Intranet - Wikipedia Intranet Not to be confused with the Internet. This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. ( September 2016 ) This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. When placing this tag, consider associating this request with a WikiProject. ( October 2016 ) An intranet is a private network accessible only to an organization 's staff. A wide range of information and services from an organization 's internal IT systems are unavailable to the public, unlike the Internet. A company - wide intranet can constitute an important focal point of internal communication and collaboration, and provide a single starting point to access internal and external resources. In its simplest form, an intranet is established with the technologies for local area networks ( LANs ) and wide area networks ( WANs ). Intranets began to appear in a range of larger organizations from 1994. Contents 1 Uses 2 Benefits 3 Planning and creation 4 Intranet software 4.1 Enterprise private network 5 See also 6 References Uses Increasingly, intranets are being used to deliver tools, e.g. collaboration ( to facilitate working in groups and teleconferencing ) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and customer relationship management tools, project management etc., to advance productivity. Intranets are also being used as corporate culture - change platforms. For example, large numbers of employees discussing key issues in an intranet forum application could lead to new ideas in management, productivity, quality, and other corporate issues. In large intranets, website traffic is often similar to public website traffic and can be better understood by using web metrics software to track overall activity. User surveys also improve intranet website effectiveness. Larger businesses allow users within their intranet to access public internet through firewall servers. They have the ability to screen messages coming and going keeping security intact. When part of an intranet is made accessible to customers and others outside the business, that part becomes part of an extranet. Businesses can send private messages through the public network, using special encryption / decryption and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another. Intranet user - experience, editorial, and technology teams work together to produce in - house sites. Most commonly, intranets are managed by the communications, HR or CIO departments of large organizations, or some combination of these. Because of the scope and variety of content and the number of system interfaces, intranets of many organizations are much more complex than their respective public websites. Intranets and their use are growing rapidly. According to the Intranet design annual 2007 from Nielsen Norman Group, the number of pages on participants ' intranets averaged 200,000 over the years 2001 to 2003 and has grown to an average of 6 million pages over 2005 -- 2007. Benefits Workforce productivity : Intranets can help users to locate and view information faster and use applications relevant to their roles and responsibilities. With the help of a web browser interface, users can access data held in any database the organization wants to make available, anytime and -- subject to security provisions -- from anywhere within the company workstations, increasing the employees ability to perform their jobs faster, more accurately, and with confidence that they have the right information. It also helps to improve the services provided to the users. Time : Intranets allow organizations to distribute information to employees on an as - needed basis ; Employees may link to relevant information at their convenience, rather than being distracted indiscriminately by email. Communication : Intranets can serve as powerful tools for communication within an organization, vertically strategic initiatives that have a global reach throughout the organization. The type of information that can easily be conveyed is the purpose of the initiative and what the initiative is aiming to achieve, who is driving the initiative, results achieved to date, and who to speak to for more information. By providing this information on the intranet, staff have the opportunity to keep up - to - date with the strategic focus of the organization. Some examples of communication would be chat, email, and / or blogs. A great real - world example of where an intranet helped a company communicate is when Nestle had a number of food processing plants in Scandinavia. Their central support system had to deal with a number of queries every day. When Nestle decided to invest in an intranet, they quickly realized the savings. McGovern says the savings from the reduction in query calls was substantially greater than the investment in the intranet. Web publishing allows cumbersome corporate knowledge to be maintained and easily accessed throughout the company using hypermedia and Web technologies. Examples include : employee manuals, benefits documents, company policies, business standards, news feeds, and even training, can be accessed using common Internet standards ( Acrobat files, Flash files, CGI applications ). Because each business unit can update the online copy of a document, the most recent version is usually available to employees using the intranet. Business operations and management : Intranets are also being used as a platform for developing and deploying applications to support business operations and decisions across the internetworked enterprise. Cost - effective : Users can view information and data via web - browser rather than maintaining physical documents such as procedure manuals, internal phone list and requisition forms. This can potentially save the business money on printing, duplicating documents, and the environment as well as document maintenance overhead. For example, the HRM company PeopleSoft `` derived significant cost savings by shifting HR processes to the intranet ''. McGovern goes on to say the manual cost of enrolling in benefits was found to be USD109. 