1.      Introduction to Intranet?

Intranets provide a framework to think from, you adapt it for your own use. Intranets will be more successful (i.e. provide more information to more people with less investment and time), I will review for you here some of Intranet definition:

·         Using Internet-based technologies within an organization to facilitate communication and access to information."

·         An integrating mechanism for people, processes and information within the enterprise.

·         The corporate "information network".

There is in fact no one definition....it really depends on what you want it to be. For some companies it is simply a way to get information to people--a replacement for the company newsletter. For others it is more extensive and includes access to information, processes and applications. The key points are that it is Internet-based (i.e. based on standards), within an organization, and provides some level of integration and access.

2.      Why Intranet?

·         Lower costs

Remember the $ 10,000 your company spends on printing the company phonebook? Or the HR Benefits literature you mail out to each employee? Or the new pay scale information? With an Intranet solution you can now publish most of your paper documents on your internal web. Starting with simple solutions like a corporate phonebook, you can find a number of applications that will save you company money in terms of publishing and distribution costs.

Compared to a conventional client-server or legacy system, your "per seat" costs will be much lower. The server end can be scaled up from a simple desktop you scraped from an old pc to a hig end UNIX or NT web server. Thus your system can grow with your needs saving you valuable budget dollars at startup.

·         Save time

How can Intranets save your time?

Most organizations are run by people working together. How do your employees communicate? By phone, voice mail, email, fax or by person to person meetings?

An Intranet can cut down the time your employees spend on routine communication tasks. If you are using email internally you already know the benefits over trying to get someone over the phone. The one problem with using email is that the entire message is usually not conveyed in the first communication. One email usually starts a string of emails back and forth until the other part completely understands your request or message. Instead consider putting forms on your Intranet. Design forms for frequently requested tasks within your organization. For ex. Request for PC repair, stationary reorder from supply room, telephone messages. Have your users fill out the form and make sure the required information is entered by using data validation. This will provide the recipient with an email that is complete with all the required information and save a lot of time.

How much time do your employees spend answering routinely asked questions? Want to cut down the time? Put the information on an Intranet. Don't just put it out there; refer all your callers to your Intranet. for ex. before your travel office answers the phone play a short recorded message saying "For routine questions check our pages on the company Intranet at www..... ."

Do your employees spend time chasing paper? Trying to hunt down paper forms, reports, documents, microfilm? Consider converting these documents to electronic formats using scanners, OCR software or other means. Provide a search interface to these documents using your Intranet. Once users know how easily accessible these documents are over the Intranet, they will prefer the faster solution. Result? You save time

3.      Intranet as knowledge management?

Knowledge is the repository of what we already have learned. It may be explicit, as in books or intranet content, or it may be implicit as in relationships and processes that may not be documented.

Knowledge and learning are iterative. When the potential "learner" confronts an unknown situation, there are three ways in which he can learn. 

1. He can search the knowledge base to see if the situation has been encountered before and the answer already is known. If it is, he either learns it from the organizational knowledge base, or recalls it from his own (mental) knowledge base. 

2. He can find several "related" but not exact circumstances and derive an answer by recombining pieces of knowledge from the knowledge base, creating new knowledge in the process. 

3. He can generate new knowledge, usually by creating action and noting the response. When we do this in a structured way, we call it scientific research. When we do it in a random way, we call it hit and miss or accident. Note that we call the understanding that we get from our failures "wisdom." Wisdom comes from experience, not from an organizational knowledge base. 

4.      Intranet Issues that meet addresses?

1. Business gain?

You will be able to quantify some benefits such as savings in operating cost, reduction in paperwork, improved customer service and faster and better access to up-to-date information.

2. Cost for now ?

This will include the cost of hardware (web server, network adapter and related hardware), software (server OS, add-on software, utilities) & labor (setup & maintenance).

3. Cost for later?

·         Server and network upgrades to handle traffic.

·         Management tools and manpower management.

·         Software licenses and upgrades fees.

·         Information publishing and archiving cost.

4. Manageable?
Spend a lot of resources for the management of your intranet if you have not planned the growth well in advance. Some of the things to be prepared for are increased traffic and an increasing number of publishers and users. Try to use web and network management tools to reduce   the amount of manual work involved. To add new users provide online forms that will automatically setup the required accounts.

5. Fit into my existing systems?

Find out if your legacy systems will work with your intranet solution. Newer client server based applications will also need to be tweaked to work with an intranet solution. A number of database and application vendors are working on intranet interfaces to their data. Until this is available you will have to figure out a way of moving your data between your legacy systems and the intranet.

