Intranet Charter

Writing a charter serves several important purposes:

1. It gets you and your team to think clearly about what you are trying to achieve, how you will get there, and who will have to participate if you hope to be successful.
2. It can be a crucial means of communicating your goals, as well as the specific responsibilities associated with governance and the day-to-day operation of your site to your executive sponsor and other stakeholders.
3. A charter is often where you will get sign-off to proceed from decision-makers responsible for allocating funds.

Here are some of the key things you should consider including in your charter:

• A clear statement of the purpose/goals of your intranet
• A description of your governance model, including roles and responsibilities related to business ownership and accountability
• At least a broad definition of the audience(s) you are aiming to reach
• Rules for content (e.g. currency, style, approvals, specific exclusions such as gossip, personal info etc., translation requirements) as well as how these rules will be enforced
• A statement outlining the overall scope of the site (including any relationships to other systems)

It’s a good idea not to turn the intranet charter into a project plan – e.g. by including granular details or specifying details of the development process. Try to keep the document high-level, even timeless, while recognizing that you will need to revisit the charter (perhaps on an annual schedule) in order to accommodate shifts in the business and other changes.

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