Secure extranet delivery
We created cps-invest.info as an extranet to encourage the flow of information about the Invest programme between CPS employees. Each employee had unique password access to view information specific to them alone and in the process allowed us to register, count and time each of these unique employee visits to the site.
Access all hours
As many staff work unconventional, out of office hours, we designed and implemented the extranet outside the constraints of the internal network, to allow 24 hour access from any online location.
Pass the word
The password protected site is delivered through a bespoke CMS created in-house at Hoop. It uses open-source functions in combination with tools we designed to meet our clients needs.
Fleet of foot
The initial launch site needed to be conceived, scoped, designed and implemented in one month to meet the project launch deadline. Our ability to respond with an immediate solution put us ahead of competitors who required months just to specify the site.
Testing objectives
The site’s two main objectives are to dissemination information about, and encourage interaction with, the Invest programme. Visitor’s journeys can be tracked against either objective. This tells us about those that view and read information and those that discuss Invest in the forum and interact directly with their colleagues.
Newsletter
We gave the Invest team the facility to email staff newsletters based on their frequency or recent use of the microsite, targeting rare or infrequent, or recently absent staff, separately. In the CMS a simple to use set of functions exposes sections of the site to staff for editing and reviewing before publishing.
Top marks
Staff can also create regular tailor-made reports at the push of a button and provide statistics to senior management.
One year in
The careers section, which was implemented one year after the initial launch, displays the entire CPS organisational structure. It was designed to show staff how career family and job title changes within the CPS directly affect each individual. Through this section an employee can see their current job title, their new proposed job title, and all the concurrent features of their job. They can then view the related job description and person specification and other documents specific to that particular role. All as formatted web pages.
Part of the process
As negotiations and decisions over the changes to job families, job descriptions and personal specifications progressed, draft, interim and final versions were all published, allowing staff to follow through the process.
Unexpected results
The extranet has proved successful beyond expectation and in unexpected ways.
? The Invest forum proved so easy to use that employees preferred it to their own intranet forum and often met there to discuss issues unrelated to Invest.
? The organisational restructure has seen unpredicted, multiple variations of job families, job descriptions and personal specifications. In every instance the CPS needed to keep employees informed of the changes. Our design and technical implementation of this section of the site has enabled them to do it.
? Originally intended as a six month project, the extranet continues to be a valued resource more than a year later and the human resources department use it as an example of best practice.
