Vision
Vision is a statement by a company or an organization declaring the goals both short-term and long-term and what the firm would become later in the years. The vision statement of an intranet gives all the members of the team an opportunity to work together towards a common goal. It gives the team a reason to strive forward and provides direction in decision making. For example, the organization may wish to make new adjustments but before implementation, they have to consider what their vision is and thus the vision statement of the intranet is useful in keeping the company focused and goal oriented.
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Ownership
There should be an entity within the organization that owns the intranet. The intranet is designed and built by the IT team following the organization’s requirements, but the executive ownership is for the company. The IT team may only be responsible for managing and maintaining the intranet’s development aspects and technical infrastructure. For example, IT upgrades the intranet in case changes are needed but the business owns it.
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Policies & Guidelines
The intranet has some policies and guidelines that outline how it operates and how to manage it. The guidelines and policies are designed and handed over to the stakeholders and authors of the intranet, their primary purpose is to answer common questions and resolve issues within the organization. For example, during difficult situations the policies and guidelines may be used as a support reference, this way, the policies and guidelines shape the success of the intranet.
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Information Architecture
The information architecture of the intranet is simply how the content is structured, grouped and labelled in the intranet relative to other contents. The information architecture varies depending on the type of the site. For example, client sites may have a different information architecture compared to project sites and employee sites. Considering the information architecture, many sites may be linked together to form hub site. Intranet site navigation, layout of the pages and search experiences are other features that form the information architecture of the intranet.
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Security & Content Management
The security of SharePoint content is very vital and is enhanced through permissions whereby the content creator has to share the site with other individuals or teams for read-only or editing purposes. Audience targeting improves security of the content by making sure that the content is only shared with the intended audience.
Content management encompasses several aspects which include but is not limited to creation and publishing the content. Content approvals through tools such as power automate, frequent content reviews, and retention of some content which is important in case some content is to be disposed.
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Branding
Branding the intranet site defines its look and feel. This may be achieved through use of the organizations’ unique logos, customization of company’s unique color schemes, and configuration of the asset’s library of the organization. Through consistent use of images and icons across the intranet, branding image is maintained. There are also navigation options which may also chip in to enhance the uniqueness of the intranet. For example, the organization may opt to use the cascading menu or the mega menu in the navigation. The organization may also opt to use a footer or not.
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Retention & Deletion
Considering the usefulness and relevance of the intranet, it is important to know the content of your intranet that is already obsolete which can be either deleted or archived. There is an inverse proportionality between the intranet’s content and its usability. The more content you have in your intranet, the harder to use. It is advisable to trim off obsolete content, to minimize content. While it may be impossible to permanently do away with an intranet, keep it updated, some contents may be deleted if they are no longer useful.
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Analytics & Measurement
The analytics of the intranet help businesses in learning the behavior and usage of the users of the intranet. This is useful in making decisions which are data driven, such as the content the employees use, measurements of the intranet’s performance, and helping users to easily find the content they are looking for. The metrics and analytics are used to track the intranet success, correlating the page views with support tickets, getting intranet user feedback and also reviewing of the pages.
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Conversations & Interactivity
The intranet is equipped with software that enhances conversation and interactivity. The Yammer Conversations can be used to allow users to participate in a conversation without leaving a SharePoint page. A recent feature available in the Yammer gives the user the ability to start a conversation with any kind of post. There are other tools that can also be used for communication within the intranet, for example online forms and SP marketplace.
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Site Provisioning
Intranet provisioning is the procedure of creation and configuration of the sites based on the requirements of the business. For example, you can add samples, templates, and solutions to your Office 365 tenant using the SharePoint PnP Provisioning Service. As specified in each sample, template, and solution, the service provides content and configuration for site collections, sites, and tenants. Workflows in SharePoint are pre-written mini-applications that automate and streamline a number of business operations. Workflows might involve everything from tracking the progress of a standard method to obtaining signatures, comments, or approvals for a plan or document.
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Third Party Tools & Integrations
The intranet employs integration with Microsoft Teams amongst other M365 applications, line of business applications and other third-party analytical tools.
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Roles & Responsibilities
An intranet helps the employees stay updated within the organization as it serves several purposes for example, it may be used as a website, communication channel, a tool for knowledge management as well as a platform for collaboration. Some key roles may include Intranet Steering Committee, Intranet Business Owner (Business Aspects), Intranet Technology owner (Technical aspects), Corporate communications, Site Owners, Site Members and Intranet/SharePoint/ M365 Champions.
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Training & On-Boarding
Nothing more than a new tool is provided to the staff when an intranet is launched. Training is essential if you want to change how your company’s personnel interact with one another. It gives staff members more courage to use and begin using the intranet. For various user types, tailored training sessions are necessary based on how they use a system or to distinguish training at the departmental level. Technical training and the best practices for using the intranet can both be included in an intranet with a tailored training approach. For example, training may be done one on one for the intranet executives, planning tracks of training for different user groups, holding weekly drop-in sessions or even creating an intranet help platform.