Intranets been perceived by many organisations as their ‘least important’ website. Until recent years, intranet teams have struggled to show the business value of an intranet beyond the staff directory. By adopting a user-centered design approach, intranet teams can unlock the potential of their intranets to demonstrate tangible business benefits and a superior user experience. Topics covered: - The importance of user-centred design - Balancing the demands of internal stakeholders and end users - Providing relevant and timely information - Employing tools and practices that streamline key functions and applications

1. Chapter taken from
'Public Sector Intranets'
Published by Ark Group (2009)
ISBN: 978-1-906355-57-9
Chapter 4: Enhancing the usability
of your intranet
By Glenn Williams an external consultant. The core project team
consisted of seven staff, while the broader
INTRANETS HAVE been perceived by many project group included 26 staff.
organisations as their ‘least important’
website. Until recent years, intranet teams Project goals
have struggled to show the business value The goals of the intranet redevelopment
of an intranet beyond the staff directory. By were to:
adopting a user-centered design approach,
intranet teams can unlock the potential of their Develop an online environment which
intranets to demonstrate tangible business can deliver new business tools to
benefits and a superior user experience. improve efficiency and reduce painful
and time-consuming processes;
About Lotterywest Evolve the intranet into a true knowledge
Lotterywest is the name behind the lottery community which facilitates the flow of
games that hundreds of thousands of accurate, relevant, targeted and tailored
Western Australians enjoy every week, information; and
and the source of many millions of dollars Encourage greater staff ownership
each year provided for Western Australia’s and engagement.
hospitals, sports, arts and community
groups. Lotterywest is recognised as a global In retrospect it would have been beneficial
leader in lottery operations and in providing to change these to tangible goals that
grants to the community. The Lotterywest could actually be measured for success.
intranet won a global ‘Intranet Innovation For example, how do you measure staff
Award’ in 2007. ownership and what constitutes a true
knowledge community?
Project overview
The information presented in this chapter The importance of
is based on findings from the Lotterywest user-centred design
intranet redevelopment project. The project There are myriad interpretations and
commenced in February 2006 with a launch definitions for the word usability. Developers
date of December 2006. The intranet runs on often believe their application to be usable
the open source Plone content management if it is bug-free. This overlooks the essence
system which, out of the box, satisfied of usability which is to improve the quality
approximately 90 per cent of our requirements. of the user experience. Just because a
The remaining items required custom intranet is bug-free does not mean there
development by three internal developers and is a superior user experience when using
23

2. Chapter 4
the intranet. My preferred definition for In terms of logistics, the tables in the
usability comes from a dictionary: “fit for room should form a U-shape to optimise
use, convenience”. Usability concepts can collaboration by having stakeholders face
be applied to anything in the world – they each other. There is a facilitator, usually the
are not limited to websites. A user-centred project manager, who stands at the open
design approach, based on needs and end of the U. It is recommended that, prior
insights from real users, will set the direction to the JAD session, someone be nominated
for your intranet design. in the role of note-taker. Ideally this person
Usability will impact on the resourcing will have prior skills in note-taking and be
of a project. In the past, many systems- part of the project team.
development methodologies have excluded JAD sessions run for between two and
usability phases from project timelines. three hours, and will require two to three
Jakob Nielsen, the world-renowned usability sessions (scheduled one to two weeks apart)
expert, suggests that investing ten per cent in order to funnel the scope. To secure a
of a project’s budget towards usability will booking with the invitees you require it is
result in an 83 per cent improvement on essential that advance notice be sent. You
business metrics1. Ultimately, usability should should aim for 15-20 attendees although
not be viewed as a step in the project, but the actual number may vary according to
rather something that underpins the entire the size of your organisation. With this many
project and does not end once the intranet people invited, it may require up to six
is launched. weeks’ advance notice as it is unlikely to find
a time that works for all in the short term.
Identifying end-user requirements Be sure to invite stakeholders that are in a
and limitations position to make decisions.
I believe that requirements for an intranet The strength of the JAD session is user
project are best gathered by using a mix of engagement. This is an inclusive ‘feel
techniques. Each of the following methods good’ forum that can turn a potentially
has its own strengths. siloed ‘IT project’ into the much preferred
‘corporate project’. People may feel a
Joint application design sense of ownership by participating, and
(JAD) sessions they will enjoy the opportunity to put
JAD sessions are similar to focus groups, forward their suggestions. With a strong
the main difference being that JAD sessions facilitator, the participants should leave the
focus on high-level requirements rather workshop feeling positive and productive.
