Tri-State Generation and Transmission Intranet Case Study from the Intranet Global Forum, Oct 2015

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Intranet Global Forum
Oct. 23, 2015

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About
 Tri-State Generation and Transmission
Association, Inc.
 Wholesale electric power supplier owned by 44
electric cooperative across Colorado, Nebraska,
New Mexico and Wyoming.
 Headquartered in
Denver, Colo., employs
more than 1,500
people at 37-plus sites.
 Employees range from
power-plant operators
to linemen to
knowledge workers.

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About
 Nicole Carlson, Employee Communications
Manager
 More than 10 years experience in corporate
communications
 Background in journalism, administrative studies
and project management
 Served as project manager, intranet owner and
intranet SME
 Twitter: @nicjoy

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Project background
 Intranet redesign and platform
change/upgrade
 Some departments using
SharePoint 2007
 No audit processes for content
or formal ownership + active
management of department
sites
 No formal design standards or
content organization
 Not all departments represented

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Project goals

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Project goals
 Design site that reflects needs of employees
 Involve and engage diverse workforce
 Representation of all departments + locations
 One platform + updated/modern design
 Improved method for displaying and distributing
corporate news
 Process automation
 Personalized content on the home page that is
generated from enterprise applications
 Active management by site owner

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Project goals
 Replace outdated content + improve content
ownership and accountability through publicizing
of content coordinators
 Deploy content categorization processes
 Analytics and implement reporting schedule
 Improve knowledge sharing + reduce silos
 Addition of search
 Improve employee directory
 User-generated content published to home page
+ targeted locations

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“You don’t know where you’re
going until you know where
you’ve been.”
–English proverb

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Prepare and assess
 Benchmarking + research
 Developed business case + strategy
 Business need + objectives + project-success
criteria
 Analysis of current intranet
 Determined intranet owner
 Wrote charter + gained approval
 Analysis of employee base and culture
 Change readiness assessment

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Prepare and assess
 Conducted workshops + focus groups
 Sent out surveys + analyzed results
 Developed multi-year roadmap
 Created communication plan (it’s never too early)

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Plan
 Requirements
 Platform
selection
 Vendor selection
 Project plan
 Project site
 Project team

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The meat and potatoes

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Design + Build
 Information architecture

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Design + Build
 Department meetings + content audits
 Design
 Processes and procedures

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Design + Build
 Grid Gurus
 Branding
 Key stakeholder
involvement
 Employee
involvement

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Ready, set . . . Go!

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Launch

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Launch
 Redesigned
home page

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Launch
 New
department
pages include
standardized
templates and
many new
features

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Launch
 Old corporate
communications

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Launch
 Rebranded corporate
communications

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Launch
 Introduction to The Grid

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Launch
 Communication plan

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Launch
 Launch-day breakfast for the help desk +
stickers for Grid Gurus and employees

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Launch
 Using our external Power
Works for You campaign
+ stickers and posters to
promote The Grid launch

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Launch
 Continued
education,
training and
communication
 Communication
plan includes
year of follow-up
communication
and trainings

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Treat each employee as
a key stakeholder

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Engagement + Adoption
 Began adoption +
engagement efforts early
 Project introduction and
updates, ambassador
program, naming contest

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Engagement + Adoption
 User experience testing
 Heat maps
 Tree testing
 Polls + surveys

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Engagement + Adoption
 Beta
 Three-month period
 200 users

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Engagement + Adoption
 Sneak peek (soft launch)
 One week prior to launch
 New and old sites simultaneously
 Trainings
 Began launch communication

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Building trust + recognition
+ taking time for fun

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High-performing project team
 Fun
 Happy hours
 Team-building events
 Recognition for job well done
 Provide adequate time for group development
 Forming, storming, norming, performing
 Trusting each other to make decisions

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When the going gets
tough . . .

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Obstacles and challenges
 New leadership (CTO and CEO) mid-project
 Introducing new concepts to employees
(metadata, content types)
 Introducing new platform
 Location and differences in job functions of
employees
 Many non-computer users
 No real previous intranet ownership
 Ended early relationship with contractors

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Obstacles and challenges
 Internal resources had limited knowledge of
SharePoint 2013
 Unavailability of training team
 Project team took on creation of all training
content
 Expectations were high for project + project team
based on previous project successes
 Budget constraints

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. . . keep going.

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Celebrate successes
 Good support for employee communications
taking on ownership of site
 Already established + strong internal
communication platform
 Change readiness assessment results
 Strong project communication plan
 Grid Gurus
 Beta + soft launch

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Measure successes
 Lessons Learned
 Launch garnered project team Ragan PR Daily’s
2015 Best Website Launch

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Measure successes
 Metrics
 Launch
 Post-launch

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Key takeaways
 Take adequate time for planning
 Lessons learned are not just for project end
 Don’t be afraid to end relationship with contractors
 Empowering users works
 Be upfront and honest about expectations
 COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE
 Take time for fun and recognition
 Thank your users + recognize it’s a big change
 Don’t reinvent the wheel, but also recognize where
your culture doesn’t fit what others have done

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Questions
Twitter: @nicjoy
Email: ncarlson@tristategt.org

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