Intranet Tip of the Week Program

Prescient's Tip of the Week Program provides subscribers with valuable, intranet-related tips and best practices over the course of a year, allowing professionals to stay on top of industry news and current research, and especially to learn suggestions for improving their own intranet.

Subscribe to Prescient's Tip of the Week Program.

2014 Weekly Tips

"Our search tool sucks", is a complaint we hear all too often. A search tool that doesn't function properly can frustrate users and slow adoption and collaboration.    

3 Tips for Search that Works:

1. Strategy. Begin with a metadata strategy (a full set of standards) that describes which metadata elements should be captured for each type of content or piece of information.

2. Planning. Create an operational plan for managing your search engine once the strategy is in place.  

3. Governance. Nominate someone to 'own search'. The search owner should reconfigure scope based on user needs and re-index content regularly. 

Planning is critical for any intranet - without a thorough plan, the intranet is dead before it gets a chance at life.  

Elements of an effective intranet plan:

• Executive support
• Resources
• Mission and/or vision statement
• Objectives
• Governance
• Motivated, engaged employees

Share the Week #13 Tip

Pay attention to your end users. The value of an intranet is in its users' engagement.  For users to adopt the intranet, it must be easy to use and house practical information that is searchable. 

3 steps to a user-centric intranet:

1.     Understand the current state and the needs of users
2.     Engage users while the new site is being planned and built
3.     Test, Test, Test

Share the Week #12 Tip

Optimize your intranet for training.

Use a training site to track and monitor enrollment and participation in courses. Encourage student collaboration and conversations on class discussion boards. Make tests, surveys and certificates of completion available on course pages.

Share the Week #11 Tip

Reduce emails with intranet chat.

Chat gives employees instant access to their co-workers while providing them with a quick way to ask questions and to have private or group conversations, all while reducing email volume and response time. When chat tools are added to an intranet user adoption increases.

Share the Week #10 Tip

Make it easier for departments and teams to stay up-to-date on the availability of their colleagues during business hours with status updates.

Allow users to change their in and out-of-office status in an instant to accommodate for longer lunch breaks, unscheduled meetings and other impromptu events.

Share the Week #9 Tip

Keep employees informed about updates to their health benefits packages, travel insurance, and more.  

Create an HR widget on employee's homepages that allow them some level of personalization, so they can stay up-to-date on news that affects them such as deadlines for performance reviews and vacation time.

Share the Week #8 Tip

Have you thought about using your intranet to celebrate accomplishments?

At Prescient we recently celebrated our 13-year anniversary! Employees like knowing about their company anniversary and their colleagues birthdays. Teach employees how to use the intranet to send birthday wishes, thank you notes, and congratulatory comments.

Share the Week #7 Tip

Create a Professional Development page on your intranet. Share internal job postings, classes, lunch-and-learns and other relevant events and information to help employees progress within your organization.

Share the Week #6 Tip

Design a user-friendly employee directory. A great intranet employee directory will be up-to-date, include contact information for all employees, and should be searchable.

Link employee profile photos to your directory to help employees find contacts they are searching for at a glance.

Share the Week #5 Tip

Keep the focus on employees by adding employee photos, featuring employee successes and sharing customer service experiences on the home page. Include links to important content and favorite pages on the home page to help employees efficiently navigate the site.

Share the Week #4 Tip

Does your company have swag?
Create a company store on the intranet where employees can win merchandise based on their intranet usage. Stock your store with items employees will use like apparel, bags, office accessories, and gift certificates.

Share the Week #3 Tip

Use the early adopters and intranet leaders in your organization as champions. Ask them to brainstorm ideas to encourage other employees to actively use the intranet.

Share the Week #2 Tip

Resolve to encourage intranet adoption this year by removing company forms, documents and files from shared drives and making them easily accessible and available only on the intranet.

Share the Week #1 Tip

2012 Weekly Tips

Week #17 - September 2012
When it comes to making data, forms, and documents easier to find, a logical and well laid-out information architecture (content structure; content categories) goes a long way. The categorization and structuring of information can be one of the most challenging aspects of an intranet design, but the end result is well worth the trouble.

