Earlier this year I wrote about the benefits of using a wiki instead of a traditional intranet. A few months later Headshift helped a client build an intranet based on a wiki platform and I wanted to share what we learned
Our client is the marketing organisation of a large global company. While a firm-wide intranet is in place, Marketing (with several thousand people) did not have its own departmental site. Headshift got the brief in March, built and tested the site in April and assisted with content load in May. The site launched in June
Site design had to comply with corporate intranet design guidelines (a 50 page document) but we agreed to do a bit extra with the visuals. As a result the Marketing intranet has the feel of the company-wide intranet but everybody agrees that it looks better
The home page of the site features a blog and a list of the most recent changes on the site, pure wiki style. The blog has multiple contributors and allows for guest bloggers. Other areas of the site are used to share news stories, conduct online events, lay out the brand guidelines and offer access to an image library. Since the site launched our client has extended the use by including an innovation forum and an area for geographic communities – without Headshift involvement
The permissions set-up was defined as part of the information architecture. Everybody can view all pages and leave comments. Some areas allow visitors to edit pages with full wiki functionality, but in other areas editing is restricted to groups of editors (of which there are 50 or so). The restricted areas are more like a traditional intranet than a wiki but one advantage is that it has not been necessary to train editors how to use a content management system. Content management by is by wiki
The platform allows for people to create their personal profiles and offers basic social networking. A number of participants had populated their profiles as part of the “soft launch” but it was decided to pull the people section of the site prior to launch due to potential clashes with HR profiles and the absence of agreed objectives with respect to social networking. It remains in place, albeit invisible, ready to introduce when the organisation is ready
Three months have passed since the site launched. The content on keeps growing and the initial interest in the site, as measured in page views, has not died down. For me, the main aspect of this project that sets it apart from similar ones is the number of feature requests for the next version: Five, none of high priority. Previous intranet projects have yielded up to a hundred feature requests, many of them changes to the CMS – a component that is clearly no longer required.