large scale intranet redesign

Large Scale Intranet RedesignColleen Swanger, Director: Design | Digital

NCR CorporationFortune 500: 20,000+ employeesGlobal: 100+ countries110 billion transactions per year

NCR underwent a significant organizational restructure, moving away from a business-unit model to a line-of- business with shared services model.

This “one-company” approach needed to be reflected in the company’s intranet. It needed to become a “one stop shop” for information for all employees.NCR Corporation Intranet RedesignCreated in-house by a core development team comprised of representatives from Marketing Services, HR, and IT Services located in India, US, and UK.

Help people find content/applications that are most meaningful to them for their functional responsibilities and supports them as an employeeEliminate redundant contentRely on an IA that is inherently scalable, to simplify growthAccommodate for an IA that can be applied globallyServe as the gateway to functional areas and applications; consolidateEstablish a well-defined process to enable centralized publishing and oversightImprove perception – a reliable source for news and informationEliminate independent sites by creating a virtual space for hosting content and tools

Intranet Goalsand Priorities

Out with the old…

The Homepage: What is worthy?

Corporate NewsUser-defined links and toolsSearch (people and content)

The Homepage: FeaturesCarouselTop newsUser Favorites and ToolsOrg ChartsFinancial ReportsAcronym Search

Navigation

Navigation

If the promotion feature is turned off, or if a user clicks a second-level link in the mega menu, a list of corresponding links appears on the right. NCR’s content lends itself to a mega menu, as there are many links and subcategories.

Content Management System

Content Management System

Content Management System

Governance

Intranet Team ResponsibilitiesRole Responsibilities

Corporate Core Team Provide governance and program management

Online Content Managers Oversee the daily running of the intranet and activities such as: • Publish approvals (where required)• Upload corporate collateral• Train and support content owners

Content Owners • Update content and ensure consistency • Can delegate some part of the updates or

changes to other members of the team/department by making them editors

Design Process and Usability

Card SortingWireframingVisiting with and watching people in their workspaceConducting user surveysUsability testing of design prototypes

Design Approach:Designing for the weakest link

Open the new intranet up to early adopters via a lengthy pilot period.Blog regularly about new features prior to release and provide screen designs to collect comments.Carry out simple paper prototyping with key user groups to sanity check design direction.Encourage feedback, and then implement changes and test them again with users to refine as much as possible before launch.Talk with end users and, wherever possible, watch them use the intranet.Survey and gather detailed information before even starting planning and design.

Take from past lessons learned on the old intranet sites.Utilize the experience of site administrators familiar with the demands of users.

Encourage open communication by providing feedback links on all pages.

Content and Content ContributorsAn “all hands” approach

Welcoming all contributionsSupporting ContributorsSupport for all languagesStyle and Publishing GuidesGroup and 1:1 Training

Partnering with agenciesOutside help provides perspective

1996 2008 2009 2010 2011

First intranet at NCR

• Taxonomy• Content audit• Research• Visual design• Wireframing

• Wireframes complete

• Functional specs complete

• Development begins

• Migration of content

• Phasing• Pilot begins• User surveys• Launch

• Bug fixes applied

• Homepage reworked

• Main navigation reworked

Intranet Milestones

SearchGap analysis – new toolRefining search is critical to a site with a large amount of content that is constantly increasingTraining content contributors

An example of the main search results screen. As the screen shows, asset type and language tagging can be used for dynamic filtering.

The Advanced Search fields, which appear when users select this option after running an initial search. The system maintains the results below so users can refer to them while refining the new search terms.

Results from an image search

Technology as a ConstraintChoose at the right timeCast a wide netDon’t let code dictate design

Results and ROI

Tracking User VisitsNCRNet Average Monthly Visits

(prior to redesign)New Average Monthly Visits

NCRNet 422,097 (news and applications)

144,966 (only applications)

Financial Sales 28, 123 ---

Retail Sales 20,467 ---

Services 11,675 ---

NCR Intranet (not yet created) 175,654

Total 482,362 320,620

Measuring success is personal, each company placing value on a different set of experiences.New channels for feedback.Users spending less time finding what they need.

Development resources!

Lessons Learned

Choose technology wisely – and at the right time.

Research, research, test

thank you

twitter.com/cswanger

colleenswanger

colleen.swanger@ncr.com