Two intranets become one
I led the design team at Hide and Seek Digital as we partnered with the Department of Infrastructure Transport Regional Development Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) to reconnect their workforce by consolidating two existing, separate intranets into one elevated and connected digital workspace.
New DITRDC Intranet homepage
The problem
Our Intranet design project aimed to solve the following problems:
1 How can we consolidate two intranets into one, with all content accessible through a new IA?
2 How can we modernise the DITRDC intranet to work with their brand identity?
3 How will a new intranet improve the day to day workplace experience for employees of DITRDC?
We conducted six workshops with 46 stakeholders across 14 business divisions. These workshops revealed insights and pain points with the existing experience, as well as a wish list of features and functionality users desired in their new digital workspace. A department wide survey established that employees wanted to search and find information easier, be able to edit and update functionality over time, collaborate and share with others, find key resources, forms and templates, connect with colleagues, and to simplify the onboarding process.
Part of a visual design workshop to establish look and feel of Intranet
In total, our content team audited over 5,000 documents, 3,500 web pages, 41 workspaces, 23 landing pages, 500 content pages and 2,500 news articles. A key issue across both platforms was duplicated and out of date content, incomplete staff profiles, an incomplete document management system, and a confusing search engine capability that didn’t accurately capture everything it should.
Our discovery gave insight into the wants and needs of the DITRDCA team, to design and build a manageable and accessible solution. This research culminated in a clear understanding of the user groups, their journeys and then the 5 top priority services, which were the core areas focused on during the design stage.
Persona developed for a user cohort
A user Journey Map developed for DITRDCA
DITRDCA wanted an intelligent Resource Hub and other customised features including a simpler and more accessible news and events function. Working with the LiveTiles tech, our developers created pop-up modals which allowed for quick and easy access from anywhere within. With the ability to filter, tag and search for any resource or document, DIRTDCA employees could now find the information they needed to accomplish their tasks more quickly.
My team of designers created a range of reusable page templates in line with the DITRDCA’s style guide for a modern and consistent look across the many hundreds of content pages awaiting creation. We created an Intranet style guide and comprehensive atomic component library.
Part of the style guide and component library
Using templates for User Flows
The new digital workspace was created to promote inclusivity for all within DIRTDCA’s workforce. Connecting humans starts with connecting to your own. With a fresh new digital workspace unique to them, DITRDCA employees are spending less time driving two different intranets and more time getting their job done. The ability to filter, tag and search for any resource or document means that employees are now completing tasks a lot quicker.
Designing this from a human-led approach means that DITRDCA get a digital workspace that incorporates all their favourite parts from the old intranets, their wish list for a new intranet, plus a couple of amazing new features. The customised aspects of the site build out a solid framework to future proof management of this important tool well into the future.