Driving Digital Transformation: The Creation of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Inaugural Intranet
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Role: Digital Content Strategist
Objective: The University of Tennessee Knoxville has launched a digital transformation initiative to enhance online experiences across our diverse community. This initiative is dedicated to creating agile, adaptable digital platforms through strategic, audience-first communication practices, meeting the evolving needs of our external audiences, employees, and students.
Results and Impact: Expected outcomes include enhanced communication, improved productivity, and increased user satisfaction, marking the success of our digital transformation initiative. Testimonials highlighting the transformative impact will be shared soon.
Digital Transformation Goals: We aim to strengthen our relationship with all university stakeholders by creating impactful online experiences, enhancing internal communication, and supporting our community’s success through effective digital transformation strategies.
Duration: This 12-month term position is a testament to our commitment to achieving lasting digital transformation.
Design and Development:
The digital transformation journey culminated in the creation of a SharePoint Intranet Hub (“Employee Hub”), designed to facilitate seamless sharing and collaboration across the university.
Challenges and Solutions:
Custom solutions were developed to overcome SharePoint’s limitations, ensuring our digital transformation objectives were met without compromising functionality or user experience.
Technical Hurdles:
Access Control: The Employee Hub features an inclusive access model, granting all university faculty and staff entry via a unified Active Directory system, with specific site administrative rights assigned at the individual site level for finer control.
Customization for Content Management: To facilitate efficient content management, we developed custom views within the intranet’s asset areas, enabling content managers to streamline their management of news feeds and resources effectively.
SharePoint Design Adaptations: We encountered unique SharePoint behaviors, such as disappearing menus upon scrolling, and tailored our design approach to ensure a seamless user experience that accommodates these features.
Navigation and Organization: Without the ability for automated breadcrumb navigation in SharePoint, for in-depth content navigation we employed a deliberate design strategy to incorporate these navigational aids, enhancing user orientation within the site.
Individualized Footers: Due to SharePoint’s architecture, footers aren’t universally applied across hub sites in the same manner as global menus. As a result, we custom-designed each footer to maintain consistency and usability across different parts of the intranet.
Template Customization: Given UT Knoxville’s integration within the broader University of Tennessee System, which currently operates under a single tenant, a templated approach could not be employed. Instead, we developed a specifically tailored look for our context. This meant applying the styling across sites individually as part of their initial setup. Any changes to that look and feel will require manual updates across sites, ensuring a cohesive look and feel tailored to our campus’s unique needs.
PROCESS AND STRATEGY
Fourty-six different academic, administrative, and operational units across campus collaborated on this project. To coordinate these efforts, my team successfully executed 1,500 tasks to achieve all six project milestones on schedule for each participating unit.
Key Platforms:
External Websites: Designed to foster learning and engagement, reinforcing our commitment to digital transformation for our external community.
Employee Intranet: A digital transformation effort to streamline internal communication and document sharing, facilitating better collaboration.
Student CRM: Integral to our digital transformation, this platform enhances the educational journey of our students with targeted support and resources.
Leadership and Collaboration: Spearheaded by the Office of Communications and Marketing alongside the Office of Information Technology, this digital transformation is a collaborative campus-wide effort. I served as part of a dedicated team consisting of 2 Digital Strategists and 2 Content Producers.
About the Intranet: At the heart of our digital transformation is UT Knoxville’s intranet. This web-based platform is being developed to enhance collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing. It will feature interconnected sites and pages loaded with campus-wide content, all aimed at improving strategic communication and user experience.
Intranet Structure: A central hub equipped with a robust search feature will be the cornerstone of the intranet’s architecture, making it a key piece in our digital transformation puzzle. It will serve as a centralized location for accessing a wide range of internal information, with contributions from every academic college, administrative division, and unit.
Phases of Work
Phase 1: Content Audit
Evaluate content based on audience relevance and intent, setting the stage for our digital transformation content strategy.