48 per enrollment. `` Shifting this process to the intranet reduced the cost per enrollment to $21.79 ; a saving of 80 percent ''. Another company that saved money on expense reports was Cisco. `` In 1996, Cisco processed 54,000 reports and the amount of dollars processed was USD19 million ''. Enhance collaboration : Information is easily accessible by all authorised users, which enables teamwork. Cross-platform capability : Standards - compliant web browsers are available for Windows, Mac, and UNIX. Built for one audience : Many companies dictate computer specifications which, in turn, may allow Intranet developers to write applications that only have to work on one browser ( no cross-browser compatibility issues ). Being able to specifically address your `` viewer '' is a great advantage. Since Intranets are user - specific ( requiring database / network authentication prior to access ), you know exactly who you are interfacing with and can personalize your Intranet based on role ( job title, department ) or individual ( `` Congratulations Jane, on your 3rd year with our company ! '' ). Promote common corporate culture : Every user has the ability to view the same information within the Intranet. Immediate updates : When dealing with the public in any capacity, laws, specifications, and parameters can change. Intranets make it possible to provide your audience with `` live '' changes so they are kept up - to - date, which can limit a company 's liability. Supports a distributed computing architecture : The intranet can also be linked to a company 's management information system, for example a time keeping system. Employee Engagement : Since `` involvement in decision making '' is one of the main drivers of employee engagement, offering tools ( like forums or surveys ) that foster peer - to - peer collaboration and employee participation can make employees feel more valued and involved. Planning and creation Most organizations devote considerable resources into the planning and implementation of their intranet as it is of strategic importance to the organization 's success. Some of the planning would include topics such as determining the purpose and goals of the intranet, identifying persons or departments responsible for implementation and management and devising functional plans, page layouts and designs. The appropriate staff would also ensure that implementation schedules and phase - out of existing systems were organized, while defining and implementing security of the intranet and ensuring it lies within legal boundaries and other constraints. In order to produce a high - value end product, systems planners should determine the level of interactivity ( e.g. wikis, on - line forms ) desired. Planners may also consider whether the input of new data and updating of existing data is to be centrally controlled or devolve. These decisions sit alongside to the hardware and software considerations ( like content management systems ), participation issues ( like good taste, harassment, confidentiality ), and features to be supported. Intranets are often static sites ; they are a shared drive, serving up centrally stored documents alongside internal articles or communications ( often one - way communication ). By leveraging firms which specialise in ' social ' intranets, organisations are beginning to think of how their intranets can become a ' communication hub ' for their entire team. The actual implementation would include steps such as securing senior management support and funding., conducting a business requirement analysis and identifying users ' information needs. From the technical perspective, there would need to be a co-ordinated installation of the web server and user access network, the required user / client applications and the creation of document framework ( or template ) for the content to be hosted. The end - user should be involved in testing and promoting use of the company intranet, possibly through a parallel adoption methodology or pilot programme. In the long term, the company should carry out ongoing measurement and evaluation, including through benchmarking against other company services. Another useful component in an intranet structure might be key personnel committed to maintaining the Intranet and keeping content current. For feedback on the intranet, social networking can be done through a forum for users to indicate what they want and what they do not like. Intranet software Microsoft SharePoint is the dominant software used for creating collaboration areas on intranets. Estimates indicate that around 50 % of all intranets use