Intranets have been going 'social' for some time now, first with lightweight aspects such as commenting on news articles, then with more embedded functionality such as blogs, wikis and document co-authoring. Now, a new breed of software products are gathering momentum in the shape of enterprise social network (ESN) tools. ...
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April 30th, 2012 by Alex Manchester
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0, intranets
Selecting enterprise social network software
April 30th, 2012 by Rebecca Rodgers
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Planning a successful intranet project
All successful projects need a good project manager and, just as importantly, a comprehensive project plan. Intranet re-designs are no exception. No matter how small or large the project, a carefully constructed project plan can make or break the success of the project and its potential to be delivered on time ...
March 27th, 2012 by Alex Manchester
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Briefing a visual design agency for intranet designs
We've long stated that an intranet shouldn't look like the poor cousin of an organisation's public website. It reflects poorly on an organisation's professionalism and its level of care and regard for staff. Creating a great design is easier said than done, however. The previous article, What to look ...
March 27th, 2012 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, enterprise 2.0, intranets
Six keys to the digital workplace
The nature of work is slowly but steadily changing. Traditional corporate tools, such as intranets, HR and finance systems, are being joined by new collaboration and social tools. These are bringing new capabilities and opportunities into organisations, allowing staff to connect and coordinate more effectively. Consumer technology is also evolving rapidly, ...
February 16th, 2012 by Rebecca Rodgers
Categorised under: articles, content management, intranets
An outline for intranet author training
We know that most intranet authors do this as a hobby, not as part of their job, so we need to make intranet authoring an easy thing to do. This starts with training. Often organisations outsource training to the company providing the technical solution, which tends to result in technical ...
February 16th, 2012 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, enterprise 2.0, intranets
There must be only one staff profile in the digital workplace
Staff members' digital identities underpin everything they do in today's organisations. The 'digital workplace' is centred around staff profiles that show who staff are, what they are doing, their skills and expertise, and who they are connected to. As the richness of interaction, communication and collaboration grows, so does the importance ...
December 21st, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Intranets: global and local
Not all staff needs are the same. Staff in different parts of the organisation, located in different areas and doing different jobs will have quite distinct needs. In a globe-spanning manufacturing business, these differences are very obvious: individual countries sell different products; the sales division operates very differently from product ...
October 26th, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: collaboration, enterprise 2.0, intranets
What is a social intranet?
The phrase 'social intranet', while appearing more commonly, still generates both interest and confusion. What makes an intranet 'social', and what are the differences between 'social intranets' and 'traditional intranets'? A philosophy and way of working Social intranets are not a technology, or a specific set of features or functionality. Instead, they represent ...
September 29th, 2011 by Rebecca Rodgers
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Helping intranet authors write quality content
One of the keys to a successful intranet is high quality, well written content, making it both useful and usable. Writing for the online medium is different from writing for paper. Staff typically scan a web page to determine if the information is relevant to them, and content has to ...
August 29th, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet teams need technology savvy
Intranets are increasingly being owned and managed by communications teams or business areas. In general, this is a positive shift, leading to greater alignment with staff and organisational priorities. However, the move away from IT ownership, can leave intranet teams with a significant knowledge and skills gap relating to technology. In ...
July 29th, 2011 by Stephen Byrne
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Build upkeep into intranet redesign
Intranet redesigns can be seen as the cure-all for an intranet's ills, and many intranets will certainly benefit from a significant overhaul. But if the redesign has come about due to a lack of focus, general neglect and poor content management, then a redesign alone will not be sufficient to ...
July 29th, 2011 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0
Deploying microblogging in organisations
Microblogging inside an organisation provides staff with the ability to post short messages to everyone in the organisation or a select group. A variety of online tools can be used, for example Yammer, SocialText or an internally built solution. Deploying microblogging involves more than understanding the technology, because it is ...
June 30th, 2011 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Educating authors using a drop in centre
The credibility of any intranet is dependent on content. Content that is created, published and maintained by many different people across the organisation. This frees up the intranet team to focus on the big picture, but they still have a key role in teaching staff on how to deliver effective ...
May 16th, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, enterprise 2.0, information management, intranets
Four types of enterprise mobility
Mobile functionality is a mega-trend that has already had a huge impact on the day-to-day life of consumers around the globe. For organisations of all types, it is clear that similar changes will occur within the enterprise. While there has been quite a lot said about mobile enterprises, and how to ...
May 16th, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, intranets, websites
One CMS or two?
Selecting a new web content management system (CMS) is no small matter. As discussed in one of our earliest articles, How to evaluate a CMS, this decision must be driven by an evaluation against business requirements. One question that often arises early in the process is whether the same CMS ...
April 28th, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, document & records management, enterprise 2.0, information management, intranets
Planning your SharePoint intranet project
Starting a SharePoint intranet project, whether creating a new intranet or redeveloping an existing one, can be daunting. Alongside strategy and design questions are now a myriad of technology decisions, often exploring uncharted territory within the organisation. At a basic level, intranets based on SharePoint are just like every other intranet. ...
March 24th, 2011 by Rebecca Rodgers
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Creating an intranet governance guide
Many intranets teams are tasked with 'creating intranet governance' without further guidance on what that means for the organisation or a clear understanding of what it should contain. Governance is about having a framework in place that enables the decision-making and planning processes for the intranet. It provides support for the ...
February 24th, 2011 by Stephen Byrne
Categorised under: articles, call centres, intranets, knowledge management
Intranets for call centre staff
In the years since the article Knowledge management for call centres was published, call centres have come to play a critical role in many organisations, but the needs and challenges remain the same. Intranets have matured and grown in this time, and more than ever have the capacity to ...
December 16th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets
What six things do staff want on their mobile devices?
The adoption of internet- and web-enabled mobile devices is one of the 'mega trends' that will reshape many of our day-to-day tasks. Not just a consumer phenomenon, mobile devices will also have a big impact inside enterprises. As discussed in the article Elements of a mobile enterprise strategy, there are ...
November 10th, 2010 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Jargon test your intranet
Jargon is generally language that applies to a particular trade, profession or group of people. Within organisations jargon can be like secret shorthand, with many variations, including abbreviations, made-up words and acronyms. Who has ever been on a Genesis project or had to go to a meeting in the CQ ...
November 10th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets, search tools
Targeting enterprise search to key tasks
Enterprise search is often deployed as 'the answer' for the difficulties of finding information across an entire organisation. The basic concept is that the enterprise search indexes 'everything', and findability problems are solved. In practice, teams given the task of designing and deploying enterprise search find these projects much more complex. ...
