Getting budget approval for an intranet project is a significant milestone. But the work that determines whether the project succeeds or fails happens before a single page is built. The questions you ask at the beginning shape everything that follows.
The intranet development process goes through four phases: Review and Retire, Reimagine, Rebuild, and Migrate. Here are the questions that matter most in each one.
Phase 1: Review and Retire
Before designing anything new, take honest stock of what you have. Organizations that skip this step tend to migrate their current disorganization into a new environment and wonder why adoption is low.
- What files and resources currently exist?
- Are these files still relevant to current operations?
- What can be deleted or archived without any real loss?
- How are files currently structured, and why were they organized that way?
- Who has access to what, and does that still make sense?
- Which files get accessed frequently, and which have not been touched in years?
- Do staff struggle to find documents they need?
- When were storage and access policies last reviewed?
Liaising with department heads, particularly HR managers, helps identify which files are still actively needed versus which ones have been kept out of habit.
Phase 2: Reimagine
Once you know what you have, you can design what you want. This phase is about vision, not technical implementation.
- Who will use this intranet, and what will they primarily use it for?
- How should the organization and individual teams be represented?
- What should users see when they first access the site?
- Should the intranet be interactive and engaging, or primarily a document repository?
- How many sites or document libraries are actually needed?
- What permission levels and user roles are required?
- Are there frustrating daily processes that the new intranet could address?
- Which repetitive tasks could be automated?
Phase 3: Rebuild
At this stage, cloud solutions experts create wireframes based on the vision developed in Phase 2. Refining that vision before building saves significant time later.
- What feedback is the team providing on the wireframes?
- Is the design intuitive and logical for people who did not design it?
- Is anything missing or misplaced on the landing page?
- Do the sites and libraries make sense together?
- Are permission levels appropriate for how the organization actually works?
Phase 4: Migrate
Once the design is approved and content has been reviewed, the migration moves content into the new system. Timing and communication are critical here.
- Has a source-to-destination mapping document been completed?
- Which department should pilot the migration first?
- Who are the internal champions for this change?
- What calendar date works best for the migration?
- How many coaching sessions will staff need before and after?
- Is all content accessible post-migration?
We recommend migrating on a Friday evening so that when staff arrives Monday morning, they are directed to the new SharePoint site and can explore in a low-pressure environment. Conducting a pilot migration with a willing department first helps identify issues before the full rollout.
The Takeaway
Intranet development is a significant investment of time and planning. Organizations that work through these questions thoroughly before building end up with systems their teams actually use, rather than expensive environments that get abandoned six months after launch.