Intranet speed of delivery
We are often asked how long a ‘typical’ intranet project takes to launch, and what factors can speed up the process.
Well of course firstly it is really hard to find a typical project, but we do know that from choosing Claromentis to be your provider to deploying phase 1 has over the last 5 years taken an average of 7 weeks.
Software as a service can be deployed within one day, using standard designs and our own infrastructure, if the requirements are simple.
I believe our world record is one week and I will refrain from discussing some of the longer projects, always extended by the demands of assembling and validating content, and nothing to do with technology.
In terms of what factors can speed this up, here are some of the most important :
- Provide a style guide and general instructions but let our team provide the interface. We have an established process and are just so fast at working within Claromentis.
- Restrict your project team to a manageable number.
- Expedite your sign off procedures for approval of designs or if relevant development.
- Keep phase 1 to what is really important, and not a very long list of functionality that is really only there ‘because we can’. This provides a sense of business focus and urgency.
- Provide a project manager yourselves and take the project management service from Claromentis. Then focus on the critical path, especially early on – prepare for all tasks that are on that path at the expense, if necessary – of those that are not.
- Use telephone conferences and webinars over physical meetings whenever appropriate to do so, they help preserve the focus on what needs to be done and are much shorter.
Finally – if it makes sense for your business to consider our Intranet Software as a Service solution that is the factor that above all else speeds up delivery – mainly because we don’t have to deal with your infrastructure, IT and active directory – but also because the lack of upfront investment makes it a less political project for our customers internally – freeing up motivated staff to just get the job done!
As the above blog points out, while each project is very different in nature and scope, our experience also points to a similar time frame. For example, as a reseller of Claromentis in Australia, our default timeline has just been increased from 6 to 8 weeks for a standard implementation.
However, this is not to concede that our original 6 week estimate was wrong; in fact the opposite is true. The extra 2 weeks not only reflects the growing complexity of such systems, but also, and perhaps more importantly, points to the increasingly ‘mission critical’ nature of Knowledge Management systems.