October 26th, 2010 by Stephen Byrne
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet access challenges
For many intranet teams it is all too easy to view the intranet through the eyes of their corporate colleagues. With dedicated computers inside the firewall and polished computer skills, access issues are limited. However, taking a broader audience view is critical to ensuring that the intranet gets the attention ...
September 28th, 2010 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Integrating applications into the intranet
The intranet provides many different sources of information and opportunities for staff to do their jobs better. Whether an intranet has a news, content or task and activity focus, it should provide a seamless user experience. Users should not have to know or care whether a given application is truly ...
August 31st, 2010 by Stephen Byrne
Categorised under: articles, intranets
How HR can leverage the intranet
Because it is a department connected to every part of an organisation, Human Resources (HR) has a unique position that can be leveraged to help underpin the intranet's value to staff. HR remains a key stakeholder of, and publisher to, the corporate intranet. Reviewing the various content and tasks available can ...
August 31st, 2010 by Alex Manchester
Categorised under: articles, enterprise 2.0, intranets
Putting people at the centre: social staff directories
The term 'social intranet' has become popular in recent times, and describes an intranet with social media tools -- blogs, wikis, microblogs, comment functionality and more -- embedded within the core intranet software platform. However, before a social intranet can be successful, work must be done to enrich and develop ...
July 29th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
How long are intranet projects?
Intranet projects are often longer and more involved than most teams expect. While no two projects are the same, and organisational circumstances vary greatly, teams should have some core expectations going into a design or redesign project. In particular, as there is often pressure from stakeholders to deliver a new site ...
July 29th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
What attractive intranets look like
The winds of change are blowing for intranets. Every intranet survey run in the wider community has shown that 50% of intranet teams are planning (or hoping) to redesign their sites. With any redesign comes the opportunity for a fresh new look and feel. Drawing their inspiration from the best of ...
June 30th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Rolling out intranet access from home
Many organisations have staff who don't sit at desks or in front of PCs. The challenge is how to give them access to the intranet, so they can easily complete common tasks, such as applying for leave. Several approaches were outlined in the earlier article Intranet kiosks or remote access?. ...
May 28th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Identifying staff tasks
Intranets are most useful when they help staff do their jobs. This includes finding a key piece of information (‘what is the address for our interstate office?’) or completing a process online (‘I need to apply for some leave over Christmas’). The best approach for helping staff is to focus on ...
March 30th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, intranets
Structuring three types of content
The fundamental goal of developing a new structure for an intranet is to produce something that works well for staff. As discussed in the earlier article Escaping the organisation chart on your intranet, this often means getting away from a navigation structure that mirrors content ownership. Experience has shown that ...
March 30th, 2010 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Measuring the effectiveness of intranet teams
Intranet teams are responsible for creating an intranet that is a useful business tool, flexible enough to meet changing business needs, easy to use and trusted by staff. In doing this, teams also need to assess how effectively they work. In a previous article we explained How intranet teams should ...
February 17th, 2010 by Alex Manchester
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Three views on intranet names
We recently asked members of the Intranet Leadership Forum about the names of their intranets. Several past articles have covered this topic, including Naming the intranet, which goes into the reasons why you should name a site, and Publicising the launch of Boris at City of Casey, which ...
February 17th, 2010 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Eight intranet design mistakes
Intranet projects are challenging at the best of times. Sites are large and content rich. Project teams are often thrown into the deep end, with many constraints and expectations. Intranet projects may confront challenges such as: unclear intranet ownership and governance tight timeframes limited (and often insufficient) budgets varied (and sometimes competing) stakeholder opinions large number ...
December 17th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture, websites
The three clicks myth
When designing intranets or websites, it is helpful to have some rules of thumb to follow when making decisions. Over time, many of these have become elevated into principles or rules, widely used throughout the industry. The best-known is the 'three clicks rule', which says that all content should be no ...
December 17th, 2009 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
How to empower authors
In most organisations authors are vital to the effectiveness of the intranet. Despite this, authors are often given the task of updating content with little or no thought to their skills, suitability or desire. Intranet teams generally have little influence over who becomes an author. As intranets mature and become ...
November 24th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
The softer side of intranets
For the last seven years we've been writing about intranets, and our focus has relentlessly been on how to make the intranet more valuable for staff and the organisation. Our over-arching statement has always been this: Staff will use the intranet if it's useful. The challenge is to uncover and understand staff needs, ...
November 24th, 2009 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Photos in staff directories
Photographs can be a very valuable inclusion in a staff directory. They are helpful for putting faces to names, and nowadays in our on-line socially connected world are somewhat expected. However, talk to any intranet team and you will hear about how difficult it can be in practice to achieve this. The ...
October 29th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Seven roles of the intranet homepage
There is no more contested or challenging page on the intranet than the homepage. As it is the most visible page on the site, everyone wants their piece of the homepage. There is also contention about the role of the intranet homepage: Should the homepage be mostly about news? Is navigation the ...
August 30th, 2009 by Alex Manchester
Categorised under: articles, enterprise 2.0, intranets
Using audio and video on the intranet
Video and audio is part of the web, deeply ingrained in everyday browsing, whether it's a news site with audio reports, a social network with links, songs and videos suggested by friends and acquaintances, or the now-famous YouTube. As with many web technologies and trends, there are parallels between the ...
August 30th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0
Collaboration: questions to ask
Staff and business areas often identify a need for collaboration tools, without knowing what the best solution would be. They may have some familiarity with a handful of tools, but not know how others work. As discussed in the earlier article Successful collaboration requires support, there needs to be a ...
July 22nd, 2009 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
What is the biggest mistake an intranet manager can make?
Most intranet managers have previous experience in a related discipline such as communications, information technology, marketing or sales. Generally, intranet managers are also savvy about using web pages, searching through reams of information and making things work. Intranet managers also have a level of tolerance with complexity and frustration. Some staff ...
July 22nd, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Planning to demonstrate success
Intranet teams are often expected to justify the work that they do, whether to protect current intranet resources, or to gain support for new projects and improvements. This leads to the requirement for an intranet business case, ideally with clear measures that quantify the value of the intranet and the benefits ...
July 20th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Our government experience
Government agencies have intensive information management needs. They typically have large, information-rich websites, along with extensive intranets. There is also a strong focus on content management, information management and records management. We have a huge depth of experience in the public sector, having worked at every level of government and throughout ...
