Intranets: What, Why, and How

Outline of a presentation by The Enticy Group

Introduction

• Who are we?
• What related intranets and projects are we working on?
  • County of San Bernardino
  • State Franchise Board
• Goals of the presentation
  • Provide you with a basic knowledge of intranets
  • Give you some resources to start a more in-depth analysis

What is an intranet?

• Our working definition of an intranet
  • TCP/IP network
  • Restricted access to employees
  • Client browser
  • HTTP server
• How is it different from a LAN? WAN? InterNet? web site? extranet?
  • A LAN typically provides file sharing and printer sharing
  • A LAN is a required piece of an intranet
  • A WAN is a way to extand a LAN
  • The InterNet is not under your control and can be accessed by anyone
  • A web site is intended for public use
  • An extranet is typically both and intranet and a web site
  • A web site has fewer applications and more "pages"
  • By this definition, e-mail is not an intranet application

What do you do with an intranet?

• Retrieve and publish information
  • Slowly changing information, like manuals and procedures (months, years)
• Share and collaborate
  • Quickly changing information, like issues and resolutions (weeks)
• Capture and disseminate data
  • Instantaneously changing information, like news headlines and time recording (hours, days)

What are the benefits of an intranet?

• Information is more reliable
  • The consumer gets information directly from the publisher
• Information is more timely
  • The consumer gets information when they need it
  • The world is experimenting with "push" technology
  • E-mail notification is simple
• Information is easier to distribute
  • Cheaper, faster, and more environmentally friendly than paper
  • Responsibility of publishing can be de-centralized
  • Publishing is easier
  • Distribution is no longer an issue
  • Volume is less of an issue (large reports and manuals can be searched)
  • Specialized information is no longer prohibitive to publish
  • Departments which don't share systems can share information
• Information is easier to access
  • Online access from all sorts of browser machines
  • Field access to information
  • We are working on telephone access
  • Applications that have been tseted can be rolled out to the public
• Applications are less costly
  • Only a single platform to support (on the server)
  • No client to maintain
  • Typically, no field software upgrades are necessary
  • When they are, it can be automated
• Data is centralized
  • No "nightly update"
  • Robust backup
  • You can integrate data maintained in separate places

What are the problems of an intranet?

• Needs computer, electricity, access, and infrastructure
  • The computer goes down (but any computer will do)
  • The LAN goes down
  • A field worker cannot connect
• Locality
  • Until portables are portable, you go to the computer
• Less interactive than client-server
  • Interface is less fancy
• Lowest common denominator
  • LCD is rising because of better browsers

What applications tend to succeed?

• Information distribution
  • Policies and procedures manuals
    • Underwriting guidelines
    • Policy rating and quoting
  • Organization charts
  • Benefits and HR information
    • Stock options
  • Phone, e-mail, and company directories
    • These can be provided without an intranet
    • You might want this information available to the public
  • Publications and newsletters
  • Help desks
    • 24 hour access
    • FAQ
  • Reports
    • Oil Change
    • Windows Update
  • Software distribution
    • Oil Change
    • Windows Update
• Information sharing
  • Project management and status
  • Calendaring
  • Discussion Groups
    • Lotus Notes
    • Newsgroups
    • IRC
• Data capture
  • Surveys and questionnaires
  • Equipment and facility booking
  • Time and expense recording
• Interactive training
• Video conferencing
  • Not ready for InterNet use
  • Doesn't yet fit into our definition of intranet
• Desktop
  • Why not set up a customizable portal site, like Yahoo!?
  • Is this a library?

What applications tend to fail?

• CAD
• Image processing
• Applications that require local hardware (scanning etc.)

Challenges in implementing your intranet

• Integration of data from diverse data sources
• ?Present information in the appropriate format
• Enforcing security
• Guaranteeing availability and performance
• Multilingual content

Challenges in maintaining your intranet

• Keeping information fresh
• Ongoing training costs
• Managing security
• Scaling the infrastructure to meet new requirements

How can you be sure your implementation succeeds?

• Pick a good starting application
  • Good means simple
  • Good means small
  • Good means low cost/benefit
  • Good means low risk
  • Initial success is easy, maintenance is harder
• Pick a good target audience
  • Good means influential
  • Good means connected
• Establish publishing guidelines
  • Who can publish ?
  • What can be published ?
  • What tools should be used for publishing ?
  • Will the intranet be linked to the InterNet ?
  • Will the intranet be available as an extranet?
• Complete the design before implementing
  • Graphic design
  • Navigational design
  • Think in terms of processes instead of documents
  • Copy the successful designs
• Implement security
  • Can this be accessed from a public network?
  • Is password security enough?
  • Banking applications are online today

What can cause the implementation of an intranet to fail?

• Poor planning
• Insufficient funding
• Lack of user support
• Incomplete understanding of the technology
  • Trying to do something too complex for the technology
• Security failure
  • Social Security office debacle
  • Microsoft personal information accessible

How do we get there from here?

• What can I do today?
  • Set up a LAN
  • Identify processes, information, and applications that could be put online
  • Identify sponsors and resources
  • Play with the technology
• What must I do to be able to implement an intranet?
  • Know your environment (who has which machines)
  • Identify who will support it
• How do I leverage my existing MIS infrastructure?

Tools

• You can use free tools to get started
• There are many development environments
  • IIS and VID
  • Allaire ColdFusion
  • Netscape
  • Oracle
  • Java
  • ActiveX

What are some other municipalities doing?

Questions?

Resources