Presented at the Triangle SharePoint User Group (TRISPUG.com) on October 7, 2014. While many people see the intranet as a pretty (hopefully) homepage, in reality the modern enterprise intranet is a complex animal of many moving parts. Structuring of the information within the intranet, how that information is presented to the user, how the user interacts with it, how the organization manages it, and the physical branding that sits on top of all of it are all critical conversations to have if an intranet is going to be effective. In this session we’ll explore the building blocks of a successful intranet and discuss common intranet pitfalls to avoid on your next intranet roll-out.

1. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Anatomy of an Intranet
Triangle SharePoint User Group
October 7, 2014
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 1

2. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Introduction
B&R Business Solutions
•SharePoint Solution Architect
•Based in Raleigh, North Carolina
Professional Experience
•Microsoft SharePoint Stack since 2007
•Consulting and Professional Services since 2010
•Public Web Design since 2003
Hobbies
•SharePoint Saturday & User Group SpeakerRIC, VB, ATL, AUS, TPA, RDU
•Leadership Council, Triangle SharePoint User Group
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 2

3. mike-greene.com
@webdes03 10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 3

4. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Agenda
•What is an Intranet
•Requirements Gathering
•Goals of Your Intranet
•Governance Plan/Committee
•Information Architecture
•Branding, UI/UX
•User & Content Owner Training
•Deployment & Rollout
•Adoption
•Intranet Checklist & Tools
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5. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
What is an Intranet
•Corporate website accessed only by internal users/employees
•Corporate news, information, alerts, forms
•Department information, contacts
•Document sharing and collaboration
•Company-wide social (Yammer)
•Enterprise search
•Employee self-help, FAQs, discussions
•Employee directory
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Intranet
Internal Users Only
Corp. Communications
Employee Collaboration
Enterprise Search
Internet
Public Website
Product Information
Sales Conversions
Marketing
Extranet
Internal/External Users
Suppliers, Vendors, Customers and/or Business Partners

6. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Requirements Gathering
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7. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Requirements Gathering
Planning
•Identify Project Sponsor
•Identify Stakeholders
•Marketing
•Communications
•Information Technology
•Human Resources
•Executive Team
•Schedule
•Budget
•End User Feedback
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Content
•Define Information Architecture
•Site Structure
•Content Types
•Enterprise Keywords
•Enterprise Content Strategy
•Main Content Buckets
•Navigation Strategy
•Identify Content Owners
•Search & Content Discovery Strategy
Design
•Corporate Branding Guidelines/Requirements
•Device & Mobility Strategy
•Browser Requirements
•User Experience Expectations
•Page Structure
•Key Page Elements
•Identify Custom Solutions

8. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Define Measurable Goals for Success
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9. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Define Measurable Goals
Short Term Strategy
Identify initial deployment goals, such as migration from an existing migration platform, upgrade of an existing intranet, or rebranding exercise.
Define Intranet Roadmap for initial and follow-on releases.
User & Content Owner Training Strategy
User Adoption Strategy
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 9
Information Architecture
Content Strategy
Enterprise Search Strategy
Collaboration
Social
User Experience
Governance
Adoption

10. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Define Measurable Goals
Long Term Strategy
Most Intranet deployments follow the software lifecycle of their platform.
Define a strategy to continuously grow, develop and build on your Intranet throughout its’ lifecycle.
Think Maturity Curve, ie: Crawl, Walk, Run
Business Solution platform of choice.
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 10
Initial Rollout
Decentralized Management
Business Solution Buy In
User Self Service & Enterprise Wide Decentralization
Continuous Improvement & Business Solutions

11. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Governance Plan & Committee
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12. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Governance Committee
•Bipartisan Group Charged with:
•Maintaining & Enforcing Governance
•Platform Evangelism, Motivation of Use
•Business Solution Positioning & Process Enablement
•Addressing Open Issues/Concerns
•Ensuring Business Value is Realized
•Mix of Technologists, Stakeholders, Sponsors & Power Users
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 12
Governance Committee
Platform Goals
Corporate Strategy
Department Needs
Business Processes Automation
Collaboration
End User Needs

13. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Governance Plan
•Platform Architecture
•Infrastructure, Backup & Restore, Disaster Recovery, Maintenance, Testing, Custom Development
•Content Strategy
•Lifecycle Management, Records Management, Metadata, Navigation
•User Experience
•Permissions, Search, Policies/ProceduresBranding
•Users
•Permissions & Roles, Content Targeting, Personalization, User Profile Management
•Operations
•Support, Training, Escalation Paths, Knowledgebase, Helpdesk
•Metrics & Performance
•Platform Goals, Maturity, Success Factors, Monitoring, Auditing
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 13

14. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Information Architecture
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15. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Core Information Architecture
•Site Topology
•Web Applications
•Site Collections
•Subsites
•Site Navigation
•Content Types
•Content Type Hub
•Enterprise Content Strategy
•Content Databases
•Managed Metadata & Enterprise Keywords
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16. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Information Architecture Benefits
•Standardized Data Types
•Better Content Discoverability
•Search Refinement
•Dynamic Rollups
•Intuitive Navigation Context
•Prioritized System Restore/Recovery
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Policy
Procedure
Form
News
Report
Contract

17. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Content Strategies
Corporate Communications
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 17
Empower Social & Collaboration
Business Process Enablement

18. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Content Strategies
Corporate Communications
•Company, Product, Industry News
•Benefits Information
•Alerts
•Upcoming Events
•Leadership Blogs
•Stock Ticker
•Current Weather
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 18
Empower Social & Collaboration
Business Process Enablement

19. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Content Strategies
Corporate Communications
•Company, Product, Industry News
•Benefits Information
•Alerts
•Upcoming Events
•Leadership Blogs
•Stock Ticker
•Current Weather
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 19
Empower Social & Collaboration
•New Employee, Birthday & Award Announcements
•Employee Directory
•User Self Service
•Office Web Applications
•OneDrive
•Distributed & Delegated Management
Business Process Enablement

20. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Content Strategies
Corporate Communications
•Company, Product, Industry News
•Benefits Information
•Alerts
•Upcoming Events
•Leadership Blogs
•Stock Ticker
•Current Weather
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 20
Empower Social & Collaboration
•New Employee, Birthday & Award Announcements
•Employee Directory
•User Self Service
•Office Web Applications
•OneDrive
•Distributed & Delegated Management
Business Process Enablement
•Content Rollup
•Popular Content
•Document Ratings
•Records Management
•Forms
•Workflow
•Enterprise Search
•Search Driven Applications
•Business Intelligence

21. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Sample Site Topology
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 21

22. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
BrandingUI/UX
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23. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Branding Components
•Master Pages
•Page Layouts
•Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
•JavaScript
•Content Types
•User Controls
•Custom Web Parts
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 23

24. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Branding for User Adoption
•Branding (UI/UX) is a Critical Component to User Adoption
•Consistent Look & Feel
•Enhanced User Experience
•Organization Specific Customizations
•Device Strategy
•Gamification
•Dynamic Content Driven Homepage
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 24

25. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Sample Homepage
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 25

26. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Device Strategy
•What Types of Devices?
•How will Users Connect?
•Responsive Design?
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 26

27. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Branding Process
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 27
Capture Requirements
Corporate Branding Guidelines
SharePoint Platform Requirements & Dependencies
User Experience Expectations
Navigation Strategy
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Sketches focused on User Experience
•Navigation
•Page Layout
•Content Structure
•Key PageElements
•Usability
Used for Internal reviews Only
High Fidelity Comps
True to Life Representation of Finished Product
•Accurate Colors
•Sizing
•Page Features
•Element Design
“Pixel-perfect”
Solution Development
Develop Solution Package
If Selecting a Design Firm:
•Review their Processes & Methodology
•Check Relevant SharePoint Experience
•Review Previous Work
•Ensure Wireframes & Comps are Carefully Reviewed
User Acceptance Testing
Develop Testing Plan
Deploy Final Solution to Staging Environment
Select Beta Users for Testing
Test Common Use Cases & Exercise Testing Plan
Deployment & Rollout
Communicate Rollout & Go- Live Strategy
Deploy Solution to Production
Continuous Improvement

28. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Customization Guidelines
•Defined by Governance Plan & Overseen by Governance Committee
•What Forms of Customizations are Permitted (ie: No Code, Sandbox, Full Trust Farm Solutions)
•Leverage Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) Solutions Ahead of Custom Solutions
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 28

29. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
User & Content Owner Training
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30. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
User & Content Owner Training
•Many Organizations Overlook Importance of User Training
•Training & Empowering Users Leads to:
•Better Content Lifecycle Management
•Better Adoption of SharePoint as a Platform
•Cleaner & More Consistent Data
•Better Information Discovery
•End User Self Service
•Decentralized Management of SharePoint
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 30

31. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Common User Roles
End User orConsumer
•Browses Intranet
•Consumes News
•Reads Documents
•Authors/Edits Documents
•Completes Forms
•Performs Searches
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 31
Content Owner orSite Administrator
•Manages Permissions
•Authors/Edits Pages
•Power User
•Identifies Business Process Enablement Opportunities
•Evangelizes SharePoint
•Level 1 or 2 EndUser Support
SharePointAdministrator
•Level 3 Support
•Topology Management & Oversight
•Solution Implementation
•Solution Management
•Overall Platform Maintenance & Health

32. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Deployment & Rollout
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33. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Deployment & Rollout
•Must Have Communications Strategy
•Must Have User Training
•Content Authors
•End Users
•Implement Initial Quick Wins
•Short Duration, Low Risk, High Visibility Efforts to Promote SharePoint & Drive Adoption
•Early Adopters
•12-18 Month Roadmap
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 33

34. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Server Topology
•Plan for Scalable Architecture
•Never Use a Single Server
•Scale Up & Out As Necessary
•Plan for Three Environments
•Development/Test
•Staging
•Production
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 34

35. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Adoption
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36. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Adoption
•Set the Vision; What Will SharePoint Do?
•Grassroots Focus on Specific Business Areas/Units
•Relevant Use Cases
•Educate and Demonstrate Value
•Empower People
•Build Relationships; Support Champions
10/7/2014 Anatomy of an Intranet 36

37. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Intranet Checklist
Formal Requirements
Device & Content Strategy
Measurable Success Criteria
Governance Plan & Bipartisan Oversight Committee
Enterprise Content Strategy
Training Plan & Strategy
Implementation Team
User Adoption Plan
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38. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Tools
XMindMind Mapping Toolxmind.net FREE
BalsamiqMockupsDesign/WireframingToolbalsamiq.com $79
SharePoint Maturity ModelLong Term Goals & Strategysharepointmaturity.comFREE
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39. mike-greene.com
@webdes03
Q&A
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SharePint@ Page Road Grill
5416 Page Road, Durham NC 27703
mike-greene.com
@webdes03