Intranet success: Information Architecture (Part 1)

Intranet Information Architecture Part I
Intranet Information Architecture
Fundamentals
http://bonzai-intranet.com/

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Ask Questions throughout the webinar using the ‘Q&A’ button
Use hashtag #IntranetSuccess on social media
Follow us on Twitter @Bonzaiintranet

@michalpisarek
michal@bonzai-intranet.com
Michal Pisarek
• Director of Product at Bonzai Intranet
• 6x Microsoft SharePoint MVP
• International Intranet and SharePoint Speaker
CoFounder of Dynamic Owl Consulting

INTRANET INNOVATION
AWARDS
What we’re all about
Dynamic Owl are
Thought Leaders in:
• Beautiful and functional Intranets
based on organization business
needs
• Promoting innovation,
engagement and collaboration in
organizations using
best of breed technology
• Intranets based on SharePoint
and Office 365 that embraced by
all levels an organizations
• SharePoint consultingservices
• Microsoft Gold Partner and Managed Partner
• End-to-end SharePoint Implementations
• 3x Microsoft SharePoint MVP’s on staff
• Branham ICT Companies to watch 2nd place 2015
• Commended entry Intranet Innovation Awards 2015
Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1 www.bonzai-intranet.com

The Intranet Platform of Choice for 2018
http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1
Why is Bonzai an Award-Winning Intranet?
The Bonzai platform offered a fully
responsive design, with ongoing software
upgrades…a friendly UI for content editing,
standard page layouts and templates, and
additional features— such as megamenu
navigation.”
-2018 Top 10 Intranet Design Award,
Nielsen Norman Group
Bonzai is an intranet accelerator solution
for both Office 365 and SharePoint… with
ready made designs, web parts and
workflows to enable the creation of
bespoke intranets.”
-2018 Intranet Choice North America,
ClearBox Consulting
Bonzai’s commitment to our mutual
customers’ success through creative
solutions, professional engagement and
ensuring that benefits can be realized in
the customer’s organization is to be
commended.”
-2016 Solution Innovation Award,
Nintex
Noted intranet platform for both "How to
deliver a SaaS-based Intranet after
deploying Office 365"and “What SharePoint
Is Missing and Which Third-Party Products
Can Help.”
-Gartner Inc, world leading research
& advisory company
SaaS-Based Intranet
Solution for Office 365
2016 Solution Innovation
Award North America
2017 Top Rated Intranet
North America
2018 Credit Union Website
Diamond Award
2015 Intranet
Innovation Award

Our Mission
To help organizations communicate,
collaborate and engage with the
SharePoint and Office 365 platform.

Our 2018 Series Overview
How to create an award
winning Intranet
Part 1
Intranet
Governance
Part 10
Intranet Content
Planning (Part II)
Part 4
Intranet Content
Planning (Part I)
Part 3
Visual
Design
Part 9
Communication and
Change Management
Part 12
Training
Part 11
Information
Architecture (Part I)
Part 6
Defining an Intranet
Team
Part 2
Organizational & User
Requirements
Part 5
Information
Architecture (Part III)
Part 8
Information
Architecture (Part II)
Part 7
Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1

Today's Agenda
Information
Architecture 101
Information Architecture
Activities
Ask Questions
anytime!

Poll #1:
What type of architecture activities
did you undertake for your
Intranet?

Information Architecture 101
20162013

“Information Architecture is the art
and science of structuring, labelling
and categorizing content.”
Bonzai Intranet Introduction http://bonzai-intranet.com/http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA & Fundamentals

Elements of Information Architecture
Users Context Content
Bonzai Intranet Introduction http://bonzai-intranet.com/http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1

Users
Who are the
consumers of the
content ?
Bonzai Intranet Introduction http://bonzai-intranet.com/
Who will be using the intranet?
What information is important to them?
What tasks are they trying to complete?
Where are they physically located?
How will they access the intranet?
E.g. desktop, kiosk, mobile?

What contexts do we
have to consider ?
Context
Is there specific line of business content
to highlight?
What is the communication style?
i.e. formal, informal or a mix?
Are there specific labels or terminology
that are familiar to users?
Are there any organizational culture,
change management or lessons learned
to consider?

What content
should be available
on the intranet?
Content
Produced by Few Authors for Many Readers.
Final & Authoritative Content.
Requires No (low) Security.
Follows Approval Processes.
Task Based not Department Based Structure.

Components of Information Architecture
Site Structure Tags & Categories
(Metadata)
Landing Pages
+ +

Best Practice Site Structure
Groups and Sub-Groups of Content
Overview of Bonzai 1.5 http://bonzai-intranet.com/
Intranet
My Working Life
Benefits
Compensation
Expenses
How We Work
Policies
Procedures
Forms
Who We Are
Vision & Values
Strategy
Board Members
What’s Going On
News
Events
Spotlight
Shared Services
or Departments
Finance
HR
IT
Lines of Business
Products
Services
Projects

Keep it clear and
simple. Don’t make
users guess!
IA Best Practices
Simple but effective guiding principles
Label clearly: Do not use tag lines or current company tag
lines too prominently.
Use short names: People do not read they scan.
Organize by type not ownership: Org structures change,
type of information does not.
Mutual exclusivity: Do not confuse users with similar labels.
Provide multiple pathways to content: Information seeking
is dependent on the user and the task they are trying to
complete.
Millers Magic Number: If you have too many items in your
navigation people wont remember all the navigation nodes.

