The Flexible Intranet    

The key to efficient and effective user support is an intranet site that supports employees in performing their tasks. However, most intranet sites offer an overload of information that users often must interpret on their own. Van Mansom outlines a useful approach to creating corporate intranet sites.

van Mansom, Kees. Intercom (2008). Articles>Web Design>Intranets

Good to Great Intranets

QAS is a small company with only 400 employees. However, this small postal software company well understands the power and value of knowledge and empowering employees with the right information and tools to excel in their day-to-day jobs. How? Rather than accepting their small size and stature as an impediment to intranet success, QAS has evolved their intranet from good to great.

Ward, Toby. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Intranets

How to Use FrontPage to Design a Corporate Intranet  

Microsoft FrontPage is used extensively in small and medium-sized companies to create both Intranet and Internet Web sites, even though professional Web designers turn up their noses at it. This paper reviews some of the factors that led to its widespread usage, and gives some pointers to nonprofessional Web Mistresses.

Yelverton, Bonnie. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Intranets>FrontPage

How We Built Our Tech Pubs Intranet Site With Cheap Stuff  

Our Veep of Development laid down the glove: An award, he promised, would be given to that department producing the most useful intranet site. Budget, you ask? So we used all manner of freeware. In this session, we'll explain why an intranet made sense in our company, what tools we used to build our site, feedback we have received, and how the intranet has made our work more pleasant and efficient.

van Oss, Joseph E., Ina L. Mutschelknaus and Gerald F. Heiderschheit. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Web Design>Intranets

How We Developed an Intranet: Using the Web to Inform Employees, Manage Projects, and Save Money  

Data General’s R&D organization 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. Our success allowed us to broaden our department’s scope and change its name from “Documentation” to “Documentation and Web Services.” Our experience shows that documentation departments are well suited to create and maintain intranets, and that documentation professionals have the skills to become content developers or information architects.

Harvey, Michael. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Web Design>Intranets>Case Studies

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.

Linabury, Dave. List Apart, A (2000). Design>Web Design>Intranets

The Intranet as a News Channel

While the use of a news section on the company intranet's home page is widespread, communicators need to ask themselves how effective this is as a way to avoid mixed messages and information overload. Does it reduce information overload, or increase it? And how can the news section be used to effectively cut through informational clutter?

Robertson, James. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>Newsletters

Intranet Design Annual: The Ten Best Intranets of 2001

The Nielsen Normal Group report 'Intranet Design Annual: The Ten Best Intranets of 2001' is a worthwhile look into successful intranets that would otherwise not be available to the general public. It is a valuable guide for anyone (not just specialists) involved in intranet design and development.

Lash, Jeff. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Intranets

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.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2004). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Search

An Intranet Story

An intranet, in contrast to the Internet, is in-house and serves the employees of an enterprise. Although intranet pages may link to the Internet, an intranet is not accessed by the public. The intranet was fertile ground for web-savvy geeks like me to till and plant.

Findlay, Hugh. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Web Design>Intranets

Intranet Usability

The Internet hype may be dying down, but one area in which productivity gains can still be a reality is intranet development. Intranets could hardly be described as the sexy end of web development, but many companies around the world are experiencing real value from improved efficiency in terms of internal communications. Intranets can be big business. But unfortunately, Intranets often illustrate everything that is worst in web design. I imagine most readers of this article will be familiar with those corporate Intranets that become little more than a collection of department websites, each with its own navigational structure, look and feel, and content. Some organisations even pride themselves on this laissez faire approach to Intranet development, seeing the intranet as an opportunity for departments to express themselves online.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability

Intranet: Another Word for EPSS?  

Easy access to corporate databases, collaboration areas and tools for project teams, up-to-date product and competitive information, instant access to information on employee benefits and company policies, a single email system that reaches every desktop and every person. These are some of the services that are causing companies across the world to implement Internet standards, protocols, and browsers within their organizations. This introductory session demonstrates the progression of intranets from glorified networks to electronic performance support systems and gives you the opportunity to determine how an intranet might benefit your company while designing several intranet approaches.

