Virtual Community

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

ChiefApricot — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:27:00 GMT

In my experience, wikis are just perfect for this (e.g. Social text).

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

guerino1 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:02:00 GMT

Hi Jayne,

It looks like you've had a lot of responses to this, since your original post.

I'd like to throw something into the mix. We offer a ready-to-use Intranet platform that not only acts as a way of tying everyone together, but also gives them a very large arsenal of tools & technologies they need to get their work done.

Unlike other Intranet tools that will require you to build out all your portlets/web-parts and integrate them all, yourself, we've done all of that, so the system really is ready-to-use from day one. This includes very powerful operational dashboards, fixed reports reports, AdHoc Reporting, visualizations, etc. Also, there are many different tools in the platform that address different functional areas of enterprises, like Project Management, Support Tools, Customer Relationship Management, etc. All the tools in the platform are completely integrated to each other so that you can see how data/information/knowledge from one functional domain correlates to data/information/knowledge in other functional domains. (These are all things that you will typically not get from most Intranet solutions). The platform is codeless and requires no technical knowledge to use. If you know how to use Yahoo, you pretty much know how to use our platform. Also, it is hosted, maintained, and constantly improved by us, so we act as a utility company that provides the services around it and the tools within it.

If you're interested, take a look at:

TraverseIT Home Page: http://www.TraverseIT.com
TraverseIT User Interface: http://www.TraverseIT.com/TraverseITUIHome.html

If, after reviewing, you feel there's a fit, please feel free to contact me, directly, and I'll do what I can to help you be successful.

My Best,

Frank Guerino, CEO
TraverseIT
Frank.Guerino@TraverseIT.com
http://www.TraverseIT.com

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

vahidm — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:48:00 GMT

From your original post, i gather that you are mostly interested in two things: storing and sharing files.

For this, i suggest you take a good look at www.box.net I think it's really straightforward, and if moneys are available sharing files between authorized users should be a breeze. It is understood that with this solution, you will store your files online, so you must figure out how much you want to relly on accessing those online files. (but then again, if you are working from different towns, there's no way round it)

Another possibility, which may require more bandwidth than you have, would be to look at www.desktoptwo.com It's a so-called webOS, meaning it looks like a computer desktop in itself. D2 allows for storing files and sharing them between other users fairly easily, and looks like you're just on a computer. Storage can be increased depending on your means.

If you have more bandwidth, AND you like box.net, know that they are associated with another webOS called goowy ( www.goowy.com ).

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

jcravens42 — Wed, 30 May 2007 11:23:00 GMT

Thanks to everyone who has given advice on this. I don't understand everything that's being said -- I'm mostly an end-user -- but I'll try to figure it all out and find the best solution to our issues here in Kabul. I need to know enough to be able to say, yes, this can be done when the IT department tries to say it can't...

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

jcravens42 — Wed, 30 May 2007 11:22:00 GMT

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

humanist — Mon, 28 May 2007 01:25:00 GMT

1&1 Internet Inc. has a very good deal for Sharepoint hosting. US$20 per month and you get 1 GB of space, 6GB of monthly transfer, 50 users, etc.
Their Tech Support is very prompt and helpful. I have several domains hosted with them and they seem to offer the most value out there...

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

zakon — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:12:00 GMT

I should have mentioned above the reason most of our clients stay away from online services is that they want to have control over their data. Many online services do not have provision for client-made backups, and the application themselves are often proprietary. As continuity is an issue for many, by controlling the data they can get back up and running quickly should a provider go out of business, loose data, etc.

Of course for some, an online service makes sense, especially if an organization doesn't have an IT person/partner. We find this is the case for a peer-review web service/softare we offer; whereas many prefer to download and install the software locally, a few prefer to outsource it outright.

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

fyoung@neasc.org — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:59:00 GMT

Check out officezilla.com It might be just what you need.

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

zakon — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:37:00 GMT

What we have done for some of our non-profit (and other) clients in need of an intranet is bundle a hosting account with integrated best-of-breed (open source) wiki (TWiki) and forum (phpBB) software. The integration is primarily in support of single sign-on and user adminstration, so users only need to enter their username/password once to access any application and the admin can set up user accounts through a single (simple) form. Most clients have found the full-suite groupware apps available to be overkill, hard to administer/maintain, or offering some features that are not as good as the dedicated applications. The intranets are occasionally augmented by other open source or custom applications, such as file sharing, e-commerce, etc.

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

matthewart — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:53:00 GMT

This is a really interesting service. Thanks for posting the link. Have you tried it yourself? If so, I'd like to hear more about it from you!

Best,
Matthew.

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

fgertz — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:24:00 GMT

Have you considered using activeCollab?

Here is one easy way to go about it.

If you are a US-based 501(c)(3) organization, get free web hosting from Dreamhost.

Hope this helps,

Faust

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

jmaza — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:09:00 GMT

You may also want to check out Central Desktop. They are an Intranet Application Service Provider, so they manage all of the infrastructure. You just use their tools, which are designed for an end user - you do not have to have an IT background. No special set up is required on yor PCs, just web access. You can set up login and password security. However, since they are an ASP, all of the data resides on their servers, not yours so this might not meet your security requirements. They are very affordable - you pay a monthly or quarterly fee depending on the number of users and they do offer a discount to non-profits. Their URL is www.centraldesktop.com if you want more information.

Jim Maza
IT Director
Asia Society
jmaza@asiasoc.org

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

fgicrsm — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:00:00 GMT

We were able to set up an intranet using DeskNow - www.desknow.com. It offers intranet mail (which can be intergrated w/ internet mail,) group discussions and announcements, shared & personal calendars, personal and shared contact & task lists, even shared documents. You can set up user's rights and security. It can be set up on Windows or Mac (networked w/ tcp/ip,) and the whole system is accessed and administered through a web browser, which means it is completely platform independent (a great feature for a non-profit with a mish-mosh of hardware!)

Here's the best part: the 'Lite Mode' - which includes all the things I mentioned, is free forever! This is directly from the site:

"After the trial period is expired, you can continue to use DeskNow in Lite mode, forever. This is perfect for home use or companies with zero budget. Or you keep all the Professional features by purchasing a license."

They give a list of features that expire after the 30 day trial, but either
a) I don't need these features, OR
b) Some of them don't expire (I've confirmed this with users in the DeskNow forums.)

They claim that after downloading, you can be up and running in 5 minutes, which is actually true. You can have the basics running that soon. They also show you how to customize certain aspects of the Intranet for you organization. If you need deeper customization, the users in the support forums are great!!!!

GET THIS PRODUCT! You won't be sorry!

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

markcoomes — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:52:00 GMT

Try http://www.officezilla.com/ but, as always, be careful about storing and sharing sensitive information.

RE: creating an intranet withOUT an IT staff

faltboat — Tue, 22 May 2007 23:31:00 GMT

have you looked at any of the products from http://www.37signals.com

they create web based software for group collaboration, project management, file sharing, group chat, etc. there is usually a free version, and then you pay if you need more services.

laura