1. The Orb The City of Edinburgh Council’s Intranet site
Sally Kerr: Web and New Media Team

2. Council Web Content Management Project:
Begun 2003/4
Hyperwave selected as cms
Wordmap provided taxonomy solution
Internet site delivered 2006
Intranet site delivered 2008
The Intranet site project was part of a larger, strategic web project for the Council which had begun in late Hyperwave was selected as our content management system solution with Wordmap providing a robust taxonomy tool. Originally both the Internet and Intranet were to be delivered together but this was realised to be too ambitious and the Internet was prioritised for launch. This took place in April 2006, with a number of post launch problems meaning that resources were involved with snagging issues until into 2007.
The Intranet delivery began in the autumn of 2006 and took longer than expected due to some system issues and a programme of work to provide final fixes. It was delivered in May 2008.
However this delay gave us the opportunity to revisit and review content as well as developing new pages and to work with departments to achieve further buy in.

3. Main drivers for overall Web Content Management Project:
Provide robust platform to become the main communication and business tool for the Council
Upgrade technology to meet web requirements
Review content structure and content to meet user needs
Conform with Government web standards including accessibility
The main drivers for the project were
Provide robust platform to become the main communication and business tool for the Council
Upgrade technology to meet web requirements
Review content structure and content to meet user needs
Conform with Government web standards including accessibility

4. Main objectives for overall Web Content Management Project:
Re-design and improve corporate sites
Provide consistent design and functionality
Establish new publishing and maintenance responsibilities and protocols
Provide one content management system - easier to use and avoids duplication of content
Put in place new management processes for web in the Council
The main objectives for the project were….
Re-design and improve corporate sites
Provide consistent design and functionality
Establish new publishing and maintenance responsibilities and protocols
Provide one content management system - easier to use and avoids duplication of content
Put in place new management processes for web in the Council

5. Delivered with the new Internet site:
A new robust platform
New content layout (template based)
New user and group structure
LGCL for site structure, linked to IPSV
New editorial structure
Aim of ‘AA’ standard
Better content quality and management
With the delivery of the new Internet site we achieved:
The implementation of a new and robust platform which would allow publishing in one place
A new user and group structure to replace one out of date and too fluid
A strong site structure which (at the time) was mandatory, but which took on board IPSV as well
A new editorial structure based around the workflow process for the cms
A strong buy in to achieve ‘AA’ standard in accessibility – although this is still a work in progress
With the new editorial structure and the work carried out using content templates we achieved better content quality and management
All these achievements would also benefit the Council’s new Intranet

6. Main reasons for the new Intranet site:
it was very difficult to find information through the structure or the search
the majority of content was out of date
there was a great deal of duplication (For example, the site contained fifteen different versions of the flexitime form)
the technology behind the old site needed replaced due to its age
There were a number of strong reasons for a new Intranet site:
it was very difficult to find information through the structure or the search
the majority of content was out of date
there was a great deal of duplication (For example, the site contained fifteen different versions of the flexitime form)
the technology behind the old site needed replaced due to its age

7. The old Intranet used an early version of MSContent Manager which was managed by BT, the Council’s ICT suppliers. This approach caused delays in some day to day work and overall few changes could be made. Any new structure headings had to be requested from BT and editing of deletion also, any images to be uploaded had to go through them, general user management as well. The Webteam latterly managed this site but had to do so with these restrictions.
Without a clear structure staff could add more or less what they liked. Too often this lead to too many clicks which frustrated staff.
The search was poor and made it difficult to find content – little metadata was in place although keywords could be added.
BT had to make the changes to the structure and this took time – often staff had found another solution in the interim so that pages remained unused.
Generally content was not kept up to date and there was little motivation for staff to work on it as staff found other ways of finding and sharing their information.

