IHRIM Website Proposal
Strategies and Tactics for Enhancement and Maintenance
January 1998
Presented by
Neology Information Design
to
IHRIM's Internet Advisory Committee
DRAFT
This document is designed to provide a high level picture of the direction that the IHRIM Internet
Advisory Committee (IAC) and the IHRIM web site (http://www.ihrim.org) will take during 1999.
This plan has been developed by volunteer and staff participants in the IAC and is intended to act
as a guideline for future development and planning, not as a fixed document. As the nature of the
World Wide Web and Internet continually changes and evolves, this document and the IHRIM site
must also evolve to ensure quality operations and service to IHRIM's constituents.
CURRENT STATUS
The IHRIM Web site has provided the organization with a well-recognized online presence. It has
assumed a mission critical role within IHRIM's day-to-day business operations and provides
essential support to all facets of IHRIM's various programs and offerings. The site increasingly
serves as a tool for members to interact with the Headquarters staff and for IHRIM members and
HRIS professionals around the world to obtain information necessary to their daily jobs. The
IHRIM site also provides an important revenue stream for the organization, through online job
postings, banner advertising, the Online Buyers Guide, and the continual stream of membership
applications which arrive via the site.
As the site has grown in importance, content and complexity, it requires increased resources both technical and administrative. Additionally, as the Internet matures, the IHRIM site is facing
increasing competition from both traditional competitors and non-traditional competitors alike. To
move forward, we will need to meet these challenges and successfully address them.
COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE
For the IHRIM site to remain effective, we must understand the marketplace in which the site
competes. There are an increasing number of online sources for HRIS information that target our
current members and the overall audience of HRIS professionals. Our primary competition has
been generated by general HR organizations like SHRM (http://www.shrm.org) and HR Online
(http://www.hronline.org), and commercial sites like HRIMMall (http://www.hrimmall.com). As we
go forward, new competition will increasingly develop from large HRIS vendors such as SAP
(http://www.sap.com) and PeopleSoft (http://www.peoplesoft.com). Additionally, smaller sites
continually crop up focused on a specific niche within HRIS. A quick search of Yahoo
(http://www.yahoo.com) turned up over 50 sites on the keyword "HRIS" alone.
IHRIM must research and evaluate these competing sources of information in order to determine
what areas of the IHRIM site should be focused on and further developed in order to better
compete within this market. To accurately complete this task, IHRIM will need to first identify the
major players and competitors in the following areas:
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HR and HRIS User Groups web sites
Industry magazine and publication web sites
Vendor and consultant web sites
Other independent or individual web sites
Once identified, these competitors will need to be evaluated in a variety of criteria in order to
allow a valid comparison with the IHRIM site. We've been a leader online, but retaining that
leadership position will require effort and investment by the organization, by volunteers, and by
staff.
MISSION
Once we've laid the foundation for future growth of the site through a thorough examination of the
landscape, we can begin to work towards achieving the web site's strategic mission:
The IHRIM Web site will be the HRIS professional's first stop for global networking
opportunities, leading-edge technology access, education, personal and professional
enhancement, information resources, and solutions to your immediate and future career
and business goals
This is directly modeled on IHRIM's overall mission to serve the HRIS professional. To achieve
this mission, we've laid out XXXX overall goals for the web site, as well as identifying (from the
IAC, Chapter Presidents, Board, and Headquarters Staff) various issues and concerns that have
lead to specific objectives and areas for improvement.
OVERALL GOALS AND MEASUREMENTS
GOAL: Provide a user-friendly Web site that offers easy navigation and is graphically appealing.
DESCRIPTION: At present, the IHRIM site lacks a consistent navigational model and
organizational plan. This makes for increasing difficulty in locating information when visitors
arrive at the site. Additionally, the graphic look and feel has become dated and contributes to
poor usability of the site. Finally, as there isn't an overall plan or direction for the site, addition of
new content occurs in a haphazard fashion, further contributing to lack of usability.
MEASUREMENT: An organized catalog of contents will be created and maintained for the site,
with appropriate major and minor content areas identified. A navigational plan and schema will
be developed based on this catalog and will be implemented on the site.
GOAL: Implement a regular means of identifying and obtaining fresh, new content for the Web
site.
DESCRIPTION: Currently, the contents of the IHRIM site are generated in support of other
programs that IHRIM offers. This content is important to the site and needs to be obtained and
delivered in an organized fashion. Additionally, as the web site grows, it will be essential to
identify new areas of content for IHRIM that may exist only in IHRIM's Internet space.
MEASUREMENT: A regular schedule will be created and followed which identifies when
standard IHRIM content is developed and should be posted on the site. As new content areas
are identified, they will be added into the regular schedule as necessary.
GOAL: Develop and expand the IHRIM Web site as a revenue channel for the organization.
DESCRIPTION: Presently, the IHRIM web site generates revenue through a variety of channels,
including online job postings, the Buyers Guide, and banner advertising. New opportunities
should be identified to both create new revenue channels, expand or improve existing channels,
or determine areas where current expenses may be reduced through use of the web site.
