8 step to Intranet development guide
Step 1: Gather Information Step 1: Gather Information.
Objectives:
1. Identify procedures and methods of locating information about the
business that can be improved through the deployment of an Intranet.
2. Gain an understanding of the current technologies in use within the
organization so they can be integrated into the overall plan.
3. Determine types of “Legacy Documents” that need to be converted.
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Published by
XtraNet
180 Attwell Dr., Suite 130 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M9W 6A9
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Copyright © 1999 by XtraNet
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First Edition
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Intranet Deployment Guide
Table of Contents
Step 1: Gather Information 1
Step 2: Document Definition / Navigation Standards 2
Step 3: Publishing Paradigm 3
Step 4: Template Creation 3
Step 5: Choosing Your Tools 4
Step 6: Training 5
Step 7: Deploying the Solution 5
Step 8: Maintaining the site 5
Example Document Standard 7,8,9
Example Template 10
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The 8 Steps to Successful Intranet Deployment
Step 11 Step 55
Step
Step
Gather Information Create aa
Create
Gather Information
Document Template
Document Template
Step 22
Step Step 66
Step
Implement the
Implement the Training on the tools,
Training on the tools,
Intranet Publishing
Intranet Publishing the template, and the
the template, and the
Paradigm
Paradigm document standard
document standard
Step 33
Step Step 77
Step
Choose your tools
Choose your tools Deploying the
Deploying the
Solution
Solution
Step 44
Step
Create aaDocument
Create Document
Standard Step 88
Step
Standard
Maintaining the site
Maintaining the site
Figure 1 Eight Steps Flow Chart
2 XtraNet U - The place to learn how to develop for the web - http://www.xnu.com
Intranet Deployment Guide
Step 1: Gather Information
Step 1: Gather Information
Objectives:
1. Identify procedures and methods of locating information about the
business that can be improved through the deployment of an Intranet.
2. Gain an understanding of the current technologies in use within the
organization so they can be integrated into the overall plan.
3. Determine types of “Legacy Documents” that need to be converted.
Section 1.1: Identify Business Objectives, and Information for large-scale
distribution
Objective 1: identify procedures that can be streamlined in terms of time required
to complete, improving accuracy, reducing paperwork, and information updated
rapidly but is distributed slowly. Below are a list of Business Objectives that might
be helpful in determining the area that can be served best initially and create the
most return on investment.
Sample Business Objectives:
• Improved Customer Satisfaction
• Savings on operations
• Increases in revenue
• Increased Opportunities
• Time savings
• Increasing operational efficiencies
• Lowering the cost of operations
• Improved Business processes
• Profile your prospects
• Profile your customers
Sample Information for large-scale distribution:
• What are employees looking for / what do they need
- Company phonebook
- Organizational chart
• Breaking News / What’s New / Hot off the Press
• Customer service ( Internal or external Customer )
- Pre/Post Sale Information
- Research and Development Information
- Project Info – Status, Progress to Date
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Section 1.2: Determine Existing Technology Deployment
Objective 2: Gather Information to determine what you have in terms of existing
technology. This is useful information when we move into the later steps of the
process. It saves duplication of effort; helps align project plans and focus effort
on common goals. Below is a list of information you may want to gather about
your environment.
Network Infrastucture
• Current status with respect to the Internet
• Mail and messaging environment
• Security and Firewalls
• Transport Protocols in place
• Available bandwidth
User & Desktop
• Operating systems and standards
• Applications standards and support guidelines
• Communications and e-mail
• Browser and access restrictions
• Assess knowledge level
Section 1.3: Locate and Identify Legacy Documents
Objective 3: is to determine the type and number of existing documents that need
to be converted to a format supported on your Intranet. Below is a sample list of
information you may want to gather.
Legacy Documents
• What file formats are currently being used for
- Word-processing
- Spreadsheets
- Presentations
- Graphics
• What documents should be converted to electronic form only?
• What documents need to be converted to an electronic form and maintain a paper
copy?
• How many documents need to be converted in total?
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Intranet Deployment Guide
S tte p 2 :: I I m p l e m e n t t t h e I I n t r a n e t P u b l l i s h i n g P a rr a d i g m
S ep 2 mplement he ntranet Pubishing Pa adigm
Objectives:
1. Define the Intranet Publishing Paradigm
2. Define the Information Publishing Flow
3. Define the Intranet Team. Determine who is going to fill the positions
on the team, and adjust the MBOs, or job descriptions of the people
contributing to the Intranet to include their new responsibilities.
4. Create a mission statement for the Intranet and give it a name.
Section 2.1: Intranet Publishing Paradigm
Information Storage Information Consumers
Employees with Browsers
Intranet Web Servers Proxy Servers
Information Producers
Employees Creating Information
Information Managers
(Audit & Publish)
Information Creators Information Creators
(Create & Convert) (Create & Convert)
Figure 2 Intranet Publishing Paradigm
The Intranet publishing paradigm describes the fundamental change occurring
within organizations today. Presently, making a document created by an
employee available to other employees is a slow process, if at all possible. The
Intranet provides a, because it allows all of the information consumers within an
organization to get to information as soon as it is published. The content creator
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can create a high quality document in HTML, PDF, or another approved format
for distribution.