6. Training that developers and users need ?

The developers will need to be trained in the art of web publishing. Break up your group of developers into two subgroups. The first one will be your core intranet development team which will take care of the server management, application development and technical aspects of the intranet. The second less; technical team will handle simpler tasks like publishing documents to html, converting existing data sources like spreadsheets. & databases to a format acceptable for your intranet.

7. Outsource my intranet?

Its an option. The advantages will be a faster development cycle and you will be able to use the expertise and experience of professionals in this field. You will also be relieved of the headaches associated with intranet management and support.

8. Affect productivity ?

If done right, an intranet can enhance productivity to a great extent. A lot depends on the type of system the intranet is replacing. If an intranet solution is replacing a traditional paper based information access methodology (ex. printed manuals) the improvement in productivity will be tremendous. On the other hand, if it is introducing a completely new process you may not be able to measure the productivity in an accurate manner.

9. Secure it?

Your intranet will be as secure as its weakest link, which is usually the people managing and using your intranet. If you do it by the book and use a secure server, firewall, password protected access and physical security for the server machines, you are covering all the bases.

10. Time will take to start one?

Not much if you do it right. Unlike most other IT ventures, an intranet can be setup real fast. All you need to get started is an existing network (preferable TCP/IP based) and a spare machine which can act as your web server. Once you install a web server package on this machine, install browsers on your client machines, and connect the clients to the server you are on your way. Intranets usually grow and improve with time. The initial phase does not take up a lot of your time or a huge financial commitment

5.      Intranet Myths?

1. Intranets are cheap

a. A faster web server

b. Increased disk space and memory

c. Better applications like database connectivity, interactive forums, multimedia support

d. Increased bandwidth

e. Support staff for managing your intranet

2. Build and they will come

A lot of intranet projects don't take off as expected. Sometimes for a simple reason. People don't know or don't remember. You will have to use a lot of promotional techniques not only to get people to visit your intranet, but for them to keep coming back.

a. Request the help of your marketing department and use their expertise.

b. Promote your intranet through management. Have them mention it at all meetings and with all correspondence.

c. Hold an "intranet day". Give away prizes. Make a huge banner with your URL.

d. Update your content regularly with useful information. Add local news, weather, press release etc.

3. Intranets are for BIG organizations

Not really. Even if your company has a handful of employees, you could use and intranet to your advantage. The success of an intranet depends on the cost savings an increase in productivity. Also smaller companies may find it easier to cut through all the hype and use intranet technology right away.

4. Just another buzzword

Nope. Believe it or not. Intranets are here to stay. We will see different variations of intranet technology over time and we will also see this technology evolve but it’s definitely here.

5. Platform independent

Granted, Intranets will work across a number of platforms. Your pages can be viewed by browsers on UNIX boxes, Macs, Windows and a number of other platforms. But once you get into advanced applications and start using the latest technologies (Java, ActiveX etc.) you will realize that you have to fine tune your applications to support a "certain" type of browsers. Vendors are working to resolve conflicts and establish standards but then we all know how that works.

6. Intranets require an Internet connection

Nope. Your intranet can be up and running by itself without and connection to the outside world. You will still be using technologies prevailing on the Internet like web servers, browsers, chat scripts, news and mail servers etc. but you do not have to be connected to the Internet unless you want your intranet users to access content from the Internet.

7. Intranets require little maintenance

If you still believe this, you are in for a lot of surprises. Intranet can grow real fast. If you do not have a good plan and growth strategy in place, be prepared to spend a lot of time on small, routine maintenance tasks. Adding new publishers, adding users, maintaining the user database, keeping the content and technology current, copying with growing demand for bandwidth, applications and information. These are just a few issues you will have to deal with. You will also need a good set of policies in place.

8. Intranets are not secure

If your intranet is not connected to the Internet and you do not provide dial in access, you have a lot less to worry about. Even with an incoming connection, you have a number of options to secure your intranet. Firewalls, SSL, password authentication, IP blocking and other techniques are available to secure your intranet from intrude

9. Intranets are an IS "thing"

Leave the control of your intranet in the hands of the chosen few from the IS support group and you might be restricting its growth. Do not make it a free-for-all publishing method either. Let IS setup and manage the content publishers but also allow the publishers to use their own judgment and creativity to come up with content.

10. Intranets are internal webs

An intranet is not limited to a web site. The technology is adapted from the Internet and the Internet is a lot more than web sites. You can use simple technology like enterprise-wide email, push technology, newsgroups, chat etc. which are all based on TCP/IP protocols, within your intranet. Why limit yourself to web sites only?