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Hi,
I work for a manufacturing company of 180 employees, only about a quarter of whom have access to a PC. We are currently considering the set up of an intranet, with additional PC's to be installed in mess-rooms for shop floor staff to use.
There is some resistance at Management level to this project, for reasons of cost and staff resources. Therefore, as a demonstration, I am considering starting in a very basic fashion by streamlining our shared drive in some fashion. At the moment, this drive is not categorized at all, except in alphabetical order by folder name. I would like to be able to create an HTML page that would show the contents of the drive graphically. Is it possible for this to update automatically, or would I have to manually add folders and documents to the HTML page as they are added on the network? I have the Adobe Creative Suite 3 and would use Dreamweaver to create the site.
I think you need to think about the implications of what you are doing.
I think the issue of making your shared drive more efficient (tools like Alfresco do this nicely) is appropriate.
The question is whether an intranet will have much value in your organization. With only a small portion of your employees online, you ultimately create the following:
A greater divide between those who have access and those who don't. This can damage teamwork and create organizational divisions that are costly and counterproductive.
More work -- creating content for online delivery is great... if the old mechanism (usually paper) goes away. But having to deliver information in BOTH formats only increases the workload.
Sorry to be a nay-sayer... but I think those are the realities.
My suggestion, as I've said in this group many times, is to create a clear business plan to management of how your organization benefits (cost, teamwork, profits) from:
1. Getting all employees online (some how)
2. Delivering/collecting important employee information online.
Once management gets on-board, things can move forward. If they're not on-board, don't waste your time. (At some point they may come around.)
I think you need to think about the implications of what you are doing.
I think the issue of making your shared drive more efficient (tools like Alfresco do this nicely) is appropriate.
The question is whether an intranet will have much value in your organization. With only a small portion of your employees online, you ultimately create the following:
A greater divide between those who have access and those who don't. This can damage teamwork and create organizational divisions that are costly and counterproductive.
More work -- creating content for online delivery is great... if the old mechanism (usually paper) goes away. But having to deliver information in BOTH formats only increases the workload.
Sorry to be a nay-sayer... but I think those are the realities.
My suggestion, as I've said in this group many times, is to create a clear business plan to management of how your organization benefits (cost, teamwork, profits) from:
1. Getting all employees online (some how)
2. Delivering/collecting important employee information online.
Once management gets on-board, things can move forward. If they're not on-board, don't waste your time. (At some point they may come around.)
-c
Many thanks ctobola,
I take your point about the value an intranet may provide. As usual in these cases, some people feel it will be a panacea that will somehow solve all our workflow problems. I realise, of course, that any intranet is only ever as good as the content and the take-up across the organisation.
The wider program we are involved in at present is trying to bring the company together- at the moment there is a sharp divide between manufacturing and office staff. The idea of creating an intranet was meant to be part of this solution, but it is critical that we increase access to PC's as a first step before doing anything else. I've looked at the Alfresco site you mentioned and it seems impressive.
Do you have any experience of the kind of situation we're in, i.e. wanting to widen PC access among manufacturing staff, or any thoughts on potential pitfalls?
My suggestion is to sell the Internet access issue on cost savings.
Take PCs that have been retired from the office environment and put them in public spaces or break rooms. This can diminish printing costs of manuals and paper documentation, allow for online benefits enrollment, provide a mechanism for employee satisfaction, etc. It can also increase satisfaction if employees are also allowed to check e-mail while on break, or view sports scores, etc.
Once again, it's a sell job -- it won't fly unless senior management backs the idea AND makes this an expectation.
I agree with these points.
It is smart way to start small, but you need a 'killer application' that will save time and people will like it. Something like book holiday online or fill overtime form online.
The idea to take one old machine and convert it to access point is good and can solve the problem for those who don't have access
Hi,
I work for a manufacturing company of 180 employees, only about a quarter of whom have access to a PC. We are currently considering the set up of an intranet, with additional PC's to be installed in mess-rooms for shop floor staff to use.
There is some resistance at Management level to this project, for reasons of cost and staff resources. Therefore, as a demonstration, I am considering starting in a very basic fashion by streamlining our shared drive in some fashion. At the moment, this drive is not categorized at all, except in alphabetical order by folder name. I would like to be able to create an HTML page that would show the contents of the drive graphically. Is it possible for this to update automatically, or would I have to manually add folders and documents to the HTML page as they are added on the network? I have the Adobe Creative Suite 3 and would use Dreamweaver to create the site.
Many thanks in advance,
Doug.
Hi Doug
have you consider solution like www.claromentis.com
Their Intranet is PHP based and there is complete API available, means you can extend it inhouse.
Talking about killer application, they have some nifty apps such as compliance, holiday booking and form builder.
My organization is trying to stay away from .NET and SharePoint solution simply because we much prefer to deploy our Intranet on linux server.
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