Intranet
Intranet
How an organization shares information internally is critical. In my years at Democracy Prep, I created the intranet that was used by 1000+ staff across the entire network of schools. This intranet was called The Crest.
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How an organization shares information internally is critical. In my years at Democracy Prep, I created the intranet that was used by 1000+ staff across the entire network of schools. This intranet was called The Crest.
Used by teachers, administrators, and school support staff at more than 20+ schools around the country.
When I first started at Democracy Prep, it was a network of five schools with ambitious plans to expand. An intranet would be a critical part of how best practices would be disseminated across multiple different schools, some in different states. Over time, the vision for the site was refined from a simple repository of "how-to" guides to something much broader. Staff at every DP school across the country use the Crest every day to find and fill out forms, read about policies from the Superintendent, onboard new staff, troubleshoot software, and analyze data. It has become a core part of the services that the orgnaization provides to all schools in the network.
I worked through two major iterations of the Crest. The first version was created in 2013 and remained in use until 2017; the most recent version was totally rewritten from scratch using a new platform and design. The first version of the Crest was heavily influenced by application launchers present on mobile devices, which at the time, were making their way onto desktop experience as well. This app launcher design was ok, but was heavily dependent on graphic design (read more about the iconography created for this site here.)
The more recent iteration exchanged the app launcher interface for a more traditional navigation paradigm that relied on a top header bar, simplified page hierarchies, and clear team ownership for each article.
The current version of the Crest is an organization-wide resource that is maintained not by one person, but by members of the entire administration. An integral part of the design of this intranet was the creation of a group of editors (at least one or two from each team in the central office) that would be responsible for writing and maintaining content relevant to that respective team. Editors are given a training on how to use the content management system, as well as a number of templates that highlight the general structure of each article, links to assets (including a robust library of icons and team-specific background images) and collaborate online in both the content management system as well as through more traditional organization communication channels (specifically, Slack.)
Each set of pages on the site are designed to have a clear owner, and editors are trained in writing content in plain language, as well as in ensuring that articles include clearly laid out best practices and non-negotiables.