Many intranets are dedicated to allowing staff to complete administrative tasks easily, instead of assisting staff to do their core business.

Donna Maurer looks at whether your intranet supports core business. To quote: On many intranets, a large proportion of the site is dedicated to allowing staff complete administrative tasks easily. Few intranets have the same focus on assisting staff with core business. This is a natural by-product in the evolution of intranets, with many starting as sites to distribute HR information and later extending to provide other administrative support. In addition, the background of staff in intranet teams is often in communications, web design or writing. Less frequently do intranet team staff come from core business areas and therefore lack

An intranet is something that staff need to learn, just like any other business application or information system. This will require both formal and informal…

The first of my two CM Briefings answers the question: have we seen the perfect intranet? To quote: We have been lucky enough to see quite a few intranets across a diverse range of intranets, in both the public and private sectors. Knowing this, we are often asked the question: so who has the perfect intranet? In most cases, the reason for asking this question is to find out who to visit, to see how to get an intranet right. Our answer, however, is: we haven't seen a perfect intranet. While this is often a very disappointing (or even disheartening)

Our KM Column article for this month is a case study written by Donna Maurer on the User-centred redesign of the FaCS intranet. To quote: Following a user-centred design process proved invaluable. Conducting extensive user research at the beginning of the project, and then involving staff in design and testing activities throughout the process ensured that by the final stages there were no major surprises. In many ways, this was a 'textbook' application of user-centred techniques to the redevelopment of a large Government intranet, and it serves as a useful model for other organisations looking to tackle the same issues.

We are often asked whether we have seen the perfect intranet, and our answer is no. Read more to find out why.

The intranet can serve as a platform for knowledge management initiatives, via approaches such as collaborative environments, staff directories, wikis and weblogs.

This article outlines a phased approach to creating a new corporate intranet when organisations merge, following the progress of the merger itself.

This briefing looks at the role of corporate policies within an organisation, and the need to better communicate their message to staff.

Intranet teams should play a leadership and coaching role in the organisation, in order to ensure that the intranet is effective, up-to-date and usable.