anatomy of an intranet (triangle sharepoint user group) january 2016

mike-greene.com@webdes03

Anatomy of an IntranetTriangle SharePoint User Group

January 5, 2016

1/5/2016 Anatomy of an Intranet 1


IntroductionB&R Business Solutions

• 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


mike-greene.com@webdes031/5/2016 Anatomy of an Intranet 3

http://www.weil.com/

http://www.weil.com/

http://www.amd.com/us-en/

http://www.amd.com/us-en/


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

4


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


IntranetInternal Users OnlyCorp. CommunicationsEmployee CollaborationEnterprise Search

InternetPublic WebsiteProduct InformationSales ConversionsMarketing

ExtranetInternal/External UsersSuppliers, Vendors, Customers and/or Business Partners


Requirements Gathering

6


Requirements Gathering

Planning

• Identify Project Sponsor

• Identify Stakeholders• Marketing

• Communications

• Information Technology

• Human Resources

• Executive Team

• Schedule

• Budget

• End User Feedback

71/5/2016 Anatomy of an Intranet

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


Define Measurable Goals for Success

8


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


Information Architecture

Content Strategy

Enterprise Search

Strategy

Collaboration

Social

User Experience

Governance

Adoption


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.


Initial Rollout

Decentralized Management

Business Solution Buy In

User Self Service & Enterprise Wide Decentralization

Continuous Improvement & Business Solutions


Governance Plan & Committee

11


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


Governance Committee

Platform Goals

Corporate Strategy

Department Needs

Business Processes Automation

Collaboration

End User Needs


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



Information Architecture

14


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



Information Architecture Benefits

• Standardized Data Types• Better Content Discoverability

• Search Refinement

• Dynamic Rollups

• Intuitive Navigation Context

• Prioritized System Restore/Recovery


Policy

Procedure

Form

News

Report

Contract


Content StrategiesCorporate Communications


Empower Social & Collaboration

Business Process Enablement



• Company, Product, Industry News

• Benefits Information

• Alerts

• Upcoming Events

• Leadership Blogs

• Stock Ticker

• Current Weather








• Alerts

• Upcoming Events


• Stock Ticker

• Current Weather



• New Employee, Birthday & Award Announcements

• Employee Directory

• User Self Service

• Office Web Applications

• OneDrive

• Distributed & Delegated Management






• Alerts

• Upcoming Events


• Stock Ticker

• Current Weather



• New Employee, Birthday & Award Announcements

• Employee Directory

• User Self Service

• Office Web Applications

• OneDrive

• Distributed & Delegated Management


• Content Rollup

• Popular Content

• Document Ratings

• Records Management

• Forms

• Workflow

• Enterprise Search

• Search Driven Applications

• Business Intelligence


BrandingUI/UX

22


Branding Components

• Master Pages

• Page Layouts

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

• JavaScript

• Content Types

• User Controls

• Custom Web Parts



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



Sample Homepage



Device Strategy

• What Types of Devices?

• How will Users Connect?

• Responsive Design?



Branding Process


Cap

ture

Re

qu

irem

en

ts

Corporate Branding Guidelines

SharePoint Platform Requirements & Dependencies

User Experience Expectations

Navigation Strategy

Lo

w F

ide

lity W

ire

fra

me

s

Sketches focused on User Experience

• Navigation

• Page Layout

• Content Structure

• Key PageElements

• Usability

Used for Internal reviews OnlyH

igh

Fid

elit

y C

om

ps

True to Life Representation of Finished Product

• Accurate Colors

• Sizing

• Page Features

• Element Design

“Pixel-perfect”

So

luti

on

Develo

pm

en

t

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

Accep

tan

ce T

esti

ng

Develop Testing Plan

Deploy Final Solution to Staging Environment

Select Beta Users for Testing

Test Common Use Cases & Exercise Testing Plan

De

plo

ym

en

t &

Ro

llou

t

Communicate Rollout & Go-Live Strategy

Deploy Solution to Production

Continuous Improvement


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



User & Content Owner Training

29


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



Common User RolesEnd User orConsumer

• Browses Intranet

• Consumes News

• Reads Documents

• Authors/Edits Documents

• Completes Forms

• Performs Searches


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


Deployment & Rollout

32


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



Server Topology

• Plan for Scalable Architecture• Never Use a Single Server

• Scale Up & Out As Necessary

• Plan for Three Environments• Development/Test

• Staging

• Production



Adoption

35


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



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

37


Tools XMind

Mind Mapping Toolxmind.net FREE

Balsamiq MockupsDesign/Wireframing Toolbalsamiq.com $79

SharePoint Maturity ModelLong Term Goals & Strategysharepointmaturity.com FREE

38


Q&A

39

mike-greene.com

@webdes03