Setting up an intranet - checklist

Building a company intranet can be a great way to share information with employees and clients. This checklist talks you through the process.

• Identify the functionality you want. For instance, do you want staff to be able to publish articles on and upload files to your intranet? Would you like to create online collaboration spaces where teams can work on projects?
• Consult your employees. What information would they find most useful to have on the intranet? Is there anything currently on paper that you could add to your intranet?
• Decide whether you need remote access. If staff work remotely or from home, then they will probably need intranet access. You might also want to make selected parts of the intranet available to outsiders, such as key customers.
• Investigate third-party intranet services. For many smaller businesses, these are the best option. Essentially, you pay by the month for a service that includes everything you need. This avoids the need to buy hardware or software packages.
• Consider an in-house or agency solution. You can also develop an intranet in-house from scratch (requires technical knowledge), or commission an agency to build one for you (expensive but effective).
• Think about what equipment you might need. For instance, if you plan to host your intranet in-house, you will need a server or cloud hosting.
• Define your specifications and approach suppliers. Ask for references, particularly if you will be using them to install, design or maintain your intranet.
• Assess the solutions you have identified. Think about functionality, ease of use, security, maintenance and support, as well as initial and running costs.
• Design templates for intranet pages and a navigation system. Make sure you have a search function that can handle different document formats, like Word documents and Excel spreadsheets.
• Start the roll out with the most useful and easily published content. This might include staff handbooks and general HR information.
• Allocate responsibility for publishing and maintaining each area; set up systems to ensure content will be kept up to date.
• Add access control areas of your intranet that need to be restricted. For instance, ensure confidential information can only be viewed by the relevant people.
• Develop a usage policy. Make it clear what types of information should and should not be uploaded. Remember to consider legal issues such as copyright.
• Promote the intranet to your employees. Make sure they understand the benefits. Provide appropriate training and do whatever you can to ensure they feel ownership of it.
• Regularly review intranet usage and encourage suggestions. Identify champions within your organisation who will push the project forwards.