Show me the money. If you are like me and manage your department’s budget, you must first begin by looking at the amount of funds you can allocate to the project. Since our organization had been operating for some time without an intranet, it was hard for me to make a strong case for it, without having supporting background on it. So, I saw establishing a “start up” intranet as way to be able to make a stronger case for the need an eventually lead to additional funding for improvements.
Find your kindred spirits. I found others in the organization who wanted an intranet. You want to find those individuals who 1. Have practical uses for it. And, 2. Will serve as brand ambassadors for the effort. The committee can be a small as 5 people and as large as 10. The key is finding individuals who are excited about the project. As a busy Director, or Manager at the time (I’ve since been promoted), I knew that finding individuals who cared as much as I did about the project would help. This committee would serve as a force multiplier for me – ensuring I didn’t have to do all the work. They would also become cheerleaders post-launch.
Got talent? Once I developed a committee of employees who wanted an intranet, I then had to determine if we could design an intranet in house. (And, it’s even better if you already have an employee-centric committee in existence. If so, start with those individuals first and gauge their interest.) Since I had already done the legwork to determine our budgetary constraints, I knew that we had a small amount of funding we could allocate to the project. During one of our first meetings, the committee discussed the pros and cons of intranet development with a contractor. Ultimately, we decided after researching contractor costs that we could afford to utilize a contractor to help us. We found a local vendor who had developed an external site for an area non-profit. We started with a password-protected WordPress site. It was the starter of all starter intranets.
Content is still King! Yes, I know it’s a trite adage, but, it is still true. When we began adding content to our new intranet site. We weren’t concerned with adding bells and whistles. We were adding content that our staff needed. Because the intranet committee was composed of staff members from across the organization, each member played a critical role in determining content that would drive usage. So, we added things like links to employee email, benefits/time off request forms, an employee calendar and a employee directory. Yes, I know, nothing mind-blowing. But, they are exactly the kind of content that our employees wanted and over time have shown they would go to the site for. And, I am happy to report it worked. Last quarter, approximately 80 percent of our employees logged in to our intranet site.
Measure. Measure. And, measure again. Lastly, if you are just getting started, don’t forget to measure your success. When we started with our Wordpress intranet site, one of the first things I did was to add Google Analytics code so that I could track what pages people were viewing and how many people were logging in and visiting this site. Wordpress also has plugins that will do the same thing. This step will ensure the vitality of your site. It gives you a frame of reference for making improvements and provides metrics to “sell” the need for funding later.
If you made it through this post, then you are on the right track because you see value in having an intranet for your employees. So, happy creating!
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