Web governance addresses the management structures, policies, and standards that are put in place by an organization in order to manage a web presence. For most organizations, intranet web governance is ad hoc or, at best, informal. While, in general, web governance is not effectively carried out on internet sites either, most organizations at least make some pretense at trying to establish web policies and standards for their websites (particularly if the organization operates in a capacity that requires rigorous compliance to standards related to information dissemination). Intranets, not being public-facing, lag even further behind for establishing effective governance. The ideal state for any organization would be to establish a formal web-governance model.
A formal web-governance model implies clearly codified, implemented, and enforced policies and standards and the existence of a funded programmatic entity within the organization that manages the central aspects of a site. These aspects include not just the technical infrastructure, but also content-focused aspects such as the graphical user interface, information architecture, editorial voice, taxonomy, and the requirements for any related content management and delivery tools such as web content management systems, portals, and search engines. This centralized entity is also empowered to enforce standards.
The quality of intranets supported by a formal web-governance model is generally high and the supporting technical infrastructure is well-architected using well-implemented sitewide tools and "meta" structures, such as a taxonomy.
An informal web-governance model is usually reflected by some documented policies standards and a strong organizational understanding of what ought to be done on the intranet. There may be a de facto centralized web team in place, but this team is not formally empowered to set or enforce intranet web standards or may be inadequately funded to achieve real control and execute strategic technology and content-related initiatives.
Intranets with informal web governance can be of reasonable quality with some cohesiveness in information architecture and content delivery: However, attempts to execute wholesale change to the site are difficult to execute due to weak centralized web management.
Someone once asked me whether ad-hoc web governance was the just a polite way of saying that everyone is doing their own thing. Yes, it is. An intranet site with ad-hoc governance is usually of low quality manifested as a difficult-to-navigate and graphically diverse intranet site. Usually content and applications are randomly added to the site with no centralized or strategic intent beyond that of the individual or group publishing the content.
While it's clear that an organization should strive toward a formalized model, it is a large leap from ad hoc to formal web governance. Organizations that operate their intranets under an ad-hoc or informal governance model should take careful steps toward formalization. Here's a start:
1. Determine and document what organizational functions the intranet is designed to support. This will include some human resources functions as well as some collaboration and knowledge-sharing functions. This may seem simplistic, but most organizations we work with have not done this basic work.
2. Determine who the intranet stakeholders are. Generally, this includes programs or offices, IT, human resources, and senior management.
3. Establish a cross-functional team that meets quarterly to start to brainstorm what a formal governance model might look like in your organization.
4. Get some grasp of what it costs to manage your intranet. Consider the intranets budgets and resources of all the organizational entities that contribute to the intranet.
5. Begin to consider where a central intranet web team might be seated in your organization (or whether the existing intranet team is properly seated), what resources might be included on that team, and what aspects of your intranet ought to be managed centrally.