Intranet implementation process

• The org unit and ITS have determined that an org unit intranet is the right solution ​
• The org unit has an internally approved proposal for creating and maintaining their intranet
• The org unit has roles and responsibilities defined​
• The project team has a sandbox site and roles identified for training

• The org unit has a clear understanding of the problem(s) to be solved ​
• The org unit has the purpose, priorities and scope of the intranet build defined​
• The org unit has information security requirements defined​
• The implementation team has completed training

• Make key decisions about the structure and organisation of your site 
• The real org unit site can be created once certain decisions are made
• Plan the build, launch and maintenance of the site

• The site is built according to the plans created in the design phase
• The launch is planned

• Conduct quality checks
• Launch site
• Post-launch fixes and communications

• Drive adoption​
• Ensure benefits are realised​
• Maintain and enhance intranet to meet needs​

Contact ITS to set up an initial kick-off meeting to:

• Confirm whether org unit intranet is the right solution for your needs
• Understand what's offered in the org unit intranet service​, including the support available from ITS
• Understand what would be involved in creating an intranet​ for your org unit -- skills, resources, time, etc:
  • review the planning process, governance model and training requirements
  • discuss any advanced functionality requirements

Identify your sponsor and project team, and align internally on matters such as:

• key roles and responsibilities
• resourcing
• timing
• relationship to other strategies and projects

Training and preparation 

Project team members complete training 

Consult staff and key stakeholders through workshops, interviews and/or surveys to identify their requirements and priorities.

Content and functionality discovery 
Audit template (XLS, 17 KB) 

Audit the existing content buckets (including functionality & tools) used for information sharing and communication within your org unit

Identify any additional content gaps, pain points and/or requirements not addressed via existing content buckets 

Identify the permissions for each content bucket – who needs to view, and who needs to edit?  

Identify any unique requirements for content buckets (e.g. additional templates, special approval processes, metadata) 

Perform gap analysis – can org unit intranet meet those needs? 

Strategy, scope and governance  

Confirm intranet governance roles and key stakeholders

Draft org unit intranet purpose and priorities 

Define scope and objectives for initial build and release 

Define any additional local governance processes, roles and responsibilities 

 Information security

Define if any additional sites need to be created for information security reasons

Define who needs to be able to view and edit within in each site

Identify how you'll give all staff in your org unit access to the intranet -- is there an existing all staff group? Is it kept up to date?

Define if any additional permissions are needed for people outside your org unit (should be very limited)

Page design and information architecture

Define additional content types and templates (if required)

Define overall content structure and hub navigation menu

Define topics needed

Define lists and views needed

Define additional libraries needed (if required)

Design key pages – home page, key landing pages, key content pages

Confirm recommended use of page naming and file naming conventions

Confirm recommended structure and naming of document library folders

Define use of additional term sets (if required)

Content creation/migration plan

Identify content creators and the content production process

Create plan for content migration

Determine what will happen to the old intranet, e.g. switch to read-only, decommission

Governance and management plan

Review roles and responsibilities the intranet and key content buckets (as they may have evolved)

Review the intranet purpose and priorities (as it may have evolved)

Define content maintenance and monitoring schedule

Request real site from ITS

Meet with ITS support to review your architecture and design plan to ensure it is feasible and can be supported

Request your real site be created (allow 3-5 days)

Build and configure the site structure based on design plan (pages, lists, libraries etc)  

Create and migrate content - pages, documents, lists 

Conduct spot checks to ensure content standards are being followed and topics are being applied correctly 

Create launch plan including quality checks, approvals and communications

 Content and links

All test/placeholder content has been removed

Information security and permissions

Any automated approval flows enabled and tested

Review all sites and remove any custom or unique permissions on site pages and documents libraries

Check with ITS if your existing "all org unit staff” AD group is the right kind of group to be added to the 'Site visitors' group and do random tests before launch.

Approvals and launch

Approval obtained from Intranet Sponsor for launch

Immediate post-launch 

General check and test (including access is working, redirects are working) and fix any errors

Alert editors that content freeze/dual publishing is now over