The SharePoint Dude

By popular request, I have decided to break down 6 steps of The PORTAL Method for you, one-by-one! Beginning March 8, I will present each step in detail for 6 weeks.

The PORTAL Method is an IT Methodology that was developed, specifically for the niche purpose of planning, designing and deploying successful corporate intranet portals.

The PORTAL Method Series – Week 1: Planning. This week, we’ll break down the Planning step in our process. Stop in and read up on how to gather up the masses to reach portal greatness!

Have you ever heard the saying, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail”? I don’t recall who said it originally, but it certainly rings true. It rings especially true when planning a corporate intranet portal. Planning is THE single most important step in The PORTAL Method for a variety of reasons.

The first step in planning is to gather together your team. This may sound easy, but depending on your corporate climate, this could prove to be the most challenging step for you. If your company has a lot of red-tape, or seemingly takes “forever” to make a decision about IT, you’ll need to muster your selling skills on this step.

The next step in the Planning process is to determine what you have that is “useful” within your organization today, as well as what you lack. Find out what servers contain critical information, where the users store their favorite “stash” of repeatedly used data, what storage bins, servers, email folders, servers, graphs, charts and doohickeys are still relevant and useful.

Establish a Communication Plan: With your fancy Exec on-board, it’s time to put them to work!  (ok… it’s time to politely ask them to help you).   You want to begin to build a formal Communication Plan to get information about your portal project out to the masses.   You want users to pay attention, participate in [...]