10 Intranet Best Practices (and more...)

I'm really pleased that a report I wrote recently has been added to the eGovernement Resource Centre. The eGov Resource Centre was a finalist in the e-Democracy Awards 2008. The resource centre "is the foremost repository for everything eGovernment in the world. The site attracts more than 20,000 visitors each month and provides a weekly newsletter and RSS news feeds to its readership".

10 Intranet Best Practices (and more in the report)
Here's 10 of the best practices outlined in the report (there's another 13 identified in the report):

1. One unified intranet is preferable to several intranet sites.
   
2. It should be easy for users to access the intranet when they are not at their regular computer.
3. Generally it is best to avoid users having to log-in to an intranet (except when security or personalisation are important).
4. Intranets should be structured in a user-friendly way to help users find information quickly and easily.
5. Intranet personalisation should be considered with caution.
6. Similarly, intranet customisation should be approached with caution.
7. Forms on an intranet should be located in one, central place and extensively cross-linked with related intranet content. Users should be able to find forms by searching and by browsing by topic or function.
8. News and events are often popular intranet content. The intranet should list news on its homepage.
9. The employee directory is very often the most popular intranet feature. This is not necessarily true for organisations which provide an employee directory search within another system such as MS Outlook or Lotus Notes.
10. An effective intranet search is essential to an intranet. There is a strong relationship between intranet search effectiveness and content quality.

All best practices outlined in the report are supported by reputable references - it makes it easier to support your case by saying "this is what Gerry McGovern recommends"!

Free Download
You can download the full report for free! That's right, it'll cost you nada! Thanks to the Victorian government of Australia.
Download the full report (MS Word 0.2Mb).