    Microsoft Office and Microsoft FrontPage: Building Simple
                            Intranets

Building Simple Intranets with Microsoft  Office 97 and
Microsoft FrontPageTM

Executive Summary

Simple intranets built with Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft
FrontPageTM 98 are the fastest, easiest way for organizations to
take advantage of the promise of the intranet. This whitepaper
explains how simple intranets built at low cost with familiar
tools can improve an organization's ability to share information
and provide a first step toward implementing more sophisticated
intranet solutions.
  * Part I explains the structure and benefit of simple
    intranets built with Microsoft technologies.
  * Part II provides a detailed usage model describing the
    structure of a simple intranet.
  * Part III provides guidance for scaling up from a simple
    intranet to a more sophisticated solution.

Part I: Simple Intranets

Intranets are private networks built using Internet standards
and protocols. They bring the intuitive navigational interface
of the World Wide Web to the information and services stored on
a corporate local area network (LAN). Intranets are attractive
because they can lower the administrative costs of maintaining
an internal network and at the same time improve worker
productivity by giving users more efficient access to the
information and services they need. This attractive combination
is leading organizations to adopt intranets at unprecedented
rate: a recent study predicts that intranet deployment will grow
by 110% in 1997 (Corporate Intranets: Cost, Value and
Applications, 1997, Creative Networks Inc.)
(http://www.cnilive.com/).

Although the appeal of intranets is fairly obvious, the process
of implementation is not. Some organizations adopt the same
approach to building their internal Web as they do to building
their external Internet site: They hire outside contractors and
designers who typically focus on graphics, production values,
and the latest popular technologies. This approach can cost a
great deal of money, but it doesn't necessarily produce a
network that meets an organization's needs.

A Fast, Easy Way to Start

An alternative model is to start small, with local Webs built
and maintained by teams and departments. These simple intranets
deliver real value in the form of improved information sharing
with relatively low setup and administrative costs.

Characteristics of a Simple Intranet

Simple intranets let teams or departments take advantage of the
intuitive navigational metaphor of the Web to more effectively
find and share information. Unlike more sophisticated intranet
solutions, simple intranets are very specific in their purpose
and implementation:
  * Standalone solutions. Although they are built on an existing
    LAN, they are not integrated with the rest of an
    organization's network, such as e-mail or database servers.
  * Internal communication. They facilitate information sharing
    within a team or department, and they are built and managed
    by members of the group for their own use.
  * Primarily vehicles for information sharing. In a 1996 study
    for Microsoft, the Meta Group found that more than 90
    percent of respondents cited electronic publishing and
    information sharing as the number one motivation for
    deploying an intranet.

Benefits of a Simple Intranet

A simple intranet allows organizations to take advantage of the
promise of the intranet at the team or departmental level, using
current or easily available technologies. These grassroots Webs
deliver benefits both as solutions in and of themselves and as a
first step to a more comprehensive intranet deployment.

Improved Information Sharing

The primary benefit of an intranet is improved information
sharing. In a modern organization, access to information is a
key to success. The intranet continues to evolve toward the more
intuitive information managing that began with the shift from a
command line to a graphical user interface.

The Web metaphor provides several improvements over previous
models:
  * Linking The ability to connect related documents and data
    through hyperlinks makes navigating through large pools of
    information much more efficient. The graphical,
    point-and-click metaphor of the Web is easily grasped by all
    levels of users.
  * Searching Search engines and automatic indexing are an
    important part of any intranet. Users can quickly find
    specific documents or information on broad topics even if
    the Web lacks clear organization by subject or author.
  * Common point of entry A subtle but important benefit of an
    intranet is the ability to provide a common point of entry
    to all information relevant to a team or department. For
    example, users no longer have to remember whether
    information is stored on a file server or distributed as a
    hard copy memo.

A simple intranet lets a team or department take advantage of
these simple yet powerful improvements to better manage the flow
of information among members.

Low Initial Investment

Without careful planning, the benefit of an intranet can be
quickly overshadowed by the cost. A simple intranet allows an
team or department to take advantage of the improved information
sharing offered by the Web metaphor with a relatively low
incremental investment, using existing hardware and
out-of-the-box software. For organizations that have an existing
LAN and are standardized on Office 97, a simple intranet can be
built with at very little incremental cost:

Component  | Solution  | Cost

Browser  | Microsoft Internet Explorer  | Free

Server  | Microsoft Personal Web Server  | Ships with Office 97
and FrontPage

Management Tool  | Microsoft FrontPage 97
Microsoft Frontpage 98, beta 2  | $109 for Office users
Free Limited time Download http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage

Since simple intranets are by definition limited in size and
scope, many of the difficult issues associated with more
sophisticated intranet solutions -- firewalls and security,
custom application development, integrating legacy systems -- do
not arise. This helps keep both initial investment and ongoing
administrative and support costs low.

