Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is one of five region health authorities in four cities and 30 small communities in British Columbia (greater Vancouver). VCH employs 25,000 employees and 4,000 physicians and manage a budget of more than $2 billion.

The present state of their intranet is challenged by some of the ubiquitious problems faced by many, many others:

• Multiple silos
• Confused consumer base
• Short-term thiking
• No customer service outcome measures

Tudor Williams and Peter Roaf of Vancouver Coastal Health presented a fine case study on intranet measurement at this year’s Corporate Communications Conference in Las Vegas.

Charles Pizzo, the intrepid communicator gourmet and designated blogger for this year’s conference, talked with Tudor and Peter prior to their presentation:

“Number one – you need a vision,” said Tudor, adding “there has to be a very clear definition of what the intranet is going to do for the organization and the people in it.”

Tudor emphasizes that an intranet strategy requires four essential components:

1. Access to the intranet
2. User collaboration
3. Technology integration
4. Content immediacy (when the user wants it)

As for measurement strategy, Tudor cites three key requisites:

1. Outputs (tasks, counts, hits, participation, usage, time on site, costs, revenues)
2. Perception (attitudes, reputation, recognition, appreciation, likes, dislikes, preferences)
3. Outcomes (business results, profits, losses, ROI, behaviors, culture, etc.)

One othe key tools used by Williams and Roaf was an online employee survey of 12,000 employees (representative sample). Key findings of the survey included:

• More than 80%
• Use the Web (intranet and Internet) in their day-to-day work
• Want search functions for directory information and job postings
• Want news and information
• Trust information on the intranet
• Prefer the intranet to perform administrative tasks

Amongst the concerns cited by employees included:

• Timeliness of information
• Ability to find information
• Ability to provide feedback
• More interactivity

Of particular interest: there is little support for employee blogs but increased support for text messaging.

“The problem was that most employees don’t know what blogs are,” says Tudor. “We’re finding that blogging is more of an education issue rather than a resistance issue.

The process also included a complete intanet audit and led to a number of changes and recommendations to their intranet:

• Purchase and deploy of a content management system (Percussion)
• Form Web Management Council
• Develop a Web Strategy and Knowledge Strategy
• Develop measurable goals that include regular user satisfaction surveys for measurement
• E-learning courses and modules
• Searchable knowledge directories

One of the measured outcomes includes a measurement on return on investment (ROI).

Working together Tudor and Peter are bulding the business case for more  collaboration and e-learning on the intranet and estimate annual travel expense reduction of between $2.9 - $4.9 million plus travel time savings of about $9 million. They estimate the online directory will produce estimated savings of approximately $6 million.

Wouldn’t we all be a little more healthy if other healthcare organizations followed the lead of Vancouver Coastal Health authority?