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At what point do numerous corporate Web sites make that jump from being a mixed bag of heterogeneous jelly beans into a single unified entity we call an intranet?

Some may argue that the combination of all internal Web sites — although outwardly dissimilar — may constitute an intranet. But a dozen disjointed Web sites under the same corporate banner doesn't necessarily qualify it to be an intranet. A dozen Web sites is simply a dozen Web sites.

In the most true context, an intranet is not an intranet unless all of the various sub-sites contained within it share a common goal and are connected by a standard design, navigational structure, and a pool of shared resources (see my previous article Intranet Standardization: All For One, and One For All for more on this). And it's important to make this distinction—emphasizing the difference between a true intranet from a motley assortment of internal Web sites—if you want to have any hope of quantifying the success of your system.

While some companies build intranets from the ground up to fulfill a very specific requirement, many others retrofit or build upon pre-existing departmental and workgroup sites, merging the various sub-sites into a one "super-site." But how do we know when it's time to merge multiple internal sites into an intranet, and more importantly, which sites do we include?

Consolidation: The Why's and When's

The purpose of an intranet, in many cases, is to promote interdepartmental collaboration, information sharing, and the coordination of effort among various groups. And in order for this to happen, users need a centralized system rather than a scattering of independent sites that have little or nothing to do with the others.

And while it's true that each department or workgroup has requirements that are specific to their own operation, there's always an information overlap; what proves useful to one may very well prove useful to another. Choosing to consolidate these sites into an intranet will help tie the company's information structure together and make the entire process of data retrieval much simpler.

It's easy to lose site of your goal by trying too hard to assimilate every internal sub-site, however — in short, to become a vacuum cleaner. You need to know when it's appropriate to include or exclude certain sub-sites from your intranet:

• Do the sites actually belong together?
• Is the payoff of site consolidation worth the time and effort?
• Will this be a logical or physical merger?
• What will be the technological backbone?
• Is the merger amicable?

Multi-site consolidation should occur only when there's a logical relationship among the sites to be merged. Unfortunately, many first-time intranet developers make the mistake of padding their system with sites that have no real reason being there. This causes intranet bloat and takes away from the very definition of what an intranet is—not simply a collection of internal corporate Web sites, but rather a collection of interrelated sites. It's this close relationship that sites have among one another that gives an intranet its real purpose.

Before you even consider consolidation, however, your proposed intranet needs to have a goal, a raison d'être. A well-planned intranet contains individual components that contribute to the whole, but if you don't even know what that whole is, how will you know which sites to include and which to leave out?

It often helps to read your intranet mission statement aloud; if the site you want to merge into your intranet doesn't contribute to that mission statement, it probably doesn't belong, and if it doesn't belong, don't force it. After all, it's always possible to squeeze a square peg into a round hole by chiselling away at it and sanding it down, but where does that lead you? The square peg was a square peg for a reason, and now — even though you managed to force it in — you're simply left with a disfigured and improperly fitted square peg.

Effort Versus Payoff

The time, effort, and resources required to merge several internal, corporate sites will depend largely on how far you plan to take your intranet. It's your job, as developers and content owners, to weigh the advantages of site consolidation with the effort required to carry out the task. You will need to take into consideration:

• The extent to which you plan to take the consolidation process. Will it simply be an issue of design or will it also involve the adoption of a development standard?

• How much effort is required to carry out this task?

• How much will you really gain by merging?

Page 2: Logical Versus Physical Consolidation