What is an Intranet Governance Policy?

Typically an Intranet Governance Policy is presented in the form of a document but can also be stored as a Policy in the Policy Management Application. It provides intranet users with a strategic view of the intranet’s mission, along with information relating to its ongoing strategy and management.

What is its Purpose?

An Intranet Governance Policy will:

• Provide a clear outline of the intranet’s long-term strategy to guide the intranet team
• Keep employees updated on the proposed organizational-wide benefits to minimize resistance to change
• Identify content and enterprise social networking policies
• Firmly establish the intranet’s role

Each Intranet Governance Policy should be Different

You may find many examples of intranet governance policies previously generated, but your policy should be unique to your organisation.

Your governance policy may include:

1. Intranet Strategy

This section should begin with the main purposes of the intranet and what it’s intended to achieve.

Additional points to include:

• What were the previously identified reasons for deploying a new intranet?
• What does the business want to achieve?
• What short-term or long-term goals does it support?
• How will it positively impact employees on a day-to-day basis?
• Map out the next stages in the deployment strategy

2. Intranet Content and Authoring

This section should outline the content creation procedure for each application and some best-practice examples.  Do you have a centralized or decentralized content management approach, or perhaps a mixture of both?

3. Individual and Departmental Roles

State who is the first point of contact for common issues, such as change requests, the creation of new intranet pages, functionality questions and adding new employees.

4. Site Structure

This area should provide an overview of the many components or information areas within your intranet. Departmental areas should also be included here as the sort of information each departmental area will provide.

Topics in this section may include:

• The menu bar and the reasons behind its layout i.e. quick access to particularly important applications or information
• Departmental areas and their purpose
• Company and personal links
• Methods for effectively locating resources – best bets, alternative suggestions etc.
• Homepage slider and components
• Fast access buttons
• Branding guidelines
• Top bar and its contents