SharePoint ; however, there are many alternatives. In 2016, SAP introduced SAP Jam Collaboration as modern intranet. Enterprise private network An enterprise private network is a computer network built by a business to interconnect its various company sites ( such as production sites, offices and shops ) in order to share computer resources. Beginning with the digitalisation of telecommunication networks, started in the 1970s in the USA by AT&T, and propelled by the growth in computer systems availability and demands, enterprise networks have been built for decades without the need to append the term private to them. The networks were operated over telecommunication networks and, as for voice communications, a certain amount of security and secrecy was expected and delivered. But with the Internet in the 1990s came a new type of network, virtual private networks, built over this public infrastructure, using encryption to protect the data traffic from eaves - dropping. So the enterprise networks are now commonly referred to enterprise private networks in order to clarify that these are private networks, in contrast to public networks. See also eGranary Digital Library Enterprise portal Intranet portal Intranet strategies Intranet Wiki Intraweb Kwangmyong ( intranet ) Local area network Private network IP - addresses to be used inside private networks SharePoint Virtual workplace Wide area network Web portal References ^ Jump up to : Nielsen, J. and Sano, D., ' 1994 Design of SunWeb - Sun Micro-systems ' Intranet ', Useit.com, 1994. Jump up ^ `` The Difference Between Internet, Intranet, and Extranet '', October 19, 1998, Steven L. Telleen, http://www.iorg.com/ Jump up ^ Luk, A. ( 9 May 1991 ). `` Fujikama goes Unix ''. IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications, Computers and Signal Processing, 1991. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 2 : 783 -- 786. doi : 10.1109 / PACRIM. 1991.160857. ISBN 0879426381. Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 04. The internet and intranet Unix network provide a functioning email facility around the world. Jump up ^ Richardson, C. ; Schoultz, M. ( 14 October 1991 ). `` Formation flight system design concept ''. Digital Avionics Systems Conference, 1991. Proceedings., IEEE / AIAA 10th : 18 -- 25. doi : 10.1109 / DASC. 1991.177138. Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 04. The data transfer task is broken up into two network solutions : an intranet used for transferring data among formation members at high update rates to support close formation flight and an internet used for transferring data among the separate formations at lower update rates. Jump up ^ RFC 4364 Jump up ^ Pernice Coyne, Kara ; Schwartz, Mathew ; Nielsen, Jakob ( 2007 ), `` Intranet Design Annual 2007 '', Nielsen Norman Group ^ Jump up to : McGovern, Gerry ( November 18, 2002 ). `` Intranet return on investment case studies ''. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 03. ^ Jump up to : Christian, Michael ( April 2, 2009 ). `` Making the most of your corporate intranet ''. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 02. Jump up ^ `` Report Summary : The drivers of employee engagement Institute for Employment Studies ''. Report Summary : The drivers of employee engagement Institute for Employment Studies. Retrieved 2018 - 01 - 04. Jump up ^ `` 3 Ways To Boost Employee Engagement Using Your Company Intranet ''. MyHub Intranet Solutions. 2016 - 05 - 03. Retrieved 2018 - 01 - 04. Jump up ^ Wright, Andrew. `` 8 good business reasons for having an intranet ''. Retrieved 3 September 2013. Jump up ^ Wright, Andrew. `` From innovation to operation : the role of the intranet ''. Retrieved 3 September 2013. Jump up ^ Ward, Toby ( 2006 - 06 - 11 ). `` Leading an intranet redesign ''. IntranetBlog. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 03. Jump up ^ LaMee, James A. ( 2002 - 04 - 30 ). `` Intranets and Special Libraries : Making the most of inhouse communications ''. University of South Carolina. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 03. Jump up ^ Scaplehorn, geoff ( 2010 - 03 - 01 ). `` Bringing the internet indoors - socialising your intranet ''. IntranetBlog. Retrieved 2010 - 03 - 03. Jump up ^ Ward, Toby. `` Planning : An Intranet Model for success Intranet ''. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 03. Jump up ^ `` Intranet : Table of Contents -- Macmillan Computer Sciences : Internet and Beyond ''. Bookrags.com. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 03. Jump up ^ `` Intranet benchmarking explained ''. Intranet Benchmarking Forum. Retrieved 2009 - 04 - 03. Jump up ^ `` Benchmarking intranet end user satisfaction ''. Retrieved 2013 - 09 - 03. Jump up ^ Wright, Andrew. `` On what technologies do companies use to develop their intranets ''. Retrieved 3 September 2013. Jump up ^ Wright, Andrew. `` What alternatives are there to SharePoint for an intranet ? ''. Retrieved 3 September 2013. Jump up ^ `` SAP Jam Collaboration Gains New Features to Help Improve Information Access with Modern Intranets ''. SAP News Center. 2016 - 10 - 04. Retrieved 2018 - 03 - 02. Jump up ^ `` History of network switching ''. AT&T. 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Question: is an internal company-wide system of computer networks
Answer: An intranet