As IT professionals most of us like to work with concepts that are straightforward, analytical and measurable. But once we begin to contemplate an intranet we've left the realm of the simple. Intranets, being vessels for communication, collaboration, dissemination of information, and the like, are embodiments of a company's community--they will reflect, not only what the intranet provides in terms of functionality, but the culture of the company itself.

We cannot simply take the components of the basic intranet and drop them into place and assume they will be used or succeed. [For example, we set up a set of discussion boards here at DominoPower for our internal use, and they went bust. Everyone insisted on using email instead. -- DG] We must first understand what we want to achieve with the intranet, how we want it to be used, how we want it to help. We must then design and provide the tools necessary to accomplishing those objectives. This article will discuss what an intranet is, how to make it successful within an organization, and what tools are available to make it a little bit easier.

What is an Intranet?
An Intranet is a series of Web pages available to employees within a company or organization. An Intranet can include:

• Dates and events;
• Discussions;
• Correspondence;
• Tips and techniques;
• Project management;
• Organizational structure;
• Contact information;
• Address books;
• Employee web pages;
• New hire orientation information/organization;
• Key business processes, forms, paperwork,
• Customized Employee Pages (like My Yahoo);
• Other employees or managers schedules;
• Team information;
• And much more.

The key to the successful understanding and implementation of an intranet is the understanding of the needs, culture and processes of a particular business and the tools available to facilitate them. The dream intranet is a one-stop all-inclusive, easily organized and customizable portal into the common brain of a culture and organization. This may sound ambitious but it's very realistic, even necessary.