Search-First Approach Helps American Cancer Society’s New Intranet Earn Top 10 Design Award

One of the site’s greatest improvements was the move to a task-based IA. This shift moved content that was previously siloed (based on the department that created it) into common areas. Users can thus locate content without needing to understand the organizational structure. It took time and effort to convince content holders about the value of this improvement, but the hard work paid off.

The content reduction effort began with an indepth examination of content on various ACS sites using feedback, surveys, and analytics. Outdated and duplicate information was eliminated, and the remaining content was categorized by audience (rather than creator) to help determine the best place to store it. Information specific to departments or teams was moved to appropriate share drives or team sites. ACS dedicated a project manager exclusively to this content culling process, which was essential to its success. The manager motivated the already busy content owners to keep up with tasks and deadlines in order to improve the site experience. The reduction in content, along with the unification of different sites on different systems, resulted in cuts to the number of servers needed, reducing their associated costs by 62%.

The new site supports departmental and initiative-focused communities. These communities support enterprise- level access to information to help support collaboration and evidence- based decision making.

The previous set of ACS sites included many with completely unique user experiences, designs, and navigational structures. The redesign created a consistent experience for areas such as jobs, HR, and IT, which were previously managed separately.