8. Shows main headings at the FOOT of the homepage

9. Example of structure area replicating menu

10. Example of area with no content after 2 clicks

11. Example of deep area with no content

12. A poor structure and search led to this drop down option (the jump to list) being used indiscriminately to allow staff to reach content quickly. However this too was managed by BT

13. What would the new Intranet deliver?
A new branding and design to attract users
A new structure with a strong corporate focus
An already established structure of editors and authors who could manage and develop content
A key internal communication tool for the Council:
Improving communication – across the Council, within departments, and divisional areas
Facilitating collaborative work for projects
Allowing staff to find what they need for their work quickly and easily
Providing the key source for Council strategies, policies and plans
Offering the ability to learn about Council initiatives, news and activities
Sharing relevant documents across the Council and reduce use for this function
Becoming a knowledge base for the Council
A new branding and design to attract users
A new structure with a strong corporate focus
An already established structure of editors and authors who could manage and develop content
A key internal communication tool for the Council:
Improving communication – across the Council, within departments, and divisional areas
Facilitating collaborative work for projects
Allowing staff to find what they need for their work quickly and easily
Providing the key source for Council strategies, policies and plans
Offering the ability to learn about Council initiatives, news and activities
Sharing relevant documents across the Council and reduce use for this function
Becoming a knowledge base for the Council

14. Milestones for the Intranet project:
Final content development, audit and migration
Taxonomy – linking of site structure headings to IPSV
Site and system testing
Marketing of the site
Site roll out programme
When the Intranet project started up in Autumn 2006 it was at its final delivery phase. Workstreams to be completed were:
Final content development, audit and migration
Taxonomy – linking of the site structure headings to IPSV
Site and system testing
Plan and implement marketing of the site both pre and post launch
Site roll out programme

15. Key issues and challenges for the project:
Ensuring content was current, and new content was developed for site launch
Last minute re-branding of the site
Marketing of the site identity to create a positive buzz for the site launch
Resolving system issues
Carrying out a phased roll out for the launch rather than a ‘big bang’ approach
Radical new site structure, centralising content in one place
Ensuring content was current – delays to delivery meant that content already migrated had to be updated, new content on the ‘old’ site had to be reviewed and migrated, and content developed as gaps were identified for the new site. It was also the first time some areas of content were being brought together in one place – forms, buildings and facilities – involving a number of authors and a great deal of collaborative work.
There was a definite decision that the new site needed its own identity. An abortive competition had been run earlier in the project but the name which won did not meet with the Project Board’s approval.
Second time around the help of the Communications Service was sought and a short list drawn up. The Orb came top as most suitable. Promotion was key to this new name being imbedded in the Council culture. As such it was used for any information or publicity to staff and departments were encouraged to take them same approach
System issues – the Intranet build was significantly different to the Internet and caused a number of unforeseen issues which had to be addressed alongside other delivery work. One of the problems this caused was to have new content being added to both the old and the new sites adding to work loads.
There were concerns about overall performance following a number of test cycles which led to the site being rolled out on a phased basis with departments. Whilst not achieving a ‘big bang’ approach it ensure the site was stable and fit for purpose and built up momentum as each dept waited to go live
The new site structure was a huge change for the Council, taking a corporate approach and enforcing one base location for any piece of content. Briefing sessions and road shows had to be carried out to raise awareness as well as to seek feedback and overall improve buy-in pre launch.
Bronwen is now going to talk about the structure in more detail

16. The intranet is structured around four themed areas: these areas mirror the structure of the internet for content supporting service-driven areas, with additional areas relating to the internally supporting content.
The structure has been developed from the Local Government Category List – a now depreciated standard for organising and managing local government web content. This standard has been altered where necessary to meet the specific needs of the City of Edinburgh Council.
2 areas – Our Council and Service areas – were modelled on the Internet structure reflecting externally driven services and based on LGCL
Further 2 areas – Business Tools and Working for us - were developed internally and reflect internally driven services – services for staff to enable them to do their jobs (Business tools) and Working for us (HR content)
Our biggest challenge in terms of the structure was to move from a departmental to thematic arrangement, and to convince departments that they would still be able to find the content they needed – despite the fact that it would be published across the whole site instead of in a single area.
The aim of the thematic as opposed to departmental approach to arranging content is to present a Corporate view of the Council’s work and services, to encourage flexibility and cross-working between departments, to incorporate future changes within the Council’s structure, and lastly to discourage duplication.

