Churchill's famous 'V' sign, signifying simply victory, is a powerful wartime image.

Churchill experienced moments of great despair during the war, but yet he soldiered on - never once giving up hope.

Importantly, he was sustained by a belief that there was a greater cause at stake than the defence of Great Britain. His cause was the freedom- loving people of the world.

Victory for you too means more than just delivering an intranet platform; the future success of your company is in your hands.

However, as the famous Chinese proverb has it, 'the longest journey begins with a single step'... Your Intranet Portal project will be the first and most important step on your journey of transformation.

Intranet Exploitation

As the portal market matures further and discernable trends begin to emerge, I will expand the guide to cover them.

I will explore the Return on Investment (ROI) achieved by Larger Enterprises through e-Learning, e-HR, e-Finance,

e-Procurement, CRM Integration, Instant Messaging, Web-based email and a multitude of other areas.

I will also look at the emergence of web services and the entrance of the big boys (IBM, Oracle, SAP and others) into the portal market. As their offerings mature, this may well change the ROI on some of these larger ticket items.

Anyway, can I sign off by wishing you all the best for your Portal Project (whatever stage you find yourself at).

It is my sincere hope that this guide will have proved a valuable addition to your toolset and made a contribution, however, small to your success.

  David Viney

To extend a well-worn analogy, a Portal is for life, not just for Christmas!  You should lay plans for the steady state during the project itself.

The following sections give ideas, hints and tips to handle life immediately after the project - and beyond:

Steady State Governance

A guide to running and developing the platform, post go-live. How to get the right balance of roles & responsibilities.

Intranet Support Organisation

Suggestions for how to structure a back-to-back support organisation that includes IS and Business resource.

Steady State Funding Model

How to ensure the platform is fairly and fully funded going forward.  A guide to possible charging drivers & models.

Measuring Performance

Which intranet statistics and performance measures you should focus on.  An idea of benchmarks you should be aiming at.

Post Investment Appraisal

Not done well in most organisations, this will be vital to proving your case (ultimately) for an intranet.

Ultimately, success means that every aspect of how you do business as an organisation will have been changed forever by the intranet.