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Intranets

12:33 / 07.03.05

In the interests of full disclosure I should confess from the off that this is a bit of a 'help me do my job' thread. But nowt wrong with that, I always think.

I'm interested in people's experiences of and thoughts about company intranets. Since Barbeloids necessarily have some interest in the community aspects of the web, and many work in large companies which probably have some kind of intranet, I'm hoping you'll be a good focus group to get a picture of the broader landscape, and maybe benefit from others' interest/expertise.
What do you get? What would you like? What works; what doesn't? Love stories; horror stories? Visions of the future? Anyone doing anything exciting? (Do PM if you'd prefer not to talk about any aspects of your employment in an open forum.)
Any thoughts much appreciated.

12:53 / 07.03.05

I work for a huge, multinational firm.

supposedly our intranet includes everything you could ever possibly want to know and then some. however, there's plenty of crap to sift through if you want answers, you need to pass through a zillion links to get to anything and often find you've gone down the wrong path and have to start again, and overall it's aesthetically offensive. it's poorly designed; lacking efficiency, user friendliness, and general appeal.

it does offer useful things like templates, previously released memorandums/policy changes you may have lost or forgotten, and best of all access to your complete personal information (PTO balance, payroll info, benefits elections, deductions, etc). it also is an easy reference to information about/from other offices, the status of upcoming technological changes, and pending client proposals.

it's also got space for personnel info, easily accessed by pretty much anyone, which certain staff have used for their own personal amusement.

so, basically, it's kinda helpful and useful. however, with the exception of our personal info, most of us (regardless of what we use it for) will do whatever we can to try to find what we need elsewhere before we even consider the website.

12:56 / 07.03.05

also, potentially exciting: we're supposed to have a lot of our processes available in web-based versions, which will make it easier for our auditors to access information without desperately trying to find someone in the office to help them, OR to work at home.

I don't know how far they are going to actually take this or how useful it will actually be in the long term, but they seem pretty excited about the changes, some of which will make MY job a little prettier.

13:16 / 07.03.05

Cheers Bitchiekittie, that's great. Particularly interested in the access it gives you to your personal/personnel information. I assume it has some sort of login? Do you tend to login as a matter of course when you get into work? Is it open in the background somewhere all day, or do you just access it every now and again? Is there any kind of *community* element or atmosphere? My employers' one has a simple messageboard, for example, and some deals and perks and privileges. Is there a feeling that your intranet is being used to bring people together in anyway? Or is it more a centralised database? Is it being used to bridge geographical distance in an interesting way at all? How often do you use it? Do some people use it a lot more than others?

19:41 / 07.03.05

My current job doesn't have an intranet as there are only four of us, but my previous job did, and it was a good one. It got slagged off by staff, but I think that's par for the course - it was actually really useful and I would have it open most of the day.
The front page had news about the company, everything from serious business news to fluffier stories about the football team. Then you could access information about different departments, so that if you got a call that wasn't for you, or you needed to know something, you could find the right person fast. It also had photos of people, which is hugely handy when you're new and not sure who people are.
I don't think you could access your personal details but that would have been massively handy.
Em... other than that, the usual - access to policy information on everything from mobile phones to car parking, discounts at local businesses, a noticeboard where people sold stuff ... it was good, useful information.

rising and revolving

19:56 / 07.03.05

Lotus Notes sucks.

If it's on the table as an option, lemme know and I'll write a conclusive report on why. But for the moment, just consider it in the "avoid" pile.

20:37 / 07.03.05

I'm a bit disorganized, but I want to help, so please excuse the clumsy email text format.

>I assume it has some sort of login? Do you tend to login as a matter of course when you get into work? Is it open in the background somewhere all day, or do you just access it every now and again?

yes, it does - it's the same login as the one I use to get into my system, only I have to log on separately, through the site (and only through the site). the site is the default homepage, and as far as I know, it is the only way to access this information, or the location of this information. I only access it when I feel like looking, which isn't on a regular basis. many folks don't even know how to find it (though it's simple), or any other intranet info. I chalk it up to laziness plus the aforementioned design faults.

>Is there any kind of *community* element or atmosphere? My employers' one has a simple messageboard, for example, and some deals and perks and privileges. Is there a feeling that your intranet is being used to bring people together in anyway? Or is it more a centralised database? Is it being used to bridge geographical distance in an interesting way at all?

not really. the intention seems to be to easily connect with other offices and see what's going on there, as well as what is happening with the firm as a whole. which can be useful, especially if you're on the upper tiers of management. there are also pages for each office like "recommended dining" or hotels, so that if you're visiting you have a nice idea of what to expect. in a sense you get a better feel for what's going on, because each "community" page is maintained by each individual office (usually by someone in marketing), but it seems to be a very limited reflection of that office. there are no really interactive aspects, such as message boards.

>How often do you use it? Do some people use it a lot more than others?