July 15th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Our local council experience
Local government agencies (councils) are uniquely interesting organisations to work with. They provide literally hundreds of services: rubbish, licenses, park management, parking inspection, dogs, plus much more. They also have the most direct connection with the general public of any level of government, and have the greatest impact on people's ...
June 30th, 2009 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
What do successful intranet managers have in common?
The role of an intranet manager is very new, and most intranet managers only started on this career path in the last five to ten years. Intranet managers come from all walks of life and have very different skills. Because of this, the role of intranet manager is not well ...
May 28th, 2009 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Going beyond reducing intranet frustration
A lot of work is done to incrementally improve intranets, often focusing on resolving common areas of staff frustration with the sites. These projects may be large or small, but most concentrate on making the intranet work better, without adding new capabilities or content. This is not enough. If intranets are to ...
October 6th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Creating an intranet strategy and roadmap
Intranets must have a clear strategy, covering ongoing incremental improvements and major redevelopments. This includes a roadmap for the coming 6-12 months listing new functionality which will be delivered to staff, whether focusing on a specific group of staff or the organisation as a whole. Having a strong strategy allows the ...
October 4th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Managing intranet content
One of the primary purposes of intranets is to deliver accurate information to staff. Going beyond corporate policy and procedurse, intranets help business units deliver key information to the rest of the organisation. Managing this content is not easy, particularly as the volume of pages grows. The right authoring and publishing ...
August 21st, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Australian CMS marketplace
This page provides a list of the web content management system (CMS) vendors that operate in the Australian market. Please note that while every effort is taken to keep this list up-to-date, some vendors may have been omitted. Please use the vendor form to submit additional vendor details. Local Australian ...
August 19th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Client list
Step Two Designs has been in business since 1996, and has generated a substantial client list over that time. Our clients come from across Australia, as well as internationally. We have worked extensively with public-sector agencies, along with corporations, non-profits and universities. We are proud of the work we have ...
August 17th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Knowledge management services
Our knowledge management services: at a glance We can assist you to identify key knowledge needs and bottlenecks, as well as developing an overall knowledge management strategy. Our unique strength is in conducting field research to understand the knowledge needs and issues of operational staff. We also integrate KM approaches into ...
August 16th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
Intranet services
Our intranet services: at a glance We work with organisations to review existing intranet sites and to identify staff and business needs. We can then develop an intranet roadmap and strategy, as well as supporting intranet teams throughout site redevelopments. The only consulting firm in Australia to cover all aspects of ...
August 5th, 2008 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets
How intranet teams should spend their time
Intranet teams need to use their time wisely. It is very easy to fall into the trap of dealing with urgent requests and problems, never actually making any progress. Effective intranet teams must plan up front how they will spend their time to deliver both short term and long term ...
July 21st, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Should the intranet look sexy?
The design of public websites, particularly when they have a marketing or branding role, is vital. In these cases, a team of experienced graphic designers and front end developers work hard to create polished and beautiful designs. When it comes to intranets, however, is their 'look and feel' so important? Fundamentally, ...
June 17th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Helping the intranet team win arguments
There are often situations where there is a difference of opinion between the central intranet team, and the decentralised authors, owners or stakeholders. Depending on the team, there may be situations where they aren't confident of tackling the issues, or winning over the decentralised groups. To help build team confidence, and to ...
June 17th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Starting to define the intranet brand
What is the intranet for? An easy question to ask, but surprisingly hard for many intranet teams to answer. To be successful, intranets must have a clear definition of their purpose and character. This underpins decisions about future directions, as well as current priorities and activities. Answering this question goes a long ...
June 16th, 2008 by Catherine Grenfell
Categorised under: articles, intranets
ABCD for intranets
Like organisations, intranets are constantly evolving and never finished. Endless redesigns as the intranet changes departments or owners is not a long term or viable solution. At any given time intranet teams are faced with competing operational priorities from: different business units out of date or excessive content new technology solutions sponsor ...
May 11th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Don’t try to boil the content ocean
The phrase 'trying to boil the ocean' refers to tasks that are clearly and heroically impossible. This is exactly what most teams take on when they try to get every intranet page up to the same high standard. In the earlier article titled Intranet authoring: a hobby?, the role of ...
May 11th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: information management, search tools
Searching more is not always better
The rise of enterprise search has put an increasing focus on searching ever broader collections of content and documents within organisations. While enterprise search projects generally start with simple intranet search, attention quickly moves to searching document management systems, collaboration tools, business systems and fileshares. Underpinning this work is the belief (or ...
April 7th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
In-context vs back-end authoring
Most modern content management systems provide two different ways of editing site content: in-context editing and back-end editing. While in-context editing is often seen as 'sexier', each method has its strengths and weaknesses. This briefing will explore these two editing options, providing advice on when to use them in practice. In-context editing In-context ...
April 7th, 2008 by Patrick Kennedy
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Using cultural probes for intranet user research
Often it's difficult to tell exactly who is using an intranet, and how they are using it. Obviously, some research is required to help answer these questions, but what technique can capture the tacit knowledge without shadowing users in an uncomfortable and expensive way? A relatively recent research technique that can ...
March 16th, 2008 by Patrick Kennedy
Categorised under: articles, case studies, usability & information architecture
Audience personas for the Macquarie University Library website
Macquarie University is an innovative university located on a single campus in Sydney, Australia. Macquarie was founded in 1964 as a second-generation Australian university with a focus on interdisciplinary research and teaching in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. In line with Macquarie's reputation as one of Australia's most innovative institutions, ...
March 16th, 2008 by Cairo Walker
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Exploring the Intranet Hive (part 2)
This is the second of a two-part article on the Intranet Hive. For a complete view of the Intranet Hive, the two articles should be read together. The Intranet Hive is a new concept that provides awareness of the activities that underpin the ongoing management of an intranet. The Hive informs ...
January 25th, 2008 by James Robertson
Categorised under: Seminars and workshops
Information Architecture Essentials
9 April 2008 Mercure Hotel, Sydney In this one-day workshop, Patrick Kennedy will present the fundamentals of information architecture (IA), the core methodology for organising and designing websites and intranets.Key skills such as card sorting will be taught, and this workshop is designed to build in-house information architecture skills. A must ...
