Proper Governance on Intranet Projects

Proper Governance for Intranet Projects

Proper Governance is a necessity in software projects and is an approach that must be employed to achieve project deliverables. Without a governance strategy, projects can run the risk of increased costs, delays in release, and lack of acceptance within an organization.

For the past four years, my company has utilized a corporate Intranet to share company news & information. At the time of implementation, this site was considered a significant leap forward in the way employees communicate and share information. The Intranet had basic content such as the employee handbook, phone lists, monthly sales, and company events. There were even links to our partner websites, access to company forms, and links to web-enabled applications such as the IS Help Desk.

However, further enhancements to the system were limited. The problem was the Intranet system had been deployed on the Macintosh platform utilizing a web server product called Web Star 4D. These technologies provide only basic web site services and do not provide the architecture needed for a business sustainable online community and portal. Any additions and updates to Intranet site must be performed by a highly technical Information Systems Specialist. As employees began to understand the collaborative power of the Intranet, requests for additional content and features poured in and exceeded the expectations of the IS department. Often, IS had to provide a work-around, which typically involved a standalone system with no means to connect to the Intranet, or turn down the request. Gradually, employees stopped putting in additional Intranet requests and the system would lose its broad adoption across the company. Today, it is merely used to post company events. Even the phone list is no longer up-to-date.

Web technologies have blossomed in the last several years producing more advanced products which offer more robust feature sets for this purpose. Additionally, with the continued growth of the web-based products, the vision of the Intranet has become a starting point for all corporate functions. My company has decided to implement the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) as the core Intranet Web technology. The new Intranet solution will provide the technological foundation for employees at all levels to complete daily tasks, communicate, collaborate, share company news & information, and access business critical information in real-time.

This year, the project will focus on laying the technological foundation, educating the user community, and rolling out the new Intranet with several new feature sets including site navigation, administration, and self-service web publishing. The guiding principles and success for the project will be focused on user adoption, education, and the ability to facilitate collaboration and communications within the organization using the Intranet. The lessons learned through past experiences will hopefully provide better governance and clarify to the needs of the business.

In the article, the author breaks down best practices for proper governance on SharePoint projects, although the suggestions can be applied to any software project. In the area of project management, I agree it is truly critical to have a proper communications plan. Already, my company is spreading the news about the Intranet replacement by communicating through management, monthly news publications, and even on our current Intranet (written in large, bold characters to catch people's attention). As for project sponsorship, a steering committee