Week #16 - June 2012
Organizations can improve the end-user experience by: Understanding the current state and the needs of the users; Engaging the users while the new site is being planned and built;  Testing, Testing, Testing

Week #15 - June 2012
When redeveloping your corporate intranet, be wary of the "usual suspects" that can cause problems down the road if not identified early on.

Week #14 - May 2012
Saying "No" to expensive intranets doesn't mean sacrificing compatibility for cost. There are many low-cost solutions serving a niche market that is not being fulfilled by bigger, more common solutions. Ultimately, the final technology selection should be based on careful planning and research - not guesswork and rough estimates.

Week #13 - May 2012
Unless you have very strong governance, content, information architecture, and self-service tools, social media shouldn't be a top priority, but it shouldn't be ignored either.

Week #12 - April 2012
A key lesson from Tuesday's webinar: determining which intranet governance model is most appropriate for your business is no easy task and requires a solid understanding of user requirements, corporate strategy and available resources.

Week #11 - April 2012
As is the case with most intranets or websites, it is simply impossible to achieve any long-lasting success without a clearly defined governance and management structure. Far from being a buzz word or jargon, intranet governance provides clarity and rules: namely the titles, roles and responsibilities of its owners, managers, stakeholders and contributors.

Week #10 - April 2012
Avoid five of the most common portal problems by:

• Gathering business requirements from employees before any design or technology planning

• Creating an Intranet 2.0 Collaboration Plan

• Having a goal-oriented strategy

• Creating a Content Management Plan

• Developing and adhering to a Governance Model

Week #9 - March 2012
Help your organization retain qualified staff, increase employee engagement and improve knowledge worker productivity by creating a social intranet. These are just some of the ways you can take advantage of social within your organization.

Week #8 - March 2012
People, process and technology work together to create a social intranet. Take advantage of the "social" phenomenon on your intranet by keeping up with best-practice tips and strategies for success.

Week #7 - March 2012
Personas make large user populations more manageable and easier to understand when redeveloping a corporate website or intranet.

Week #6 - February 2012
According to the Social Intranet Infographic, a social intranet is only one part technology, and two parts people and process.

Week #5 - February 2012
A key lesson from yesterday's webinar: without rules, SharePoint can sprawl out of control.

Week #4 - January 2012
Determining if SharePoint 2010 is right for your organization is not easy, nor should it be easy. A very expensive and complex solution requires a very complex and detailed evaluation process that should, if not undertaken successfully before, require the assistance of an outside intranet consultant who understands the marketplace and the pros and cons of the intranet vendor landscape.

Week #3 - January 2012
SharePoint 2010 can do just about anything imaginable, as long as you have the time, money and patience to make it work. It's not a best-of-breed solution when compared to anything but itself (but it is so diverse that it is hardly comparable to anything else), but it is highly effective when deployed properly.

Week #2 - January 2012
Shop around. 38% of organizations that participated in Prescient's recently released Social Intranet Study spent less than $10,000 licensing and installing their intranet 2.0 tools.

Week #1 - January 2012
The first order of business when developing a functional plan - one that will allow you to grow your site and have it evolve as the needs of your business and employees do - is to execute an in-depth needs analysis. A needs analysis will set the bar on the current situation for your intranet's environment.

2011 Weekly Tips

Week #35 - December 2011
Assigning business value by having a strategic plan for intranet 2.0 tools and their use, as well as implementing defined processes and governance, will empower employees to do what you're paying them to do - think.

Week #34 - December 2011
When trying to identify what users want to read about on the intranet, ask questions that help you determine where the largest gaps exist between importance of the content and satisfaction rates. Doing so will tell you where your priorities lie.

Week #33 - December 2011
Evaluate and choose the right intranet technology and tools according to your business and functional requirements, rather than be sold a tool or piece of technology. An evaluation period (including the requirements gathering and building the evaluation criteria) of at least 2-4 months per technology solution is considered best practice and par-for-the-course. 

Week #32 - November 2011
When choosing a name for your intranet, remember:

• The name needs to speak to the company's uniqueness (e.g. core values, culture).

• The name should be short and easy to say.