Hyman, Francine N. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>EPSS

Intranets: Brave New Worlds?

Intranets signal a significant evolution in the way organizations will be using, producing, and finding corporate information. Discover where this evolution will lead us.

Collins, John. Writer's Block (1997). Design>Web Design>Intranets

The Joys of Refreshing Your Web Page: A Case Study of How a Product Information Department Maintained and Updated Its Web Site  

The Unisys Product Information department includes a diverse staff of writers, editors, graphic artists, online media developers, and engineers. This large and eclectic staff performs a variety of jobs and must interact through multiple sites across the U.S. In November of 1996, the PI intranet web site first went live. By November of 1998 it was obvious to those responsible for maintaining the site that a 'refresh' or redesign of the page was necessary. A project team was formed in January 1999 to accomplish this task with at least one representative from each site. This case study will show what was accomplished, how it was done, and what was learned during the project.

Alexander, Bruce. STC Proceedings (2000). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Look Before You Leap: The Importance of an Intranet Pilot

Few of us are brave enough to try something completely new without first taking a tiny bite. Perhaps by past experience, we know that if we take that large leap of faith, one of two things will happen: you'll spit it across the table and commit a catastrophic social faux-pas or you'll gobble it down and ask for seconds. 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 1990's 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.

Chin, Paul. Intranet Journal (2003). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Making Information Work on the World Wide Web  

The amount of information that people need to perform their jobs is increasing. Many organizations are looking to the Internet to help manage and distribute this information. Unfortunately most organizations 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.

Thibeau, James. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Managing Content for the Intranet

Communication over the Intranet can change how a company's employees and departments work as a team. This is especially important for companies with branches or subsidiaries overseas.

Sacharen, Chani H. TC-FORUM (2001). Design>Web Design>Intranets

MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #1

We're pleased to bring you the first of two excerpts from upcoming second editon of 'Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.' The excerpts look at MSWeb, which the authors say provides a glimpse of what most intranets will be doing in three to five years.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Software

MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #2

In our second excerpt from the newly-released second editon of 'Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.' the authors look at how the MSWeb team succeeded at spreading its gospel through a huge organization like Microsoft when similar efforts at smaller companies often fail.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Pandora's Portal

Is the portal a task-oriented platform for applications, e-services and cross-functional business process integration or a tool for enterprise-wide knowledge management? Is it a bottom-up enabler of communication and collaboration or a top-down channel for broadcasting official corporate propaganda? Inevitable consensus answer? It's all of these things and more, and the IT folks better be ready to support this exciting new paradigm!

Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (2001). Articles>Knowledge Management>Intranets>Web Design

Pollie Want a Portal: Communicating Specialist Information to the Australian Parliament

To keep abreast of current issues, Australia's federal parliamentarians need timely information, analysis and advice. This is used not only within the Parliament itself, but also by Members and Senators when undertaking their electorate duties. A large and vital part of this service is provided by the Parliamentary Library. The particular characteristics of clients and their diverse needs means the Library’s communication issues differ from those faced by other libraries. From a myriad of manual techniques the Library has increasingly moved into using electronic sources and dissemination methods, which are being enhanced and expanded regularly and will soon include a comprehensive intranet portal to Library services.

Mitchell, Margaret. TC-FORUM (2000). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Government

Practical Strategies for Creating a Successful Intranet

Designing, developing, and deploying an intranet can be expensive, time-consuming and organizationally tricky. But certain strategies, when carefully executed, can simplify designing and managing your intranet.

Singh, Shiv. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Practical Tips for Improving Web Site and Intranet Usability  

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 Web site or intranet more usable.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2003). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Usability

Productivity in the Service Economy

Yes, 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.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>Workflow

Promises of a Global Intranet

Did you know an intranet could actually be more global than the Internet? The interactions within an intranet are more intense and frequent, and anonymity is replaced with specificity—your real name, job title and location. Company management often believes that a unified employee communication intranet site will foster a community, a shared corporate culture and a universal standard. But a review of two U.S.-based global intranets reveals that today’s reality may fall short.

Lopez, Joselito T. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>International