Best Practices for Managing Multi-Site Intranets in Large Companies

Wondering how to make an intranet work for a large, complex company? Have you ever described your company as complicated or having a complex infrastructure? If so, you might need a multi-site intranet solution. 

LumApps multi-site intranet is helpful for companies that have merged or acquired others. It is also beneficial for companies with diverse employees, such as office workers and frontline workers. 

What is a multi-site intranet? 

A multi-site intranet is a company intranet that allows different parts of an organization to have their own sites. However, they still share the same infrastructure. This multi-site intranet is crucial if you want to share information across the different sites. For example, you can have a CEO announcement that is relevant for all locations and displayed on each site.

Whether you are considering migrating from a legacy system like SharePoint or looking to enhance your existing employee intranet, we can show you how to get there, based on the experience of some of our existing clients who have successfully implemented a multi-site intranet. 

Let’s look at the challenges our customers have faced, the best practices they adopted, and the key benefits they derived from this approach. 

How to know if you need a multi-site intranet 

One of the main reasons we see a multi-site intranet is when different teams need full autonomy. Some teams that typically need their own site are support knowledge teams or frontline sales teams. The biggest consideration here is ‘what information only needs to be shared with its own team?’ versus a team, like marketing, that might have information such as marketing brochures, that several other teams need to access. 

The main reasons for multiple sites are:

• Different designs in the header / different branding guidelines 
• Delegate the administration per site
• Each site needs its own navigation or site architecture
• Need to create a lot of content that is unique to only one site
• Creates a scalable solution to support future company growth

One customer, a popular gaming company, created a multi-site intranet to serve the needs of their annual hackathon events. By creating dedicated sites for each event, they were able to tailor the navigation, content, and access rights for temporary teams and projects. This approach enabled effective collaboration and streamlined event-specific information sharing.

Case in Point: How Ascension Health manages their multi-site intranet by region

Ascension, a faith-based healthcare organization, migrated from SharePoint to a multi-site intranet solution. Because Ascension is so large, they chose to divide their intranet site structure by region. 

They adopted a parent-child relationship model, where each “ministry” or region had its own site while maintaining a unified parent site called “Good Day Ascension.”  Each employee can see information specific to their regional site, but can also land on the “Good Day Ascension” parent site to see company-wide updates. 

They also created a FAQ technology site that allows employees to find information about how to receive and access equipment. They have organized this site in such a way that works and allows employees to quickly find what they need. 
 

Want to learn more about managing intranets?

Check out this free on-demand webinar about intranet governance titled "Ensuring success through people and processes." 

Effective management of multi-site intranets requires a well-defined governance structure and clear roles and responsibilities. 
Here are the best practices we recommend when considering a multi-site intranet:

1. Create a Steering Committee (SteerCo)

To handle ongoing maintenance and governance of the multi-site intranet, we recommend a steering committee (SteerCo).  The committee should comprise representatives from different teams or departments (especially one individual for each team that needs its own “site”), meeting regularly to discuss new releases, upcoming features, and platform-wide settings. 

Why does this matter? 

When LumApps releases a new product update, some of these features are only available at the platform level. For example, let’s say that one of your sites wants to launch a mobile app. But, since the LumApps mobile app is a platform-level feature, each one of your sites would automatically get the new feature when you choose to launch it.

In this instance, your steering committee will get consensus and to discuss details like who will manage the app and if all sites are ready for the mobile app. 

I recommend that your steering committee meets regularly to stay in touch regarding any governance changes or new features that you want to adopt.  

2. Establish an Enterprise Community Manager (ECM)

I always recommend that you appoint an enterprise community manager (ECM). You could also call this person a digital workplace manager. 

The ECM is responsible for managing the intranet, especially at the platform level, and funnels all decisions from the steering committee back to tactical managers, like content creators. This person will manage the intranet project and be the main contact for logistics and project management. 

The role of an ECM is crucial in overseeing the multi-site intranet's strategy and implementation. This person acts as the owner of the platform level installation and facilitates decision-making processes, coordinates with core teams, content creators, and community managers. By funneling strategic decisions and ensuring alignment, the ECM ensures the smooth functioning of the multi-site intranet. 

Depending on the size of your organization, you may need a larger governance strategy, like in this example. 

3. Determine who else needs platform-level rights

Platform-level rights means that you have the ability to manage and change the entire account and make edits that apply across all sites. I recommend you give platform-level rights to the ECM and one additional person to serve as back up. 

4.  Choose a platform that is mobile compatible 

In today's mobile-centric world, it is essential to address mobile compatibility when setting up a multi-site intranet. 

Your steering committee should decide how mobile features and functionality will be implemented across different sites. This ensures a consistent and seamless user experience across devices.

5. Plan for the future 

Regular communication among the steering committee will help your organization plan for future developments and enhancements. By involving all teams in discussions about the product roadmap and sharing insights from different sites, you’ll be set up to foster collaboration and maximize the value derived from the multi-site intranet.

A final word about multi-site intranets ...

Multi-site intranets offer large organizations the opportunity to create dedicated spaces for different teams, business units, or locations while maintaining a cohesive digital workplace. 

By carefully considering the requirements of each group and establishing robust governance structures, your multi-site intranet can be sustainable, easy to manage, and serve the needs of the entire company. 

We would love to know more about your goals. How can we help?