17. Business tools provides links to content enabling staff to carry out their daily work – hence tools. It includes a range of content including all forms, guidance on report writing, room booking, telecoms, IT, and how to book a taxi.
It has proved to be a very useful area, but probably proved the most challenging to develop as it pulls together information from across the Council, but now provides a very good one stop information shop.

18. Just to show you an example of how the structure works further down the levels, I’ve selected Buildings, rooms, and facilities – this area provides links to the physical management and care of Council buildings, security, and the booking of rooms etc, as well as links to further information on key Council buildings – for example – Waverley Court

19. Our Council – this has information on the internal workings of the Council, for example, how departments are structured, performance and financial information, publications, policies, and plans, and information for elected members

20. Again – to show you how the structure works further down, I’ve selected Council Departments, which provides links to the structure and aims of the Council’s six departments.

21. Working for us – the structure of this section was mainly developed by HR staff, and is almost entirely devoted to HR content, bringing together information that was previously duplicated across the site.
It also provides some staff content, for example, staff Benefits

22. Just showing the structure further down – I’ve selected by way of example Manager toolbox – aimed at all staff who have some responsibility for managing other staff. Links are provided to areas of content further down the structure.

23. Our Services – this is the area where local service teams can publish their own local content that is specific to their area of work. Categories are arranged thematically, and reflect the same key categories presented on our Internet site.
Such content includes local service guidelines, information on projects, minutes, advice, and information for staff.
In terms of the structure, this area requires the most ongoing attention in terms of reigning in its development, as it’s the area that is most inclined to slip back into a departmental presentation if allowed to do so, as this is where teams publish their local content.
In terms of the management of the structure, all changes are made through the Webteam, and have to be approved: centralisation ensures that hidden pockets of departmentally arranged content don’t emerge.

24. Areas that I have shown illustrating the further levels of the structure for the other areas have mainly used introductory pages to link to sub-pages, but within Our Services, the sub-structure is mainly composed of links to collection (or sub heading) areas – there is less of a joined up approach.
Housing – links to service teams areas
Business – links to service areas

25. Economic Development

26. Strategy and Investment Team
This area provides information on their key working areas and staff.

27. I mentioned in an earlier slide the tendency for Our Services to reflect back departmental working arrangements if not checked. The areas is much more segmented than the other sections, and this does reflect the fact that people do work in core teams, and there is a need for information aimed at particular groups of people.
One of our key challenges was addressing the continuing demand from staff for some form of departmental presentation of information bringing together all content for staff wanting to access all their departmental content from a single entry point.
We recognised that this was important for the site’s usability, and resolved this issue by creating flat web pages for each department, linked from the homepage to content published across the site. These pages are managed by local department editors, and also include, information on latest departmental news and links to key reports.
Giving departments a homepage to manage provides a sense of ownership and has proved a successful approach in motivating them to both publish and make use of the site

28. How did we roll out these structural changes?
Conducted workshops with key editors
Produced guidelines on where to publish types of content
Conducted usability testing
Guidance on structure included in web publishing training
Responded to feedback – this is ongoing
We held workshops with editors – helping to familiarise our key editors with the new structure at a developmental stage
We provided guidelines on the structure with handy lists of where to publish certain types of content
We carried out usability testing – this consisted of two rounds of testing both with observed and remote users following a series of exercises based around scenarios. Users were asked to use the structure to find content within 2 minutes, and after that time period were allowed to use the search. We based our percentage success rate on Nielsen’s recommendation of 60% and above as acceptable and over 70% as good.
The 1st round of testing was conducted in Dec 2007 resulting in a 69% success rate, and providing many recommendations for how we could improve content, e.g. more links from homepages – both main and departmental homepages, and improvements for the second level pages; we conducted a 2nd round of testing in Jan 2008 having implemented the previous recommendations. This test cycle resulted in a 81% success rate.
In the web publishing training we ensure that structure knowledge is included
And we continue to respond to ongoing feedback
I’ll now pass you back to Sally who is going to discuss how we marketed the new Intranet.

