Project overview
Intranet redesign and migration to new Sharepoint platform for two sites at a pharmaceutical company.
My role involved designing and building the new Information Architecture, and working with stakeholders in the business to migrate to the new platform. I also took a project management role at one of the smaller sites.
Project duration: March – July 2015.
The Challenge
Work with 80+ intranet editors in the business to move to the new intranet platform.
Identify how the new site should be structured and which content from the existing intranet was needed.
Project timescales were short and there was a lot of existing content, a lot of which was outdated.
The Approach
Learning
We familiarised ourselves with the new Sharepoint platform, and the high level concept as it was quite different to the current structure. We attended kick-off meetings with global colleagues and created test sites to try out what was possible.
Planning
We ran reports on the current intranet pages, with stats showing which pages were frequently used.
We then identified and engaged the content managers (intranet editors in the business) and created a project plan with estimates and go-live dates, ensuring minimal impact to the business.
Categorisation
We then met with content managers and presented the new concept, and ensured that they completed elearning for the new intranet. We then worked with them to categorise the existing areas they were responsible for so that they all had a place in the new intranet structure.
These were the categories:
- Services & Tools – such as ‘Restaurant menu’ or links to systems
- Projects & Initiatives – such as ‘Cycle to work’ scheme
- About – information about the company and its departments
- Delete – pages that were no longer needed
Design of Information Architecture
Based on the content the business wanted to keep (2000 pages down to 500) we sketched out the design. Choosing appropriate names for services and projects was challenging (eg Restaurant menu) as we needed to ensure they were words that users used when searching/browsing.
I also thought it would be useful to include a ‘Getting Started’ page which we could pin to each site’s homepage; this concept was eventually adopted globally. Our ‘Quick Links’ service was also used in other sites.
Wireframe
I’m not allowed to show any of the actual designs for confidentiality reasons, but here is a basic wireframe I have since created, showing the homepage structure with the 4 categories at the top.
Implementation
I then built the new sites in MS Sharepoint and supported the content managers who populated the pages with content.
Usability testing
I carried out some usability testing with a few colleagues who weren’t involved in the project – based on finding services from the homepage.
Launch
We worked with Communications team, IT teams and intranet editors to help the business adopt the new platform, by creating Comms materials, news articles and holding exhibitions.
The Results
Our main site was one of the first globally to adopt the new platform and the Information Architecture was a blueprint for other countries.
The end result was a streamlined, personalised intranet site which went from 2000+ pages down to around 400 for the main site.
Challenges
Our main challenge was keeping the project on track and making sure the content editors had made their changes and updates in time for go-live.
What I’d do differently next time
> User research to find out what people actually used the intranet for. How do they currently do things – pain points / good points?
> Card sorting exercise with users to ensure we used their language, especially for department specific information such as IT/technical terms.