December 13th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Promote intranet successes
As discussed in the earlier article Every intranet has its successes, there are few intranet teams who are not steadily delivering valuable improvements to their sites. Despite this, many intranet teams are almost invisible within their organisations, with little recognition for the new enhancements and functionality they have delivered. This must ...
December 11th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0
Collaboration is about people
A number of articles have recently been published on collaboration. Focusing on collaboration tools, these articles have explored when they work, the challenges involved and how to avoid these problems in practice. In many ways, these articles have taken for granted the central aspect of collaboration: the people involved. This article ...
November 5th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0
Successful collaboration requires support
Successful organisation-wide collaboration does not happen by chance. While the uptake of collaboration tools can be very rapid, some areas will use the tools well, while others will struggle (or fail). Rolling out collaboration tools is not without its risks. As outlined in the earlier briefing Collaboration tools are anti knowledge ...
November 5th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0, information management
Start by ‘gardening’ collaboration
Collaboration tools have been used in organisations for a long time now, and the new generation of tools is spreading at an incredible rate. Tools are being deployed in parallel across many different business units, irrespective of any organisation-wide strategy or support. A planned approach must therefore be taken to the management ...
October 18th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, case studies
Intranet Innovation Awards winners for 2007
It is always exciting and nerve-wracking to launch a brand new set of awards, and the Intranet Innovation Awards are certainly new. While there have been several excellent intranet-related awards in place for a number of years now, these awards focus not on the 'best intranets' but on the 'most ...
September 5th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Does your CMS vendor have product expertise?
Choosing a content management system (CMS) is not just about finding the product with the right functionality. It's also about dealing with a vendor who can support your needs for the lifetime of the solution. You need to be confident that there will be more than just help-desk support - the ...
September 5th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Why staff visit the intranet
Organisations often envisage their intranets as integral to the way staff do their jobs. Staff are expected to visit the intranet daily. While this is an admirable goal, it doesn't necessarily match the reality of most intranets today. There are clear reasons for staff to use the intranet, but these are ...
August 9th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
6×2: a new approach to planning
Intranets have now grown to be core tools for most organisations, tools they cannot do without. Despite this, it is still a struggle for intranet teams to gain the resources and support they need to sustain and grow their sites. In general, it is not hard to describe what the 'perfect intranet' ...
August 9th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, document & records management, knowledge management, usability & information architecture
Apply IA techniques when creating taxonomies
Taxonomies define the structure that underpins document and records management systems, knowledge management projects and more. Considerable effort goes into developing these taxonomies, with the goal of creating a common structure that will benefit the whole organisation. The challenge, however, is to ensure that these taxonomies work well for staff, beyond any ...
July 6th, 2007 by Patrick Kennedy
Categorised under: articles, usability & information architecture
In-house recruitment of users for research
Getting participants for website research can be difficult, but a few simple steps can help make the process go much more smoothly. This article outlines steps modelled on the approach taken to recruiting users for a recent website redevelopment project for a tertiary education institution. The research activities included interviews, focus ...
May 4th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, document & records management
Recordkeeping responsibilities on a single sheet of paper
With the move from paper to electronic documents, responsibility for recordkeeping within organisations has shifted to individual staff and away from centralised records management specialists. Much is made of the need for all staff to understand their recordkeeping responsibilities. To this end, many training and communication programs are conducted within government ...
May 4th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Every intranet has its successes
Running an intranet can be a huge and thankless task. All too often, intranet teams feel that they have made little progress towards their long-term ambitions for their sites. While the success levels of intranets vary greatly, there are very few sites that do not contain at least a couple of ...
May 4th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
11 usability principles for CMS products
The functionality of the content management system (CMS) is obviously a key deciding factor when purchasing a new product. Equally important is the usability of the CMS. If staff, particularly authors, cannot easily make use of the CMS, then the system will never be a success, regardless of how powerful it ...
April 3rd, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Building innovative intranets
The concept of innovation, and the advantages it can deliver, have come to the forefront in many organisations. With organisations as recognising that market opportunities can be generated through business innovation, it is natural to ask whether the intranets that serve these organisations can themselves be innovative. In many ways, it is ...
April 3rd, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Three fundamental purposes of an intranet
Intranets often focus on one or two key aspects, depending on who is running the site. The intranet maybe established as a communications channel, or as a repository for corporate content. When tackled in this narrow way, intranets often struggle to be sustainable and successful in the longer term. To be truly ...
April 3rd, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet teams must cover the three purposes
The earlier article Three fundamental purposes of an intranet identified that there are three main aspects that must be addressed for an intranet to be successful: content communication activity Content refers to the traditional role of the intranet as a repository of corporate information, while the intranet can also be an effective communications ...
March 5th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, knowledge management
There are no “KM systems”
With the rise of knowledge management as a discipline, vendors increasingly rebranded their products as 'knowledge management systems' (KMS). While this was a convenient label to cover a broad range of functionality, the use of 'KMS' as a term has caused considerable confusion. For this reason, this briefing will argue that organisations ...
March 5th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets
The importance of ‘tangible’ and ‘visible’
Intranets are often invisible tools within organisations. While staff rely on the intranet to help them complete common tasks, the site itself is taken for granted. The intranet team is similarly low in visibility, with little senior management recognition of the team or its role. The net effect is that intranet teams ...
February 20th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under:
6×2 methodology for intranets
The 6x2 methodology provides a unique and innovative approach to growing corporate intranets. Recognising that the list of potential improvements always exceeds the resources of the intranet team, this methodology provides a practical way of choosing the activities that will have the greatest impact on the organisation, and on ...
February 9th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
Search doesn’t work out-of-the-box
Search is broken on many websites and intranets. Search results pages are confusing and cluttered, and users can't easily find what they are looking for. It is tempting to think that this is a technology problem. Certainly, if there is a very old or very limited search engine in place, this ...
February 9th, 2007 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, information management, intranets
Automating three types of forms
When it comes to implementing online forms on an intranet, there is a 'rule of thirds' that can be used to guide overall strategy and implementation activities. This rule of thirds describes three different types of online forms, and the highlights the specific technology approaches that might be appropriate for each. This ...
December 11th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Top 10 mistakes when selecting a CMS
Organisations often make the selection of a CMS much harder than it needs to be. They do this by running into common pitfalls that impact not just on the selection process, but on the overall success of the CMS project. Over the past ten years, we have worked with many organisations ...
