Chef Larry’s Intranet Café Creating an Internal Web Site for Staff Music Welcome

Menu du Jour Apéritif Hors d’oeuvre Salade verte Entrée Dessert Digestif Well I love computers and cooking, so I thought I’d combine the two and have twice the fun. I’ve come up with a hearty 6-course menu for you today. We’ll look at recipes that didn’t work, the ingredients to make an intranet, a fresh, live demonstration, what to think about before you make one creating content, and then questions. The handout is intentionally minimal. You can find detailed information at the Web site listed on the back

Apéritif Recipes that didn’t quite work! 1. Paperless Office 2. Staff Yellow Pages 3. Internal Web Pages So now, some food for thought! Let’s start with some recipes that didn’t work. Does anyone here remember reading Business Week, June 30, 1975, edition? Anyone? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the was the first documented use of a particular word: “Some believe that the paperless office is not that far off.” Library automation systems have helped to deliver on this vision. But as for the rest of paperless office there’s a bit of a problem with the recipe: Add one monitor. Add one CPU with some memory chips. Don’t forget some keyboard. Add some software, oh yes, and be sure to peel off the cover before inserting. Then the 1980’s came along and no recipe could be complete without--- tail of mouse! So we stirred this all together, let it simmer, and then tasted it, but something was missing. Oh yes, we’re missing, hmm, ribbon, toner, or inkjet cartridge. So, with our recipe for the paperless office complete, what did we get? More paper and printed documents created faster than ever before! Better yet, not only did we have multiple versions of paper documents, it became easy to distribute and create multiple electronic versions as well. Okay, I’ve got two more recipes, these are shorter. In 1994 I was put in charge of our staff in-service day. The theme centered around improving communication between our staff and the various departments. We had recently moved into a new facility three times larger than the previous one and there was a feeling of distance. With 100 full and part-time employees, it’s hard to know sometimes who is an employee and who isn’t! By doing short tours of the departments, we could become reacquainted with the services each department offers. Through brief exercises such as running one of the Mack Truck vacuums, using wheel chairs to maneuver around the building, and shelving books, we gained a new appreciation for what each other was doing. As part of this day, I had the brilliant idea of coming up with something called the Staff Yellow Pages. Staff were asked to complete a survey of unique jobs they performed, their reading interests, and their hobbies. We also requested a current picture, so that it could be scanned and included in this booklet. The final product was beautiful. One hundred faces with phone extensions and brief biographies and a master list of who did what. It failed miserably: It took a long time to print out even on a fast printer, so we had to copy the pages. The copier took everyone’s worst features and made them even worse. Dark photos turned solid black. Then came the biggest problem. Can you believe the fact that people have the nerve to leave? The least they could have done was find someone with the same last name as a replacement! The lovely Yellow Pages died a quick and quiet death. At least we had lots of staff photos on file to use for our Employee of the Month posters. The last failed recipe came in 1995. One of my jobs is to manage the facility, contracts, etc. Happily, we have a very capable staff, but every time I would go on vacation, I felt like a parent having to leave the phone number for every tradesman I could think of. I wanted a way to make it easy for everyone to access all of the contractors’ names and have directions for troubleshooting the great variety of systems in the building. I was part of our Internet Web team and as we were launching our home page I thought, “wouldn’t it be great to have an “internal Internet Web.” As the concept of an internal Web caught on, it became dubbed the “intranet.” Note, it’s a lower case “I” instead of a capital. What’s the definition of an intranet?

Hors d’oeuvre Definition ·In’ tra net - n. “A computer network connecting an affiliated set of clients using standard Internet protocols, especially TCP/IP and HTTP, connected by secure, possibly virtual, networks.” <get volunteer to read> Kind of a technobabble definition, but accurate. Fundamentally it is truly a Web designed for private use within an organization. It can span multiple sites, but the target audience is the staff of that organization.

So, isn’t this just like our Internet Web site?

Yes 1. Uses a Web server to deliver content 2. Requires organization and guidelines 3. It requires maintenance

No 1. Small, known audience and want to keep it that way! 2. Easy to forget if it isn’t often used 3. Security permissions very important 4. You know the capabilities of your users

So, am I not just DOUBLING my work?

No! We all have documents in electronic format We all need to share information There are great ways to organize it, but do we? Some of the information may already be on your public Web site, but could be rearranged for staff use

What types of things would you put on your library’s intranet?

Salade Verte Where does it belong? Internet, intranet, neither? List of library hours, general phone numbers, addresses Staff work phone list Staff home phone list Meeting room schedule Public service policies Personnel policies Press releases Photos of staff party

What format? 1. Print versus screen 2. HTML versus native file format 3. Adobe PDF versus native file format 4. Paper versus electronic 5. One file versus two Paper versus electronic

Guarding the Recipes 1. Unpublished URL 2. Login with username and password 3. Authenticate by IP address Paper versus electronic

Things to Remember! 1. Modify work patterns, don’t add work 2. Determine best file format 3. Store data in one place 4. Don’t duplicate Internet site 5. Organize directory structure 6. Determine security permissions 7. Develop content guidelines 8. Create style guides and templates 9. Experiment with advanced features 10. Keep them coming back!

15-minute break

Entrée A demonstration of CMPL’s Intranet

How to Build Outsourcing Intranet in a Box From scratch Microsoft Sharepoint

Outsourcing Pros Don’t have much staff expertise in running a web server Don’t have the hardware/software In a hurry, can be happy with a generic solution

Outsourcing Concerns Do you feel comfortable with someone else safeguarding your data? Is the customer service of the provider adequate? What happens if you want to take your data and switch providers? What are the guarantees regarding uptime, security, etc? Are you creating extra work by having to transfer documents to a second location?

Out of the Box Pros Ready to go Saves time Don’t have to understand how it works

Out of the Box Concerns Canned look and feel Might be hard to fix if it “breaks” May not exactly match your organization’s style

From Scratch Pros Custom design can exactly match your needs Can have the “look and feel” of your organization’s culture Can be designed for maximum appeal

From Scratch Concerns Can be time consuming to setup Can require programming skills

Miscellaneous May need to train staff how to author Web pages who may not know HTML (e.g. Policies) New windows for whole documents? Some documents everyone may want to “write” on and will need permissions Prepare documents for search engine results Dates in documents may update to current date making them look newer than printed

If I build it will they come?

No!

If we build it will they come?

Maybe!

Dessert Keep them Coming Back A. This is something for every department! B. Make it fun, yet informative C. Use staff names and photos D. Keep it current! E. Pack it with information and promote it

Maybe Subtle force - word of mouth Moderate force “available exclusively on the intranet Create a portal worthy as browser startup Make part of Active Desktop Offer sufficient access, e.g. lounge

Fromage Comments from a RHPL Web user “I am definitely not computer literate, so the RHPL Web makes the ‘big gray box in front of me’ less intimidating. It is also a nice way of learning more about other employees in this huge building, especially those who work on another floor entirely. The set-up is really attractive and unique; I don’t know how anybody can keep from using this service. In conclusion, it must be great for patrons who walk by the Web-equipped terminal at the Information Desk; the new ‘toy’ has the employees smiling and looking riveted, so they must see how much fun we have working here!”

Digestif Questions

Further information is available at: La Fin Further information is available at: http://www.cmpl.org/presentations/larry