Intranet Tip – Weak Passwords Jeopardize Organizational Security

27th November, 2009 - Posted By Sean R. Nicholson - 1 Comment

As the centralized point of access to organizational information, your Intranet portal may also represent a potential security risk. This is especially true if your portal is accessible to employees via the Internet. If your Intranet authentication is tied to your Active Directory or LDAP, be sure to put policies in place that ensure that your employees change their passwords on a periodic basis. In addition, be sure to encourage (or require) employees to use “strong” passwords, that are comprised of a combination of alpha characters, numbers, symbols and mixed cases. Read More

Intranet Best Practices – Creating an Intranet Governance Team

26th October, 2009 - Posted By Angela Cullen - 1 Comment

When developing your Intranet, it’s best not to develop in a vacuum. You may not be the best person to make decisions on how employees will use the intranet to do their job. Be sure to identify employees that will be involved in the maintenance of the portal and get everyone involved in the design process. Create an Intranet Governance Council that will include at least one member from each department throughout your company. Bigger departments might have 2 or 3. Let the members of the governance council represent their department and tell you what employees in their department need to be able to do their job more efficiently. Read More

Book Review: What Every Intranet Team Should Know by James Robertson

13th October, 2009 - Posted By Sean R. Nicholson - 2 Comments

Regardless of whether you are a seasoned Intranet Professional or just getting started with your first Intranet design, I highly recommend adding What Every Intranet Team Should Know by James Robertson of Step Two Designs to your library. At 110 pages, this handbook packs a wealth of valuable information into a quick-read offering a background understanding of the evolution of Intranets, guidance on identifying the needs of your organization, and useful tips on designing a solution that meets those needs. Read More

Intranet Best Practices – Balancing Sensitive Information With Organizational Culture

20th September, 2009 - Posted By Sean R. Nicholson - 4 Comments

Building a great Intranet environment is often about balance. Balancing acts like those between openness and security, corporate needs and individual desires, and the balance between content and culture often make for long meetings and tough decisions. Internal communicators and Intranet managers often have to determine how much to share and the right format in which to share it. Read More

Intranet Best Practices –
Balancing Intranet Governance & End-User Contribution

3rd August, 2009 - Posted By Sean R. Nicholson - No Comments

When it comes to Intranets, governance is one of those topics that tends to divide folks into some pretty extreme camps. One side contends that users should be able to govern themselves and, when left alone, content driven by the users will be rich and meaningful. The folks on the other side of the fence believe that content should be generated by the organization for consumption by the users. Their position is often based on the argument that end-users would pose a risk to the organization by sharing incorrect, privileged, or inappropriate content. The reality is that these two camps do have valid points, but the best practice is to land somewhere in the middle. Read More

Top 10 Must Haves For Every Good Intranet

9th April, 2009 - Posted By Sean R. Nicholson - 15 Comments

Okay Intranet fans, here it is…the 2009 completely unofficial list of must have functionality for every Intranet: {drumroll please….} Read More

Why Intranet Governance?

2nd April, 2009 - Posted By Dan Kneeshaw - 1 Comment

The issue of “Governance” seems to always be one of the popular topics at Intranet Portal conferences. It is also a frequent point of discussion within the Intranet professionals group of which I am a member. As an introduction to the concept of Governance I simply want to focus on providing a little clarity around » Read More

Social Networking Policies – Balancing Collective Wisdom With Individual Stupidity

31st March, 2009 - Posted By Sean R. Nicholson - 1 Comment

Each day, it seems that more and more folks are dipping their toes into the world of Social Networking by creating Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and LinkedIn accounts. And each day, we’re entertained with stories of folks who get “Facebook fired”, shoot off an improper Tweet that lands them in hot water, or and share confidential information on their personal blog. Recently, Helen A.S. Popkin wrote an excellent article for MSNBC.com called “Twitter gets you fired in 140 characters or less” which details some of the follies of folks who have overstepped the boundaries from responsible social networking into, well…just TMI. Read More