Reviews and feedback
“The foundation of all great intranets is that it helps you quickly find people. ‘Staff Directories’ should thus be essential reading of every intranet manager. It is easy to read and full of great tips and insight. Which is not surprising, because Step Two Designs have long been a bastion of clarity and truly useful ideas.”
Gerry McGovern, www.gerrymcgovern.com
“One of the most heavily used applications in an intranet is the staff directory, and the directory itself drives traffic to other areas of the site. However the continuing problem in intranet development for any organisation is trying to determine what is best practice. In the case of staff directories the problem has been solved by this excellent report from Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au). The advice in this 100 page report is based on the results of a global survey undertaken in 2004 and the work that Step Two Designs have been carrying out in Australia.
“The main sections of the report set out the benefits of staff directory, outline the value of the various elements of such a directory and suggest ways in which the directory can be maintained to a high level of accuracy. There is an overview of the technology of staff directories, some excellent advice on the provision of search functionality and a very useful final section of best practice in the content and implementation of staff directories.
“The report is produced to a very high standard, with good screen shots and an effective use of design to enhance the value of the report. Throughout the report the reader gets a very strong sense of the practical experience that is being presented. The only omission in the report is that the issues of data privacy are not treated in any detail. This is mainly a result of the relative lack of data privacy legislation in Australia, but of course this is a major concern for organisations based on Europe and some other countries.
“With that caveat this is a highly recommendable report, and even if you think your staff directory is a good one I am certain that there will still be much to gain from purchasing a copy of this report.”
Martin White, Intranet Focus
“Staff directories, i.e. the capability to offer lookup and findability for people, their supervisors, who they supervise and what organisational structures they work for are the number one killer intranet application. A very small handful of practitioners have figured out how to pull the resources together to create and sustain a staff directory service. James Robertson’s Staff Directories is the definitive work that will assist an organisation build and sustain this critical service.”
Howard McQueen, Intranet Consultant and Past Chair Intranets Conference
“The company directory - too often perceived as boring but essential - is in reality one of the potentially sexiest pieces of your organisation’s intranet. The new report from Step Two will not only change your vision of what the directory can do, but give you extensive practical guidelines on how to do it.”
“Both strategic and pragmatic, this Staff Directories Report offers advice that all organisations who are implementing or improving their corporate directories would do well to consider. This is the most comprehensive publication I have seen on the subject, and has the rare quality of combining best practices for benchmarking, a wide variety of practical tips, survey results on current usages and a future-oriented vision of what directories can and will become.”
Jane McConnell, NetStrategyJmc
“The staff directory, the corporate intranet’s quiet workhorse, plays a far more strategic role than most realise. Thanks to this excellent report by Step Two, the staff directory finally receives the recognition that’s been long overdue. Step Two’s report provides a serious and much-needed examination of staff directory characteristics, usage and design. This report maps out dozens of potential practical improvements that can enable enlightened organisations to derive even greater value from their staff directories.”
Louis Rosenfeld, co-author “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web”
“Step Two has published an excellent, insightful and practical report on Staff Directories. This report tells you everything you need to know as you design or redesign the staff directory on your intranet. But more importantly, it also shows how the staff directory can provided significant value to your users and your business when treated as a strategic communications tool integrated with your business. The recommendations regarding cross-linking, team views, the use of favourites and integration with other applications on an intranet are especially interesting.”
Shiv Singh, avenue a | razorfish
“Step Two Designs is out with another report that is sure to help many companies increase the usability and value of their intranets. This new report, titled “Staff Directories: Designing and implementing an effective online staff directory”, not only provides the nuts and bolts of designing an effective staff directory, but also provides practical techniques for making it work. From selecting the fields that need to be captured, to cross-linking it with the organisational chart, to conducting usability tests, this 91-page report explains it all. It is also sprinkled with practical tips and suggestions that could have come only with extensive experience in implementing staff directories. Here’s a nice one: provide an option to print the details of a group of staff members. This is so useful in contract type of work.
So, if you ever want to implement a staff directory, this report should be your first read.”
Maish Nichani,
Editor, elearningpost
“Step Two does it again. This consultancy focuses on the real world strategies that make intranets work. With its latest report, Staff Directories: Designing and implementing an effective online staff directory, the Step Two team recognizes that that one of most organizations’ oldest collaborative tools–the trusty staff directory–remains one of the most popular tool on intranets. But like so many tools that made their way online, preliminary iterations of intranet staff directories don’t live up to their digital potential. The report will help any organization harness the power of tried-and-true strategies as well as emerging technologies to leverage this tool and its power to bring employees together on an effective intranet.”