• The name should be fun and approachable.

Week #31 - November 2011
Write for the web. Don't just copy text from print material onto your intranet. Print and online are different mediums, so people even see and read them differently too.

Week #30 - November 2011 
Don't make the mistake of trying to redevelop your intranet without the support of an executive sponsor.

Before the project can gain executive support, it must be presented and marketed to demonstrate how it can help the organization achieve its goals and objectives.

Facilitate this by:

• Presenting case studies - Showcase to executives what a winning intranet looks like.

• Securing active commitment - Use case studies and needs analysis to secure an executive champion (or 2).

• Creating a business case - Work with your executive champion to determine the requirements for an effective business case.

Week #29 - October 2011
Develop a governance model to make sure your intranet is properly managed.The governance structure defines who can make what decisions, who is accountable for which efforts, and how each of the players must work together to manage an intranet or website effectively. How an intranet or website is managed and governed is tantamount to its success.

Week #28 - October 2011
Even for the most seasoned communications professionals, talking to different departments within your organization about social media can be tough.

Communicating the value of social media to various departments is often a three step process:

• Recognize that not all departments use social media equally.

• Identify the unique responsibilities, challenges and resources of each department.

• Develop strategies for talking to these departments based on their responsibilities, challenges and resources.

Week #27 - October 2011
Striking the right balance between usability and functionality on advanced search pages can be difficult. Pages that contain too many search options can potentially frustrate users. Pages that contain too few options function more like a banner search bar than a comprehensive advanced search tool.

By reviewing existing analytics (to understand what search fields are currently being used) and conducting interviews (to understand what new fields are needed or what is confusing), you can create a more effective tool that gives users greater control of their search.

Week #26 - September 2011
Change management is tantamount to success when introducing Intranet 2.0 tools to your organization. Social media will only work when properly deployed with the requisite education, communications, and promotion. It is not enough to merely build it and hope “they will come.”

Week #25 - September 2011
Bolster a business case to redevelop your organization's intranet with the latest data on Intranet 2.0 tools. Learning how other organizations evaluate and use Intranet 2.0 tools will help you identify ways of improving your own organization's intranet.

Week #24 - July 2011
Organizations must give most or all employees access to Intranet 2.0 tools in order to truly achieve an enterprise-wide "social intranet". Preliminary results of the Social Intranet Survey show that one third of organizations do not allow all employees to use or contribute content via Intranet 2.0 tools.

Week #23 - June 2011
A proper plan or business case that convinces senior management of the need for intranet 2.0 tools is an essential component to an intranet redevelopment project. According to preliminary results of the Social Intranet Survey, 9% of organizations without intranet 2.0 tools claim that the greatest barrier preventing them from obtaining intranet 2.0 tools is lack of a business case.

Week #22 - June 2011
Evaluate and choose the right technology and tools according to your business and functional requirements, rather than be sold a tool or piece of technology. About 40% of organizations that undertook Intranet 2.0 technology evaluations did so in 4 months or less (according the Social Intranet Survey). An evaluation period (including the requirements gathering and building the evaluation criteria) of at least 2-4 months per technology solution is considered best practice and par-for-the-course.

Week #21 - June 2011
Shop around. Nearly 40% of organizations surveyed in Prescient's ongoing Social Intranet Survey spent less than $10,000 licensing and installing their intranet 2.0 tools.

Week #20 - May 2011
Boost knowledge worker productivity. The social intranet delivers significant value to employees who deliver value to the organization through knowledge work. Make sure you know the percentage of knowledge workers among your employees, your workplace demographics and current use of social media.

Week #19 - May 2011
When creating content, consider how a user would search for the content and create an appropriate title and metadata that reflects the user's predicted behavior. This will aid in the algorithm's ability to lead users to the correct article or page they are seeking.

Week #18 - May 2011
Develop an overarching plan. The social intranet is a process, not an event. Guide your evolution with a documented plan that includes a measurable strategy, defined governance model, policies and training.

Week #17 - May 2011
Directing intranet users to your organization’s external site for the information they require (e.g. product information, services) may be a quick win, but an opportunity is missed to give users inside information that is specific to their area of expertise and responsibilities. A successful site evaluation can bring to light this opportunity for improvement and others which can greatly enhance the user experience.

