Intranet Best Practices - SharePoint Intelligence Conference 2011

Best Practicesfor Building anIntranet inSharePoint 2010Ethan YarbroughPresidentJeremy SymeDirector of Project ServicesSharePoint Intelligence ConferenceSeptember 27, 2011Bellevue, WA

Allyis Intranet – Content Publishing

Allyis Intranet – Collaboration

Value of a Corporate IntranetMeasurable benefits can be categorized under three key areas;Innovation, Engagement and Efficiencies:• Innovation – An increased ability to share ideas – Improve company performance as awareness and knowledge increase – Being able to find information quickly allows time for further analysis which spurs thought and innovation and can lead to new product/service ideas• Engagement – Improvement of departmental synchronization and alignment – New employees on-boarded quickly – Employees know each other – Having a more rounded and diverse range of information rather than just email pieces• Efficiencies – Reduction in costs (as much as 10% decrease1) for travel, operations and communications – More rapid access (as much as 30% increase1) to knowledge experts – Reduction of email by 30%+1 – Ability to quickly respond to opportunities – A SharePoint Intranet can force the streamlining of processes as well as the implementation of governance and strategy1: Palo Alto Application Usage & Risk Report: http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/literature/whitepapers/Application_Usage_Risk_Report_Fall09.pdf

Why Planning Matters• Question: – How many of you have a SharePoint implementation that would be at home in the Wild West?• Areas we are going to look at: – Define your intranet – SharePoint edition and sizing – Governance – Taxonomy – Information Architecture – Search – User Adoption• All of these areas are interconnected

What is an Intranet?• A simple question sometimes without a simple answer• Do not assume everyone defines it the same way• Two categories of intranets – Content Presentation • One-way communication • “Classic intranet” – Collaboration • Document Collaboration • Social Computing • Business Process• Often an intranet is a blend of the two• Many of the activities in planning both are similar

SharePoint Edition• Foundation – Basic collaboration and publishing• Standard – Foundation + Social + Search• Enterprise – Standard + Enterprise Services (e.g., Excel, Access, Visio)

Sizing• Understand how you will use the site(s) – Balance of collaboration and content publishing – Features and solutions that will be used – Give special consideration to using mySites• Basic web application sizing holds true – Capacity Planning – Performance and reliability requirements• Everything is stored in the database – This means at some point performance could degrade – Remote Blob Storage (RBS) should be considered

Governance• Wild West approach to intranets did not work• SharePoint is not a fire and forget application• Failure to plan for governance – Site sprawl – Poor user experience – Inability to provide appropriate SLAs

Governance ConsiderationsAreas of Focus Collaboration Content PublishingFarm  Web Applications  Solutions and Features*  Search  Branding*  Taxonomy  SharePoint Designer Site Controls Publishing Process * These can be minimal in some publishing intranets.

Taxonomy• How your organization describes itself• Managed Terms – Controlled terms (taxonomy) – Managed Metadata Service• Managed Keywords – User-generated tags (folksonomy)• Failure to plan for taxonomy – Poor user experience – Inability to find relevant content

Taxonomy ConsiderationsAreas of Focus Collaboration Content PublishingTerm Store Ownership  Search  Navigation (List Filtering)  Document Discovery (Legal)  Records Management 

Information Architecture• How your organization views itself• Site structure – Includes content types, sub-site types, process management features• Will influence things like taxonomy, security, site creation, navigation• Failure to plan for search – Poor user experience – Inability to find relevant content – Site sprawl – Poor user adoption

Information Architecture ConsiderationsAreas of Focus Collaboration Content PublishingSite Map  Wireframes  Content Types  Content Inventory/Planning  Navigation  

Search• Search will not fix poor planning• Search management needs to be operationalized• Failure to plan for search – Poor user experience – Inability to find relevant content – Initial success will fade without maintenance plan

Search ConsiderationsAreas of Focus Collaboration Content PublishingSearch Ownership  Content  People  Non-SharePoint Sources  Review logs Authoritative pages Best Bets Thesaurus 

User Adoption• Know your audience and plan accordingly• Develop an adoption plan that demonstrates how this will improve their work experience• Failure to plan for user adoption – Confused users – Users revert to old way of doing things

User Adoption ConsiderationsAreas of Focus Collaboration Content PublishingStart Simple  Identify Owners  Communication (Pre and Post)  Feedback  Retire old systems  Power User Training End User Training Publisher training 

Conclusion Areas of Focus Impact of Lack of Focus• Define your intranet • Site sprawl• SharePoint edition & sizing • Poor user experience• Governance • Inability to provide appropriate SLAs• Taxonomy • Inability to find relevant content• Information Architecture • Site sprawl• Search • Poor user adoption• User Adoption • Initial success will fade without maintenance • Confused users • Users revert to old way of doing things Plan to make SharePoint part of how you do business.

West Coast Intranet Managers Group• LinkedIn group of Intranet Managers• West Coast based• Share ideas, questions and best practices for developing and managing an employee intranet• Periodic in-person gatherings to listen to speakers, show features of intranets that are working and network Stop by the Allyis booth for more information. http://linkd.in/pbOV2J

About Allyis• Technology Consulting, Business Consulting, and Technical Staffing• Founded 1996 | 170 Employees | Privately Held• Washington Best Workplace (Seattle Business Magazine)• Microsoft Partner – Portals & Collaboration Solutions – Content Management Solutions – Midmarket Solutions• Key Clients: – Microsoft, Group Health, WTIA, WellPoint, Disney Interactive, Wild Tangent, Anchor QEA, Children’s Hospital, Cascade Energy

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Intranet Best Practices - SharePoint Intelligence Conference 2011

by Allyis on Nov 15, 2011

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Intranet Best Practices - SharePoint Intelligence Conference 2011 — Presentation Transcript