Intranets & Extranets

By definition, an intranet is a private computer network that is accessible from within an organisation. An extranet on the other hand is accessible from outside an organisation. Nowadays, both are used to describe the same thing with just about every intranet being accessible from outside an organisation in some way. For simplicity, we always refer to intranets when talking about these types of business systems.

Just like a website, there needs to be a purpose for implementing an intranet. An intranet can achieve a lot of things. Broadly speaking, the majority of intranets are implemented to share information across an organisation. This information can be in the form of:

• Documents
• Knowledge, processes and procedures
• People and Human Resources
• Customer details
• Projects

When a business approaches Get Started for an intranet our first recommendation is implementing an off-the-shelf intranet product like Microsoft Sharepoint. Although Sharepoint has its weaknesses, the turn-key nature of the system combined with the intuitive Microsoft Office feel to the application makes it easy for end users to accept. It also provides for a large amount of customisation using Microsoft Web Parts and ASP.NET 2.0. Get Started can help you integrate, customise and train your end users to ensure your Sharepoint project is a successful one. Sharepoint 2007 will be released at the end of 2006 and Get Started have plans to be an early adopter of what looks to be a huge jump in quality for Sharepoint and Microsoft. Stay tuned for more information about Sharepoint 2007.

If Sharepoint cannot meet your needs we proceed to look at a custom business system. Find out more about custom business systems here.