I use it rarely; mostly for my personnel information, but on very rare occasion to find lost memorandums, clarification on policies, or useful templates. as far as I can tell, people mostly use it for the former - it seems that the difficult navigation is a big stumbling block for a lot of people, and most folks will avoid it if possible. most people will sort of roll their eyes if you suggest they look it up on the intranet!

21:04 / 07.03.05

I use it rarely; mostly for my personnel information, but on very rare occasion to find lost memorandums, clarification on policies, or useful templates. as far as I can tell, people mostly use it for the former - it seems that the difficult navigation is a big stumbling block for a lot of people, and most folks will avoid it if possible. most people will sort of roll their eyes if you suggest they look it up on the intranet!

i agree; used to work for a large-ish govt dept and the intranet is great in its conception, poorly done (from inter-dept colleagues' reports) in practice.

one reason has been discussed in the thread - poor aesthetics. its ugly ugly ugly. and what makes this worse is a slavish 'departmental style' (which is entirely oxymoronic) that doesn't allow areas to have any real control over their area of expertise.

it's all very good for the people who have to program it all and put it up, but i despair at that attitude - is this for the result or the process? that's my perspective, anyway...

the plus side is access to a wide range of orgnaisational material - once you become skilled at navigation... [twirl twirl, let's dance...] but that is same, no?, for any large web environment, especially one with disparate content, so good luck!!

the other thing was that 'security' meant changing passwords every 30 days and a real palaver if you ever forgot a password. and too many passwords!

i had high security clearance and so could access parts various others couldn't, with at least four levels i can recall, and a range of intra-dept 'systems' [payroll, leave, various divisional info, etc..] with thwir own acronyms, passwords and pitfalls: and badly designed guis!! - all with many passwords i had to change and keep track of, but supposedly never write down!!

i'll stop reminiscing now...

23:52 / 07.03.05

I second the vote against Lotus Notes. Die lotus notes, die.

I don't have anything constructive to say about intranets, though. Sorry. I've never worked long enough somewhere to have to get to know how to use them.

m.

07:34 / 08.03.05

Expansive intranet in my organisation (that has nearly 5000 employees). I find it very useful. It has fora for staff to discuss stuff, although I don't use them much.

Because of the work I do, that can be quite useful for getting feedback on hot topics that arise, now and then. We could use it more but there's a reticence about it because of the need to make only very professional posts - detracts somewhat from user-friendliness

There are vital links to all sorts of stuff I need, both internal and external to the organisation. The news pages are less used because regular bulletins by everyone e-mail render them, pretty much, redundant.

There are a couple of major problems with the intranet though. One is that there is a significant proportion of employees who have no access whatsoever and others for whom access is very limited, related to geography and to resource issues. If I knew it had 100% coverage, I could make great use of it publicising the stuff I do.

Another issue is that it changed its whole format about six months ago. Initially, given the number and complexity of its sites, I found it hard to navigate after that change. Lots of people complained. Accordingly, they're now about to revamp the whole damn thing again, just as I've got to know my way around the present version. Gah!

08:55 / 08.03.05

Thanks for these responses, folks. The problem with looking at intranets is that it’s hard to look at other people’s intranets.
Poor usability seems to be a pretty standard grumble – from what people have said here and elsewhere. As I understand it, the relatively high rate of redesigns on intranets is generally motivated by a will to improve usability, but I suppose Xoc’s complaint is a good example of how this can be complicated. A redesign is going to disorient and alienate existing, regular users – the users who are probably your most valuable advocates.
Other than bulletin board facilities, does anyone have any experience of broader collaborative elements. I understand that some intranets use a wiki platform to allow users to edit some content areas. This appeals to me as a method for growing a site organically, democratising the process and getting users involved in a way that might soften some of the issues associated with a redesign, but I wonder what sort of conditions have to obtain for that to be effective.

09:18 / 08.03.05

When I worked for the federal government, we used our Intranet to send jokes and cartoons to each other quite a bit. Although, it was integral for sending information, document and bulletins as well, especially between departments.

09:47 / 08.03.05

Yeah, I think an intranet - as a platform for fostering a sense of community - should support the frivolous stuff (jokes, gossip etc). A while ago I read something really compelling about the relationship between gossip and productivity which seemed to show that people are more efficient, work longer hours, demonstrate greater loyalty, etc, in offices where staff engage non-task focussed activities traditonally frowned upon. I wish I could remember where I read that. Don't suppose anyone has any ideas?

09:48 / 08.03.05

Other than bulletin board facilities, does anyone have any experience of broader collaborative elements. I understand that some intranets use a wiki platform to allow users to edit some content areas.

I work in admin at a university and we have an intranet that is pretty basic and is set up so that admin staff can edit information about which students have submitted assignments and attended classes, as well as forms that academics might need. These can then be viewed by academics but they don't have the access to alter anything.

This allows academics to view info but gives admin staff control over enrolments and student details because all that info comes through the office and you don't want academic staff deleting a student from a class list or changing details without us being aware of it because the admin staff need to keep track of the students and make sure there are classrooms, exam papers, etc. for them.