December 11th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Plan before CMS implementation
It would seem to be a statement of the obvious that organisations should do their planning before embarking on the implementation of their new content management system (CMS). Yet all too often this doesn't occur. Let's state this more strongly: the day after the contract is signed with the CMS vendor, ...
December 11th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Usability and IA are core skills for intranet teams
It goes without saying that an intranet is only successful if staff can easily find the information they need, when they need it. Recognising this, the majority of intranet teams follow a 'user-centred methodology' when they redesign the intranet. This involves making use of core usability and information architecture (IA) techniques, ...
November 6th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet as a mirror to the organisation
Every organisation has a unique mix of culture, business processes, history, technology and strategic directions (to name but a few factors). When it comes to intranets, it can then be said that they hold up a mirror to the organisation. To put it another way: the most successful intranets are those ...
October 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
The enemy of intranets is apathy
Many intranet teams see themselves as battling resistance to change when attempting to grow the intranet or deliver new functionality. The challenge is perceived as overcoming these barriers to a successful intranet. In practice, though, the real enemy of intranets is apathy. While at some level the organisation (and staff) recognise ...
October 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, usability & information architecture
Separate design and the CMS
There are two major elements to most web redevelopment projects: the redesign of the existing site, and the selection of a new (or replacement) content management system (CMS). These two elements reflect the underlying issues that typically drive web projects: the problems with the structure and content of the published site, ...
September 11th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Creating an “intranet concept”
Intranet teams need to be clear on where they are heading, and what they will deliver. Typically, this involves writing either a bullet-point list of goals or a 20-page intranet strategy. In practice, the list of goals is too short (and too abstract), while the intranet strategy documents are often wordy ...
September 11th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Monthly intranet tasks
The intranet is not a one-off project. Instead, it must be supported by an ongoing process that ensures that the site continues to be effective. Beyond this, the intranet must also grow to match the ongoing evolution of the organisation that it serves. In practice, there are a wide range of ...
August 17th, 2006 by Cairo Walker
Categorised under: articles, information management, portals
Understanding the requirement for a portal
There is no doubt that fuelled by a compelling business need, a portal solution can provide real business advantage. However provisioning a portal when it is a content-managed site that is required, will result in the most expensive website or intranet that an organisation can build. What then should those organisations ...
July 2nd, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets
The real cost of email in organisations
Much has been written about the impact of 'email overload', in terms of the productivity cost and impact on attention spans for staff. There is another very real cost of the reliance on email: the duplication of information management activities. 'All staff' emails are often used to send out new policies and ...
July 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranets as a news channel
Improving the effectiveness of internal communications is often one of the key goals underpinning corporate intranets. In practice, this is often reflected in 'latest news' section on the home page of most intranets. While news on the home page is certainly widespread, the question needs to be asked: how effective ...
July 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Five key intranet policies
Most intranets have some form of policies and procedures, typically focusing on authoring guidelines and standards. The question is: are these the right policies to have? In many cases, intranet teams have established policies that they find difficult to enforce, while missing the opportunity to develop policies that will be much ...
June 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Create a strong intranet brand
The intranet needs to have a strong brand, a sense of identity that, at a basic level, distinguishes it from the public website and other information sources within the organisation. Beyond this, the intranet brand should be designed to build staff trust, and to convey a clear sense of what the ...
May 4th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, search tools
Nine ways to fix intranet search
Search is often the greatest source of frustration on intranets. Irrelevant results, hard to read results pages and 'untitled document' entries plague many intranet searches. With the size and scope of most intranets, search is a key tool used by staff to find information. While the expectation is that it should ...
May 4th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
10 words to describe successful intranets
Innovative The intranet innovates to meet ever-changing organisational needs Trusted The intranet is a trusted source of information and business tools Productive The intranet delivers tangible and visible benefits to the organisation and staff Useful The intranet supports day-to-day staff and organisational needs Pervasive The intranet supports every staff role and every geographical location Usable The intranet is easy to use ...
April 4th, 2006 by Patrick Kennedy
Categorised under: articles, usability & information architecture
Accessibility tips for website construction
We all know accessibility is important, but precisely how does one make a website or intranet more accessible? There is a great deal of hype on this topic and a lot of discussion too, yet vagueness and confusion persist. Web teams face a considerable amount of political pressure to 'be compliant', ...
April 4th, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
CMS vendors are evaluating us
When organisations are looking for a new content management system (CMS), the selection process is designed to evaluate all the offerings in the marketplace to find the product that is the best fit to the organisation's needs. Requirements are documented, and vendors asked to provide written responses, give demonstrations, and provide ...
March 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, intranets
Intranet authoring: a hobby?
The goal of many intranets is to deliver high quality, up-to-date, accurate and useful information to staff. In practice, however, this can be challenging to achieve. Much is expected of intranet authors, and they are vital to delivering an intranet that is useful (and used). Yet, in many cases, intranet authoring ...
March 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Leadership tips for intranet teams
Intranets require strong leaders if they are to be more than just publishing platforms for occasionally-used information. The intranet team must take on this leadership role, and drive the evolution and enhancement of the site. This is not an easy role for some intranet teams to play, but ultimately it is one ...
February 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, information management
Taking a business-centric approach to portals
Enterprise portals (generally known as just 'portals') rose to prominence several years ago. Complementing or replacing earlier technologies, portals promise to deliver a more coherent information management platform, and a more seamless user experience for staff. Now that the early hype has died down, it is not surprising to find that ...
February 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet managers must be managers
While intranets often have someone appointed as the intranet 'manager', do they spend their time actually managing the site, or publishing pages? Observing many organisations and intranets, one of the critical success factors is to have an intranet manager who is free to focus solely on the management of the site. ...
February 1st, 2006 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
Search should work like magic
Thanks to Google, intranet users expect to be able to type in a word (or two) and find the page they are looking for, preferably in the first few results. This is not an unreasonable expectation. At the most fundamental level, search on an intranet is supposed to make it quick ...
December 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, knowledge management, search tools
Good search is knowledge management
One of the key goals of knowledge management is to ensure that staff have the information they need, at the time they need it. What has often been overlooked is that effective search can play a key role in meeting this need, beyond just allowing staff to 'find stuff'. Implementing a good ...
December 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
The “all together” rule for intranets
The primary purpose of intranets is to support staff in doing their jobs, to help them complete common business tasks. In practice, however, this can be very frustrating on many intranets. Policies are located in one section, procedures in another section, and forms in a third. Information then needs to be ...