Information / Content Creators:
• Anyone within the organization that authors documents
• May need skills upgraded
• Usually the person that owns that information
Information Manager / Content Auditor:
• Manager Level within the organization
• Business Unit Manager
• Corporate Communications Staff
• May need skills upgraded
• Audits the information for accuracy
• Will return documents to the Information Creator with revision comments.
Technical Auditor:
• Pagemasters (Highly skilled in HTML and related technologies.)
• Checks the document to make sure it fits within the document standard
• Will return documents to the Information Creator with revision comments.
Publisher / Webmaster / Site Maintainers:
• Takes documents from the Technical Auditor and publishes them to the staging server.
• Moves the content from the staging server to the production Intranet Server.
• Webmasters (usually IS staff that maintain the web servers)
Information Consumers
• Employees with browsers installed.
• There are two types, the bottom end and the high-end
• Off-line browsing and replication
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Intranet Deployment Guide
Section 2.2: Information Publishing Flow
Documents are
HTML Documents
converted to
are created
HTML
Content
No Audit
Process
Yes
Technical
No Audit
Process
Yes
Information is
No Published to
Staging Server
Yes
Information copied to
Production Server
Information is
Consumed
Figure 3 Information Flow Flowchart
The "Content Auditor" position gives someone control over the "Content
Creators" content area to approve it or send it back for further revisions.
The "Technical Auditor" is someone with excellent knowledge of the document
standard (defined later) and the publishing technology. This person approves or
sends the document back for further revisions based on technical merit.
If the document passes both audits it can be published. Publishing may be a two
step process (See Information Flow diagram) in which it is first published to a
staging server to make sure all links are working and that it connects properly
with existing content. If the document is ok it is moved to the production site. If
not, it is sent back with comments for revision.
Section 2.3: Define the Intranet Team. Determine who is going to fill
the positions on the team and adjust the MBOs or job descriptions of
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the people contributing to the Intranet to include their new
responsibilities.
Section 2.4: Create a mission statement for the Intranet and give it a
name.
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Intranet Deployment Guide
S t teep 33: : C h o o sse yyo u rr t to o l lss
S p Choo e ou oo
Objectives:
1. Choose the tools (server and client) required in the creation of your
Intranet.
2. Determine your Intranet Application Development architecture.
Section 3.1.a: Internet Security Structure
Router
Firewall 2nd Level Firewall
Internet
Internet Web Server Extranet Web Server Intranet Web Server
Internet FTP Server Extranet FTP Server Intranet FTP Server
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Extranet Intranet
Figure 4 Internet Security Structure
Figure 4 is an architectural diagram of a secure Internet environment. In
consideration of the tools and resources required, security plays an important
role in your Intranet design. Depending on the scope of your project you may
need to include some of the elements detailed in Figure 4.
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Section 3.1.b: A Full Service Intranet
Collaboration Servers
News Server E-mail Server Calendar Server Chat Server Directory Server
Content Servers Certificate Server
Infrastructure Servers
Index Server Web Server
Information Stores
Database Server IBM AS/400 Mainframe
Figure 5 Full Service Intranet
Figure 5 represents an architectural diagram of an Intranet and includes a
number of components that you may not have been considering. An Intranet
today is far more than just an internal web server with some static web pages.
Your Intranet should make it easier for the employees to communicate
information and collaborate on projects.
Since the browser makes things truly a point and click interface you should be
thinking of ways to present information from your traditional information stores in
this format.
You should consider each one of these areas specifically.
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Intranet Deployment Guide
Section 3.1.b.i: Infrastructure Servers
Directory Server
Certificate Server
Infrastructure Servers
Figure 6 Infrastructure Servers
Section 3.1.b.ii: Collaboration Servers
Collaboration Servers
News Server E-mail Server Calendar Server Chat Server
Figure 7 Collaboration Servers
Collaboration Tools
• Netmeeting
• Chat servers
• Video Conferencing
• News servers
• E-mail servers
• Calendar servers
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Section 3.1.b.iii: Content and Information Servers
Content Servers
Index Server Web Server
Information Stores
Database Server IBM AS/400 Mainframe
Figure 8 Content Servers and Information Stores
Web Server
• Netscape Enterprise or Microsoft Internet Information Server
• Server side scripting language and tools
• 5250 & 3270 gateways
Section 3.1.c: Site Management Tools & Reporting Tools
• MKS
• Netscapes
• SoftQuads
• Microsofts
Section 3.1.d: Programming tools
• Visual Interdev (Microsoft)
• Visual Studio (Microsoft)
• Visual JAVAScript (Netscape)
Section 3.1.e: Authoring Tools
• SoftQuad – HoTMetaL PRO
• Microsoft – Frontpage 98
• Netscape – Composer
• Sausage – HotDog Professional
• Allaire – HomeSite
• Macromedia - Dreamweaver
Section 3.1.f: Graphics Tools
• Adobe Photoshop
• GIF Animators
• Illustrator
• Corel Photopaint
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Intranet Deployment Guide
Section 3.2: Determine your Intranet Application Development
architecture
Section 3.2.a: Simple CGI Program
1
2
3
Browser Web Server
Client Server
Figure 9 CGI Program Process
1. The client fills out an HTML document containing the element and presses the
submit button. This sends the data the user entered to the web server.
