I have a client who is upgrading their internal systems and processes. They have chosen to use both SharePoint 2007 (because they are inherently a Microsoft house) and Ektron CMS400.net. SharePoint will be used to migrate from QuickPlace; Ektron is being used as an engineering document repository. Neither has any connection to or knowledge of the other. They do have an existing Intranet (one that I built years ago when an employee there). It’s a mix of LAMP and ColdFusion and anything else people wanted to try over the years. And it is a mess. The same sentiments apply as in yesterday’s post: I can’t find anything ... Our Intranet sucks.
So now we’re off with these new systems, building new sites and tools as the different groups request them. (We’re learning how to use these tools as we go along.) But there exists no sense of portal or commonality, of connectedness. Everything we are building is stand-alone, unaware of any of the other sites. And while each of these tools has a value to someone, there is nothing tying them together. Now, rather than one Intranet, we have several, disjointed systems to manage.
How do you avoid this? Before touching the first line of code or dragging-and-dropping the first widget, you have to ask yourself a few questions:
- What is the goal of this new system? New functionality? Better integration with existing tools?
- Are we going to replace the old Intranet or are we simply going to add to our toolbox?
- If we’re adding, how does this system integrate with the others?
- Who owns this system? Is there an administrator to see that it does not turn into yet another file dumping ground?
- Is there likely to be redundant data with other systems? What will you do about that?
- Is there a corporate mandate on which systems to use and for what purpose?
- Is there a set of standards to follow for consistency, repeatability, data structures, metadata?
- What about Search? Will you create a unified search across all systems? What’s the cost of that? What’s the cost if you don’t?
- Have you looked at this and the other systems with an eye toward developing a portal? Is there a sense that these systems and tools belong together?
These are not difficult questions, but they will give you an idea of how to move forward. If you want to avoid the “our Intranet sucks” anthem, you should consider how your systems will play together before you bringing more on board. You want also to consider what those systems will be used for and how you are going to structure the data going into them.
This is my mission now: helping people answer these and other questions to build better systems to support their business. I’m working closely on this with Mark Cahill over at VarioCreative, a guy who gets this stuff and has been successful at it for years. Give us a call and tell us how we can help you.