intranet planning considerations
what is an intranet?
- intranet
- is an informal term coined to describe a collection of networked
information services intended for an internal audience,
e.g. the staff of a company or the members of a virtual work
team. Intranet services are typically accessed through a web server
that authenticates users before presenting them with internal
information (which may be web--based or rely on any other
subsystem).
- extranet
- refers to the networked information services that a company
makes available to its outside business
contacts. Extranet users often include an
organization's contractors, suppliers, vendors, distributors,
agents, and other parties that benefit from access to limited
views of an organization's information systems--placing
wholesale product orders, monitoring shipment or production
status, etc. An extranet often saves money for the host
company and saves time for the extranet users.
- related terms
- An internet is a technical term to describe a network
of networks, and The Internet describes the worldwide network
of networks linked together by TCP/IP protocols.
what should we offer in our intranet?
What do companies and organizations link together to create an
intranet? Whatever they want.
Imagination, employee access to networked computers, and budget are
common limitations that keep intranet design within the bounds of
inexpensive technology. While the ``killer application'' that makes
an intranet worth logging onto every day is often unique and
custom-created for your business, there are common elements that
appear in many intranets due to to universal need or to the ease and
relatively low cost required to make certain types of information
available at all times via the intranet.
common intranet services
Here is a sampling of typical intranet applications, which may or
may not be desired by your intranet users:
- collections of web links
- company news and department newsletters
- organization charts
- manuals, documentation, policies
- basic collaboration tools (groupware)
- directory services (gateway to phone and other staff contact info)
- human resources information
- threaded discussions on current company topics/issues
- web--based email access (similar to Hotmail)
- web--based discussion list management and participation
- access to company databases -- sales, inventory, pricing
- calendaring (company--wide events calendar)
- scheduling (meetings, personal scheduling)
- document management
- search engine of company documents
- employee time logging
- employee expense reporting
- forms to help automate other business processes - work
orders, job descriptions, mileage, maintenance requests, etc.
special intranet/extranet applications
So what about the intranet killer app?
Your company may have a situation just begging to be solved by
an intranet application. Having one or more unique intranet
applications that appeal to users will make it easier to promote a new
intranet within your organization, and may lead to faster return on
investment. Large organizations (along with intranet product vendors)
are often delighted to brag about their successful
intranet projects.
Interactivate can share certain details of intranet applications
we have devised or developed with clients in several industries,
including:
- dynamic plotting of market conditions (agriculture)
- digital image repository (fashion, agriculture, theme parks)
- crop estimation tools (guess :-)
- catalog management and order processing (professional
sports, retail)
- project tracking and version control (web development)
- strategic consulting and intranet planning (utility, theme
park, food service)
 digital
image repository
|
 project tracking and version
control
|
 dynamic
plotting of market conditions
|
we want an intranet - what next?
Although Interactivate can provide assistance with intranet
implementation and management for your organization,
our core business is more in-tune with the strategic
planning, design, and selected application
development that may be involved in conceiving and hatching an
intranet.
process overview
you are probably reading this document during a strategic
planning session for your intranet :-)
A
well-conceived intranet follows some basic steps that are
probably familiar from other large projects you have undertaken:
- define the audience of your intranet, its purpose,
and the scope of intranet services
why an
intranet? who will use it? what do they get out of
it?
- determine needs and potential
applications
what exactly will we be doing with our
intranet?
- review existing systems
do we already offer this via any other service?
can existing services be linked into an
intranet?
- evaluate possible solutions and
applications
in-house? outsource? off the shelf?
- iterative design and development
- implementation
don't forget training,
documentation, conversion!
- maintain, manage, monitor, refine
best kept under
internal control of an IS department or dedicated intranet
`webmaster' who is intimate with your industry,
organization, and people
selected sources - additional information
Since an intranet is a term of convenience to
describe existing technologies, published intranet articles
often fall into three discussions that may not benefit
someone planning an intranet. Beware of: advertorial
articles that do little more than hawk some product in an
intranet setting, nuts and bolts pieces that re-purpose
basic web development instruction under the guise of creating
an intranet, and business process pieces written at
such a high level they are detached from any practical
application. Here are several sources of additional information
on intranets:
- Intranet Design Magazine
- a subsite of
internet.com
which features articles
that have an intranet angle, including case studies
- The Intranet Journal
- is a well--organized site from Datamation with a
special area devoted to intranet
planning
- Home for Intranet Planners
- Collection of online resources for planning intranets, once
hosted by Interactivate.
- Version Control within a Collaborative Extranet
- a full-length excerpt from Deborah Bayles' book Extranets:
Building the Business to Business Web with specific guidelines
for managing the extranet life cycle.
Last modified: Fri Mar 19 22:04:13 PST 1999