See More About:
Intranets and their Development Process A Quick Guide
by
Mark Stubbs
Simply put, an intranet is an internal website which is used to share information which is not public. Therefore, the two essential parts are the user access control, and the content.
From the point of view of an intranet user they need access to the information, and this may be controlled by a username and password, or by some other method such as where they access the information from. Usually, how the access control is achieved is not of interest to the end user, they just need to get into the content.
The content itself is much more important to the users of the intranet, and a successful intranet (a) has the information on it that people need or want (b) makes that content easy to access. This access is controlled by navigation and browsing behaviour and by internal site search.
An intranet can be developed using a variety of methods, it can be basic HTML if the content is not likely to change much. However, often, the data needs to be changeable and therefore the intranet needs some sort of
CMS (Content Management System)
. This can be achieved using a variety of bespoke methods, or can use some software designed for the purpose, such as Microsoft SharePoint Server or Microsoft Content Management Server.
Unless you have the resources in house, it is common to employ a
web design agency
to produce your intranet. If you take this out sourcing approach, you might see a typical
intranet development
process like this:
Site Objectives > Identity, Branding and Design > Site Prototype > Site Build > Testing & Evaluation > Deployment > Final Testing > Training
It is important that any web design agency that you choose works with you to produce an intranet design that meets the needs of the people who will be using the intranet on a daily basis.
Online Business Solutions UK Limited,
The Old Truman Brewery,
91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL.
Phone +44 (0) 20 7770 6255,
Fax +44 (0) 20 7770 6261
Mark Stubbs is a freelance writer who specialises in internet marketing and
web site development
. For more information on intranet development he suggests that you visit:
obs-group.co.uk
Article Source:
eArticlesOnline.com}