BT Directory – connecting people easily | Mark Morrell Intranet Pioneer

BT Directory – connecting people easily

November 11, 2009 at 2:47 pm | Posted in application, best practice, intranet, navigation | 17 Comments
Tags: applications, best practice, bt intranet, directory, killer app, killer content, navigation, people finder

When BT’s intranet started in December 1994 one of the key demands from people was to easily find and connect with other people in BT. Along with the BT Homepage and BT today, BT Directory was one of the ‘killer application/content’ that encouraged people to want to use BT’s intranet because it gave them a tool that helped make their life easier.

Today Directory is still as critical as when it started. It is the easiest and quickest way to find out who you need to contact in BT. I have shared some examples of BT Directory for you to see.

Ease of use (slides 1 and 2)

It is very easy to find anyone in BT. You can use Directory to find people from any page on BT’s intranet using the Global Navigation Bar (GNB). You can see I have entered my name as an example of what you do, then just press ‘Go’. Their details will appear from Directory (slide 3). You can also click on the Directory heading in the GNB to enter to use all the features on Directory (slide 2).

People information (slides 3 – 5)

You can find a person’s contact details – office and mobile phone nos., email, address - their job title, manager and what part of BT they work in. Again, I’ve used myself for the example (slide 3).

You can also check their whereabouts (downloaded automatically each day from Outlook Calendar) to be able to choose when to contact them and if their office or mobile no. is better. It helps when planning calls or meetings too (slide 4).

You can also see who is in their team as well as their manager and where in the BT organisation structure a person is. I’ve used myself to show my team and where in BT – Group Communications – I fit in (slide 5).

Extra features (slides 6 – 9)

You can use a power search to find someone by just knowing their phone no., which location they may be at, part of their name or even initials (slide 6).

You can find out who else has a particular work interest, activity or title. The example shows how many people with a connection with ‘intranet’ in BT (slide 7).

Mobile users can also use a cut down version of Directory to find people’s contact details (slide 8). The results shown are the key contact details you will need (slide 9).

As social media tools continue to grow in BT, Directory will be a hub to help you find out more useful information to help them connect easily and quickly with the best people who can help you.

17 Comments »

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There are other features, too.

I like the ability to integrate things like ClickDial – where using CTI-like features you can find a name, and… click the button to speak to the individual

Comment by Steve Ellwood— November 11, 2009 #

Reply
- Steve,
  
  You’re right. There are many other features. I thought my blog post might turn into a thesis if I listed them all.
  
  ClickDial is great and make contacting someone by phone so easy.
  
  Mark
  
  Comment by markmorrell— November 11, 2009 #
  
  Reply
@blaine and i have a plan to webfinger enable the BT Directory, and Ribbitify it while we’re at it. Then it will be easily the most capable and social media advanced intranet directory in the world

Comment by san1t1— November 11, 2009 #

Reply
- Tim,
  
  Fantastic news. Do you have a go live date?
  
  Mark
  
  Comment by markmorrell— November 11, 2009 #
  
  Reply
  - I *love* working for this company. Well, for stuff like this!
    
    Comment by Steve Ellwood— November 11, 2009 #
  - Also has ClickSMS for sending quick messages to mobiles rather than phone them up – would be better if you didn’t need an account but hey ho.
    
    We also have a search by SMS running as well – and this too has been pushed but no one will fund it so accounts only.
    
    Comment by Rip T— November 26, 2009 #
- I can understand why you might want to webfinger the directory (or at least I think I understand). But why would you want to Ribbitify it? What would that look / sound like?
  
  Comment by Andrew Falkingbridge— November 25, 2009 #
  
  Reply
I think you have the wrong Slideshare link. I think this is the correct one.

Comment by Kerry Buckley— November 11, 2009 #

Reply
- Kerry,
  
  Whoops! Thanks for letting me know. I’ve change the link to the right one.
  
  Mark
  
  Comment by markmorrell— November 11, 2009 #
  
  Reply
Thanks for sharing, Mark! Is the ‘interest’ and ‘expertise’ part filled manually by the employee? If so, do BT employees keep that info up to date? We used an interesting concept (that is now a separate company called Guruscan.nl) to semi-automatically fill the expertise field.

Comment by Samuel Driessen— November 12, 2009 #

Reply
- Samuel,
  
  Yes it is. It’s voluntary so some people have nothing, some have lots of information and yes, some of it is not up to date. It is really down to people finding it helps them find other people and decide to add information about themselves.
  
  There are reasons why HR don’t let the field be automatically filled or partly filled but I can’t remember the full reasons (sorry). If we do decide to do this then I’ll bear your suggestion in mind.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Mark
  
  Comment by markmorrell— November 13, 2009 #
  
  Reply
BT Directory is the best tool for the job when you know who you want to find.

Have you tried Signpost:PeopleFinder on MyBT (www.mybt.bt.com)? The premise behind Signpost is expertise location, whereby you can find someone when you know *what* you want to find someone for, but don’t know *who* to find.

Comment by Andrew Falkingbridge— November 25, 2009 #

Reply
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Mark Morrell Intranet Pioneer