FPS Employment scoops Best Intranet Award

Leuven, September 2010 – The Belgian Internal Communication Association (Belgische Vereniging voor Interne Communicatie - BVIC) has given its award for the best intranet to the brand new intranet of the Federal Public Service for Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue (FPS Employment). This intranet project was realised in partnership with Amplexor, the content management specialist.

From Intrasite to Intranet

The competition for the Best Intranet Award was fierce. With 10 entrants, which included Belgacom, the National Bank of Belgium and the VRT, the BVIC's jury faced a difficult task. Yet one intranet stood out from the crowd: the FPS Employment intranet. The jury was particularly impressed by the fact that such good results had been achieved in quite a short space of time and on a limited budget. The clear navigation structure and interactive options also came in for praise. Sandy Deseure, who is responsible for web communication at FPS Employment, was pleasantly surprised. “We are very happy to receive the best intranet award, although we didn't expect it at all.”

In 2002 FPS Employment launched its ‘Intrasite’, but this communication tool was not very practical. Adding new information was difficult, plus the statistical environment and the complicated navigation structure needed upgrading.

In 2010 a new intranet was launched on a small budget, after just five months of preparation. “We couldn’t spend too much on this project because we only had access to limited funds. Fortunately Amplexor offered us good value for money,” Sandy Deseure said. FPS Employment decided to do some of the work itself. Both the design of the intranet and the navigation structure were developed in house. “Doing some of this project ourselves did put us under some pressure, but luckily we could always count on advice and support from Amplexor,” said Ellen Serkeyn of the Communications Directorate.

New and improved

The concept of the FPS Employment intranet is entirely in keeping with the 2.0 philosophy. The intranet has a forum, offers blogging options, enables users to reply to all messages and also lets users add events to the federal public service’s calendar. The intranet is not censured, although it is not possible to post anonymous messages. Besides space for work-related content, such as HR information, forms, a ‘Who’s Who’ application and special news items, there is also space for content that is not work related, including birthdays, wanted ads, and activities organised by the staff association and the unions. “We conducted a survey of all horizontal services at FPS Employment in order to find out what they felt was necessary in the way of information,” Sandy Deseure said. “This meant we could be sure we would hit the mark, content-wise. Plus we also had support from a group of users.” In this way, it was possible to ensure that the new intranet would help horizontal services and management share information while at the same time meet the information needs of users.

Information used to be classified by administration department, but now it is arranged by theme. Seven main themes were selected, each of which has up to seven sub-themes. The use of doormat navigation enables information to be accessed quickly. Importantly, users can switch to other languages at page level.

With regard to technology, the preference was for open source software. “We opted for open source software, specifically Drupal 6, which is an extremely user-friendly, budget-friendly, flexible product.  And adding more modules to the intranet is now child's play,” Sandy Deseure explained.

User response

Around 1400 employees have access to the FPS Employment intranet. How do they feel about their new intranet? “A user survey hasn’t been conducted yet, but we do have the impression that people are now better able to find the information they require," said Ellen Serkeyn. “And all the responses we have had so far have been positive.”