How To Build Your Company Intranet With A Mind Map
Your employees spend at least 25% of their day searching for the information they need to work. To put that into perspective, that means your employees spend two hours every day searching for resources. It means you pay the full time salary of one in every four employees just to find information. It also means there is a good chance your employees are straying away from best practices and using things like shadow IT to fill gaps where resources are just too hard to track down.
Crazy, right?!
That’s why we created Navo.
Navo provides a fast and reliable way to access your company tools and information. Administrators can manage and instantly publish bookmarks for the entire organization so that your team is always connected to the right resources.
A clear and easy to understand global navigation will cut down on the amount of time your team spends simply getting to the tools and information they need. When developing your company Intranet, it’s important to design with your users and their workflow in mind. In this article, we’ll talk about using a mind map to plan out your company’s global navigation from the top down.
What Is Mind Mapping?
Simply put, mind mapping is the visualization of information. It’s a great way to get ideas on the page and easily connect related thoughts or concepts. In fact, mind mapping is often used to increase creativity when formulating ideas or solutions. Mind mapping stimulates the brain in such a way that information flows more freely than while using other techniques.
You can use a variety of tools to create your mind map. Anything from an old-fashioned pen and paper, to a Word or Paint document, to a professional mind mapping application.
PRO TIP: We recommend using Mindmeister, an amazing mind mapping tool that can be used many ways! We also love the Microsoft Teams integration and the ability to collaborate on files with others. Check it out!
Start At The Top
When creating a mind map of your company Intranet, we recommend starting at the top. Consider your high level ‘buckets’. These categories, or folders, will form the basis of how your navigation is organized.
Give some thought to your organization’s main objectives. Are you a project-based company? Do you categorize teams by department or by client? You might even review your overall strategic plan to determine how goals and objectives are categorized internally. These categories will form the high-level labels at the top of your navigation.
Add Your Links
Once you have decided on your high-level folder structure, starting adding additional folders and links underneath.
We recommend getting a list of all the tools, resources, and websites each of your teams would like to see included in the global navigation. Next, sort these links under your high-level headings. Keep in mind your team’s workflow as you add menu items. What steps does your team work through to develop client projects? In what order do they require the applications, templates, or resources provided? Build your company navigation to follow this workflow where possible.
Don’t worry about perfection as you plan out your company Intranet. Your menu will continue to be updated as new tools and policies are introduced and as your team becomes more familiar with your global navigation tool. Seek input from your users in the early days of implementation to ensure that your navigation meets their needs. This will help increase the internal adoption rate.
PRO TIP: This is a great time to cut back on shadow IT and ensure you have one source of truth for your company information. Get a list of tools and policies from each department to ensure there is no overlap, and amalgamate company, team, and client policies in a central location for easy access everywhere your team works.
Take It Further
In Navo, there are additional features you can use to take your company Intranet to the next level. Add security trimming to ensure those that do not have access to a link do not see it in their menu. Add descriptions and tags to ensure your team can find resources using a few different key words. Use a feedback form to hear what changes are needed to make your navigation easier for the end user. Integrate with Chrome and Edge extensions, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams to ensure your navigation is accessible wherever your team is working.
PRO TIP: Your company’s navigation will constantly evolve, just like your team and your tools. It should be consistently updated to ensure it meets your team’s needs and includes the latest and greatest tools and information.
Conclusion
Mind mapping is a great way to get started building a global navigation for your whole organization. Building a cohesive company menu with all your official resources will help cut down on time spent searching for information and reduce your company’s shadow IT.
Ready to get started? Try Navo free for 30 days!
Originally published at https://getnavo.com on May 22, 2020.
