Looking for advice on improving digital workplace tools or intranet? North Patrol’s team helps you design a new intranet concept and select the right tools and technologies for your implementation.
A well-implemented digital work environment provides employees with tools for communication, finding information, managing tasks, collaborating and engaging with others internally. An intranet is a key tool for internal communication and it also enables work management, knowledge sharing and employee engagement.
The key to a functional digital work environment is good planning. Using the same technologies, it is possible to build very different intranets and digital work environments, emphasizing the need for comprehensive understanding and the creation of a sound content concept in the planning process. The roles and usage patterns between tools must also be clarified.
At North Patrol, the starting point for the planning process is always the needs of employees and the goals and practices of the organization. We assist organizations in providing the best possible employee experience through a well-designed digital work environment – and ultimately finding the right partner to implement the solution.
The design of a digital work environment or intranet typically begins with identifying the needs of both employees and the organization. We explore the needs for the new entity, as well as understand the current situation and existing tools through interviews, surveys and background material.
In the design process, we restructure existing content, discover new solutions, and identify the necessary new content, functionalities and tools. These elements are then formulated into a user-centric service concept for the digital work environment or intranet.
The roles between tools are refined and the content architecture is modeled using techniques such as wireframes or prototypes to ensure that the overall structure is easily comprehensible.
The design work is carried out in a technology-independent manner or, alternatively, aligned with the given technology.
The best technology options are identified by comparing existing solutions in the market with the planned service concept, current architecture, desired features, and the envisioned admin experience. The advantages and challenges of the options are carefully assessed, and solutions most suitable for the entity are then outlined.
We plan how to achieve the desired outcome, identifying potential implementation partners and assessing overall costs, including both implementation and lifecycle expenses. We also identify potential sub-projects and dependencies, determine the required work resources, and outline the staging, scheduling and responsibilities of sub-projects needed for the implementation on the roadmap.
For the partner selection, we describe the sourcing need and define the requirements to the detail needed for the tendering. The required features for technical implementation are outlined in a requirement specification, which specifies the service concept, content types, functionalities, technical constraints, and integrations with other systems. North Patrol’s specification document is a high-quality written description of the essential solutions of the online service to be implemented. It helps to obtainrealistic estimates for the implementation work and serves as a comprehensive task list (‘backlog’) for the service to be implemented.
We contemplate the requirements for collaboration with the partner and the project. The request for proposal outlines the expectations and requirements for the expertise, methods, tasks and outcomes of potential partners. The request is crafted to suit the chosen tendering model. For more demanding tendering cases, customized evaluation models are developed to find the most suitable partner. Finally, we assist in evaluating the proposals and identifying the most fitting partner.
As the service concept and technology change, it becomes necessary to reconsider the content of the intranet. Poor discoverability of content is one of the most significant issues in every intranet project. Good content planning ensures that information is accessible in various usage scenarios. User-centered content architecture design is crucial when aiming to create a sustainable solution where content is easily found.
The most common reason for intranet project delays is the inability to finalize content on time. Therefore, it is advisable to start the planning process immediately after clarifying the service concept, possibly even before choosing a partner, to ensure a smooth project.
We assist our clients in the detailed planning of intranet content. The planning process begins by taking inventory of existing content and identifying potential gaps. Existing content solutions, such as documents, news, and instructions, are considered, and the content is restructured based on identified content types in the service concept.
The high-level service concept is concretized in content planning, and a place is found for the content within the new structure. Particularly in SharePoint Online, the necessary sites, their interrelationships and content paths are planned in more detail.
In addition to content structure planning, we conduct content clinics for content creators, where we assist them in getting started with content creation according to the new concept.
Leading and managing a digital project might not be a usual task for the customer, and the best practices may not be in place. We can assist, as needed, in tasks such as creating a project plan, resource allocation and organization. We also provide support for monitoring the project and can be involved to ensure that the service concept is implemented as planned.
April 2023 – June 2023
Evaluation of Intranet Concept and Technology Options
April 2023 – November 2023
Intranet Pre-Study
November 2022 – January 2023
Consultation on the Preliminary Study of the Intranet for the Ministry of Justice's Administrative Sector
January 2022 – June 2022
Intranet specification and procurement
January 2022 – June 2022
Staff Intranet Requirements Specification and Tendering
November 2021 – September 2022
Intranet preliminary study and requirement specification
November 2021 – March 2023
Concept for developing Intranet content
October 2021 – November 2022
Preliminary Study on Wiki Platforms
26 October 2022 – Noora Linnermo
29 August 2022 – Camilla Heikkilä
6 June 2022 – Noora Linnermo
12 May 2022 – Anna Availa
8 March 2022 – Perttu Tolvanen
27 September 2021 – Kimmo Parkkinen
26 August 2021 – Camilla Heikkilä
1 March 2021 – Camilla Heikkilä
153 weeks ago
There is a wide selection of digital tools available for sharing ideas and know-how, planning together, or discussing and reviewing plans together. Many of them are reasonably priced or even free. These so-called collaboration platforms can be used to support the work of different teams, the sharing of learning and expertise, the facilitation of remote meetings, or they can replace the use of traditional flipcharts and notepads with new digital working methods.
In our recent Digital work environment 2022 report collaboration platforms Miro, Mural, Trello, and Howspace showed to be the most popular in Finland.
To hear more about our services, please leave us a message and we’ll contact you.
We are a team of ten consultants, all of whom are experienced designers and technology experts. Every year we design and prepare over 50 different online services and information systems. Our customer satisfaction is very high (9.5 out of 10), and we have helped many customers transform their digital services.
We specialize in high-quality design and requirements specification of digital services. Our mission is to help customers succeed in their software project by creating the best possible foundation for implementation – whether it is an agile implementation done inhouse, a project done with a partner, or a publicly tendered project.
Many software companies recommend software solutions that they also implement themselves. We don’t do that. We don’t do software implementation projects or have partnerships with technology providers. Our perspective on the software market is broad, as it should be for our customers. Our goal is always to find the best possible software solution for our customer, whether it’s a custom-built solution, a SaaS service, an open-source platform, or a combination of these.
We design digital service concepts, implementation methods and architectures that are sustainable and can be further developed. We place great importance on the feasibility of software solutions, the availability of good partners and the predictability of costs.