In 2014, Sheridan created a cross-institutional committee charged with delivering a new and improved intranet for students and employees that’s reflective of an undergraduate teaching university, aligns with our values of creativity and innovation and supports our commitment to being a leading employer.
The team’s intent is to create a site that is:
- a common first access point and go-to site for information for Sheridan students and employees
- personalized/customized depending on people’s roles
- responsive on computer, cellphone and tablet, compatible with multiple browsers, and easy to search and navigate
- able to deliver two-way and real-time communication to foster collaboration, engagement and belonging
The RFP (request for proposals) deadline for this project has just passed. Proposals are now being evaluated with a goal of selecting a vendor by June. Development and user testing will take place over the summer and early fall with an anticipated project launch in November.
As a reminder, the RFP was built on knowledge gathered through the following steps:
- The development of a project charter in 2014 that aligns with Sheridan’s strategic plan and brand standards
- The creation of a functional matrix of business requirements and expected benefits and outcomes in 2014 as provided by units through representation on the intranet committee
- Results from a Creative Problem Solving workshop session in 2014 which challenged participants to imagine how to make the existing intranet more useful
- An external benchmarking scan of intranets at other post-secondary institutions in 2014
- Results from an anonymous online survey sent to all Sheridan students and employees in 2014 to identify what we should stop, start and continue, which yielded 1,010 qualified responses
- An RFI (request for information) issued in 2015 to help the committee finalize and improve questions for the eventual RFP and learn of the capabilities of some of the vendors in the intranet development space
- The creation of wireframes in 2015, tested with student, staff and alumni representatives, which were developed based on survey feedback and appended to the RFP to illustrate our needs
- The input of the Sheridan Student Union who has committed to be a partner on the new site and who has helped to articulate the needs of the student community.
In the coming months, the committee will begin a content audit process to identify which content from both Access Sheridan and/or the external Sheridan website should be moved to the new intranet.
We aim to engage all areas of Sheridan on this project while working within a defined budget. Thank you for your continued interest in this long-term, multi-phase effort.