Dateline: 11/16/97

``The best executive is the one who has sense enough
to pick good men to do what he wants done, and
self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with
them while they do it."
                                                           -- President Theodore Roosevelt

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Professional service firms just starting to plan or implement an Intranet stand to gain a lot from the experiences of the large organizations that jumped on the Intranet bandwagon early.  If your firm is still in the formative stages...or if you plan an expansion...or if you want to go back and do it all again differently...here are some pointers distilled from the case studies of what others have done:

• Be sure you need an Intranet.  If you have a smaller firm and you have a LAN or WAN, especially if you use groupware such as Lotus Notes, you may not need an Intranet.  You may benefit more from having a communications consultant familiar with networking technology come in an show you more creative ways to use your existing system for marketing, business monitoring or internal communications.
   
• Have a multifunctional work group plan and develop the Intranet.  Don't let the IT/MIS group drive the project.  They should definitely be part of the decision making process, but an Intranet is a communications and management function that should be driven from the top of the organization.  Include IT/MIS to establish the architecture and choose the software. Include marketing/communications to address issues such as content, rollout, audience, and messages that should be conveyed.  Include key functional partners to ensure that content and ongoing costs are adequately addressed for budgeting purposes.  Include top management to get their buy-in and support.  Give the work group authority to build the right Intranet for your firm, and it will happen.
   
• Define the content that will have the most impact initially and get that up first. Get people used to using the new system.  If you currently print monthly internal telephone lists, get your directory up online. Put routine ``notice" memos (missing working files, conflict of interest queries, etc.) online.  Put T&E forms online and enable online filing.  Put employee benefits manuals and forms online.  Offer online training courses.
   
• Plan a systematic and formal roll-out of the Intranet.  The Intranet will change the way your firm communicates information and interacts, if it is set up properly.  Give it the same high level treatment you would give any major new external communications initiative.  Test it on a small working group first and make necessary revisions. Promote it to your staff.  Make it fun and enticing.  Offer prizes.  Accept any and all content initially.  Get people used to accessing the Intranet as their first source of information by providing daily headlines or news and timely general-interest information.
   
• Democratize the publishing process.  Don't try to control or stifle what gets published.  Create a publishing process with minimal legal and decency standards, and then let people publish what they will.  Many organizations use their corporate communications staff as coaches for prospective publishers, to help them understand what should or should not be published.  Welcome all content initially to build awareness of the technology and encourage its use.  Let restrictions be imposed as needs arise, rather than try to provide stringent guidelines up front and diminish the enthusiasm of beginners.

For stories that drive home some of these points, see the case studies linked below.  And if you want to discuss anything specific about your own office's Intranet or web-based communications, feel free to contact me.  I'll be glad to share what I know or refer you to another communications professional who can help you minimize the learning curve.

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Strategies for Connecting Your Corporate Databases to the Intranet.
Access to legacy databases is essential for a successful intranet, and it doesn't have too painful.

Making Intranets Put the Web to Work for You.
Groupware functions can transform an intranet from interesting plumbing to the new way the firm works.  Pass this one on to your systems administrator.

Providing Worldwide Expertise with ``Knowledge On-Line".
See how the consulting firm Booz-Allen  and Hamilton's intranet provides business intelligence, frameworks, analyses, best practices, and competitive data to help its consultants serve clients better.

Librarians at the Gate.
At NSC, building an intranet was easy.  Building an intranet without making waves wasn't.  Learn from their naivete and see how their hybrid model works.

So Many Ideas, So Little Site
Owens Corning's web team had big plans for their intranet.  Trouble was, they were all different.  Read how they turned their frustrations into success.

Building a Corporate Intranet: How To Bring the Internet In-House to Achieve the Paperless Office.
Paperless offices have been touted as an ideal, but are they achievable? Ernst & Young announced its first ``paperless" tax season in 1997. This white paper discusses applications that can help reduce your paper piles.

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Copyright 1997 by Kaye Vivian (kvivian@cloud9.net).  All rights reserved.  Permission to reprint is granted provided this article is not altered and the copyright notice remains attached