BT’s intranet is everyone’s workplace for whatever they need to for their work. Whether it is reading the latest news, collaborating with people or completing a task you need to use the BT intranet.
So it is vital BT makes sure people are 100% confident they can rely on the integrity of the information and applications on BT’s intranet.
BT does this with a small central team to set standards and prevent errors happening so everyone can rely on the BT Intranet. These include:
Clauses in contracts
In BT’s procurement process there is a clause to make sure any web service bought meets the UK Disability and Discrimination Act 1995 for web accessibility. BT aims for WAI W3C AA standards. There is also a clause on the usability standards the web service needs to meet. These clauses help prevent web services being implemented that don’t meet BT’s intranet standards.
Standards for developing web services
The same applies for web services BT develops as well as buys on accessibility and usability. The developers refer to our accessibility and usability standards and apply them to the software they develop. This gives a consistent approach to any new web service for BT Intranet users.
Publishing templates
For all types of content published BT has built as many standards as possible into the templates used. This saves time training publishers and it doesn’t dely them publishing content. Templates are AA compliant for web accessibility, usable . Templates have links to PDA format, print, A-Z, global navigation bar, name of page owner, review date, etc. Users see the same information in the same parts of the screen across BT’s intranet giving a consistently valuable experience.
Publishing training
Before anyone can publish format content they need to show they have completed online training covering publishing standards. This builds up a consistent level of awareness and understanding before anyone publishes. For other content types like blogs people don’t need approval or training – they just start publishing……….
All of these have combined to reduce issues to a minimum that cause a loss of productivity, business decisions taken on inaccurate information and unnecessary helpdesk queries.
Impressive, Mark.
Sounds so obvious and simple when you describe it like that, but there’s a lot of work that’s gone into what you and your team have achieved.
Great example!
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