SharePoint intranet and identity for an internal services team
One branded intranet presence for a service and support department within a global biopharmaceutical company, built on Microsoft SharePoint.
- Client
- Global biopharmaceutical company, Europe
- Services
- Branding, intranet design and build, programme management
- Status
- Ongoing
Context
The wider situation.
Internal service and support departments in large organisations often provide a wide range of services to colleagues, but the information about those services can be scattered. It may sit across different sites, documents and email messages, maintained by different people. Colleagues looking for help do not always know where to start, and the department spends time answering questions that clearer information could have resolved.
An intranet presence gives a department one place to describe what it offers and how to access it. A recognisable identity supports this, helping colleagues to identify the department's services and communications quickly among the many internal channels competing for attention. When the identity and the intranet are developed together, the department can present itself consistently, and colleagues gain a clearer route to the services they need.
The challenge
What needed to change.
A service and support department had no single place where colleagues could find its services and information.
The department needed a recognisable identity and a clearer way for colleagues to find its services.
What we did
Our approach.
Ran the programme across two workstreams: branding and intranet build
Developed a visual identity for the department
Designed and built the intranet on Microsoft SharePoint
Reported progress regularly to the client's stakeholders
The engagement was organised as a programme with two workstreams, branding and intranet build. Under the branding workstream, a visual identity was developed for the department. Under the build workstream, the intranet was designed and built on Microsoft SharePoint, bringing the department's services and information into one place and intended to give colleagues a clearer way to find them. The programme was managed across both workstreams, with progress reported regularly to the client's stakeholders. The work remains ongoing.
Delivery perspective
The programme brings a departmental identity and service information into one SharePoint intranet.
Planning similar work
What similar organisations should consider.
Treat identity and platform together
A visual identity and an intranet site are often commissioned separately, but they work best when planned as one programme. Running them as related workstreams allows the identity to be designed with the intranet in mind, and the site to apply the identity consistently from the start, rather than retrofitting it later.
Organise around how colleagues search
Colleagues usually look for help by the task they need to complete, not by the department's internal structure. Organising service information around common needs makes it easier to find. Testing the structure with a few typical questions can show quickly whether the site guides people to the right place.
Build on the existing platform
Building on a platform the organisation already uses, such as Microsoft SharePoint, keeps the intranet within familiar tools, permissions and support arrangements. Colleagues do not need to learn a new system, and the department can maintain its content alongside other internal sites. Design should work within the platform's capabilities rather than against them.
Report progress regularly
Programmes with several workstreams involve a range of stakeholders, each with their own interests. Regular progress reporting keeps them informed, gives early notice of decisions that need their input and helps maintain support for the programme. It also makes dependencies between workstreams visible, so that one does not hold up the other unexpectedly.
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