Case Study: Microsoft's Intranet

Case study of Microsoft’s intranet.
A substantial and excellent case study of Microsoft’s intranet and the information architecture challenges that had to be addressed. Worth the time.

Boxes and Arrows: MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #1. Fascinating look at Microsoft’s Intranet Information Architecture [Roland Tanglao’s Weblog]

It’s nearly impossible to develop a successful information architecture against a backdrop of explosive content growth, content ROT, and the political twists and turns common in any organization. And, we’re sorry to say, we don’t have the Holy Grail. But we’ve had the privilege of getting up close to a large number of corporate intranets. And the best approach we’ve seen so far is that taken by Microsoft’s intranet portal (MSWeb) team….

Like Microsoft itself, MSWeb is insanely huge and distributed. Let’s use some numbers to paint a picture of the situation. MSWeb contains:

• 3,100,000+ pages
  
• Content created by and for over 50,000 employees who work in 74 countries
  
• 8,000+ separate intranet sites

…Microsoft estimates that a typical employee spends 2.31 hours per day engaging with information, and 50 percent of that time is used looking for that information.

[McGee’s Musings]