First Step to the Future

Many organizations set up simple Webs as a first step toward a
more sophisticated intranet deployment. A local Web for a
particular department can be expanded and enhanced to create a
centralized Web for an entire organization. Alternately, several
grassroots Webs can be brought under centralized management to
create the larger Web.

In addition to leveraging the actual files, organizations
benefit from the learning that takes place when a group starts
using a simple intranet. Workers become accustomed to using the
intranet for simple information sharing and incorporate it into
their working day. Piloting simple intranets allows
organizations to gain insights that make their higher level
solutions more effective.

Taking Advantage of the Microsoft Solution

Because they are built and managed by the groups that use them,
simple intranets require tools that allow all users to
contribute content easily, as well as tools that make local
management of the Web possible. Office 97 and FrontPage are the
ideal tools for building and managing intranets.

Office 97 provides a rich set of tools for end users to create
content in HTML or in native Office formats optimized for online
use. FrontPage offers a WYSIWYG authoring environment for more
sophisticated HTML authoring and intuitive tools for managing a
Web site. Customers who have created simple Webs in their
organizations have identified key requirements for the tools
they use, including:
  * Ease of use
  * Rich content authoring
  * Scalability

Ease of Use

Simple intranets are most effective when all members of the user
community can contribute content. The benefit of an intranet to
an organization is diminished if extensive retraining or
administrative support is necessary to build and maintain the
Web.

Organizations that have standardized on Office can leverage
their existing investment while taking advantage of the new
model of the intranet. Office 97 includes innovations such as
IntelliSenseTM technology and the Office Assistant to help users
learn and master the applications. Office 97 extends familiar
desktop tools to the intranet, with features such as the Web
Page Wizard in Microsoft Word and the ability to automatically
save any document in HTML.

Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Save As HTML wizard

FrontPage allows sophisticated end users to manage a Web site
with little or no assistance from IT professionals. The
intuitive interface of the FrontPage Explorer, tools that
automate administrative tasks such as updating hyperlinks, and
drag and drop integration with Office make FrontPage an ideal
tool for locally administered Webs.

FrontPage 98 Explorer:  The Navigation View allows drag and drop
administration of the intranet's hierarchy.  FrontPage updates
all the links and page names on the fly!

Rich Content Authoring

Ultimately the value of an intranet is determined by the quality
of the information it contains. Even on a simple intranet, users
need to be able to create rich content that goes beyond the
capabilities of static HTML.

Active Document technology allows users to view Office 97
documents within Microsoft Internet Explorer or another
compatible browser. Office 97 file formats have been enhanced
for use online, with features such as the Document Map in Word
for easier viewing, and the online comments and revision tools
in Word and Microsoft Excel for collaborative authoring.

Microsoft Excel 97 PivotTableTM inside Internet Explorer

In addition to a full set of HTML authoring tools, FrontPage
provides simple programming tools that help nonprogrammers
create richer, more useful Webs. FrontPage Componnts (formerly
WebBot Components) are prebuilt programs that provide
functionality such as searching, tables of contents, and page
formatting. A new edition to FrontPage 98 are FrontPage Active
Elements, which bring even more sophisticatedfunctionality to
Web sites through Java Applets and ActiveXTM Controls. In a
recent study, FrontPage emerged as the most used intranet
development tool (Corporate Intranets: Cost, Value and
Applications, 1997, Creative Networks Inc.).

Scalability

A simple intranet is the ideal first step toward a more
sophisticated intranet solution. Not only the learning and
experience of the group but also the Webs themselves can be
leveraged when creating a centralized intranet for the
organization. It is important, then, that the tools used to
build a simple intranet provide a path for scaling up to a more
comprehensive solution.

Microsoft Office 97 and FrontPage are parts of an integrated,
comprehensive intranet solution built around Microsoft's Active
Server platform. Intranets built using Office and FrontPage can
be integrated with or scaled up to more sophisticated Webs built
on the Active Server platform. (For more information about the
scalability of the Microsoft solution, see Part III of this
paper.)

Part II: Detailed Usage Model

Teams or departments who want to take advantage of the promise
of the intranet today can build simple Webs that improve the
quality and efficiency of the basic information sharing that
happens in all organizations. As a first step, teams can deploy
a simple intranet that serves as a more effective tool for
storing shared files and data.

At its core, an intranet is a collection of files stored on a
server. A navigational layer is placed on top of this pool of
content to provide structure, organization, and searching
capabilities.

