Intranet Journal
The online resource for intranet professionals
By
Paul I. Tao
Courtesy of Competia.com
Virus:
any corrupting or infecting influence.
No, we are not talking about some mutant strain of flu bug that
r educes men and women into helpless, drooling infants nor are we
talking about an e-mail
based message from the Philippines professing its love to you in
the subject header. The type of virus we are talking about is not
tangible. It is more subtle and its effects can be more difficult
to the control than a school bus full of third graders on the way
to the local zoo.
It is not often that something can be described as both the cancer
and the cure. Because software vendors are making their Web-server
products easily available to willing wannabe Webmasters, it is becoming
increasingly difficult to lend credibility to a corporate intranet
with the spread of small, non-sanctioned departmental "hobby" sites.
People
have a habit of seeing things as a whole when they hear the word
"intranet." They assume that any Web site on the company's network
is a part of the whole which may make it difficult to separate
the knowledge-based engine that drives the company's strategic planning
from the small departmental site advertising that Sue's favourite
hobbies include quilting, Tae-bo, and running with her dog Quincy.
Web-server software is easy to come by. You can download
freeware servers such as Apache
right off the Internet. Microsoft, on the other hand, includes their
Internet Information Server
(IIS) with their Windows NT operating system. The availability
of this Web-server software has made it possible not only for departments
but for individuals to broadcast an intranet site throughout the
company. Some may even have a Web server running on their desktop
without even knowing it.
One hopes that everyone would treat the Web-based medium with the
same professionalism that prevents them from thumb-tacking a Dilbert
comic strip chastising upper management to a bulletin board on the
company's front lobby. Unfortunately, that little voice telling
them that something is not as great an idea as they originally thought
is less pronounced when it comes to Web sites. For many, the
Web is still a toy and just too much fun to pass up. With a
few clicks of the mouse, someone can add their own personal "graffiti"
on the company's open cyber-canvas.
You have invested hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars
on R&D, IT manpower, and possibly consultants in order to build
an intranet site which may hopefully help in your company's business
processes. Suddenly someone (let us call him "Joe Hacker." His real
identity has been concealed for his own safety) gets the bright
idea of creating a Web-based application to maintain his department's
project schedules and to keep track of its staff when they are away
on business trips or vacation.
"This is a perfect solution!" Joe Hacker proudly proclaims while
thumping his chest and swinging on a loose piece of network cabling
hanging from the ceiling with the Tarzan war cry billowing throughout
the office. Joe Hacker sets about developing this application without
the knowledge of the IT departments. He makes his choice of hardware
and software from what is already available from within his department.
No thought is given to corporate intranet standards for the use
of development tools or technology. Several weeks later, the project
is complete and Joe Hacker unleashes this application on the user
community from a Web server based entirely on his own workstation.
The project is a rousing success and Joe Hacker is patted on the
back for his initiative. However, it soon dawns on him that his
workstation is not capable of maintaining the load placed on it
from the numerous users accessing the application. Our friend Mr.
Hacker now realizes that maybe this Web application should be on
a corporate Web server so he decides to call IT.
Upon Joe Hacker's request, a hapless IT Web developer begins to
set up a migration plan for the offloading of this application from
the soon-to-be doomed workstation. He mentions that the corporate
Web server is based on an NT server running on Microsoft's Internet
Information Server (IIS) with an MS-SQL Server database backbone
and Active Server Pages (ASP).
A long and uncomfortable silence is broken. "Well, that may be a
problem..." Joe Hacker begins, "I developed this on an old NT box
running Apache with JSP servlets and some third party browser plugin
I downloaded off the Net." A quiet lull fills the air...
Just then, our hapless IT Web developer catches the faint whisper
of a conversation off in the distance like the dreaded cry of the
howler monkey. "We saw a demo of this application that some guy
named Joe down in Program Management created on the Web and thought
that this would be perfect for our department too." The virus
begins to spread...
At this point the application already has a strong user base in
a production environment. It is impossible to shut it down without
affecting the user community and it can no longer remain on its
current workstation. You are now faced with an awkward decision:
The former may have negative impacts on applications already running in production and the latter may be very time consuming. Either way you look at it, you may be up a certain creak without a paddle.
A
strong, tightly knit intranet can quickly transform into a strange,
non-cohesive mixture of unrelated sites. One day you are on
top of the world with an intranet which sets the standard for all
corporate Web-based development and design and the next day you
wake up like some Kafkaesque cockroach on its back with limbs flaying
about just waiting for someone to turn it over or step on it to
put it out of its misery.
It is next to impossible to stop the spread of these types of sites
but there are steps which can be taken in order to minimize their
effects on a corporate site. It is advisable to set up a series
of corporate
Web guidelines which should be followed by anyone seeking
a Web presence for their department.
These are only some of the more standard sets of guidelines, which
by downloading the file,you can edit for your own use. You may find
others which are more applicable to the type of site that you have
implemented. Although it is not the intent to censor or act as watchdog
to the corporate intranet, it is advisable to keep an eye out for
those runaway Web site which may attach themselves to the intranet
like barnacles to a ship. You should realize that, although this
may be an internal site, it still reflects the image of the company.
Note:
Paul will be a guest at Competia
Symposium 2001:
if you
liked the article, come and meet the author !
Check our past Intranet Corner articles