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Building An Intranet

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by redravin, Feb 18, 2018.

  1. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North
    So I was voluntold to be on a team to revamp out divisions intranet.
    The one we have was cobbled together about many years ago by a guy who at the time was the kid wonder using DreamWeaver and him learning how to code.
    This isn't his fault, he had it forced on him by the less than stellar IT department and the massive fire wall that the State has up.
    After years of shit being piled on to this the poor site is pretty much shit.
    One of first things I did was just give him a list of 404 links (about 30) for cleanup.

    After much back and forth we convinced the powers that be there was no way to save the existing site and we would have to start from scratch.
    We also managed to get at least a 6 to 10 month window out of them when they wanted it done in three.
    Unfortunately we are still working with the really poor IT team, the massive firewall while the former wonderkind is now older and worried that when he leaves having something too complicated means it won't get maintained.
    We have to find something free (there is almost no budget for this), very stable (IT wants to beat it to death), usable as hell, simple to maintain, and good for about 250 people.
    It doesn't have to be pretty or filled with bells and whistles as long as it gets the job done.
    The big guy is leaning towards Wordpress if that gives you an idea of what we are up against.

    Has anybody else done this?
    Has it worked out?
    What went well, bad, in between?
    Any ideas, suggestions, ways to go about this, would be greatly appreciated.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  2. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    what does it need to do?

    I mean what information does it need to provide to the internal team? What kinds of functions or information is currently on the existing site that needs to be replicated?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North
    Sorry I could have done a better job with that.

    First and foremost we need it to be able to provide all the forms, policy/procedural manuals, and any assorted paperwork needed to run the division along with an easy way to update said items.
    It will also need to have sections for the specialty teams, evaluation, blind/low vision, deaf/hard of hearing, where they can provide comprehensive information on their department (also easy to update).
    We will need a way to provide information on federal changes in policy as well as training modules for counselors and assistants.
    Links to similar government agencies, the S.S. admin, the VA, medicaid sign up etc. will also need to be provided.
    All of this need to be easily searched and maintained.

    A lot of this is on the old site, it is just piled on top of old info because one person maintains it and there is no search function because the one that he wrote stopped working.
    He also did some introductions to new employees and profiles but those were few and far between.
    They really aren't necessary.
     
  4. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    It sounds like you can use wordpress as a simple platform for the information. It can handle all the different sections and form storage.

    A simple LAMP server (linux, apache, MySQL, PHP) is not hard to put together.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  5. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    I'm of no help here, but am curious to know how it's going.
     
  6. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North
    Slowly...
    So very slow.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    • Funny Funny x 2
    • Like Like x 1