INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LANCE B. ELIOT,
Feature Editor, There's an Intranet in Your Futureby Lance Eliot, Eliot & Associates The hottest technology-and-business buzzword for 1995 was most certainly the "Internet." Unless you live in a cave, you have no doubt heard about the Internet and probably experienced the Internet in one fashion or another. In fact, many TV shows, radio shows, and print newspapers now include their Internet address in their media broadcasts to encourage viewers/readers to use both the older, conventional media and the newer "hip" media of the Internet and the World Wide Web. So, even if you haven't gotten onto the Internet you have probably seen Internet addresses displayed around you and been bombarded with Internet trivia and other exhortations "to get on the Net." If you'll pardon my use of a somewhat overworked metaphor, the Internet and the World Wide Web are the public highways and byways of the information age. Via the easily understood interface provided by the World Wide Web, the average information-based driver can now cruise a vast array of information all across the globe. Though the information may be splintered in a myriad of places, and a lot of the information may be useless or misguided, the growing mass of reachable information will gradually coalesce into a kinder, smarter web of genuine value. But that's old news. Here's the new news. For 1996 and 1997, I predict that the hottest technology and business buzzword will be the "Intranet." Defining Intranets In one sense, an Intranet is simply a variation of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Unlike the normal use of the Internet (a public highway), an Intranet is a private or semi-private/semi- public use of either the Internet or Internet-related technology for a particular organization. Intranets exploit the lessons learned from the Internet for the use of private, internally focused networking needs. For example, many companies have volumes of policies and procedures that they would like their employees to be aware of and actually use when appropriate. Unfortunately, most of the time, a set of policies and procedures sits on a shelf somewhere and collects dust. Employees may not know that the policies and procedures exist, or how to find a current version. In my capacity as an information technology and management consultant, I have recently helped several companies take their policies and procedures and put them on-line for ready access by internal employees. Whereas in the past, the effort to put such policies and procedures on-line might have been arduous and costly, by using modern Internet-related technology we have been able to quickly and relatively inexpensively get the policies and procedures up and available (via an Intranet). Here's how it works. Rather than using some proprietary technology, we first scan in the policies and procedures and then convert the scanned documents into a text format suitable for Web access (in a format known as HyperText Mark-up Language or HTML). After ensuring that the proper links are made between relevant portions of the document (done by creating indexes of the scanned documents and then reviewing the potential linkages with the policies and procedures creators), the policies and procedures are almost ready for posting to an on-line location for access by employees. In the past, we would have written specialized programs to allow employees to have access to the scanned in documents (i.e., writing code for programs that would control access and contain the documents on the mainframe side, and other programs for accessing the documents from an employee's PC). Furthermore, making links between the documents would have been hand- generated. All in all, a tremendous amount of specific programming would have been required. With an Intranet, we merely set-up a Web server (identical to the Web servers used for the Internet), place the linked policies and procedures on the Web server, and provide an address of the now on-line policies and procedures to the employees of the firm. Using their Web browsers (note: browsers are software packages that can be used to access the Internet), an employee enters the address of the policies and procedures and then can access them to their hearts' content. Intranet Uses Of course, an Intranet is not constrained to be used solely as a grand collector of policies and procedures. Other uses that we have developed include the following. HRM. A variety of human resource management uses exist for Intranets. For example, one firm wanted to help their employees understand the benefits of the 401K program available to them. We placed information about the 401K program on their Intranet, and even included a program that allowed the employees to play "what if" scenarios regarding their investments in the 401K and other personnel benefits. Company Announcements. Often, internal employees are the last to know about a company's accomplishments or activities (frequently finding out from the local newspaper that the company won an award or hired someone important). With an Intranet, the announcements and other memorandum can be made available internally on-line (allowing employees to know about the event before it hits the outside world) and simultaneously linked to related documents so that employees can see not only a specific news item, but also understand the larger context of the event if so desired (by pursuing the links). Internal Support. Another growing use of Intranets is for internal support. Working with the company's internal Help Desk, we have used an Intranet as a means to post known problems and solutions about various company issues, and linked the Intranet into an internal problem management system that keeps track of employee requests and resolution of their requests. By combining the Intranet with the e-mail system being used by the firm, employees can send and receive e-mail to the support staff and/or use the Intranet for on-line problem solving (somewhat akin to a Bulletin Board System or BBS). Some Intranet Gotcha's The preceding description of Intranets provides an overview of the value of an Intranet. As with any technology, Intranets also have costs and potential risks. When designing and implementing your Intranet, you will need to decide whether the Intranet will use your own internal Wide Area Network (WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) as the communication path between the employees and the Intranet. If so, be aware of the possible traffic load that may be generated and determine if your WAN/LAN can handle the increased traffic. If you decide to use an external network as the communication vehicle, such as the Internet, you should be especially concerned about the security and privacy aspects of the Intranet. With company information flowing around between the employees at their PCs and the Web server connected across the public Internet, perhaps information such as your company's policies and procedures, it is possible that outsiders could tap into the information and use it for their own purposes. Other questions include: Who can post information onto the Intranet? Should all employees have access to the Intranet or should it be selective access? Which browsers will be supported by your Intranet? How will the employees obtain, install and use their browsers? Should multiple Intranets for the same company be allowed? Besides the preceding uses of Intranets, I further predict that Intranets will expand beyond an exclusive internal focus and be used for other purposes. For example, one firm that we are currently working with has begun to create an Intranet for use by their franchisees. Another wishes to do so for selected customers and suppliers. The notion of using the Internet concepts, technologies, and infrastructure for company gain (beyond a more common public use such as establishing a home page for advertising your firm), will become a popular trend in the 1996 and 1997 time frame (and beyond). Conclusion The preceding comments should help more organizations initiate and make use of Intranets. If you have any Intranet questions that you would like me to answer for you (complimentary), just send them in to me. If you have Intranet anecdotes, send them to me and I will discuss the most interesting ones in a future column. Finally, if you need help on establishing an Intranet for your organization, contact me for further assistance. Remember that your input is welcomed. If you have projects addressing the information technology area, and you would like to share this with the readers of "Information Technology," please contact me. ***************************************************************** DR. LANCE B. ELIOT is president of Eliot & Associates, an information technology consulting organization based in Southern California. He holds a Ph.D. in information systems, MBA and B.S. in computer science, and has also earned the C.D.P., C.C.P., C.S.P., C.D.E., and C.I.S.A. certifications. He is the author of over 150 articles and columns, and the author or co-author of two books. He has served on the editorial boards of publications produced by the IEEE, ACM, DPMA, and similar organizations. Dr. Eliot has over ten years of experience in industry as a Chief Information Officer (CIO), Data Processing Manager, Systems Analyst, and Software Engineer.
Dr. Lance Eliot |