than detail. They are structured workshops Unfortunately the onslaught of suggestions
with business users and the intranet – many of which will never make the final
project team in a large meeting space. intranet – also forms the biggest weakness
Representatives from all stakeholder groups of JAD sessions. It is essential that ongoing
should be in attendance. The purpose of communications occur with the JAD group
the sessions is to brainstorm ideas and get a throughout the project. You must ensure
feel for the project scope. Items that should that people are informed if their suggestions
be noted but require further investigation go have been cut from the project. Otherwise,
on a ‘parking lot’ list to be reviewed after on the day of launch, there will be some
the meeting. expectations that are not met. This may
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3. Public Sector Intranets
undermine the good work that has been an organisation’s intranet that has sufficient
put into the project. You want to create synergies with your agency to be useful.
champions for your intranet, not people who
are against it. Interviews and workplace observations
The other problem with JAD sessions is People often do not know what they would
that people often do not know what they truly benefit from in terms of intranet
want, or may have seriously misguided functionality. Instead of asking them, a better
suggestions. Thus JAD sessions should be way to discover what they need is to conduct
viewed as one of many techniques that will interviews and workplace observations. The
help identify your business requirements. As a first step of this technique is to identify key
stand-alone exercise, JAD sessions should be business units to study. You should choose
used with caution. Be prepared to determine areas that have a large impact on the
needs and wants by other methods too. broader staff community, such as human
resources, or areas where you have a gut
Traditional research feel for potential improvements.
There is a plethora of information available For example, representatives from
on the web ranging from usability heuristics Lotterywest’s customer enquiries team
to templates for conducting staff interviews. attended the JAD sessions but did not
Recommended starting points for user- nominate any unique needs or wants. We
centred design include useit.com, steptwo. arranged for a member of the intranet team
com.au and ark-group.com. to sit in their call centre for half a day as
Site visits are a great way to learn an observer. His mission was to look for
from the experiences of others. As the issues, process improvements and ultimately
nature of an intranet is an internal-facing potential intranet solutions. The intranet team
website, it is easy to get tunnel vision with member was able to ask questions of the
your own intranet. First-hand viewing of staff around him to assist in his analysis. For
other organisations’ intranets can provide example, staff were asked what they routinely
ideas for functionality and the migration do and were asked to show how they do it.
to online business processes. It may even There was no formal set of questions, rather
assist in identifying the strengths of your conversations were free-flowing and reactive.
own intranet when compared to others. Photos of staff workstations were taken
Generally speaking, it is difficult to organise as these can provide clues such as props
site visits within the private sector. Public that staff regularly use. As an example, the
sector intranet tours are more feasible as customer enquiries team had various maps
government agencies are not in competition of Western Australia that identified retail
with each other for market share. Another outlets and parts depots with thumbtacks.
option is to attend site visit conferences When a regional or remote retailer called
which seem to be common in major cities. in, the call centre staff would use this map
These are a fantastic way to immerse to find out where the retailer was located
yourself in intranet research for a day or two. and potentially where the nearest depot was
The main weakness of traditional for spare parts. The process of finding the
research is the notion that what works well retailer on a map was time-consuming and
for others might not be a good fit for you. left the retailer waiting on hold while the staff
It can be a challenge to find research on got up from their chairs and walked over
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4. Chapter 4
to the map. This was identified as a clear Step 1 – Creating a makeshift lab
area for improvement. A web-based solution To begin, you need to create a makeshift
was developed to map the retail outlets on lab. This is not of the fancy-one-way-
an interactive, searchable map. This was mirror-white-lab-coat variety. This is
a more efficient process with improved essentially one computer, one inexpensive
accuracy. The map application was also webcam, video capture software and a
extended to allow staff to search by area room. Assuming that you are going to
manager or suburb and included an option borrow the computer and room, this exercise
to view a graph of the past six weeks of sales should not set you back more than US$200.
figures for each retailer. Consumer grade webcams are dirt cheap
The downside of this technique is that and video capturing software (such as
you will likely only focus on two to three Silverback) costs around US$50.
areas due to resourcing constraints, thus
omitting many other important business units. Step 2 – Recruiting participants
For an intranet project it should be
Usability labs straightforward to recruit users. A suggested
The issue of how to conduct usability approach is to partner with another
labs in detail is a chapter in itself and business unit to assist with the recruitment.
beyond the scope of this one. Furthermore, At Lotterywest, the information services
there is plenty of information already business unit teamed up with corporate
available on the web, including detailed communications to send out invitations
instructions, tips and templates. What will to participate in a ‘computer-based
be covered here is the high-level items observation’ session. It is important to be
you would need to consider as part of vague in terms of what is being tested as
conducting labs with internal resources. there is a phenomenon where users will
You may have heard the phrase ‘discount ‘skill up’ on a system before attending the
usability’, and the following technique has session, which will bias your results.
discount usability at its heart (I prefer to Once you have a list of candidates you
call it ‘ghetto usability’). should sort them into demographic groups
The objective of usability labs is to such as computer skill level, gender, age,
test your existing intranet with real users etc., depending on what your organisation
and see what happens. Usability labs profile looks like. The only strict rules to
will help identify the strengths and follow are not to use IT staff (unless you
weaknesses of your intranet. If you plan are testing specific IT functionality such as
on performing quantitative analysis, you a service desk application), and do not use
will gather your benchmarking metrics staff that have little to no computer skills.
from this exercise. When you redevelop Again, these would bias your results – you
the intranet this data can be used to are not testing the extremes in terms of
compare the system changes you introduced. computer skill level.
