Turning an overlooked internal archive into a useful working platform
An outdated WordPress intranet had become difficult to use, unreliable to access and increasingly ignored. Much of the content was stale, ownership was unclear and the platform no longer gave people a reason to return.
Goals
- Replace an unreliable archive with a useful internal platform.
- Give teams practical reasons to return regularly.
- Improve ownership, permissions and content freshness.
- Use the rebuild to identify what people across the organisation actually needed.
My role
I proposed a SharePoint rebuild to fit the organisation’s existing Microsoft ecosystem, assembled a cross-functional working group and created an early prototype to make the idea tangible. I then interviewed people across the business, shaped permissions and access levels, coordinated with the IT provider and supported a ground-up content rethink.
Approach
Start again rather than migrate clutter
The existing platform contained little content worth carrying forward. The rebuild became a chance to review policies properly, clarify ownership and avoid importing an outdated archive into a cleaner shell.
Prototype early
I built a prototype before the next working-group meeting. It answered practical questions quickly, helped people understand the opportunity and made it easier to move from discussion into delivery.
Build around useful habits
The new intranet included a live weekly schedule, a BAU knowledge board, social content, senior-leadership updates and an anonymous feedback route.
Results
- The weekly schedule became the platform’s most-used page.
- Teams returned to a more accurate source of truth throughout the week.
- Social content gained traction and developed into a more active company-led space.
- The rebuild prompted a wider policy refresh.
- The intranet became a practical working platform rather than a static document archive.