10 essential features of an intranet cms

Steve Bynghall

• UK-based intranet, collaboration and digital workplace

consultant, writer and researcher

• Founder of Two Hives

• Co-founder of Intranet Directions with Chris Tubb

• Writer for Step Two and runs the Intranet & Digital Workplace

Awards

• Research and Knowledge Lead at Digital Workplace Group

• Get in touch:

• [email protected]

• Twitter: @Bynghall

• www.twohives.co.uk

• www.intranetdirections.com

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Copyright; Two Hives Ltd

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twohives.co.uk/

http://www.intranetdirections.com/

The good news…

• Intranets have evolved!

• No longer static content repositories which nobody loves

• Decentralized publishing

• Personalization

• Social features

• Mobile capability

• Attractive interfaces

• Towards the digital workplace

• Intranet CMSs are getting more sophisticated

• Lots of choice and competition is driving up standards

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6 essential objectives of a great intranet

• Drive a positive company culture and engaged workforce

• Facilitate connections, collaboration and community

• Deliver relevant and impactful experiences for all staff

• Enable employees to complete tasks and get their jobs done

• Drive efficiency and productivity

• Be flexible and scalable

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10 essential features of an intranet CMS

1. Personalization for content targeting

2. Configurable templates right out of the box

3. Easy tools for creating and editing content

4. Workflow for content retrieval and approval

5. Tools for findability

6. Great employee directory and profiles

7. Social engagement with content

8. Communities and related social tools

9. Great mobile experience

10. Top notch metrics dashboard

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Intranet objectives vs intranet features

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1. Personalization

2. Templates

3. Publishing tools

4. Content workflow

5. Findability tools

6. Employee directory

7. Content engagement

8. Communities

9. Mobile experience

10. Metrics dashboard


But do CMS features really matter?

• Yes – CMS features do matter!

• Sometimes the devil is in the detail

• Some CMSs are more suited to external websites than

intranet

• Every organization is different so find the right CMS for you

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The right intranet CMS is also about…

• Technical fit

• Security and risk requirements

• Cost

• Vendor chemistry and stability

• Partner and developer network

• Emphasis of features

• Self-sufficiency and ease of use

• Customization and integration

• Flexibility and scalability

• Ability to meet your specific requirements

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Countdown…

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• Personalization allows your intranet to deliver content to different groups of employees

• Why it this essential?

› Makes content relevant based on role, function and location

› Enables internal comms to target messages

› Ensures the intranet is engaging and useful

• How is this used?

› News delivery

› Multi-language content

› Operational content (e.g. HR processes)

› Links to relevant systems

• Engaged workforce

• Relevant experience

• Get things done

• Efficiency & productivity



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• Checklist

› Personalization should be compatible with your identity

management system e.g. Active Directory

› Content should be able to be easily targeted for

administrators and content owners through meta-data

› An individual should be able to be a member of multiple

groups

› Different targeted content should be able to be aggregated

onto single pages

› Is the solution scalable for your needs?

› Users should be able to switch “views”

› Do you have accurate data and the right content?



• Get things done




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• Templates for essential intranet components which can be used out of the box


› Allows teams to utilise the best designs and layouts

› Helps teams to get live quickly

› Guarantees something which works within the CMS


› Publishing templates for key pages

› Templates for key content types

› Template for different sites and workspaces



• Flexible & scalable



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• Checklist

› Easy-to-use library of popular page or site templates

› Classic intranet homepage and landing pages

› News, articles and blogs

› Employee profile

› Community site

› Team or project workspaces

› Ability to configure templates (without breaking the

intranet!)

› Ability to purchase ready-made templates from third

parties






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• An easy to use set of editing tools to enable authors and owners to create and edit content


› Intranet success relies on great content so you need to avoid any barriers

› Allows a wider set of employees to create content

› Allows the central team’s activities to be streamlined, making the intranet more sustainable


› Employees directly create their own news, articles and blogs

› Continue to keep evergreen content up to date






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• Checklist

› Easy to use interface

› No technical skills required

› WYSIWYG editor

› Add images and files selected from media libraries

› Ability to preview content as it appears in the browser

› Page editing capabilities, including in-line editing

› Save draft versions





4. Workflow for content review and approval

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• Workflow to ensures content is approved and stays fresh through reviews at the right time


› Supports impactful internal communications

› Makes the intranet more sustainable through devolved publishing

› Ensures content is regularly reviewed and up to date

› Helps to enforce and maintain publishing standards


› Approving internal communications at the central level

› Site managers approving site-level content

› All authors asked to review content at a regular period

› Central process to add or check meta-data





4. Workflow for content review and approval

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• Checklist

› Complex bespoke workflows down to the page level

› Multiple workflows

› Email notifications with appropriate links

› Automated scheduled reminders for authors

› Ability to review content as it appears on page

› Version control and audit trails



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• A set of various tools which helps employees find the content they need quickly and efficiently


› Ensures time isn’t wasted on inefficient searching

› Helps employees find the information and people they need to do their jobs

› More successful completion of tasks


› Basic, advanced and people search

› Navigating through the global navigation

› Content optimized with meta-data to make it more findable

› Surfacing the most popular content

• Connected workforce


• Get things done





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• Checklist

› Ability to deploy mega-menus

› Configurable search with options like “best bets”

› Advanced search (e.g. different fields etc.)

