Guide: Setting Up Your First SharePoint Intranet Site

Revisiting the Journey of Building SharePoint Intranets

Within the breadth of her career, the author Ellen Van Aken has been instrumental in creating and launching three SharePoint intranets, starting with a custom-built SharePoint 2003 version, followed by SharePoint 2007 and subsequently, SharePoint Online. The experiences, the author admits, have been a mixture of praiseworthy achievements and mistakes that offer learning opportunities.

Her first SharePoint intranet journey started in 2005 with a custom-built intranet on SharePoint 2003. To maintain the momentum of the growing intranet, they aimed to carry over as many features from the old system to the new SharePoint platform.

However, this process was not without its challenges. One of the major missteps, as the author admits, was excessive customization. They edited backend texts and replaced the default Folder capabilities in Document Libraries with a mandatory column labelled 'Category'. This turned out to be an inconvenience for users wanting to add new categories quickly.

The author's team also struggled with generating usage statistics. They wanted detailed usage insights broken down at various organizational and business levels but ended up making this system too complex. Another regrettable decision was outsourcing the intranet support - a move that had detrimental effects on their intranet, as mentioned in the author's blog post, "Ouch-sourcing".

Despite these mistakes, there were significant successes as well. The team managed to enhance the SharePoint's functionalities to create Business Solutions. They established a process that improved problematic business workflows based on business cases. They also developed a calculation method approved by their finance team to determine project priorities and benefits.

One notable success was the pre-SAP automation of the CRM-process for a part of the organization. This process allowed different teams to analyze customer complaints and decide on reimbursements or identifying the responsible parties for complaints and damages. The business was satisfied with the improved and cost-effective processes.

However, Ellen faced disappointment when she found that her subsequent employers were not keen on using this setup. The first SharePoint intranet she worked on scored high in Digital Workplace Group's Benchmarking tables, except for Usability and Design. Lastly, she proudly noted a unique success of having the oldest intranet promotion video in her collection.

Learn more about SharePoint Online here

The Journey of Developing Microsoft SharePoint-Based Intranets: A Broader Perspective

Building an intranet system on SharePoint involves a fine blend of strategic planning, intensive customization, and responsive action. It's about developing ways to simplify processes without compromising on the system's flexibility. Experiences and learning opportunities, such as those highlighted by Ellen, showcase the constant evolution of customized features and solutions aimed at improving workflows. Such transformations also highlight the importance of maintaining a balance between extensive modifications and user-friendly systems. Whether it's SharePoint 2003, SharePoint Online, or any other platform, the essence lies in leveraging SharePoint's potential to foster seamless and effective communication and collaboration tools catered to specific business needs.

Read the full article My very first SharePoint intranet

Learn about My very first SharePoint intranet

The first step in establishing your bespoke SharePoint intranet is to grasp the structure and features of the platform. This knowledge will be based on experience gained through implementation of three SharePoint-based intranets. These varied intranets include a custom-built option for SharePoint 2003, a SharePoint 2007 option, both of which were on premise, and lastly, a SharePoint Online option for a different platform. This entry would look into the successes and failures encountered during the implementation of these intranets which could be of interest, and a learning tool for you.

The first SharePoint system was installed back in 2005. Our in-house system had gained traction and we sought to ensure that the transitioning to SharePoint 2003 didn't lose the momentum. We desired that the SharePoint system works as smoothly as the existing system. Although this ambitous goal was not the best decision as events would later show, worse decisions were made.

First amongst the errors encountered was excessive customization. We made far-reaching alterations to the system, such as modifying backend texts and swapping Folder abilities from Document Libraries for a compulsory column named Category. This modification seemed innovative but posed problems like difficulty in adding new categories.

Another error was the overcomplicated usage data. We custom-built our usage data to break it down into diverse organizational and business levels following the model of our old intranet. Unfortunately, the outcome was convoluted and far from ideal.

A mistake that proved disastrous was the decision to outsource support. This move, decided at the company level, was to detrimental to our intranet system. However, not all was gloomy with the SharePoint 2003.

On the brighter side, we recorded successes with the new system. One of such victories saw us creating a process to improve the usage of the new intranet, shortly after its birthing. We turned into a 'Business Solutions team' that enhanced problematic business operations, supported by a business case. This case is a testament to the proficiency of the SharePoint Online and the benefits it offers.

We attained excellence with one of our cases in automating pre-SAP CRM-processes for the organization. Complaint handling became efficient with different teams attending to every complaint and deciding whether to reimburse the customer or place responsibility on another party. You can find additional case examples here.

Another achievement was our impressive ranking in Digital Workplace Group's Benchmarking tables. We not only made the process top-notch, but performed excellently in all categories except Usability and Design. More information on the Benchmarking process is available here.

Lastly, we can pride ourselves as one of the earliest organizations to make an intranet launch video. This promotional video is the oldest in my collection and is available for viewing. SharePoint Online can be a beneficial tool if well managed.

More links on about My very first SharePoint intranet

My very first SharePoint intranet - Ellen's Digital Workplace

Aug 28, 2022 — During my career I have helped to create and implement 3 SharePoint-based intranets: Custom-built > SharePoint 2003 (on prem)SharePoint 2007 ...

Plan an intelligent SharePoint intranet

Jul 12, 2023 — Learn about how to plan a new SharePoint intranet with focus on bringing sites online quickly and getting a return on your investment.

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