case study: toward building a new intranet
DESCRIPTION
A case study on Teach For All's journey to revamp and reboot our old Google Sites-based Intranet to a more robust Drupal-based Intranet. Co-presented by Amy Grandov and me at the 2012 InsideNGO Annual Conference in Washington, DC.TRANSCRIPT
Case Study: Toward Building a New IntranetTeach for All
August 1, 2012
2
Agenda
I. Introductions
II. Project Lessons Learned
III. Intranet Walkthrough
IV. Q&A
3
About Us
Andy Ho, Senior Director, Information Technology– Leads the IT team at Teach For All– Background in IT management and consulting
with Crestron Electronics, Deloitte Consulting, and American Management Systems
Amy Grandov, Director, Business Analysis– Manages enterprise application projects – Previously with McKinsey, focusing on knowledge
management, collaboration and business intelligence systems
4
About Teach for All
“Teach for All is a global network of independent social enterprises that are working
to expand educational opportunity in their nations by enlisting their most promising future leaders in the effort. We aspire to the vision that one day, all children will have the opportunity to
attain an excellent education”
About Teach for All
6
Case Study Overview
• In May 2012, we released a new Intranet for all internal staff at Teach for All
• This project was the first step in a larger initiative to consolidate our web portals on a common platform
• This case study will present lessons learned from the process of selecting Drupal as our portal platform and implementing the Intranet
7
Intranet Components and Vendors
Components• Drupal 6.25 (http://www.drupal.org)
• Document/content tools– Box.com – GoogleDocs – Vimeo
Vendors• Acquia (http://www.acquia.com)• Appnovation (http://www.appnovation.com)
8
Agenda
I. Introductions and Overview
II. Project Lessons Learned
III. Intranet Walkthrough
IV. Q&A
9
Project Lessons Learned
Define business objectives before discussing technology
Understand your unique requirements when selecting a platform
Get user feedback early and often
Project Lessons Learned
Define business objectives before discussing technology
Understand your unique requirements when selecting a platform
Get user feedback early and often
10
11
Defining the Problem
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don’t much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat."--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough.”(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
12
Pain points with the current portals lead to an initiative to consolidate on an upgraded platform
Key challenges: Dated design Poor navigation Low usage Lack of ownership
13
A PMO (Project Management Office) committee helped align the project with organization-wide business objectives
• Played the essential role of executive champion or business sponsor • Included representatives from each department/function, and varying
levels in the organization• Asked for a commitment of 2-4 hours per month• Recommended direction to Senior Leadership Team for approval• Ensured all staff were informed
14
“The Intranet is a centralized resource and cross-team collaboration hub serving all Teach for All employees worldwide.
It provides organized, efficient access to shared documents and tools; facilitates timely information flows and knowledge sharing across teams; and maintains a vibrant and connectedmission-driven culture.”
A new Vision clarified our Intranet aspirations and direction
15
Key Takeaways
• Know where you’re going and why
• Reach out broadly across teams and levels
• Involve business users in problem solving so they own the solution
16
Project Lessons Learned
Define business objectives before discussing technology
Understand your unique requirements when selecting a platform
Get user feedback early and often
17
The strategy phase identified several priorities for the portal platform
• Flexible user interface with strong support for content organization and ‘web 2.0’ interactivity
• Support for open standards. Integrates with diverse technologies
• Easy for business users to maintain content with minimal IT involvement
• Allow staff to collaborate effectively with people outside the organization
• Maintainable with limited in-house expertise and infrastructure
Core requirements filtered down the vast array of options for “Intranets” and “Portals”
Best fit for our high level requirementsBest fit for our high level requirements
Support: Best fit for our internal skills and capabilitiesSupport: Best fit for our internal skills and capabilities
Content Management Systems (CMS), Document Management Systems , Enterprise Portals, Wikis, Collaboration Platforms, Other
Drupal, Sharepoint, Liferay
Drupal, Sharepoint
Cost, Ease of use *Cost, Ease of use *
Drupal
* Template for deep dive analysis: https://teachforall.box.com/shared/static/3281fae1270fbfdb95f7.xlsx
19
Drupal addresses our priority requirements
Our Needs
• Flexible user interface with strong support for content organization and ‘web 2.0’ interactivity
• Support for open standards. Integrates with diverse technologies
• Easy for business users to maintain content with minimal IT involvement
• Allows staff to collaborate effectively with people outside the organization
• Maintainable with limited in-house expertise
Flexible UI ‘themes’ with community features and extensive library of free add-on modules
Open source
Integration modules available for popular tools
Granular permissions
Robust hosting and support from Acquia and other vendors
Drupal Advantages
20
We were able to work around key challenges
Document management is limited in Drupal
• Use Box.com as our primary document repository
• Consider Alfresco in the future
Challenge Our approach
• Use GoogleDocs for collaborative spreadsheets and files
Collaboration and project management would require more customization
21
Key Takeaways
r another organization may not be right for you• Analyze specifics and try out solutions to get beyond vendor marketing
messages.
