updated intro

College of EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Lead Finance MeetingIntroduction to College IntranetAugust 9, 2005Presented by Paul Davis

Finance Intranet Content and Better Practices TeamAndy Vail (Co-Chair)Himani Mewar (Co-Chair)

Project Web site: intranet.engr.cornell.edu/intranet/IT/collegeIntranet


Intranet Presentation

> The Charge for the College Intranet

> Project Team & Roles

> History

> The Vision

> Walkthrough of Conceptual Design

> Role of Content and Best Practices Committees

> Phased Development

> Your Role as Stakeholders


Charge to the Committee

> Develop a Website to support Faculty and Staff in doing administrative parts of their jobs.

> To provide Infrastructure to Support College's Best Practices Deliverables .

> To provide intranet to academic departments, not just the Dean's office.

> Phase I: “One stop shopping" for information about administrative processes in

several areas.Almanac of reference materials such as data tables, reports, and a college

fact book


History

> Initial charge was hatched January of 2004

> Developed clear project definition in December retreat

> Team took Project Management class in JanuaryThis worked so well, many of the content and best practice

teams will do the same in September

> Delivered an RFP in late May

> Proposals arrived early June

> Had 5 bidders, 3 were very competitive

> Negotiated final agreement about 2 weeks ago


Vision: Deliver References & Resources

> Major Options for IntranetAlmanac of Reference Materials About College

Reports, data tables, college fact book

Resources and References for ProcessesInformation related to administrative processes

Maintaining Project DocumentsLive Project Web Sites, where people update content on site, not local computers (Wiki’s are an

example)

ArchivePlace to archive important documentsFile cabinet replacement

Administrative Systems

> We're focusing on almanac and process resources in this phase


Vision: How Do I… AnswersOne stop shopping for Information

> Address needs from the users perspective- Use the language of the reader.

> Complete & authoritative information for each area covered- If the topic area is covered on the intranet, you shouldn’t have

to look elsewhere.

> Easy to find what you need - excellent navigation

> Best source of information on Campus- But don’t rewrite stuff available elsewhere, link to it

> Not simply a catalog of existing materials- Decide what we want first. If it’s not available, write it.


Vision: Almanac

> Information about the college- Core data set- Presentation files- Reports- Strategic plan information


Navigation: Homepage

> Tabs will be Topics and Audiences

> Home page default will be “Topics”

> Taxonomy facets for organization will be intersection of topic x intersectionNot all values will be valid

for organizationBut, content will still be

returned through search


Navigation: Second level Nav Page

> Second Level Navigation will be boxedShows each second level

in taxonomy5? Links in each boxAdministration interface

will be created to manage which links will appear

Either choice pages or answer pages could appear

Issue – can “answer” pages be at this level?


Navigation: Choice Page

> Lower levelsAlphabeticLinks to choice page at

topLinks to answer pages

on bottomLink will have title,

description, last updated, and “New” indicator

Issue – Add “Importance” ranking to move to top of list, even if multiple spots on site?


Template: Answer Page

> Title of Process> Introduction> Intended Audience> Announcements> Tools And Forms> Procedures> Applicable Policies> Calendar > Training> Related Processes> Other Resources> Contact Info


Template: Resource Page

> Page Title

> Content Area


Template: Almanac Page

> Page Title> Purpose> Data> TBD…


Vision: Audiences

> Customers- E.g.: someone who needs to buy something- Need text written in their language- Presented from their perspective- Many people will read each page- Should be written well

> Processors- Only 10 or 30 people for each topic (e.g.: all purchasing

professionals in the college)- Will be writing for other people like you- Can be much more informal


Vision: Navigation

> Organized in a Yahoo like directory

> Documents can be in all the places in directory where it makes sense

> Search functionality

> Related pages listings

> Navigation by Audience


Content and Best Practice TeamsSite Map with initial committee areas outlined

Safety

Grad Student

Admin

Purchasing

HR


The Grad Student AdminRed section after Content and Best Practices Team expanded it


Phase I

> Goal is to choose a few topic areas we can get done quickly and start seeing value of effort quickly

> Want to exercise the “Content Risk” ASAP- Functionality not needed to exercise content risk was dropped

> Initial content areas chosen based on- Best practice areas- Will help lots of people- Will help them lots- Opportunities to improve consistency, compliance, customer

service- Ease of getting content


Later Phases

> Project and committee sub sites- Have a place for everyone on a committee to post and share

documents so you don’t have to email them around all the time

> Directories- Manage department, committee and other types of

memberships, print mailing labels, create email lists, etc.

> Access control- Use memberships from above to limit access to pages or

subsites

> Data reporting tools- Get the data you need

> Other tools- Based on your input


Your Role as Stakeholders

> You have been carefully selected to represent different perspectives- We are counting on you to be active participants

> Represent your clients as well as people like yourself- Guide us to good designs for these people- Don’t just represent your own self interest

> If you don’t understand, ask for clarification right away.

> If you disagree speak up!- But please wait your turn

> Respect each other- listen, don’t interrupt, let the facilitator guide process

> Keep communication open after meeting- If you have an idea or comment afterwards, call Paul (sooner is better)


Schedule

ID Task Name

1 College of Engineering

2 Contract Signed

3 Discovery

6 Graphic Design

#### Technical Specifications

#### Development

#### Quality Assurance

#### Migration to Cornell

#### Setup on Production Servers

#### Documentation

#### Contributor Training

#### Site Handover

7/29

7/17 7/24 7/31 8/7 8/14 8/21 8/28 9/4 9/11 9/18 9/25 10/2 10/9 10/16 10/23 10/30 11/6 11/13 11/20July August September October November


Content and Best Practices Team Homework

> Site map outline with at least two level by end of August

> Workflow steps for each area by end of September

> 20 pages of content for each area by mid-October

> Verify no additional templates required


Questions?

> Questions and Comments

updated intro

Technology