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What is an IntraNet? It's not a typo...
by
Jeanette S. Cates, Ph.D.
The Technology Tamer™
The press has been replete with articles on the internet in recent years. But 1996
has seen an extraordinatory increase in the use of the word "IntraNet". Just
what is it and why would you want one?
You probably have a network within your building or company. There may be a mainframe
or a mini computer that provides information to your employees. Or you may have a group
of servers that provide different types of information. But for each type of information,
there is generally a specialized application program -- one for databases, one for email,
one for forms, etc. Each of these programs requires different commands, a learning curve,
and special programmer support. An IntraNet can change all of that.
An IntraNet is a network of networks within a building or company. It provides the
same "look and feel" of the Internet, but often with a "firewall"
of protection from the outside world.
Why would my business want an IntraNet?
An IntraNet provides several advantages:
- It provides an expandable cross-platform means of accessing company data, such as
database records, electronic mail, policies and procedures, forms, and other administrative
information.
- It provides a controlled environment for employee access to appropriate and
relevant information.
- It distributes the publication of information to the departments responsible
for creating and managing the information, rather than having all information funneled
through the Information Services (IS) department.
What is required to have an IntraNet?
An IntraNet is premised on the idea that you have one or more local area networks (LANs)
in place in your building or company Then you set up an internet server for each IntraNet
"site"--generally the entire company or an individual department, depending on
your size.
Where does the information for the IntraNet come from?
Information for the IntraNet comes from several sources:
- Web pages that IS staff members construct for company information.
- Web pages that departmental staff members publish, highlighting their projects
and shared information.
- Web pages that "information brokers" construct leading others to the
information sources they need to do their job. You probably already have information
brokers on your staff. These are the "gurus" on a particular topic. They
always have the latest information and research on a topic. Often they are already
using the internet as a research site. They can provide a list of appropriate sites on
the internet as well as the company IntraNet. In addition, you may want to add servers
that provide "search agents" to retrieve and bring specified and updated
information from the wide area networks (WANs) to your IntraNet.
How much time does it take to maintain the IntraNet?
This will vary with the complexity and quantity of the information you want to put on
your IntraNet, as well as the currency of the information you want to maintain. For
example, do you want all of your policies and procedures available on the IntraNet?
Do you want all of the company forms on the IntraNet? Do you want daily updates on
each project or will a weekly update suffice?
Your IS staff will design the basic structure of your IntraNet, including the level
of involvement of individual departments. IS Staff use HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
to author the web pages that will be your IntraNet. While HTML is not difficult, it is
a changing standard that is tedious for the non-technical to use.
Staff members from individual departments can publish and maintain their informational
web pages with easy-to-use packages like PageMill, Claris Home Page, or Microsoft Front
Page. These programs provide a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, so
that non-technical personnel can provide the information in a useable format without
having to learn HTML.
Various staff members will take on the role of "information broker",
depending on their content expertise and interest. These brokers spend time gathering
internet and IntraNet resource sites that will be of interest to others. If you operate
a "search agent" server, searches can be configured and scheduled to operate
automatically.
Each of these roles can be "another duty as assigned or volunteered for", or
can expand to full-time jobs. Many businesses find that it is most practical to outsource
their web work, particularly in the beginning.
What should I do next?
Talk to your CIO about whether or not an IntraNet would be a good investment for your
company. You may want to contract with a technology consultant to help walk you through
the steps to establishing an IntraNet. Or you may want to read next issue's column
in which I'll discuss the life of an IntraNet, from birth to maturity.
-----------------------
Jeanette S. Cates, PhD.
is an Educational Technology Consultant with SchoolVision™
of Texas. Dr. Cates specializes in the multimedia, internet and distance learning
applications of technology in the classroom and administrative suites of schools
and colleges.
© 1999 Permission is granted to reprint this article in print
or on your web site so long as the paragraph above is included and
contact information is provided to www.TechTamers.com.
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