November 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, knowledge management
Meeting your intranet users
Intranets serve a diverse range of users in organisations, from staff in head office to those in regional offices, or on the front line. These users are not all the same, and do not have the same needs, issues or environment. A key principle for intranet teams is therefore: you can't ...
November 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management
10 principles of effective information management
Improving information management practices is a key focus for many organisations, across both the public and private sectors. This is being driven by a range of factors, including a need to improve the efficiency of business processes, the demands of compliance regulations and the desire to deliver new services. In many cases, ...
November 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
Search engine ‘best bets’
Much can be done to improve the quality of search results. No amount of tweaking of metadata or search configuration will, however, ensure that the most relevant results always appear at the beginning of the list. This is where search engine 'best bets' come in. These are a hand-created list of ...
October 5th, 2005 by Sarah Goldstein
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet change: evolution or big bang?
When planning improvements to an intranet, two main approaches can be taken: the 'big bang' and evolutionary approaches. The big bang approach involves making a single, site-wide change to the design and structure of the intranet as the old site is replaced by a new one. In contrast, the 'evolutionary' ...
October 5th, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Will your chosen CMS vendor go bust?
One of the greatest fears when selecting a new content management system (CMS) is that the vendor will go bust, leaving the purchaser without support or upgrades. While this is certainly an important risk to manage, more careful consideration must be made beyond just selecting a 'big' CMS vendor and hoping ...
September 5th, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Conducting intranet needs analysis
The fundamental question to ask for all intranets is: what is the intranet actually for? While this is an easy question to ask, answering it meaningfully involves gaining an in-depth understanding of staff and organisational needs. While much has been written about the design of intranets, less is said about how ...
August 2nd, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
More users = simpler CMS
In many projects, the plan is to deploy a new content management system (CMS) across the whole organisation. In these organisation-wide deployments, an assumption is made that a "big" CMS will be needed to meet the "enterprise" needs. In practice, a better rule is that the more users that will be accessing ...
August 2nd, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Is your intranet trusted by staff?
It is widely recognised that an intranet must be trusted, if it is to be regularly used by staff across an organisation. While it is easy to make this statement, it is harder to qualify what is meant by trust, how users assess it, and how we can build (or rebuild) ...
July 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
What to include in intranet search results
Intranet search often fails to meet the needs or expectations of users, with confusing and complex results provided for even the simplest searches. While there is much that can be done to improve the effectiveness of intranet search, a good starting point is to improve the design of search results pages. ...
July 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, case studies, intranets
Five intranet reviews, five different results
Over the past few years, we have conducted a number of intranet reviews across a wide range of organisations, and the results have always been fascinating. This case study presents the findings from five different intranet reviews, with the aim of exposing some of the issues being confronted across different organisations. These ...
June 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Spending patterns during CMS implementation
There are three clear phases to the adoption of a content management system, of which the initial implementation is just the first step. The activities and spending patterns during these phases needs to be understood, to ensure that sufficient time ...
May 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, call centres, knowledge management
Two types of in-bound call centres
Call centres are often classified as either in-bound centres that receive calls (to provide customer service or support) or out-bound centres that make calls (as part of a sales process). Looking more closely at in-bound call centres, they can be broken down into those that deal with either: queries or transactions ...
April 4th, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
CMS interoperability?
While the goal of interoperability between content management systems (CMS) is an important one, it is limited by the lack of standards relating to content management. At present, there are a range of narrowly-focused specifications in the marketplace, but these address only specific aspects of system interoperability. A number of initiatives ...
March 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Creating an upwards spiral for your intranet
Many intranets are trapped in a 'downwards spiral': process and resources issues lead to poor-quality content, which reduces trust, which leads to more problems, and so on. If intranets (and intranet teams) are to succeed, this must be turned around to become an 'upwards spiral', where each success (no matter how ...
March 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets
Online staff directories: survey results and key findings
Online staff directories (also known as phone directories, corporate phone books, or internal whitepages) are generally the most used element of a corporate intranet. They are also one of the few tools that are used every day by staff, and as such, they have a considerable impact upon the efficiency ...
February 1st, 2005 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, document & records management, usability & information architecture
How staff look for documents
In the earlier article Rolling out a records management system, three critical success factors were identified: the software, classification scheme and message. This briefing focuses on a specific aspect of document management, records management and intranet projects: how staff look for documents. Understanding that there are a number of distinct situations ...
December 2nd, 2004 by Donna Spencer
Categorised under: articles, intranets
10 ways to continuously improve your intranet
The amount of work involved in designing a new intranet or redesigning an existing intranet is minor compared to the time needed to maintain an effective intranet over the longer term. In fact, it is common for the initial excitement of a new intranet to fade away as the reality ...
November 1st, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
How to scope an intranet release
Intranet functionality is often delivered in stages, with each 'intranet release' providing additional content or functionality. The most crucial release is often the initial 'go-live' of the intranet. This must demonstrate the value of the intranet, and build sufficient interest to ensure the site develops further and grows. When developing intranet releases, ...
October 5th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, document & records management
Rolling out a records management system
Historically, records management was the responsibility of a small number of specialist staff members within an organisation. With the shift towards electronic records (including documents and e-mails), efforts have instead turned to rolling out an electronic records management system (RMS) across the entire organisation. The challenge then becomes ensuring that staff throughout ...
October 5th, 2004 by Donna Spencer
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Is your intranet “Under Construction”?
In the early days of the web, it was very common to find entire websites marked as 'under construction', complete with animated roadwork icons. It was so common that there are a number of websites dedicated to the issue, highlighting it as poor practice (see www.cs.utah.edu/~gk/atwork/). Although the practice is ...
September 3rd, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, information management, intranets
Choosing your information delivery channels
While the intranet is rightly positioned as the key delivery channel for information within most organisations, it must also be recognised that not all staff will be reached using solely the intranet. In many organisations, there are staff who have limited (or no) access to computers, or whose jobs makes the ...
September 3rd, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Content reuse in practice
'Content reuse' is often seen as one of the key benefits to be gained by implementing a content management system (CMS). It is certainly true that there are considerable advantages in being able to use a single page (or piece of content) in multiple locations on a single site, across multiple ...
August 2nd, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, knowledge management
Developing a knowledge management strategy
Organisations are facing ever-increasing challenges, brought on by marketplace pressures or the nature of the workplace. Many organisations are now looking to knowledge management (KM) to address these challenges. Such initiatives are often started with the development of a knowledge management strategy. To be successful, a KM strategy must do more than ...
