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What's Involved in an Intranet Content Audit?

Unlike inventories conducted by retailers, content audits are a fair bit more complex. Intranet content doesn't sit on a shelf where it can be easily counted; you can't simply walk from department to department zapping content with a bar-code reader. Product inventories are black-and-white. Retailers know what's selling based on total quantities ordered and total quantities remaining at the time of the inventory. Intranet content, on the other hand, isn't tangible — it's conceptual. It needs to be interpreted by someone, turned into knowledge, and then put into use.

So how do you take stock of something as intangible as intranet content? The process is made up of two parts: Analysis and action.

Part 1: Analysis
The analysis phase of an intranet content audit consists of a thorough review of an organization's information inventory (ie., taking stock of content currently stored on the intranet as well as content that never made its way onto the system), its usage and management of this content, and its information needs in general. This can be accomplished with the use of Web site analytics (this topic will be discussed in my next article) and by interacting with the user community through interviews, focus groups, and surveys as discussed in Measuring Intranet User Response and Designing an Intranet User Survey.

The analysis process — and the effort required to carry it out — will be highly dependent on:

• The size of the current content base: The larger the intranet and content base, the more people will have to be involved. A single, centralized audit team can be used to take stock of small intranets, but medium- to large-scaled intranets with high content loads will require the active participation of each section's content owner. In a sense they will conduct a mini-audit within their own section(s). Once all managers compete their respective audits, they will gather together to review the results as a whole.

• The goal and scope of the audit: The effort and scale of the audit depends on what you hope to accomplish in this process. Is it simply to clean up the intranet. Is it to find deficiencies and hidden content? Is it to plan a complete overhaul of the system and the organization's content management processes?

Part 2: Action
Once the analysis phase has been completed, a report is written containing the key findings and a list of recommendations. Like the analysis phase, the action plan will depend on what you hope to accomplish with the audit. Some of the actions arising from an intranet content audit can include:

• Archiving or destroying content passed its lifecycle.

• Restructuring content classifications to reflect changes in business and/or organizational requirements.

• Updating content with new information to extend lifecycle.

• Re-allocating resources — technological and personnel — to improve content flow and eliminate bottlenecks.

• Upgrading the intranet in whole or in part. This could involve reworking the organization's content management workflow and/or upgrading the system hardware and software.

Regardless of the actions taken as a result of the audit, all intranet section owners need to be involved in the action planning process. Smaller departments with fewer resources may not be able to comply with the initiatives set out by larger departments. It's vital that all audit team members have a say in the outcome of the process.

Deciding Who Will Conduct the Audit

How you conduct your intranet content inventory will boil down to your experience with information audits, available personnel, and budgeting issues. Some information audits are carried out in-house by those who understand the organization and its content needs best. Others are carried out in conjunction with consultants in the library services industry.

The primary advantage of using professional library services consultants — aside from the fact that information, and its organization, is their job — is in their candid interaction with users. Users who are critical about the intranet and those managing it might not be comfortable voicing their opinions openly if the audit were run by in-house personnel — especially if the criticism is directed towards those very people running the audit.

Non-biased consultants unaffected by corporate politics provide users with a higher level of comfort because of the anonymity associated with the user-consultant relationship. Users will be much more likely to speak openly and truthfully during interviews or in focus groups without the fear of reprisal.

On the flip side, no one knows the organization's content and processes better than those who work in that environment everyday. They will also be more familiar with the organization's subtle idiosyncrasies — something that consultants won't catch onto in the time they're performing the audit.

However, there's an issue of content security when dealing with consultants. While it might not be a big concern for those without a lot sensitive information, more secure facilities have to take extra precautions when it comes to content access. Trade secrets, corporate strategies, and financial information may have to be exposed to the consultants. If consultant are to be used, it's crucial that they conform to confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

Closing Thoughts

An intranet content audit isn't something that needs to be run very often. It can take place once every few years, after a substantial amount of content has been added. But it's important to bear in mind that the time in between audits will narrow the larger the intranet, the more complex the content management process, and the higher the level of intranet activity.

When and how to conduct an intranet content audit really depends on your specific goals and the current state of your organization's information assets. An audit can also be a great catalyst to other intranet initiatives such as system and process upgrades. But if you never conduct a content audit and allow it to run unchecked, you're going to find your information piling up and will be oblivious to information gaps. Even the best content managers can't keep track of all their information assets throughout the years.