Intranet policies and strategy docs?

Subject: Intranet policies and strategy docs?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 16:11:32 -0500

Colleen "The Stressball" DeNardo has been asked <<...to develop an intranet
strategy (high level) and the necessary policies that need to be in place
before our company will "go there.">>

The first thing to emphasize in any such policy is that it must meet user
needs first and foremost. If not, the only advantage of an electronic
collection of policy manuals over its print equivalent is that you don't
have to remove an inch of dust every month when it turns out nobody uses it.
If you don't want an intranet to become nothing more than a repository of
dead, unused electrons, you must design it so it supports the tasks users do
every day. (Jargon note: turn it into an "electronic performance support
system"!) One way to do this is to integrate standard forms with the
documentation that explains them, as we've done with some of our costing
spreadsheets.

The second thing to focus on is a maintenance strategy. Someone has to take
responsible for updating each document, and someone for editing or otherwise
reviewing those updates. Moreover, as the intranet grows in functionality,
someone has to periodically reassess whether it's continuing to meet user
needs. This includes careful initial development of the information
hierarchy so that it's efficient now but also has room to expand in the
future without sacrificing that efficiency.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
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