Intranet Project Overview
As part of its comprehensive initiative to develop modern online services, IAT will be creating an intranet system to meet all internal staff communication, information-sharing and collaboration needs. This intranet will run on IAT's network and be accessible to all campuses, locations & remote staff with network access. The objectives, scope, timeframes and activities will be summarized in this project plan, with progress updated on the blog.
Project Goals, Rationale & Benefits
> Enable staff to access all the information they need including about all key aspects of IAT (e.g. structure, staff directory); policies, procedures & forms (e.g. HR, Finance, Operations); and organisational information resources (e.g. Curriculum Framework, Professional Development, Best Practice).> Provide for improved communication - both between campuses and especially between Directorate and the campus staff. The intranet will allow and encourage feedback, input and ideas from all staff and deliver a clear mechanism requiring responses and action to that feedback.
> Allow staff to work collaboratively & effectively coordinate their activities on projects and in whatever teams they participate in.
> Create a repository for storing & sharing all appropriate documents and files in a well-organised, easily-accessed common space.
> Act as a portal to all organisation functions (IT helpdesk, HR & Finance contacts, Operational liaisons e.g. facilities) and online services including news/announcements, calendars, directories, groups, project sites, forums, classifieds, etc.
Project Scope
The full scope of this project includes all activities required (from planning & requirement determination to development, implementation & usage) to meet the objectives outlined above. To make this substantial undertaking manageable, the project will be split into three distinct phases:Phase 1: Consultation with Directorate and campus staff, collection & analysis of intranet requirements, solution recommendation & selection, and creation of a prototype with examples and needed plans/documentation.
Phase 2: Full development of the chosen intranet solution with migration from any existing alternatives and integration with relevant organisation areas (e.g. HR). Initial content covering all areas & services to be added so that the new intranet can be launched.
Phase 3: Implementation of extended intranet content/services and ongoing effective usage by all staff.
Project Timeframes & Chief Milestones
*Draft only| | Key Milestones |
| Phase 1 21st Feb - 15th Mar | - Finalization of project scope & plan (27th Feb) - Finalization of requirement consultation (4th Mar) - Completion of requirement specification (5th Mar) - Selection of recommended intranet system (7th Mar) - Complete setup of sharepoint 2007 system (8th Mar) - Creation of new intranet prototype & examples (15th Mar) |
| Phase 2 16th Mar - 24th April | - Creation of approved intranet design & structure (17th Mar) - Development & integration of all required intranet functionality & services (3rd April) - Completion of development, testing and initial content creation (15th April) - Confirmation of key organisation areas & staff with major ongoing intranet activities. E.g. content maintenance, online service provision. Training commencement. (16th April) - Begin migration of existing sharepoint, network drive and other alternatives (17th April) - Completion of operational, production intranet site with initial content (24th April) |
| Phase 3 25th April - Ongoing | - Confirmation of initial go-live content & service requirements (25th April) - Completion of initial staff training and maintenance arrangements (27th April) - Launch of new intranet site & services (1st May) - Completion of migration of existing sharepoint & other network alternatives (11th May) - Post-launch review & assessment of achievement of project goals - Ongoing content addition and refinement |
Project Staff & Steering Committee
Project Managers: Husham Zaki. Dubai Campus. Email: husham.zaki@iat.ac.ae.
Adrian Lobo. Dubai Campus (A217). Email: adrian.lobo@iat.ac.ae
Project Sponsors:
Layla Al Bloushi. Deputy Director HR & Finance. Dubai Campus. Email: layla.albloushi@iat.ac.ae
Phillip Rutherford. Deputy Director Operations. Dubai Campus. Email: phillip.rutherford@iat.ac.ae
Department Representatives: Representatives for each Directorate department, campus and major projects will be identified and listed here. These representatives will be responsible for coordinating the provision & maintenance of information and services for their area. They will also represent their areas on any Working Group meetings.
| Department / Area | Representative | Email |
| Human Resources | ||
| Finance | Huda? | |
| I.T. | Fedha? | |
| Operations | ||
| Curriculum & Assessment | ||
| Professional Development | Tony? | |
| Al Ain Campus | ||
| Abu Dhabi Campus | ||
| Dubai Campus | ||
| Fujairah Campus | ||
| Ras Al Khaimah | ||
| VEDC | ||
| School of Nursing | ||
| Aviation College | ||
| ADEC | ||
| Other? B/G, SOC, AAwir, Pre-uni GHQ |
Other IAT staff will be involved in various activities and stages of this project. Please see the How to Get Involved post to find out how you can contribute to this or other related projects.
Steering Committee: A Steering Committee will be used to discuss and approve all strategic decisions relating to this project, such as the choice of intranet systems and the nature of its usage: services available, accessibility/security of information, for what purposes it can be used by staff. The steering committee members will be listed here. It will meet as required with Layla Al Bloushi as the chair.
Project Resources
Intranets are intended to be actively-used systems by a large number of staff and the new intranet will need to be well-supported by key personnel in each area who have been trained to maintain and update their information and services. The extent of ongoing, widespread usage will largely depend on the successful incorporation of intranet usage into the activities of these areas - whether corporate (e.g. HR) or at the campuses (e.g. for teacher groups).It is also desirable that permanent, in-house development, customization and administration skills are ultimately available in the chosen intranet system - either through existing I.T. staff obtaining this familiarity or through recruitment. Additional recruitment requirements can be combined with the requirements for supporting the new IAT websites and other online services being developed.
Standards, Guidelines & Compliance
Any UAE Government or other regulatory standards and guidelines that relate to record & information management, policy communication and staff administration need to be taken into account in setting up the new intranet system and determining the information available and access to it.Project Execution/Action Plan
Please see the Intranet Project Action Plan on the blog.Project Outputs/Deliverables
The main deliverable will be a completely new intranet with integrated online services that provides IAT with the capability to attain the project goals outlined. This new intranet will replace all existing intranet systems and ad hoc alternatives. Integration with Internet site & Related Systems
While it is possible to run an internet and intranet site in the same system, consultation to date has determined that the new systems be completely independent but able to be readily associated where desired. It is intended to eliminate duplication by clearly delineating between content for the internet vs the intranet and maintaining information only on one system or the other. Wherever relevant, this information can be connected between the internet & intranet using hyperlinks and serving content from one system within the other.Extranet Usage
While an intranet is a private network for internal staff, an extranet is a secure network for communication with external clients, partners or stakeholders. Current analysis of extranet requirements for IAT indicate that the relevant secure services for students, parents, the government, etc can be delivered through the internet site. The new internet site will have login capability to allow authorized users to gain access to customized, special information and services. These can either be delivered through the internet application itself or by it acting as a gateway to separate web-enabled business applications.
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