SharePoint Consulting for Intranets

Successful businesses are those that can provide timely information to employees through technology so they can get their work done faster and better. Intranets are a conduit for communication and information flow across an organization, a platform that facilitates knowledge management and a place where employees can manage their work.

We start out with a good SharePoint strategy and find answers to these questions:

• What is SharePoint being brought in to do?
• Who are the primary users?
• Over what period of time will it be phased in?
• Will it be hosted internally, or in the cloud, and what are costs associated with this?

Depending on the size of your company, this strategy might be overseen by a steering group, comprising elements of senior management and maybe even the CEO. It might involve drawing up a roadmap of activities, which in itself will often require company-wide consultation.

But when it comes to implementing SharePoint we consider carefully what your strategy dictates. Often organizations will have grand plans for a system, be it a SharePoint Intranet or website. Functionality will be planned in advance, rolled up into phases, and user expectations set. But SharePoint projects aren't always best implemented this way. SharePoint is such a large product, with a wide variety of strengths, that it can be difficult to plan in exact detail how best to implement every detail of a project upfront. Obviously, a new system needs a plan. But sometimes a lighter plan, or one focusing on just a first phase, is enough. Good planning in IT projects is always important. Just prepare to take a more agile approach when it comes to the functionality of SharePoint because, in the long run, it provides better results.

We use a simple, human approach to requirements based on real-world use-cases. Instead of listing a set of features we identify:

• Who's the user?
• What do they want?
• Why?

Here's an example of a single requirement.

As a…	I would like…	So that…
User	to be able to post blogs about the things I am working on	people can keep up to date with things I do, which may be relevant for them as well

What's so special about this way of documenting requirements?

It identifies who this requirement is for ... and provides a view into your intranet audiences and their unique needs.

It states what is wanted ... because once we understand the goals we may be able to suggest more efficient ways to satisfy them in some other way.

It explains why it is wanted ...  which provides context around the request, and may allow us to meet the needs in a more efficient way. 

• Develop a strategy, have a plan, and define KPI's for your intranet so you can measure success and continue to improve
• Appoint a team to oversee the development and ongoing management of the intranet
• Take a phased approach for launching – an intranet is evolutionary and ever changing environment
• Ensure it is the main place to access information. Upload all key company documents – ensure all appropriate content is transferred from servers or directories
• Consider the use of role-based home pages – this structure provides each member of staff with a more personalized section
• Usability is your key to success and audience usage. We have developed many navigations enhancements and simple tabs to ensure your intranet is engaging – with intuitive navigation, and clearly defined layout
• Invite users to offer feedback and suggestions – an effective intranet is constantly developing to suit the needs of its end-users
• Make Search Awesome! – we can get results from file shares, other databases, AD and much more!
• Encourage staff to contribute content – staff-generated content encourages employee development and contribution keeps things fun.