If this is your first venture into usability
labs you might choose the qualitative path Step 3 – Conducting labs
as it is less complex, although this may Each session should be scheduled for an
come at the cost of delivering compelling, hour. Most of the hour (up to 45 minutes)
tangible evidence. will be consumed with users running through
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5. Public Sector Intranets
the common tasks that you have prepared. a report to the project executive within a
All users should perform the same tasks, few days of the completion of testing. This
in order, and should not have more than should include a highlights reel containing
eight tasks. Begin by giving them an easy usability issues that were encountered. A tip
task to help ease the unnatural situation for a compelling video is to highlight trends
of being observed. People should not by editing back-to-back sequences of users
feel as though they are being tested as they experiencing similar issues.
truly are not – it is the system that is being Your written report should outline
tested. Tasks should not have a strong what worked well, where there is room for
information scent. For example, the wording improvement, findings, recommendations
for a task for petty cash reimbursement and next steps. If you conducted quantitative
should not be worded: “find the petty testing then your metrics can be tabled in
cash form” but rather: “you had an off-site the report. Common metrics include time
meeting and want to get reimbursed for on task, error rate and success rate. In
parking fees”. terms of qualitative metrics, a common
By asking users to ‘think out loud’ you measurement used is subjective satisfaction.
will be able to get an insight into their This information can be gathered at the end
thought process of how they search for this of the labs by asking the user: “On a scale
information. Where will they look? What of one to seven, how satisfied were you with
keywords come to mind? As users perform the intranet?” Finally, your report should
the tasks you should be taking notes (on include details of the testing methodology
paper rather than making distracting tapping such as specification of the computer used,
noises on your laptop keyboard). After the where labs were held and a breakdown of
tasks you may probe the user with questions user demographics.
such as the exploration of why he or she The usability report will provide insight
chose a particular path. You should not into where your project is headed. The
interrupt the user during task completion, report may also be useful in avoiding
and for the majority of the lab you should politics (such as homepage turf wars) with
remain quiet. ‘evidence-based’ decisions. Now is the
time for the end user to dictate the results!
Step 4 – Analysis In the case of Lotterywest, the usability
You should have an observer during the labs labs were extremely helpful in identifying
who can assist with the analysis. You can shortfalls in our previous intranet. This led
compare notes with him or her in the last to an improved design with the redeveloped
15 minutes of the session. This time should intranet. A few months after the new system
be used to look for trends and identify any was launched, another round of usability
interesting findings. In some cases, there labs was conducted. The study yielded
may be none. Remember that if you used excellent results, such as:
video capturing software then you will have
this to refer to later if required. 33 per cent faster completion of tasks;
12 per cent improvement in success rate;
Step 5 – Creating a usability report 16 per cent fewer mistakes
If this is your first venture into usability made; and
testing, it is recommended that you deliver An improvement in subjective satisfaction.
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6. Chapter 4
of all parts outweighs
the individual research
components. Any single
component on its own will
not provide the breadth
or depth of research to
complete your business
requirements. Involving staff
in JAD sessions, interviews
and workplace observations
and usability labs not only
assists with your research
but also helps keep staff
engaged and interested
in the final outcome.
Figure 1: Lotterywest intranet before Do not underestimate
the importance of
communication.
Usability labs can be
done successfully in-house
and at a low cost. Some
usability testing is better
than none, and any steps
towards embedding a user-
centred design approach
in your organisation will
pay dividends in the long
term. Keep in mind that
there is always room for
improvement – usability is
an ongoing journey.
Glenn Williams is team
Figure 2: Lotterywest intranet after leader, systems and web
analysis at Lotterywest.
Summary He can be contacted at glenn.williams@
Adopting a user-centred design approach is lotterywest.wa.gov.au.
important and worth fighting for. In recent
years the fight has become easier, but References
nevertheless intranet teams may still find 1. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/roi.html
resistance from some project managers and 2. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
un-enlightened organisations. quantitative_testing.html
End-user needs are best discovered
by using a mix of techniques. The sum
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