Week #16 - April 2011
When introducing social media tools, note the various levels of social media expertise within your organization. The same training program shouldn't be used for the social media superstar and the user who doesn’t know the difference between a Tweet and a wall post. Employees can complete a simple survey to benchmark their social media awareness and capabilities before training begins.

Week #15 - April 2011
The key to getting your colleagues to adopt social media is to discuss it within the context of their department's responsibilities, challenges, resources, demographic and familiarity with social media. Knowing what excites, interests (and scares) different user groups and using this knowledge to communicate with them in ways they can relate to is half the battle. The other half is having the data, statistics and case studies to back you up.

Week #14 - April 2011
Launching a blog or offering a wiki is not a silver bullet solution; doing so in a knee-jerk, poorly thought through fashion will be more than counter-productive. Organizations need to deploy social media tools in a thoughtful, strategic fashion to clearly demonstrate they are an employer of choice, which is essential to competing for talent in today's changing workforce.

Week #13 - March 2011
Start measuring. Only 11% of respondents to Prescient's 2010 survey measure the ROI of their intranet 2.0 activity. There are numerous metrics that will provide insight on activity, engagement and business value. Gather and act upon this data to reap the rewards of social media.

Week #12 - March 2011
Introducing internal social networks is not a "build it and they will come" project. Work closely with IT so they understand your strategic objectives, and you understand their technology goals and limitations.

Week #11 - March 2011
Eliminate the communications gap. One-third of respondents to Prescient's Intranet 2.0 study cite lack of executive support as the main barrier to implementing intranet 2.0 technology. Make sure you put the benefits of social media in the context of the specific benefits your organization can realize from a social intranet.

Week #10 - March 2011
Politics will kill your intranet. Without a well defined governance model, the value the intranet or portal delivers will be severely hampered.

Week #9 - February 2011
Communicators and content managers frequently fret over the challenge of 'feeding the monster'. The monster in question is the intranet; the food is 'content'. One solution to the hungry intranet challenge is to turn employees into journalists.

Week #8 - February 2011
A little prep work goes a long way. Knowing your audience and their area of interest within the business goes a long way to facilitating a fruitful business requirement interview.

Week #7 - February 2011
Bigger intranets are not always better. Bigger companies have more silos, facets, and people that can't necessarily agree on what a single, strategic intranet should look like. Without an outside, third-party non-partisan counsel, it's difficult to coordinate the needs and visions of multiple stakeholder groups, departments, divisions and functional units of a large, sprawling enterprise.

Week #6 - February 2011
The first order of business when developing a functional plan - one that will allow you to grow your site and have it evolve as the needs of your business and employees do - is to execute an in-depth needs analysis. A needs analysis will set the bar on the current situation for your intranet's environment.

Week #5 - February 2011
Assigning business value by having a strategic plan for 2.0 tools and their use, as well as implementing defined processes and governance, will empower employees to do what you're paying them to do - think.

Week #4 - January 2011
When setting out to achieve an appropriate level of employee participation, start by asking yourself how you will deliver return on participation. While still a fairly new concept, return on participation is becoming essential in the social media realm, in which participants must perceive the benefit to their engagement.

Week #3 - January 2011
Name and brand your intranet. Doing so will help distinguish it as the primary resource for company information and give it a personality. Calling your organization's intranet "Intranet" is like calling your dog "Dog".

Week #2 - January 2011
Evaluating and selecting an intranet technology platform is not easy, nor should it be easy. A very expensive and complex solution requires a very complex and detailed evaluation process that should, if not undertaken successfully before, require the assistance of an outside intranet consultant who understands the marketplace and the pros and cons of the intranet vendor landscape.

Week #1 - January 2011
Sufficient white-space is the key to uncluttering your homepage. Taking the "less-is-more" approach to intranet design will help users find what they're looking for faster.

2010 Weekly Tips

Week #26 - December 2010
Keep it current. Frequently updated content will keep users coming back. Out of date information is of little use to employees.