August 1st, 2004 by Tina Calabria
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Improving your intranet, task by task
When faced with an out-dated and ineffective intranet, a common response is to launch a redesign project. This can involve spending the next three to six months researching staff needs, creating a new information architecture, and authoring new content. If redesign efforts are based on a solid analysis of business and ...
July 2nd, 2004 by Donna Spencer
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Does your intranet support core business?
On many intranets, a large proportion of the site is dedicated to allowing staff complete administrative tasks easily. Few intranets have the same focus on assisting staff with core business. This is a natural by-product in the evolution of intranets, with many starting as sites to distribute HR information and later ...
July 2nd, 2004 by Donna Spencer
Categorised under: articles, intranets
The importance of training staff in the use of the intranet
An intranet, like any other business application or information system, is a tool staff need to learn to use. Without assistance or training, staff do not automatically know how to use it any more than they know how to use the finance system. In many cases, intranets are under-used as ...
July 2nd, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Successfully deploying a content management system
While selecting the right content management system (CMS) is crucial for success, it is not sufficient. There is also much that needs to be done during the implementation to ensure that the initial project is successful, and the CMS is viable in the long-term. Implementing a CMS is not easy. There ...
June 4th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Self-sufficiency in a CMS
While it is important to identify key functional requirements when selecting a content management system (CMS), some of the most important issues relate to how the CMS works, rather that what it does. In particular, the issue of self-sufficiency is one that should be addressed by all organisations looking to purchase ...
May 28th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Selecting a Content Management System
A wide range of Australian Government departments and agencies are planning to select and implement a content management system (CMS). With a large number of products in the marketplace, and capabilities still evolving rapidly, choosing the right CMS can be challenging. This checklist is intended to be used by those staff ...
May 28th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
Implementing an Effective Website Search Facility
This checklist suggests that a number of issues should be considered when designing and implementing search facilities. The items in the checklist are, however, not mandatory. The checklist has been provided as a guide to help agencies to consider a range of issues that may improve search facilities. This checklist has ...
May 28th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Implementing a Content Management System
Australian Government departments and agencies are increasingly using content management systems (CMS) to streamline the management of a variety of materials on their websites. Content management is a complex area and the success of the selected CMS will largely depend on how it is implemented and used. This checklist is intended ...
May 28th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Designing and Managing an Intranet
Most Australian Government departments and agencies have developed intranets to facilitate information sharing and communications across their organisation. These intranets have often grown significantly over time, and a key challenge being faced by agencies is ensuring that their future growth and development remain manageable. This checklist is intended to be a ...
April 1st, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Using narrative in a CMS tender
Tender documents typically consist of long lists of 'functional' requirements to be responded to by the CMS vendor. Experience has shown, however, that these are a very poor way in which to convey real needs, and they don't ensure that the right product will be selected. Instead, consider presenting requirements in 'narrative' ...
April 1st, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranets when organisations merge
Tackling the corporate intranet when multiple organisations merge is one of the most challenging issues to confront. Instead of trying to merge the existing intranets, this article presents a different approach, whereby the new corporate intranet grows in step with the progress of the merger itself. This approach reflects the reality ...
March 1st, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
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 ...
February 6th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Open-source content management systems
In recent times, open-source software has been seen as an increasingly mainstream part of the market. This has been fuelled by the growth of the internet, including the continued market dominance of Apache, and the mindshare of Linux. Backing by large vendors such as IBM has further solidified the position of ...
February 6th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Intranet teams: a leadership and coaching role
The goal of an intranet team is to ensure that the intranet is effective, up-to-date and usable. This has not proved easy to achieve, and many teams have relied on setting policies or standards and attempting to enforce them across the business. This 'big stick' approach hasn't worked in most cases. ...
January 14th, 2004 by Donna Spencer
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Five ways to identify intranet usability issues
Many intranets are under-used. Intranet managers lament the low use and discuss how to get staff to 'use the intranet more', resulting in marketing and promotions activities to increase use. Marketing and promotion activities are wasted however, if staff return to the intranet and find that it doesn't help them to ...
January 13th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Choosing an intranet project sponsor
Numerous surveys across a diverse range of IT projects have identified that the lack of support from senior management (project sponsorship) is one of the biggest causes of project failure. The demand for effective project sponsorship is even greater for an intranet, where decisions will affect many business units and staff ...
January 12th, 2004 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Sources of CMS uncertainty
Not all aspects of a content management system (CMS) project are equally easy. While some elements can be installed 'out of the box', others have proved difficult to implement. The greatest source of project risk is uncertainty, generated from a number of sources, such as a limited understanding of business requirements, ...
December 1st, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Dynamic or batch publishing?
The publishing engine is an important component of content management systems (CMS). It generates all the content seen by site visitors, and the capabilities of the engine strongly influences the design and features of the published site. There are two main publishing models used by content management systems: dynamic and batch ...
November 3rd, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Choosing the right CMS authoring tools
The authoring environment is the most important aspect of a content management system (CMS), for without content authors, there would be nothing to manage or publish. It is important to recognise, however, that there is no single best authoring environment provided by a content management system. Instead, the authoring tools must ...
November 1st, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
The difference between usable and useful
In the past, many sites were redesigned solely on the basis of the vision of a designer. Some of these sites worked well for users, most did not. Thankfully, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of usability and information architecture techniques in the redesign of sites, whether websites ...
October 7th, 2003 by Donna Spencer
Categorised under: articles, intranets, usability & information architecture
Escaping the organisation chart on your intranet
At the core of the structure of many intranets is the organisation chart. This is not surprising as many intranets grow organically with little central control. Business teams create their own areas on the intranet, include information about what they do, and disseminate it to their internal clients. While matching the ...
August 6th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, knowledge management
Knowledge management for front-line staff
Knowledge management is an approach that can benefit all staff within an organisation, from senior management, to front-line staff, and out into the field. Up to now however, many of the case studies have focused on management and consulting staff, and have not addressed the unique environment that is the public ...
August 5th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
What is the purpose of a CMS tender?
There are a number of processes used to select and purchase a content management system (CMS). Many of these involve the creation of a tender document. This may also be called a 'request for quote (RFQ)' or even a 'request for information (RFI)'. While these work in slightly different ways, they ...