• What works well for another organization may not be right for you
22
Project Lessons Learned
Define business objectives before discussing technology
Understand your unique requirements when selecting a platform
Get user feedback early and often
2323
Project Timeline
FEB MAR APR MAY
Scoping
Design and Build
2012
JAN
Pilot
Milestone: Site in production
Content Migration
Release and training for all staff
DECOCT NOV
2011
24
Our PMO committee was involved throughout the project lifecycle, and became advocates and ‘experts’
Scoping
• Reviewed and approved the scope of the release
Design
• Participated in card sorting to reorganize content• Reviewed wireframes and design mockups
Pilot
• Tested and provided feedback on the live pilot site• Communicated project status to their teams
Release
• Coordinated content migration and helped team members during rollout• Took on the role of Team Administrator in production
25
Online tools helped engage remote staff
Card sorting: www.websort.net Wireframes: www.balsamiq.com
26
Key Takeaways
• Prototype and pilot to get meaningful feedback as early as possible
• User research does not need to be extensive or time consuming. Even a limited amount of feedback is useful
• Keeping users involved throughout the project helped us ensure that each team had an informed, trained Intranet champion upon release
27
Agenda
I. Introductions and Overview
II. Project Lessons Learned
III. Intranet Walkthrough
IV. Q&A
28
The new Intranet delivered several key benefits
• Updated design reflects our culture and ‘brand’ identity • Organized access to diverse tools and information sources• Easier to find and share information across teams• Opportunities to connect with colleagues • Human Assets team became the official Business Owner
29
Search and navigation
Quick links
Newsfeeds
Presence awareness (Who’s online)
Content actions
Homepage provides navigation and updates
30
Drupal’s Organic Groups, roles and permissions govern access and content rights
• All staff members have a role:
• Authenticated user: can access the site
• Team Member: can add team content
• Team Admin: can manage team content
• There are two site-wide admin roles:
• Site Moderator: can add Announcements and edit all profiles
• System Admin: IT team only
Team/ Group Admin
Team/Group member
Authenticated user
31
Team Spaces provide dedicated space for sharing
Team menu
Team resources
Team membership
Embedded content
32
Wiki-style pages collect shared knowledge across teams
Tags link related content
All staff may edit
33
Topic pages consolidate resources owned by multiple teams
34
All users can create resources and control visibility
Due to feedback received during pilot, we re-enabled Private team resources
35
Resources can be tagged, and may contain one or more attached files
Tags
File upload
36
“Faceted” search results improve findability
Search options:• Sort by common metadata• Filter by:
– Author– Content type– Partner
location/country• Click the Users tab if
searching for a person’s name
37
Events and conferences keep staff informed
Events from our community portal (via RSS)
38
A Staff Directory connects remote colleagues
Click a name to view full text profile
39
Webforms are starting to replace some paper forms
40
Modules are available to support important Intranet features
Some functionality you may want to consider adding for an internal enterprise site:• User management
– Organic Groups• Security
– Secure Pages / Secure Pages Hijack Prevention (SSL)– Password Policy– Filtered HTML
• Usability– Pathauto– Path redirect– WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”)
• Reporting– GoogleAnalytics
41
Key Challenges
• User Adoption: Getting people to post/contribute to the intranet is still a challenge. Features and design are only part of the solution.
• Usability: Contributing resources and creating pages is still not as simple as it should be for casual users
• Integration: Users want a more seamless, ‘one-stop-shop’ experience for internal tools and resources
• Alignment and stewardship: Intranet will need to adapt and evolve along with organizational strategy, not IT priorities
Next steps
Phase 2: Extranet
• Redesign the Extranet on Drupal
• Enhance the Intranet
• Address user adoption and content governance
Phase 1: Intranet
Phase 3 and beyond:• Integration with
enterprise systems
• Integration with shared content stores
• Replatform other sites
43
Agenda
I. Introductions and Overview
II. Project Lessons Learned
III. Intranet Walkthrough
IV. Q&A