29. Marketing activities
Pre launch – article in Staff magazine, fortnightly web newsletter, trailer week before, ‘how to’ guide, generic presentation for dept use, pre launch s
Marketing already in place – default to Intranet homepage on all PCs
Post launch – series of road shows, statement of support from Chief Executive, s to each department for roll out, s encouraging publishing to Orb and changing perceptions, competition to improve early usage;
We had a marketing plan that ran through from pre to post launch:
Pre launch – we placed articles to Staff magazine, published a fortnightly web newsletter, produced a trailer to publicise the week before launch, provided a ‘how to’ guide and a generic presentation for use in departments, and sent out pre launch s outlining benefits of the Orb
Marketing already in place – default to Intranet homepage on all PCs and encouraged staff to carry messages for the Orb in s
Post launch – we carried out a series of road shows, a statement of support from Chief Executive, s to each department as they rolled out, s encouraging publishing to Orb, helping to change work approaches, a competition to improve early usage – this was a scavenger hunt (expain);

30. Testing and roll out Performance testing Roll out programme
Before going live a series of performance test cycles were carried to assess the stability of the site as it was to be rolled out to 15,000 staff. This corporate Intranet would provide access to schools which had not been possible before and which added significantly to the user numbers.
In consultation with BT and our suppliers it was agreed that a phased approach would be logical for our roll out adding departments over a period of weeks. With each launch day testing was carried out on an hourly basis and results collated to assess stability.
The schools were the last area to go live, just before break up for the summer. We had to wait until September when the system would have comprehensive use, to be sure that all was well, as it has proved to be.
There were some hidden benefits: as depts went live a fresh wave of enthusiastic usage was recorded as well occasional issues; we received regular positive feedback which was an encouragement for the next dept to go live. Departments were impatient to see the Orb and there were instances of the Orb address being shared around so that staff could get to see it in advance of their launch date. We had a success on our hands!

31. What makes staff happy with their intranet? What they didn’t want
Complex structure
Out Of Date Content
Content duplication
A lack of useful content
As part of the Intranet project we had already carried out a great deal of research into best practice to identify key success criteria for our new site. We already knew our staff were unhappy with the current site so it was important that the Orb be seen to deliver answers to key problems –
Complex structure – we brought in our themed structure and due to our pre launch activities, we received a lot of positive feedback when we went live
OOD Content - with a more managed system and a workflow option content could be kept up to date
Content duplication - the stakeholders who manage each area work hard to ensure duplication doesn’t happen, and all staff who receive publishing training are told to check before they publish to make sure the content isn’t already there
Lack of useful content – with our key stakeholders to encourage staff, and with editors and authors across the Council, content for the new site is stimulating and useful. It is perhaps the most important area of Intranet work as one of our key objectives is to make the Orb the main communication tool for Council staff

32. Background research
Better connected Intranets SOCITM report (2007) highlights:
Usability
Access
Useful content – directories, notice board, council papers
Top ten applications – phone directory, bulletin boards, HR applications, Job vacancies, Room Bookings, Catering, GIS, Committee info system, Leader’s monthly briefings, Employee discounts
Inter-active applications
Because of their nature (e.g. being internal to organisations) it can be difficult to gather useful feedback on Intranets in similar organisations which would help find best practice. We carried out local research contacting a number of nearby Councils and other organisations (including our ICT partners BT) to get an insight into successful Intranet.s. There were a number of useful reports as well and in particular the recent SOCITM report Better Connected Intranets (2007) proved a useful source and in particular we highlighted the following key areas
Usability – authors and editors involved in the project were encouraged to contribute ideas to improve usability. A broad range of user testing was carried out during the delivery of the project, identifying issues as well as successes. Staff were very supportive, cementing buy-in across the Council.
Although the new cms was a better solution for our needs it was not perfect so we worked with the supplier to find solutions that would improve usability
Access – not all staff have direct access so a number of channels are used to provide priority information. However access to a resource such as the Intranet has provided support and motivation to isolated staff – those in peripatetic jobs, part-time staff, manual workers – so it’s important to consider how access can be provided. This is an area the Council is continuing to consider and address.
Useful content – key content and applications were noted from the SOCITM report but also from consultation with staff - essential for the success of the site e.g. directory, notice board, access to cmmittee papers
SOCITM’s top ten for Intranets provided a useful benchmark for our project:

