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Every quarter send a quick survey asking your users for three things your intranet should START DOING and three things your intranet should STOP DOING. Make it simple. When you get the results, share the data and insights with the company. Learn from it. And do something about it.

Employees don’t go to the intranet to surf or hang out. They’re seeking specific content—often a phone number, a form, a policy or HR information—then they’re gone until they need something again.

Intranet content should be specifically for employees, written for the screen, in an employee context (i.e., what’s in it for me?). Ideally, it has half the word count as print, is presented in the inverted pyramid format, and is delivered in small chunks with subheads, bullets and callouts.

It must also be fresh. Add an expiration date that forces the author or publisher to revisit, renew or archive content. If it’s not kept up to date, the content is automatically deleted.

• In general, news pieces should not duplicate efforts by re-posting content already available elsewhere, including on the UNEP website. When required, the intranet content should add value to news stories by providing staff context and by bringing to their attention core organisational knowledge
• Material posted should be created in a manner that provides accessibility to the widest audience, including persons with disabilities

• News should add value by providing the story from the perspective of personnel and bring attention to core organizational knowledge. Static content should be regularly checked and updated to ensure the most current version is available.

Unmanaged content on the intranet can lead to the intranet becoming a dumping ground for irrelevant, out-of-date content. This section of the governance document is particularly relevant for intranet authors and to a lesser extent, may be used by approvers and content writers.

Topics within the publishing content and documents section may include information on:

• templates
• related links
• metadata
• publishing documents (including size limits)
• naming documents
• versioning
• promoting content to the intranet (from other information repositories)
• archiving
• images (including format, resizing, use of)
• organising content
• content review process
• removing obsolete content
• writing for the web

News stories

In submitting news stories, the following procedures should be followed:

• Articles should be submitted by email to weCollaborate@un.org at least 48 hours before the requested posting date or time. The article text should be included in the body of the email or as an attachment in a Microsoft Word document (PDFs are not accepted). Duty station editors may enter local articles directly into the CMS and publish them. If an article is to be published globally, please alert the weCollaborate team after entering it into the CMS and before publishing it locally, for revision and a publication date.
• Last-minute requests will be considered on an ad-hoc and exceptional basis.
• Emergency or urgent information will be posted on a priority basis.
• Articles should be accompanied by related photographs (JPG format) or graphic images (PNG, GIF or JPG format) in 16x9 dimensions. Minimum resolution for photographs should be 300 dpi.
• Staff should ensure they have the proper authorization for submitting articles before submission to weCollaborate. The weCollaborate team reserves the right to consult with the relevant department or office prior to posting submitted articles.
• “Staff Voices” submissions must include the name(s) of the author(s), which will be posted along with the content.
• All posted stories not clearly identified as part of the “Staff Voices” series will contain a date, a posting location and an author. Attribution should usually be at the departmental or office level, as these stories are posted in the author’s official, not personal, capacity.
• Links to websites not affiliated with the UN System shall be used sparingly and limited to those links that complement a story. Any such links included in posted stories shall not be construed as UN endorsement of the content therein.
• Articles should be submitted in English and French. Articles submitted in only one language will be translated by the weCollaborate team.

Length of stories:

• The length of all stories should not exceed 350 words

Announcements

All staff members with weCollaborate editor accounts may post announcements. The weCollaborate team may post announcements and events at the request of organizational units on an ad hoc basis.

Event announcements are limited to those organized by UN entities. Events taking place in locations other than at UN premises must be sponsored by UN entities. Participation in events taking place during work hours should be according to normal official rules and regulations.

All entities submitting announcements and/or events are encouraged to submit them in a timely manner, at least 24 hours before the requested posting date or time. Experience has shown that it is more effective to make an announcement closer to the date of the event than too far in advance.

The weCollaborate team has the responsibility for removing or reformatting announcements or events to ensure a standardized approach.

The weCollaborate Editorial Board is chaired by the Director, Outreach Division, Department of Global Communications, and includes representatives of other departments and offices.

The Editorial Board provides guidance on urgent and complex issues brought to its attention by the weCollaborate team.

Requests for the editing and/or removal of content already posted shall be considered by the weCollaborate team and, if necessary, by the Editorial Board. If a story is removed in its entirety, it will be replaced with an explanatory note signed by the weCollaborate supervisor, indicating by whom and why the content was asked to be removed.

Comments, questions and concerns about article content and/or about the actions of and editorial decisions taken by the weCollaborate team may, in the first instance, be submitted to weCollaborate@un.org. When applicable, such correspondence shall be shared with the relevant department, office and/or content submitter in a timely manner.

Further recourse about the actions of and editorial decisions taken by the weCollaborate team may be brought to the attention of the Editorial Board.

Comments

Guidelines for Commenting on weCollaborate Stories

• All content must adhere to the UN’s core values of integrity, professionalism, and respect for diversity as well as to the Staff Rules and Regulations.
• They should be consistent with the standards of conduct for the international civil service, 2001 [contained in ST/SGB/2002/13], and should respect the principle of not airing personal grievances.
• Please do not use names unless you have the permission of the person concerned.
• All comments are screened to ensure they comply with this policy.  Comments are not anonymous and you will be responsible for what you write.
• Comments may not be monitored or answered by the authoring department.  If you have a question that requires a response, please contact the author directly.
• Comments should be no longer than 150 words.

