Robust corporate intranets are the lifeblood of any organization mapping vital processes to a central platform while ensuring clear communication and knowledge sharing. Successful intranets are usually designed by a full appreciation of organizational and human processes that they support. Woodapple makes effective intranet frameworks after a close analysis of the unique information culture of organizations. Whenever we start designing, we usually ask the following questions:
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Who are the users?
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What are their information needs, information seeking preferences?
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What work related problems do they usually face and how do they resolve them?
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What are the attributes of the information that they find useful?
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How do they use this information?
Successful intranets evolve to become a vast repository of both explicit and implicit knowledge within an organization. It should have well documented processes, referral libraries, success stories, case studies etc. Ideally it should support the creation, sharing and use of knowledge and map the right people to each other, at the right time for the right things.
It can be an interactive workspace which encourages and fosters a collaborative culture.
Our approach includes:
Need Analysis
Information becomes valuable when it makes us act. Our first step in designing an intranet is therefore to understand who the major sets of users are, what work they perform, and how they acquire and use information in the course of doing their work.
It becomes important to identify demographic and non-demographic variables that affect the information use patterns of the users. Sometimes this demographic profile is varied, making it more challenging to create an intranet that diverse user groups can relate to. "Non-demographic" attributes such as users’ professional or work experience, social networks, preferences for media, and attitudes towards innovation and risk taking are also important variables to be considered. We also address how an intranet’s users perceive their information needs, look for and value information, and choose to use or not use information that they find.
Key points addressed:
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Who are the users?
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What are their information needs, information seeking preferences?
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What work related problems do they usually face and how do they resolve them?
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What are the attributes of the information that they find useful?
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How do they use this information?
Current Status Audit
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What information is produced and stored (within various Business Units, etc)?
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What information is made available and to whom?
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What information is required and provides value in task performance?