Efficiency, memorability, and error reduction are the three most important usability attributes considered in the design of an intranet or portal. Read the rest of this article to learn more about these three principles.
When designing a company intranet or portal, it is easy to become tangled up in a web of decisions being made by managers, executives, department leads, and more. Often times, the downfall of a portal or intranet is the fact that too many people have their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. The answer, is to keep it as simple as possible. One way to do that is to simply try to achieve three easy goals.
Efficiency.
This one is easy enough right? Simply put, any well designed or thought out portal or intranet is going to increase user efficiency. In a way, that is kind of the whole point of a portal, right? A well designed and planned portal/intranet will allow a user to increase efficiency, and therefore, productivity. As we all know, an increase in productivity will directly positively effect the bottom line of any company, large or small. So how do you achieve efficiency? Easy – give the users the tools they need to do their job, in only a few clicks, while avoiding confusion. make use of web 2.0 features. Allow for customization. Allow for expansion both of the portal itself, and of user-centric tools. Use social networking tools to your advantage. Make communication easier. Allow for integration for your portal into office-based software. Use dashboards and metrics. Basically, make it easy for a user to use.
Memorability.
Often considered more of a challenge than efficiency, I feel this one is actually a little easier – and it all comes down to design and structure. Quite simply, a company portal/intranet differs from the world wide web in one major way: Users cannot “leave” the portal to do their work on another. In other words, you can “train” your user base a lot more efficiently because the users will continue to use your portal. Once a user locates the search box, for example, they will know where it on subsequent visits. However, most designers attempt to take advantage of this in the wrong way. This is not an excuse to avoid using web trends and begin placing elements on a page wherever a designer/developer sees fit. Usually, that is the excuse i get. ”well, I know it isn’t normal to put the search in the bottom left of the page, but I am training the users”. This is completely wrong. Instead, using web trends and common-sense structure will make it easier for users to memorize where information lives on the portal. This means avoiding portal restructures, deleting pages or moving information, and so on. The point is, the more web trends and conventions you use, the less the user needs to learn. The less they need to learn, the more room they have in their brain for memorizing where information lives, or how certain portal functions work.
Error Reduction.
It kind of says it all, doesn’t it? Reducing the number of errors a user comes across is a big one. And it is kind of easy, too. Simply make sure your portal tests well. Remember - errors don’t necessarily mean that their is a bug in the code, or that a part of the portal doesn’t work. It also means “user errors”. Designing a portal to reduce or eliminate user errors will greatly improve the portal as a productivity tool. Another tip is to make custom error screens that actually help the user try to solve their problem. If the page is no longer there (it should be!) the error page that comes up in its place should allow for searching and other links to point the user to the right direction. Here is an example that I work by: If a user thinks the menu should have drop down menus, then it should – if it doesn’t, then it is an error. Sounds a bit harsh, I know, but hey – you want a portal the people will user, right?
In conclusion, achieving these three goals may be a bit of a challenge, but remembering them as you wage internal wars over the portal is key. Everyone will want the same thing – a functional, productive portal that employees will respect, and more importantly, use. Coming up with the what is the easy part. The how is more of a challenge. Use these three goals to simplify the situation, and go from there!