MEASUREMENT: A comprehensive plan for the various online revenue channels will be
developed which unites the current array of offerings into one coherent program. Opportunities
for additional revenue and increased savings will be identified and implemented as appropriate.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND MEASUREMENTS
Over the past year, a list of issues (outlined in Appendix XXXX) has been identified that cover
various difficulties, shortcomings, desired improvements or enhancements, and other needs and
requirements for the web site. This list has been distilled into the following specific objectives and
measurements for the site that will provide us with clear direction as we move forward. Each of
the objectives below will reference the specific issue (by number).
OBJECTIVE 1: Implement regular Web site usage reporting
In order to determine the effectiveness of the site as a whole and of specific areas within, a
consistent, regularly-available usage report must be available. Monthly Web Site Activity
MEASUREMENT: A monthly summary report will be posted in Rich Text Format (RTF) in a
private directory of the IHRIM site no later than the fifth business day of the following month. This
report will include the following components:
 an overview of traffic on the site - narrative and statistical - including a trend analysis
 online advertising statistics
 top ten visited pages
 top referring pages
SOURCE: Issue #1
OBJECTIVE 2: Establish a Web site "Style Guide"
As the site has developed, with multiple page authors developing and posting pages on the site at
the request of a variety of different audiences, individual page layouts have diverged from the
original page layout template. This has led to an inconsistent look to the site and contributes to a
decrease in usability. Creating a set of guidelines for developing pages within the site will allow
for the following improvements:
 consistency among authors - both volunteers and staff
 consistent standards for usage of fonts (including font faces and header styles)
 regular standards for usage and display of graphics, including file size and file format as well
as general design guidelines
 regular implementation of navigational menus at the various levels within the major and minor
content areas
 decreased overall download time
MEASUREMENT: The "Style Guide" will be developed, approved, and published in the
appropriate area of the IHRIM Web site.
SOURCE: Issue #2
OBJECTIVE 3: Improve volunteer and staff involvement with the Web site
In order to operate the site in the most effective manner, IHRIM must involve the appropriate
volunteers and Headquarters staff members with the operations and content of the site. As an
example on the volunteer side, the Conference Committee should be aware of and have
involvement in the development and delivery of any conference related material on the site. At
Headquarters, the Chapter liaison will play a key role in monitoring and obtaining chapter-related
content on the site.
MEASUREMENT: The following steps need to be taken to successfully accomplish this
objective:
 Identify areas of content for review (see Appendix XXXX for a preliminary outline)
 Identify appropriate volunteer and staff "owners" or "champions" for each content area
 Create a regular review schedule - depending on the area of content, this could be daily,
weekly, monthly or quarterly.
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Provide a "Review Report" in conjunction with the regular monthly reporting that tracks
progress in these areas.
SOURCE: Issue #4
OBJECTIVE 4: Effectively utilize the Web site for volunteer and staff communications
The Web site provides a tremendous opportunity to improve volunteer and staff communications
through use of electronic delivery of various documents and information. To most effectively
make use of this mediium, password-protected web pages should be set up for each of the
various IHRIM volunteer committees (such as the Board, Chapter Presidents, Conference
Committees, IAC, etc.). Various information such as meeting agendas and minutes, reports,
volunteer and staff directories, Headquarters updates, and other materials would be posted for
download from these pages. Providing these documents via the web site offers the following
benefits:
 Reduced time involved in preparing and distributing documents
 Reduced fax or postal expense in distributing documents
 Quicker delivery times - documents are instantly available upon their posting
 Centralized document repository - when you need to locate a document, you will always
know where to find it
MEASUREMENT: The committees or groups that require a "private" page need to be identified
and should include the four listed above. Additional non-secure pages (containing nonproprietary information such as the Chapter Handbook) may be identified as well. Once each
page has been identified, a staff "owner" will be assigned to collect the appropriate documents
and have them posted.
SOURCE: Issue #5, #6
OBJECTIVE 5: Develop a consistent policy for operation and maintenance of listservs
IHRIM operates numerous listservs (as outlined in Appendix XXXX) for various committees,
chapters and SIGs. Upon the initial migration to Neology as the Web service provider for IHRIM,
all existing lists were transferred and set up with a member of the Headquarters staff as the
listowner. Since that time, where possible, a volunteer listowner has been identified and the
listservs have been updated. Going forward, a clear policy needs to be implemented which
outlines the requirements for volunteer groups that wish to utilize listservs and the process for
requesting them.
MEASUREMENT: A policy is developed and distributed to the appropriate volunteers and staff
members.
SOURCE: Issue #8
OJBECTIVE 6:
As we move forward, there are several barriers to success that we must overcome in order to
fully realize the goals and objectives of the web site. These include:
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Low volunteer involvement in content development
Rapidly changing nature of Internet technology
High expense for implementing web systems
Acceptance of systems by staff, volunteers, and users
By not proceeding in the most effective manner, we also face several risks that will have a
negative impact on the future of the web site:
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Poor implementation of technology for a technically savvy audience
Failure to fully embrace technology and use it where it makes sense
Lose out to competitive web sites for users / traffic
To overcome these barriers and alleviate the risks that we face, the web site will require the
commitment of adequate resources to accomplish our goals and objectives. Volunteer
involvement will be essential for providing strategic direction as well as aiding in the content
identification and development process. Staff will be necessary for their expertise in associations
and Internet knowledge, as well as for the actual implementation of any IHRIM initiatives.