Intranet Homepage Content Plan
The Intranet Homepage Content Plan maps employee tasks to homepage sections, with sample quick links, page owners, refresh cadence, and governance decisions to customize.
Every employee gets a seat — priced per employee in Communications & Intranet, quoted with this template ready.
Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
Built for: Professional services · Healthcare · Financial services · Higher education
Overview
The Intranet Homepage Content Plan is a working example for deciding what belongs on an employee homepage and how that content will stay useful. Its sample starts with employee tasks: finding an approved policy, requesting support, checking company updates, and reaching a system used for daily work. The plan is intended to help intranet owners, communications leads, and department contributors agree on homepage priorities before building or revising pages.
Use it during an intranet redesign, platform migration, content audit, or governance reset. For each proposed section, identify the employee need it serves, the destination or content source, the accountable owner, the review cadence, and the escalation route for urgent changes. Keep navigation focused on find, do, know, and connect needs; use role-based landing pages and hub-and-spoke navigation when a single homepage cannot serve every audience clearly. The example content is illustrative and should be replaced with verified organizational routes and responsibilities.
This is not a finished homepage, a technical implementation specification, or a substitute for accessibility and policy review. Do not use it alone to publish regulated guidance, manage confidential employee information, or determine access permissions. Avoid turning the homepage into a directory of every department or a stream of undated announcements. If a topic needs substantial explanation, give it a maintained destination page and link to it rather than crowding the homepage. Treat the plan as a living governance record: review owners and links on schedule and whenever services, roles, or employee journeys change.
Standards & compliance context
- Use the plan to assign policy owners and review dates, but have qualified internal reviewers confirm that linked policies meet applicable legal and records-management requirements.
- For an audience-restricted employee homepage, assess the page and its linked experiences against WCAG 2.1 AA, including keyboard navigation, meaningful headings, and accessible link text.
- Confirm that each linked destination enforces the organization's access and privacy rules; a homepage link should not expose restricted employee or business information.
- Treat ownership and cadence fields as governance controls, not proof of compliance, and retain review evidence according to the organization's records policy.
General regulatory context for orientation only — verify current requirements with counsel or the relevant agency before relying on this template for compliance.
How to use this template
- Review the sample homepage priorities and replace the fictional Northstar routes with verified destinations employees need for their most common tasks.
- For each proposed section or link, record the intended audience, employee need, content source, accountable owner role, and review interval.
- Map the key employee journeys from homepage entry to task completion, then group navigation into clear hub-and-spoke routes where one page cannot serve every audience.
- Ask representative employees and content owners to test labels, destinations, permissions, and mobile accessibility before publishing the homepage.
- Set a review date and escalation route for each content owner, and remove or redirect links that are obsolete or have no accountable owner.
- Review homepage usage and employee feedback at the agreed cadence, then document changes to priorities, sections, and ownership.
Best practices
- Put the most important employee tasks in clear, action-led quick links rather than grouping every link by department.
- Assign each homepage section to an accountable role and give that owner a review cadence and escalation contact.
- Write link labels that describe the destination or task, and verify the target while testing with an employee account.
- Keep time-sensitive announcements separate from stable navigation and remove notices when their action window ends.
- Use progressive disclosure: orient employees with a hero and quick links, then send them to maintained pages for detailed guidance.
- Check the page against WCAG 2.1 AA when it is restricted to an employee audience, including keyboard use, contrast, headings, and accessible link names.
- Use intranet analytics and employee feedback to identify searches that fail, routes that are overlooked, and content that has no clear audience.
- Avoid publishing ownership details as personal dependencies; specify accountable roles so responsibility survives staff changes.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
What does this homepage content plan cover?
It helps define which employee needs the homepage serves, what sections and links appear, and who keeps each item accurate. The example includes priority routes such as finding a policy, requesting support, checking updates, and completing a work task. It is a planning resource, not a finished intranet homepage or a publishing system.
How often should homepage content be reviewed?
Set a review interval for each section based on how quickly its information can change. For example, review operational notices frequently and stable navigation less often, while checking all routes after a major organizational or system change. Assign a named role to confirm the review and record the next review date.
Who should own the homepage plan?
An intranet or digital workplace owner should coordinate the plan and resolve competing requests. HR, IT, communications, facilities, and policy owners should verify the content and destinations they control. Make escalation responsibility explicit so broken links, urgent notices, and disputed priorities have a clear route.
Does this template ensure legal or regulatory compliance?
No; it supports content governance but does not certify a site or its materials as compliant. Ask the relevant policy, privacy, records, and accessibility owners to review content and linked services against applicable requirements. If the homepage is audience-restricted, check that access controls and accessible alternatives work for the intended employees.
What is a common mistake when planning an intranet homepage?
A frequent pitfall is organizing the homepage around departments rather than the tasks employees need to complete. Another is publishing links without an accountable owner or review date, which allows broken routes and stale announcements to persist. Test the proposed navigation with employees and remove or relocate items they cannot find or explain.
How should we customize the sample content?
Replace Northstar Advisory Group's illustrative priorities, routes, owners, and targets with your organization's actual services and responsibilities. Keep each quick link action-oriented, verify its destination, and use role names rather than relying on one individual. Add or remove sections only when they support a real employee task or information need.
Can this plan work with Microsoft Viva or another intranet platform?
Yes, the planning structure can guide a homepage built in Microsoft Viva or another platform, but it does not create integrations automatically. Map each planned section to the platform's available web parts, permissions, navigation, and analytics. Test every linked system with the employee roles expected to use it.
How is a content plan better than deciding homepage sections informally?
An informal approach often leaves priorities, ownership, and review timing in meeting notes or individual memory. This plan makes routes, responsibilities, and governance decisions visible so contributors can review and maintain them. It also gives the team a shared basis for evaluating new homepage requests instead of adding every requested item.
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Every employee gets a seat. Request pricing for Communications & Intranet and we quote into a workspace with Intranet Homepage Content Plan ready.
Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