2. The web server receives the data and passes it to the program specified in the ACTION
attribute of the element. This program is call a CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
program. It can be written in a number of languages; VBScript, JAVAScript, PERL, C++, etc. It
can perform a number of different functions.
3. The CGI program creates a new HTML document on the fly and sends it to the client.
Browser Web Server CGI Program
Netscape Navigator Netscape Enterprise Server - NSAPI -C++
- PERL
- Server side JAVAScript
Microsoft Internet Explorer Microsoft Internet Information - ISAPI -C++
Server - PERL
- Active Server Pages (ASP)
JScript or VBScript
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Section 3.2.b: Three-Tier Web Application Development
1 2
4 3
Browser Web Server Database Server
Client Server
Figure 10 Three-Tier Web Application Development
1. The client fills out an HTML document containing the element and presses the
submit button. This sends the data the user entered to the web server.
2. The web server receives the data and passes it to the program specified in the ACTION
attribute of the element. This program is call a CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
program. It can be written in a number of languages; VBScript, JAVAScript, PERL, C++, etc.
The program in this case creates a command and issues it to the database server.
3. The Database Server receives the command and issues it against the database. The
data returned from the command is then sent back to the CGI application running on the
web server.
4. The CGI program creates a new HTML document on the fly with the data returned from the
database server and sends it to the client.
Browser Web Server CGI Database
Program Server
Netscape Navigator Netscape - NSAPI -C++ - Oracle
Enterprise Server - PERL - Informix
- Server side - Sybase
JAVAScript - Microsoft SQL
- Other ODBC
Microsoft Internet Microsoft Internet - ISAPI -C++ compliant
Explorer Information Server - PERL
- Active Server Pages
(ASP)
JScript or VBScript
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Intranet Deployment Guide
Section 3.2.c: Four-Tier Web Application Development
1 2 3
4
3
6 5 4
Browser
Web Server Transaction Server Database Server
Client Server
Figure 11 Four-Tier Web Application Development
1. The client fills out an HTML document containing the element and presses the
submit button. This sends the data the user entered to the web server.
2. The web server receives the data and passes it to the program specified in the ACTION
attribute of the element. This program is call a CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
program.
In this case the program invokes a transaction on the transaction server.
3. The Database Server receives a command from the transaction server and issues it
against the database.
4. The data returned from the command is then sent back to the transaction, this cycle will
continue until the transaction fails or completes.
5. When the transaction completes successfully or unsuccessfully it passes the result to
the web server.
6. The CGI program running on the web server then creates a new HTML document on the fly
with the data returned from the transaction server and sends it to the client.
Transaction Server Choices:
- Microsoft Transaction Server
- Netscape Application Server
- Oracle Application Server
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Step 4: Create a Document Standard and Navigation Standard
Step 4: Create a Document Standard and Navigation Standard
Objectives:
1) Create a reference document
(a) Define technologies that can be used.
(b) Elements that must be included on every page.
(c) Define how a page should look.
2) Create a site navigation plan and directory structure.
Section 4.1: The Document
§ Author’s name on every page.
§ Author’s e-mail address on every page.
§ Date the document was published.
- Use of Meta Tags, or on the page
§ Graphics – max size, supported formats
- Image maps support ( yes / no )
§ Font type – primary and secondary
§ Consistent document colors
§ Server side includes
§ Standard template
- Tables for formatting
§ Document Size limit
Section 4.1.a: Technology Choices
§ Browser ( Netscape / Microsoft )
- Browser Version
§ Screen Resolution
- 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768
§ Frames ( yes / no )
§ JAVA Applets ( yes / no )
§ ActiveX Controls ( yes / no )
§ JAVAScript or VBScript
- JAVAScript Version or Jscript
§ Client-side or Server-side or both
§ Cascading Style Sheets support ( yes / no )
§ How are you going to tackle FORMS & CGI
- Perl, ASP, Livewire, etc.
§ Legacy Document Conversion
- Word – Import into Publishing tool
- Excel – Cut and Paste into Publishing tool
- PowerPoint – Export using wizard
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Intranet Deployment Guide
Section 4.2: Site Navigation Plan and Directory Structure
§ Image Maps verses Links
§ Departmental
§ Project Based
§ Organizational
§ Special Interest Groups
Homepage
Sales and Human
Marketing Resources
Customer
Education and Training
Service
Corporate
Research &
Communications
Development
Operations &
Manufacturing
Administration
Computing Legal &
Services Finance
Figure 12 Web Site Navigation
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