Week #25 - December 2010
Encourage your boss to blog; employees want to hear more from the executive suite.

Week #24 - November 2010
Apply the KISS principle to your intranet. Keep it simple and straightforward. People won't use it if it's not easy to use.

Week #23 - November 2010
When choosing a CMS or any software product, functional user and stakeholder requirements must be clearly defined. A structured methodology needs to be invoked to not only ensure that the proper vendor is chosen, but that the product has a productive lifespan.

Week #22 - November 2010
Every organization is unique. Taking the "one-size-fits-all" approach to choosing an intranet technology platform can be quite costly, considering the amount of time and money typically invested in these projects.

Week #21 - November 2010
Fight the temptation to link from your intranet to your external site because it's convenient. The intranet is your chance to develop audience-specific content that speaks directly and exclusively to employees.

Week #20  - October 2010
When it comes to important information and popular applications, keep it above the fold to minimize scrolling.

Week #19 - October 2010
Rolling out a new intranet is a process, not an event. Ownership, process and content workflow, trained and decentralized authorship, ongoing marketing and metrics, defined responsibilities and executive support are some of the essentials that will ensure your intranet enjoys ongoing success.

Week #18 - October 2010
A positive correlation exists between employee satisfaction with their intranet and job satisfaction. When employees are satisfied, they stay on longer, their productivity rises and training costs fall.

Week #17 - October 2010
Don't fear social media in the workplace. A policy that explicitly states your organization's goal in implementing it as well as acceptable use will increase adoption rates.

Week #16 - September 2010
You don't have to break the bank to buy intranet 2.0 tools. With nearly half of organizations spending less than $10,000 on these tools, they are well within range of most organizations (according to the new Intranet 2.0 study).

Week #15 - September 2010
Embrace social media tools like blogs, forums and instant messaging. If you're one of the organizations still resisting these tools, you're now in the minority according to the latest Intranet 2.0 study.

Week #14 - September 2010
When trying to identify what users want to read about on the intranet, ask questions that help you determine where the largest gaps exist between importance of the content and satisfaction rates. Doing so will tell you where your priorities lie.

Week #13 - September 2010
Your intranet's information architecture should provide intuitive access to the site's content. It needs to be easily understood at a glance and informed by users' roles and best practices.

Week #12 - August 2010
Write for the web. Don't just copy text from print material onto your intranet. Print and online are different mediums, so people even see and read them differently too.

Week #11 - August 2010
Have a solid understanding of your user needs and a strategic plan when choosing intranet 2.0 tools. Otherwise, you are simply guessing at what tool can assist your organization's particular needs.

Week #10 - August 2010
When rolling out a new intranet, having a solid change management plan in place will shorten the "J-Curve": the idea that when you introduce change into an established system, things will usually get worse before they get better.

Week #9 - August 2010
Make it a two-way conversation. Encourage employee contribution via feedback forms, polls and invitations to provide content.

Week #8 - July 2010
Have a "Killer App". For an intranet this is usually a really good employee directory.

Week #7 - July 2010
Know who is (and isn't) using your site and why by tracking key metrics like unique visitors and entry/exit points.

Week #6 - July 2010
Content is king (still). In fact, content is the lifelong emperor of the intranet. People don't go to the intranet to use the search engine, or for self-service: they seek content (data, information, knowledge).

Week #5 - July 2010
The intranet must be designed principally from business requirements -- based on both management and employee needs -- and not by some graphic designer who thinks "Wouldn't this be cool?!"

Week #4 - June 2010
If you build it, they will not come... necessarily. Like any program, system, or new way of working, an intranet requires change management including education and communications.

Week #3 - June 2010
A truly successful intranet has an executive champion or owner that can break through political barriers, offer-up funding, be a strong voice for the senior management team, and a quotable source in employee communications.

Week #2 - June 2010
An intranet must have an explicitly documented governance model: who owns it, who comprises the management team, and roles and responsibilities for all (including content owners / contributors).

Week #1 - June 2010
Every intranet needs a plan: mission (and/or vision), goals, objectives, and critical success factors (KPIs). The plan should be reviewed once per year, and KPIs measured against baseline once or twice per year (minimum).