Is this the best intranet ever? 

What makes a great intranet?

Is it good navigation? Stunning design? A solid structure?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Over the last 15 years, we’ve seen countless intranets—some clever, some quirky, and some that blew us away.

Case in point: DOLi, the impressive intranet from the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL).

It’s so well-crafted that even our Design Lead at ThoughtFarmer was drooling.

But DOLi isn’t just beautiful—it’s built to perform.

Let’s look at what they got right:

A wide variety of use cases

Like many of our customers, NYSDOL has figured out that a good intranet is more than just a bunch of great content. They are using their intranet for a wide variety of use cases. From employee onboarding, to knowledge sharing, to building connections.

A well designed architecture

Modern and intuitive, DOLi was designed with input from employees across the agency to create a well-structured architecture that makes work resources and information easy to find. Clear information architecture is key to a successful intranet, helping employees quickly locate what they need and work more efficiently.

An employee recognition program

The DOL Employee Recognition Program was relaunched through the help of DOLi. Employees are encouraged to nominate their colleagues for awards by completing a form through ThoughtFarmer’s FormFlow feature. A standing recognition hub remains including the photo shuffle feature that showcases all of 2023’s winners.

Monthly celebrations

The DOL recognizes monthly celebrations through the use of videos and posters throughout building locations. With the launch of DOLi, monthly celebration visuals are also displayed through the news carousel feature. With locations across New York State, DOLi has brought the visuals of each monthly celebration to everybody across the agency, regardless of work location.

A hub for supervisors

The DOL’s Supervisor Information Hub serves as a centralized communication and information hub that houses resources for DOL supervisors. The purpose is to increase efficiency, and support a culture of continuous improvement for supervisors. From Quick Links to a Discussion Forum to Collapsible Content, this space uses many of ThoughtFarmer’s features to help supervisors and future supervisors succeed.

Helping employees pronounce names

DOL are big users of ThoughtFarmer’s Name Pronunciation customization.  The custom card works by enabling users to record an audio segment of themselves correctly pronouncing their name. This audio clip is then added to an employee’s profile page. DOL created a  training video as well as a promotional video to encourage employees to use the tool. To ensure employees knew about this capability, the feature launch was shared with employees in an internal newsletter as well as posted to DOLi. 

And of course…proof that it’s working! 

As mentioned DOLi is a great example of an intranet that performs well too—and the impressive stats speak for themselves: 

Nearly 1 million site visits in one year, over 3 million pageviews, and over 200,000 searches. 

But you don’t have to take our word for it—NYSDOL is just as excited about their intranet. In a recent LinkedIn post, Scott Melvin shared how DOLi is transforming their workplace.

NYSDOL has also received a lot of positive feedback internally from their employees.

The implementation of ThoughtFarmer’s innovative features throughout DOLi have truly been a game changer. We use many content formatting features to bring information up front and center for staff. It’s brought NYDOL into the modern day.”

Nicole Graf
Public Information Specialist, Digital Content

Want to see more award winning intranets?

Check out our entire list of recent award winning intranets in the categories of innovation, design, and impact.

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