Company intranets

Do your people still hunt for internal information in email threads and spreadsheets?

I build company intranets that give documents, processes, shift calendars and request forms one place and clear access rights. Hosted by you, with no per-user licence fees.

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In many companies the same internal information exists in three versions at once. The current policy is in an email from HR, an older one is pinned to a noticeboard, and a third sits in somebody's Documents folder. The shift roster is circulated as a spreadsheet that nobody resends once it changes. A holiday request travels as a forwarded email that can quietly disappear. Nobody is doing anything wrong here. The company simply grew faster than the way it passes information around.

An intranet does not fix that by adding one more application. It fixes it by giving every kind of information one place and one owner. I have built internal systems for companies where each department wanted something different and the only shared trait was that finding information cost people tens of minutes every day. It runs on your own server or hosting with no licence per user, so the cost does not rise every time the team does.

Documents with exactly one valid version

The foundation of an intranet is a document library where it is obvious what currently applies. Every document carries a version, a validity date and a responsible person, and older versions stay traceable without getting in the way. For policies that employees must acknowledge, the system can record confirmation of reading, which helps during an audit and when onboarding someone new. Full-text search covers titles and contents, so people look for information in words rather than by clicking through folders.

Policies, guides and forms in one library
Versions, validity dates and a named owner
Full-text search across document contents
Recorded confirmation that a document was read

Processes and request forms instead of forwarded email

Internal forms are where an intranet saves the most time. Holiday requests, supply orders, fault reports, IT tickets and travel authorisations are submitted through a form that routes itself to the right approver. Every request has a status, a history and a deadline, so nobody has to ask whether anyone has seen it yet. Approval can run in several steps, and it can be delegated during an absence so the process does not freeze while a manager is away.

Holidays, purchases, repairs and IT requests
Multi-step approval with full history
Automatic notifications and reminders
A visible status showing where a request stands

Shift rosters and a shared company calendar

If you plan shifts, the calendar usually becomes the most-used part of the intranet. Rosters can be organised by site, team or position, each employee sees only what concerns them, and a change reaches everyone immediately. Holidays, training and planned downtime belong in the same overview. Staff in production or out in the field often have no computer at all, so I make sure the roster works properly on a phone without installing anything.

Rosters per site, team or position
Shift swaps with manager approval
Absences and holidays in one overview
Usable on a phone by staff without a computer

Access roles and the safety of internal data

An intranet holds payroll data, contracts and personal information, so roles are part of the design from the beginning rather than an afterthought at the end. Rights are assigned by department and position instead of person by person, which makes joining and leaving a single action. Login can be connected to the accounts your company already uses. Sensitive operations are logged, so it remains possible to establish afterwards who saw what and who changed it.

Roles based on departments and positions
Document access controlled per group
Integration with your existing company login
Onboarding and offboarding as a single step

Rollout, running costs and pricing

I do not recommend building an entire intranet at once. We start with the module that hurts most, usually documents or request forms, and extend it according to what people actually use. It runs on your server or hosting with no per-user licences, so growing the team does not increase a monthly bill. My rate is €40 per hour including VAT, a first usable module typically falls between 40 and 80 hours, and further modules arrive in smaller, separately estimated pieces.

Deployed on your own server or hosting
No licence fees per user
€40 per hour including VAT
First usable module roughly 40 to 80 hours

Frequently asked questions about company intranets

How much does a company intranet cost?

A first usable module typically falls between 40 and 80 hours, which is €1,600 to €3,200 including VAT at €40 per hour. Further modules are added gradually, so the investment stays spread out and visible throughout.

Why not use an off-the-shelf tool?

If an off-the-shelf tool fits you, use it. Custom work makes sense when your process is genuinely specific, when the data should not leave the company, or when per-user licences for dozens of staff would exceed the cost of building it.

Will staff who rarely use computers cope with it?

That is part of the design. The parts used in production or in the field stay simple and work on a phone with no app to install. Complexity belongs where it is justified, in administration and in approvals.

Can it connect to attendance or payroll?

Often yes, depending on what interface your system exposes. If it has an API, I work with it directly; if not, a scheduled export and import can be agreed. I verify the options before promising a scope.

Does the intranet have to be reachable from the internet?

It does not. It can be restricted to the office network, reached through a VPN, or published with two-factor authentication. We decide based on who needs access from home and from the field.

Want internal information to stop living in email?

Tell me how many people you employ and which internal process slows you down most. I will propose a first module and an estimate of its scope.

Discuss an intranet