July 2nd, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
XML and content management systems
With the rise in popularity of both XML and content management systems (CMS), there are an increasing number of tenders specifying "CMS must be built using XML". What does this mean in practice? This article explores the role of XML in the context of content management systems, focusing specifically on the ...
July 1st, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, knowledge management
Selecting staff for stakeholder interviews
Last month's article Stakeholder interviews as simple knowledge mapping explored the value of conducting one-on-one discussions with staff, when planning knowledge management or intranet projects. This briefing focuses on just one aspect of the process: who to select for stakeholder interviews. It provides some general guidelines, and then lists some ...
June 15th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Specifying technology in a CMS tender
Experience has shown that the most effective tenders for a content management system (CMS) focus on the business requirements, not implementation details. Unfortunately, too many tenders in the past have become caught up in the technology aspects of the systems. This generates a number of problems: While many requirements are included, they ...
June 3rd, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
So, what is a CMS?
A content management system (CMS) is critical to the success of almost every website and intranet, and yet many organisations are not familiar with this technology. So, while we have written many articles on a range of specific CMS issues and strategies, we now take a step back to answer the ...
May 19th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, usability & information architecture
The importance of CMS usability
The rollout of a content management system (CMS) has the potential to impact on more users than any other system since e-mail. More crucially, the success of a CMS depends entirely on how much it is used, whether it is authors creating content, or users accessing the published site. It is these ...
April 8th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
The two faces of intranet success
There are two fundamental aspects that must be satisfied if an intranet is to succeed: The intranet must meet staff needs. Sufficient content and functionality must be created to meet these needs. These are the 'two faces' of the intranet, one looking towards staff and organisational needs, the other at the infrastructure and ...
April 1st, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
34 ideas for promoting your intranet
The promotion of an intranet is never-ending. From the day it's launched, through to its eventual retirement, an intranet must be constantly advertised to staff. Without this, many staff will remain unaware that the intranet even exists. Others won't recognise the full value of the intranet, or use anything but a ...
March 18th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, knowledge management, usability & information architecture
Five minute intranet self-evaluation
How well is your intranet working, and is it meeting business needs? These are the fundamental questions facing many intranets. Having grown organically for years, most intranets are now suffering from major structural and content issues. This briefing presents a simple checklist that will allow you to judge just how much work ...
March 17th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
A CM project presents unique challenges
At a basic level, implementing a content management system (CMS) is like deploying any other large software package. Fundamental project management principles must be followed, along with best practice technical guidelines. Beyond this, however, a CMS project presents a number of unique challenges. These must be recognised and addressed for the project ...
March 4th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets, websites
Worlds apart: intranets and websites
Beyond a common use of HTML, intranets and corporate websites (internet sites) are very different animals. The needs they meet, the content they contain, and the users that access them are all very distinct. These differences need to be understood by site designers, and reflected both in the design process and the ...
February 15th, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
Requirements-focused CMS selection
Your organisation is unique, and as such, has a unique set of content management system (CMS) requirements. There is also no single "perfect for everyone" content management system. Each product has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and distinctive design principles. Unfortunately, the selection process followed by many organisations doesn't recognise ...
February 3rd, 2003 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, knowledge management
Metrics for KM and CM
Metrics are a concrete way of defining what a knowledge management or content management project will achieve, and whether it met those goals. In an environment of tight budgets and high expectations, metrics are an appropriate next step for an industry that prides itself on delivering big benefits. Defining metrics is ...
November 1st, 2002 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, case studies, intranets
Case study: Hunter Health intranet
Despite all the effort dedicated to the Hunter Health intranet, it was not being used, and no-one knew why. With the initial start-up activities completed, the challenge was also to define the future direction of the intranet, and to ensure that it became better aligned with corporate strategy. To this end, a ...
October 1st, 2002 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Keeping your intranet healthy and effective
You may have just built a brand new intranet, or re-invigorated your existing intranet. Either way, the challenge is now to ensure that the current quality, level of use, and value of the intranet is maintained well into the future. An intranet must constantly grow and evolve to match the changing ...
September 2nd, 2002 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Sixteen steps to a renewed corporate intranet
Many intranets have reached, or passed, their fifth birthdays. Having grown organically with limited funding, these intranets have become steadily more inconsistent and out of date. Many corporate intranets have also lost their identity, and now exist simply for the sake of legacy. The growing status of content management systems (CMSs) is ...
August 1st, 2002 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
What are the goals of a CMS?
Most organisations recognise that a content management system (CMS) is a necessity when maintaining a large corporate website or intranet. It is important to ensure however, that beyond a general 'need', CMS solutions should be made to meet specific business goals. Without a clear vision of the business goals of the system, ...
April 2nd, 2002 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management, intranets
Centralised or decentralised authoring?
When implementing a new enterprise-wide content management system (CMS), most businesses assume a decentralised model of authoring. This devolves the responsibility for creating content back to individual staff members within the business units. While this is seen as an effective way of reducing costs and increasing involvement, it is not without its ...
January 23rd, 2002 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, content management
How to evaluate a content management system
Selecting and implementing a content management system (CMS) will be one of the largest IT projects tackled by many organisations. With costs running into the millions of dollars, it is vital that the right CMS package be selected. This article outlines some of the lessons that we have learnt when assisting ...
August 10th, 2001 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, search tools
Deploying an effective search engine
A search engine is often the first method used to find a page, and yet, most users suffer frustration and failure. More still are put off by the complexity of the search engine, and the confusing manner in which the results are displayed. A good search engine must: Be easy to use. Assist ...
August 10th, 2001 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, case studies, content management, intranets
NRMA Case Study
Please note that we no longer develop or sell content management solutions. This case study demonstrates the basis for our current content management experience, and we now focus solely on providing vendor-neutral advice regarding CMS selection and implementation. Overview We have been very pleased to have worked with the NRMA, ...
August 10th, 2001 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, case studies, intranets
RTA Case Study
Please note that we no longer develop or sell content management solutions. This case study demonstrates the basis for our current content management experience, and we now focus solely on providing vendor-neutral advice regarding CMS selection and implementation. Overview In October 2000, Step Two Designs won the open tender to ...
September 29th, 2011 by James Robertson
Categorised under: articles, collaboration, enterprise 2.0, intranets
Enable commenting on intranet news
Two major trends are affecting how intranets are used to communicate to, and connect with, staff. The first is the move by internal communications teams away from just top-down corporate communications to two-way communication and dialogue. The second is the rise of collaborative and social tools, which promise to transform how staff ...