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About the staff intranet

Find out more about the background, drivers and aims of the staff intranet.

Background

The staff intranet project was initiated in response to staff feedback from several surveys over the past few years which have surfaced the frustration experienced by staff when accessing key information or carrying out everyday tasks. The staff intranet project supports other major UCL initiatives which are also seeking to move towards more customer-centric services. 

With many webpages containing potentially confusing guidance and instructions spread across multiple websites, we set out to transform the current fragmented offering into a single intranet with intuitive signposting, easy to follow guidance and relevant communications which will help staff perform the process parts of their roles efficiently, leaving them more time to focus on the important aspects. 

Aims

To provide staff with a streamlined intranet where they can: 

  • Find relevant guidance, instructions and information to help them perform their roles. This has been achieved via a central library of common staff tasks where staff can read clear step-by-step instructions to carry out tasks such as booking a meeting room, claiming expenses or applying for parental leave.
  • Access relevant internal communications including events and opportunities to get involved in life at UCL
  • Access UCL policy, organizational and compliance information 

Other aims include:

  • Improving the self-service offering 
  • Reducing the number of enquiries to the Service Desk and other support staff 
  • Supporting the online information needs of other business initiatives such as TOPS and the Professional Services Hub

Agile approach

Recognised as world leaders in public sector digital innovation the Government Digital Service (GDS), who run gov.uk have established a set of design principles which have transformed the provision of online public services. 

To deliver on the project aims, we apply GDS best practice design principles in the following ways:  

  • Releasing the first version of the intranet as a beta (summer 2019) and using this to gather data from users. We continue to invite user feedback at several points in user journeys across the intranet
  • Researching the way people currently use information and web content to ensure we build the right thing 
  • Doing the hard work in the background to make things simpler for the user to access the information they need 
  • Making content as easy to read and understand as possible  

The staff intranet Content Delivery and Governance Group work closely with all Professional Services and Office of the Vice-Provost departments to transform content using these design principles. 

Benefits

An improved user experience where UCL staff can: 

  • Easily find what they are looking for 
  • Quickly read and understand information 
  • Complete everyday tasks without the need for telephone or person-to-person support 

How does the intranet affect me?

The intranet replaced the old staff gateway page on 11 July, becoming the default browser homepage on Desktop @ UCL machines. You can find quick links to key services like webmail and MyView on the right of the homepage near the top.

The intranet also provides:

  • A central task library with clear step-by-step guides to help you complete everyday tasks from booking travel to requesting parental leave
  • Improved signposting to other staff information across UCL’s digital estate
  • A central staff communication channel to keep you up to date with news, announcements and opportunities to get involved in life at UCL 

We are continuing to build the intranet. If you have any feedback please email staff-intranet@ucl.ac.uk

Frequently asked questions

Find out answers to common questions on the project approach:

Frequently asked questions