashboard.
32. Provide online training	Identify key training subjects and provide online subject matter. Consider using videos and other inexpensive multimedia types.
33. Provide access to business applications	Provide a list of links to key applications used within the organization. Identify who the relevant audience is for each application. Also consider integrating applications into the intranet so that data can either be viewed or updated using an intranet interface.
34. Provide access to websites	Provide a list of relevant external websites.
35. Provide a calendar	Provide a calendar of enterprise-wide events or a team calendar. Ensure there is a process for keeping events up-to-date.
36. Information for new starters	Create a section that provides all the information needed for a new starter, including forms, tasks and key contacts.

Maintenance (Governance)

The following table lists tasks that will improve intranet maintenance.

Task	Description/Benefit
37. Create an intranet governance committee	Create a committee consisting of representatives of the business that meet on a regular basis to decide and develop intranet strategy. • Intranet Governance Survey Report 2010 • Good intranet governance is a balancing act • 5 Lessons I’ve Learned About How to Create Memorable and Useful SharePoint Governance Plans
38. Establish regular communication with the business	Organize regular meetings with key business leaders to understand their intranet requirements. Ensure you have identified an executive who has a sufficient budget to enable your intranet to fulfill its potential. Educate this sponsor about the benefits of having an effective intranet.
39. Set up a content review process	Create a process for ensuring all intranet content is reviewed regularly and in a timely manner. This will help ensure content is kept up-to-date.
40. Set up an intranet continuous improvement process	Create a process that allows all staff to suggest changes and improvements to the intranet. This process could be implemented using the intranet itself.
41. Set up a change notification process	Create a process that enables relevant staff to be notified of any changes to the intranet. The process may involve the use of alerts, emails or RSS feeds.
42. Develop and provide training on how to use the intranet	Create a training course for how to make the most of your intranet. This could include online or instructor led training. • The importance of training staff in the use of the intranet • Training intranet editors: What works?
43. Create a community for intranet authors	Develop an online community on the intranet to allow intranet authors to collaborate, and share tips and tricks. Facilitate regular meetings between authors.
44. Develop an intranet action plan	Develop a plan for implementing one or more of the items in this list and the previous article over the coming 6 to 24 months.