Defining your constraints and limitations for a new intranet

Every project, intranet or otherwise, is constrained by three cardinal factors: Scope, Cost, and Schedule. Changing one of these constraints affects the others. For example, if you tighten the schedule, the cost will need to increase and/or the scope will need to decrease.

In Communicating Your Intranet Requirements, we discussed how to define your scope. Now you need to define your budget and your schedule. Take into consideration both one-time costs and recurring costs as the intranet transitions from a project to a program.

A constraint is anything that inhibits or prevents your intranet project from progressing. In addition to scope, cost and schedule, consider these additional constraints:

Language. Does your organization work in languages other than English? If so, support for specific languages is a constraint for your intranet software.

IT constraints. Some organizations must work within specific technical constraints. Some examples:

• Intranet must be cloud-based (software and hardware managed by vendor)
• Intranet must be self-hosted (software and hardware managed by your company)
• Intranet must be integrated with Active Directory
• Intranet must use Microsoft server software only (e.g. Windows Server, SQL Server)

HR constraints. Launching a new intranet requires specific skills. Depending on the scope of your project, it may be constrained by the availability of certain human resources, such as:

• Graphic designer for branding
• IA designer for content and navigation
• Trainer
• Software developer for custom extensions and integrations