Site Structure Informs Navigation
• Site Structure DOES NOT
equal Intranet Navigation.
• Manually choose which
groups and sub-groups of
content appear in the
navigation.
• Introduce cross-links
where appropriate,
limiting the breadcrumb
trail from bouncing
around.
Landing Page Navigation
Intranet Navigation
• Rollup content on one
landing page from
another site and use
‘show more’ and links
to navigate elsewhere.
• May be used to provide
navigation to content
that is not linked in the
Global Navigation, such
as News Archives.
http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA & Fundamentals

Pre-determined list
of options that
provide context to
content.
Filter and Sort to
display content in
various ways.
Metadata Categorization
Metadata for Content Organization

Use refiners to
narrow down results
Uses for Metadata
Used for refinement (e.g. Document Portal)

Uses for Metadata
Used to rollup content by filtering (e.g. By News Category)
Overview of Bonzai 1.5 http://bonzai-intranet.com/http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1

Uses for Metadata
Search, search, search!

Components of Information Architecture
Site Structure Tags & Categories
+ +
Landing Pages

“A landing page is any web page that a visitor can arrive
at or “land” on that helps guide them through a section
of a site and give them quick access to information that
they need”
Bonzai Intranet Introduction http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet Landing Page Design http://bonzai-intranet.com/- Confidential - http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1

Bonzai Intranet Metadata and Content Targeting http://bonzai-intranet.com/- Confidential - http://bonzai-intranet.com/Bonzai Intranet IA Part 1
Content Placement
Best Practices
“F Pattern”
Eye-tracking studies
demonstrate that the
manner in which people read
content on the web differs
from how they read printed
materials.
When they arrive at a
webpage they read in an
F-Pattern.
The F-Reading pattern is
more of a rough, generalized
outline — not necessarily an
exact F shape.
We should account for this
shape when we choose
where to put the most
important content.

Dynamic Content
Best Practices
Dynamically Update Content
Users appreciate seeing content
presented to them in ways that
surface the highest value content
to them first.
For instance, you can create
functionality that specifically
surfaces Pages or Documents
based on:
 Most Viewed
 Most Liked
 Recently Modified
 Newest
Web parts will update what
content is displayed without any
intervention required.

Tabbed Content
Best Practices
Effective Use of Space
Effectively using space on
every page is a key
consideration.
Tabs or accordions are a
way to optimize web page
design without sacrificing
the amount of information
presented at once. The
primary goal of this UI
pattern is to permit users
to view a group of related
data one at a time, which
in turn allows designers to
modularize this group of
information in a
compacted manner, saving
valuable screen real
estate.

Layers of Information Architecture
From hard to modify to easy to modify
Tags & Categories
Site Structure
& Navigation
Landing Pages
Software Platform Content
Hard
Easy

Information Architecture Activities

IA Activities
Content Audit
Card Sort
Site Structure
Draft
Tree Test
Site Structure

Purpose
Content Audit
To itemize all existing content to determine what needs to be kept, rewritten or deleted.
To itemize any net new content to be created for the new intranet.
To assign or re-assign ownership of content
To provide an input into the card sorting task that will be used to create the structure for
the new intranet.

Purpose
Card Sort
Helps you understand how users group related information using a best practice approach to
user centered design.
Use 50-60 high value pieces of content selected from the content audit that represent most
intranet content - users organize into pre-determined top level categories or create their own.
Use as an input into the first iteration of the Site Structure.

Steps to Prepare for the Card Sort
Make sure you have completed your content
audit.
Prepare 50 – 80 cards to use in the card sort
exercise.
Decide on Top Level Categories that are
appropriate to use if doing a closed or hybrid
card sort.
Prepare Email Communication to participants.

Site Structure
Use the input from the card sort exercise to prepare a structure that is organized and well
thought out with the user in mind.
Provide a starting point for the organization of the intranet that allows for growth and
scalability.
Used as an input into Tree Testing to ensure that site structure decisions are sound.
Purpose

Tree Testing for Site Structure Validation
Used to evaluate the findability of topics in an Intranet.
Task based questions provide insight into a users way of thinking about the content.
Test navigation against a set of common user tasks.
Best way to determine if your navigation will actually work.
Purpose

Tree Testing Analysis
See how questions scored:
Analyze where users clicked:
Get feedback from participants:

Steps to Prepare for the Tree Test
Finalize your site structure
Review and Approve Tree Test Questions.
Prepare Email Communication to participants.

What’s Next?
Tuesday 31st July @ 11am PST:
Intranet Information Architecture (Part II):
Card Sorting & Tree Testing

www.bonzai-intranet.com
@bonzaiintranet
sales@bonzai-intranet.com
+1 (604) 559 - 8070
675 W.Hastings,
Vancouver B.C. V6B 1N2
SharePoint Intranet with BusinessSense

Intranet success: Information Architecture (Part 1)

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