Intranet

[3][4][5] Many modern intranets have search engines, user profiles, blogs, mobile apps with notifications, and events planning within their infrastructure.

While an intranet is generally restricted to employees of the organization, extranets may also be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved parties.

[6] Extranets extend a private network onto the Internet with special provisions for authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA protocol).

Businesses can send private messages through the public network using special encryption/decryption and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another.

Because of the scope and variety of content and the number of system interfaces, the intranets of many organizations are much more complex than their respective public websites.

With a web browser interface, users can access data held in any database the organization wants to make available at any time and — subject to security provisions — from anywhere within company workstations, increasing employees' ability to perform their jobs faster, more accurately, and with confidence that they have the right information.

Using hypermedia and Web technology, Web publishing allows for the maintenance of and easy access to cumbersome corporate knowledge, such as employee manuals, benefits documents, company policies, business standards, news feeds, and even training, all of which can be accessed throughout a company using common Internet standards (Acrobat files, Flash files, CGI applications).

Users can view information and data via a web browser rather than maintaining physical documents such as procedure manuals, internal phone list and requisition forms.

[8] Many companies dictate computer specifications which, in turn, may allow Intranet developers to write applications that only have to work on one browser such that there are no cross-browser compatibility issues.

In order to produce a high-value end product, systems planners should determine the level of interactivity (e.g. wikis, on-line forms) desired.

These decisions sit alongside to the hardware and software considerations (like content management systems), participation issues (like good taste, harassment, confidentiality), and features to be supported.

The actual implementation would include steps such as securing senior management support and funding,[13] conducting a business requirement analysis and identifying users' information needs.

From the technical perspective, there would need to be a coordinated installation of the web server and user access network, the required user/client applications and the creation of document framework (or template) for the content to be hosted.

[14] The end-user should be involved in testing and promoting use of the company intranet, possibly through a parallel adoption methodology or pilot programme.