› Personalization applied to menus and search

› Content owners can add controlled meta-data from

picklists to make content more findable

› Also add their own keywords

› Hashtags on social interaction

› Widgets to highlight popular or latest content



• Get things done





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• A searchable directory of all employees with contact details, photos and other essential information


› Helps employees to connect with each other

› Find the information from the right people

› See the ‘whole person’


› Get contact information quickly

› Locate experts and build teams

› Get background information on people you’re about to meet

› Social networking



• Get things done





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• Checklist

› Ability to synchronise key HR and contact data, for

example through Active Directory

› Synchronise with system of record for starters and

leavers

› Easy upload of photos

› Ability for all employees to edit their own profile

› Extra fields – pen portraits and expertise

› Integrated with social networking capability

› Surface employee actions and contributions

› Good search interface with advanced capabilities



• Get things done





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• Connected employees

• The ability for all employees to like, rate,

comment and share content


› Turns one-way communication into two-way

conversations

› Gives all employees a voice

› Helps to give insights into employee sentiment


› Internal communications and leadership messages

› Blogs

› Asking for feedback on different topics



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• Checklist

› All employees should have the power to comment

without moderation

› Power to turn commenting off if necessary

› Display of number of likes and comments as a signpost

to engaging content

› Ability to display the most popular content on the

homepage

› All comments should be attributed

› Power to report comments





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• Get things done


• Gives employees the right tools to connect, collaborate and build communities


› Drives engagement and a one company culture

› Builds personal, professional and organizational networks across disparate locations and functions

› Drives transparency, accountability and two-way communication


› Communities of Practice and Interest

› Employee affinity groups and non-work groups

› Team and project collaboration and innovation

› Working Out Loud and asking questions

› Targeted and authentic communicationCopyright; Two Hives Ltd


25Copyright; Two Hives Ltd / Intranetdirections.com. All Rights Reserved.




• Get things done


• Checklist

› Open, closed and secure groups

› Ability to join a group

› Aggregated feeds across different groups

› Community, project and group templates can be

defined

› Integration with the employee directory

› Hashtags, @s, likes etc.


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• Get things done


• To ensure the intranet can be accessed from mobile devices with an optimized experience


› Allows intranet access for all employees including non-deskbound and frontline employees

› Supports employees when they are on the go

› Reaches personally-owned devices

› Supports flexible working and task completion


› Delivering whole intranet access

› Core intranet content (news, employee directory etc.)

› Simple transactions, particularly HR processes

› Role-specific content and processes (e.g. sales)



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• Checklist

› Responsive design out of the box

› Preview of content in different sizes

› Ability to select which content should be rendered to

mobile devices

› Compatible with your policies and security

› Works with your app store (if applicable)

› Works with the most popular corporate and employee

devices




• Get things done




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• Get things done



• Tracking the right intranet metrics to derive insights and deliver improvements


› Intranets should continuously improve

› Measurement is critical for successful internal comms

› Numbers engage individual site owners and community managers


› Intranet tweaks to improve user visits, engagement and findability

› Evaluate communications and campaign success

› Show where individual sites need improvement

› Monthly management reporting on intranet success



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• Checklist

› Attractive interface

› Compatibility with other popular packages e.g. Google

Analytics

› All the key numbers you need for user behavior

› Engagement metrics including comments and likes

› Granularity of reporting down to page level

› Ability to configure different views for different roles

› Export data (e.g. Excel)




• Get things done




Selecting an intranet CMS

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• Identify the essential features you need from your

intranet CMS (strategic objectives, requirements etc.)

• Research products by looking at vendor offerings and

speaking to peers

• Narrow down the number of vendors to evaluate

• Establish an evaluation criteria list, including your

essential features and ability to meet scenarios

• Narrow down providers to a shortlist

• Road test products and see vendor demos to really

understand what an intranet CMS can do

• Review pricing details from each vendor or

implementation partner


• Get in touch:

› [email protected]

› Twitter: @Bynghall

› Contact form via www.twohives.co.uk

› LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stephenbynghall

› Joint blog with Chris Tubb at www.intranetdirections.com

Thank you!


http://www.twohives.co.uk/

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/stephenbynghal

For information about DNN Software and our

CMS for Intranets:

http://www.dnnsoftware.com/products/evoq-intranet

About DNN Software


http://www.dnnsoftware.com/products/evoq-intranet

10 essential features of an intranet cms

Technology