33. Phone directory – Global Address List (GAL) available to staff
SOCITM Top Ten
Phone directory – Global Address List (GAL) available to staff
Staff Bulletin Board – using YABB software
HR – system available through the Orb with relevant support and advice on the site
Job Vacancies – posted each week, will change to Scottish Recruitment Portal feed before Christmas
Room Bookings – Rendez vous system available to staff for bookings in multiple locations
Catering – menus for main Council locations and catering booking available
GIS – partially available with plans to develop further
Council Papers Online (CPOL) – available to staff and the public
Leader’s briefings – available monthly (‘Team Talk’) online plus homepage messages when appropriate
Staff Benefits – a wide range of discounts available to CEC staff online and through a quarterly publication
eFinance system (oracle) available
Phone directory – Council Global Address List (GAL) available to staff
Staff Bulletin Board – using YABB software we provide threads for advice/recommend, charity, buy/sell, events
HR – system available through the Orb with relevant support and advice on the site
Job Vacancies – these are posted each week. Jobs will move to the Scottish Recruitment Portal later in the year
Room Bookings – Rendez vous system is available to staff for bookings in multiple locations
Catering – menus for main Council locations and catering booking are available
GIS – partially available with plans to develop further
Council Papers Online (CPOL) – available to staff and the public
Leader’s briefings – available monthly (‘Team Talk’) online plus homepage messages when appropriate
Staff Benefits – a wide range of discounts available to CEC staff online and through a quarterly publication
eFinance system (oracle) available
SOCITM underlined the importance of inter-active applications and the Orb includes several -

39. Factors that contributed to the success of the project:
Stakeholders for the 4 main areas of the site
Providing department homepages for depts to develop and manage themselves
Pre and Post site marketing using appropriate online tools and road-shows leading to successful buy-in from staff
The site’s name – the Orb – proved a positive influence at the launch as it was already accepted into the Council culture
Surprise factor – repeated testing for issues/performance produced a positive response from staff, not a negative one
New ideas - such as the Photo gallery - have proved successful
Stakeholders for the 4 main areas of the site who carried out an essential job overseeing the content for their sections, developing it, working with relevant authors and promoting it
Providing department homepages for depts to develop and manage themselves – this achieved further buy-in whilst at the same time giving depts room to promote their own depts in a way that hadn’t happened before
Pre and Post site marketing using appropriate online tools and road-shows leading to successful buy-in from staff. A strong Comms plan was one of the keys to success for the project ensuring that staff were kept informed as the project moved to launch
The site’s name – the Orb – proved a positive influence at the launch as it was already accepted into the Council culture
Surprise factor – repeated testing for issues/performance produced a positive response from staff, not a negative one. The project team might have been abit jaded but staff were super keen to get the site and use it for themselves
New ideas - such as the Photo gallery - have proved successful

40. The next six months…
We are continuing with our road shows offering both advice and support to all staff. There will be a different focus with an emphasis on how staff can use the Orb for their work, to encourage what we started – getting staff to publish online, to come up with innovative ideas for the Orb, to emphasise its potential for document sharing, co-operative working and so on.
We will be reviewing the site at the end of the year and will carry out user testing as well as inviting feedback through focus groups.
There are plans for further competitions and more staff involvement e.g. when our staff awards are announced the winners will be featured on the Orb.
Keeping the Orb interesting and above all useful for our staff in their daily work is our primary goal.
Thankyou for listening, and now, are there any questions.

41. Any questions?
Sally Kerr, Council Websites Manager