EXPECTATION: SITE OWNERS
Assess all online content using our site crawler and audit tool
Collaborate with strategists for guidance and assistance
Categorize content based on relevancy and target audience
OPERATIONAL WORKFLOW: INTERNAL
Dx Team holds an initial meeting with content owners
Advise on content strategy and organization
Coach content owners through the completion of site audits
DOCUMENTATION AND TRACKING
Checklist for strategists with initial questions/checklists for content owners
Develop a working plan for content owners outlining the next action steps and path to completion
Help track what needs to be pulled from external site once hub launches
PHASE 2: Content Homing
Organize and categorize content, establishing the foundation for an intranet hub that aligns with our digital transformation vision.
EXPECTATION: SITE OWNERS
Gather/map content for intranet hub site
Assist in naming of content folders/files.
Determine visual flow of information
OPERATIONAL WORKFLOW: INTERNAL
Establish initial Team staging channel + gather and “dump” files into broad folders
Name files/folders for eventual placement
Strategists work with hub site owners to determine timeline and site map
DOCUMENTATION and TRACKING
Collect naming conventions for informing use across Intranet
Broad Site map outline
Document any considerations and possible conflicts that could arise
PHASE 3: Content Revamp
Refresh or develop new content to fit within our digital transformation framework, preparing it for the intranet hub site.
EXPECTATION: SITE OWNERS
Serve as SME to content needs
Organize content according to site map
Final approval. of content prior to migration to intranet hub site
OPERATIONAL WORKFLOW: INTERNAL
Producers assist in creation/recreation/revision of content as needed
Strategists coach through content alignment with site map
Populate files in appropriate folders for migration to Intranet
DOCUMENTATION and TRACKING
Establish content folders in Teams staging channel
Document(s) for On-Page content
Create a formalized approval for site owners/OIT/OCM to agree that files are ready to migrate to Intranet
PHASE 4: Content Placement
Develop the Hub and internal pages, ensuring content migration aligns with digital transformation goals.
EXPECTATION: SITE OWNERS
Assist in placement of content into site with alongside producers and strategists
Assist in adding design elements to pages as needed/desired
Consider additional needs and next steps would like to include
OPERATIONAL WORKFLOW: INTERNAL
Move content to final destination on backend of intranet site -OIT assist
Strategists work with OIT on template customization and implementation
Assist in placing content -particularly written content
DOCUMENTATION and TRACKING
Develop guidance documents for hub site owners (placement of content, FAQs, best practices)
track customization requests as they arrise
Track considerations and potential issues
PHASE 5: Content Refinement
Optimize the intranet based on user feedback, reflecting our commitment to continuous improvement in our digital transformation journey.
EXPECTATION: SITE OWNERS
Review and test intranet site for errors and navigation issues
Engage stakeholders for feedback
Implement necessary changes and finalize first draft for deployment
OPERATIONAL WORKFLOW: INTERNAL
Producers assist with troubleshooting and content edits
Strategists consult with stakeholder feedback
Strategists consult with OIT for technical issues
DOCUMENTATION and TRACKING
Create checklist to determine if site is ready for testing
Develop feedback mechanisms for beta testers (polls, surveys)
Generate formal authorization from site owner/OIT/OCM for ‘go-live’ readiness
PHASE 6: Content Maintenance
Keep the intranet current, showcasing it as a reliable digital transformation resource for employees.
EXPECTATION: SITE OWNERS
Keep intranet site updated with current information
Monitor for questions and issues
Ensure intranet remains a go-to destination for employees
OPERATIONAL WORKFLOW: INTERNAL
Strategists coach hub site owners through a plan for timely content updates
Monitor for questions and issues, providing support as needed
DOCUMENTATION and TRACKING
Provide guidance documents for hub site owners (updating procedures)
Create feedback polls to gauge user satisfaction
Testing and Implementation:
Conducting thorough user testing to refine our digital transformation outputs, guaranteeing they meet our internal community’s needs.