Simple Intranet Structure

The users in the group create the documents in the content layer
using Office 97, and view it using Microsoft Internet Explorer.
A designated member of the group builds the navigation layer and
manages the overall intranet using FrontPage.

Content Layer

In a simple intranet, the content is created by the members of
the team or department using Office 97. The documents themselves
can be HTML documents, Word files, Excel spreadsheets, and so
on. The combination of Office 97 and Microsoft Internet Explorer
allows users to include a variety of rich content types in their
Web.

Navigation Layer

The navigation layer of the simple intranet consists of HTML
pages that provide broad categories for information, and the
Web's search service. This layer is built and maintained by a
designated person in the group who uses FrontPage. This person
need not be an IT professional; any advanced user can manage a
Web site using the intuitive tools in FrontPage.

Publishing and Searching

The value of an intranet depends on up-to-date, relevant
content; users need an easy way both to publish their content to
the Web and to gain access to information once it is posted.

Because an intranet is essentially a collection of files stored
on a server, publishing content consists of saving a document to
the server, just as users ordinarily would. From a user's
perspective, the simplest structure is for each user to have a
designated folder where documents are to be saved.

The designated Web manager then supplies the navigational layer
that helps others find the information they need, creating
hyperlinks to high priority documents or grouping sets of
documents in one of the following ways:
  * By person Users can browse directly to a folder to see the
    collection of documents that one person has created. This
    works particularly well in small groups, when users
    typically know what their colleagues are working on.
  * By subject Organization is based on the hyperlinks and
    category pages created by the Web manager. These are
    typically the most frequently used or most important
    subjects for the group.
  * By searching Users who can't find the information they need
    by using the structure of the intranet can use the search
    capabilities provided by the Web's search engine to find the
    documents they need. Search tools such as the FrontPage
    Search Component and the Office FindFast Web Query
    automatically generate hyperlinks to documents that meet the
    parameters of the user's query.

The intranet thus functions as a more efficient version of a
traditional file server. The underlying folder structure is
established to fit the needs of the team members who are
publishing to the Web site. For them, publishing to the Web site
is as easy as saving a file to their hard drive. The intranet
front-end provides a much more intuitive and friendly interface,
essentially hiding the underlying folder structure from the
casual consumer who just wants to find the desired information.

Part III: Scaling Up

Simple Webs are ideal first steps to building larger, more
sophisticated intranet solutions. There are several criteria for
determining when an organization needs to scale up from a
grassroots Web to a more centralized, sophisticated intranet:
  * Size
  * Integration
  * Applications

Size

Simple Webs are ideal for small teams or departments, but as the
number of people who use the Web and the volume of content
grows, more sophisticated tools are needed.

For example, users choosing their Web server software will find
that the Microsoft Personal Web Server that ships with Office 97
and FrontPage 98 can be an effective tool for piloting an
initial Web for a small group. However as the Web grows, users
will need the more robust performance and features of Microsoft
Internet Information Server (IIS) running on the Microsoft
Windows NT operating system. The FrontPage server extensions
make it very easy to move a Web from the Personal Web Server to
IIS.

Integration

Simple Webs are designed as standalone tools. However,
organizations may want to begin integrating their Webs with
other network services for more sophisticated functionality. For
example, organizations can use the combination of Microsoft
Outlook TM 97 desktop information manager and Microsoft Exchange
Server to create powerful groupware solutions for their
intranets.

Other examples include using Excel 97 as a client for data
pulled from a Microsoft SQL server, or taking advantage of the
integration between Microsoft Access 97 and IIS to create
dynamic, Web-based database solutions. Microsoft provides a rich
set of integrated technologies to help users increase the
sophistication and usefulness of their intranet.

Applications

Simple intranets are ideal solutions for publishing and sharing
information. However, organizations may ultimately decide to use
their intranets as platforms for building custom applications.
Intranets provide an efficient way to deliver client/server
applications to an entire organization.

Developing applications requires the robust features of IIS and
related server technologies. Microsoft technologies such as
ActiveX and the Distributed Component Object Model provide
organizations with a rich platform for developing sophisticated
intranet applications.

For more information about creating advanced intranet solutions,
go to the Intranet Solutions Center at
http://www.Microsoft.com/intranet.

Conclusion

Simple intranets built with Office 97 and FrontPage are the
fastest, easiest way for organizations to take advantage of the
promise of the intranet. Teams and departments that want to put
intranet technologies to work for them can do so today at
relatively low cost using familiar tools.

Simple intranets are ideal as standalone solutions for teams or
as a first step to deploying a sophisticated company intranet.
Office 97 and FrontPage are an important part of a broad,
integrated Microsoft solution for building intranets, from
grassroots Webs to sophisticated, corporate solutions.


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