Research suggests that the following points are key:

• Written text should be in short, easy to read chunks
• Content shouldn’t be excessive in length, particularly if it is going to be read on a mobile device
• Bullet points should be used to emphasize key points
• Images are very important to attracting readers, illustrating points and breaking up text
• Short multi-media videos enhance content, making engaging people far easier
• Content should have helpful links to further related information, either through manual links or from automated recommendations made by the intranet itself
• Pages, as much as possible, should sit within the intranet, providing a seamless, integrated experience
• Readers should be able to react to and interact with the content, either through feedback, comments or liking a page

Information Architecture

The information architecture for the intranet captures the three main pillars of intranet content: Organizational Information, Functional Information, and Social Information.

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• UNEP Category: Information relating to the structure UNEP as an organisation, including the people, divisions and offices, and other content of that nature is a stand-alone categorisation.
• ESSENTIALS Category: Information relating to the strategies, processes, and work-outcomes of the organisation, including strategies, policies, processes, templates, and other information of that nature is a stand-alone categorisation.

Content Standards

• Content posted on the intranet should open communication among staff and between management and staff, help staff accomplish their work, explain policies and procedures relevant to all staff, provide updates and context on reform initiatives, inform staff about the UNEP’s activities worldwide, recognise staff initiatives and accomplishments, and help build a sense of community.
• The content posted should be edited based on an end-user perspective. Considerations such as the likelihood of the end-user finding it where it has been posted, readability or digestibility for end-users, and location in search features should be high considerations.
• The content used in the intranet is held by numerous personnel in various locations around the world. Therefore, a decentralised content management approach has been adopted. This presents challenges associated with multiple-content contributors.

• The content in the intranet should strive to attain high standards of inclusivity. This includes content decisions that allow accessibility by persons with disabilities. The UNEP Intranet Design and Content Standards set out which high-value content requires not only written, but also verbal versions.

Bite-Sized Delivery - Your content should be delivered in a bite > snack > meal fashion. In other words, first give the user a bite (a simple link), then a snack (maybe a mega menu or additional options), then the meal (the entire page or content). See the example here of the White House site, where "Issues" is the bite, the list of top issues is the snack, and any one of the issues is the meal (where the "meat" is).

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The homepage is the front page of the intranet and is found at intranet.latrobe.edu.au.b.Sub-site: A sub-site is a collection of web pages that make up a subsidiary site of the intranet i.e. a college,c.function business unit sub-site.Site owner: This is the person responsible for the content and quality of the sub-site. The site owner (usually thed.College Provost or head of department or functional head) may delegate intranet content and developmenttasks to a nominated representative (the site editor or section manager).Site section manager or editor: This is the person who updates and maintains a web page or collection of pages,e.as specified in the webpage footer of that site.Section 6 - StakeholdersResponsibility for implementation – The following UNEP staff have been delegated with intranet responsibilities:Vice-Chancellor; Senior Executive Group; Chief Marketing Officer; Manager, Internal Communications;Section managers, editors and content owners.Responsibility for monitoring implementation and compliance – Internal Communications will be responsible forreviewing this policy and related guidelines and procedures, monitoring implementation and compliance, and highlevel decision making relating to the design and content of the intranet, including top level information architecture.

Record Retention Policy

This policy regulates the retention and disposal practices of content currently posted on the internal communications platform, UNEP Intranet- weCollaborate. 

The purpose of the weCollaborate retention schedule is to help content owners:

1. Be aware of how long their content (stories, classifieds, announcements) will be kept.
2. Make archiving decisions for their important information (especially if it is only available on weCollaborate).
3. Know when pages need to be updated.

The disposal of outdated content on the other hand will take place every two years. This process will be pursued in agreement between the weCollaborate Team and the content owner.

The benefits related to implementation of this policy are:  preservation of institutional memory, access to up-to-date information, and, ultimately, maximization of the system’s performance in terms of fast retrieval of info. 

Retention criteria 

The retention schedule assigned to weCollaborate content is based on the importance of information as a historical record for the Organization.

Permanent retention is recommended for some categories as they are a reflection of the work and the spirit of UN staff, for example, “News and Staff Stories.” This information will be stored in the system indefinitely or until a digital website repository system becomes available.

Other categories (1 year, 30 days, etc.) are listed below.  Note that some information displayed on the weCollaborate homepage is not retained by the system, including: Most popular, Toolkit, Quick links, and Social media corner.

Records identified for deletion will be subjected to content owner‘s review before their removal of the system. The selection criterion is inactivity, which means that the page has not been updated in two years or more. The content owner will receive electronic correspondence with links to the respective pages for review and will have up to 45 days either to update it or request deletion. Otherwise, after 45 days, the pages will be removed from the UNEP Intranet -weCollaborate platform.

Controlled documents - such as quality manuals, procedures, SGBs, and AIs - should be saved in local drives outside of weCollaborate. 

This information applies to all Duty Stations.

Retention schedule for UNEP Intranet – weCollaborate content

Design Standards

Attention Span - Keep pages clean and simple, not busy. A new employee should be able to visit any page on your intranet and know exactly where to click or go next within 2-3 seconds.

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