The good news is you will still be seeing the same stories, updates and event listings on the intranet. And it will be easier to stay up to date. News will be posted on the intranet in real time instead of weekly, and displayed automatically in feeds that are personalised to your work area and interests.

How to use the intranet

For staff working on a University-owned PC, the intranet should automatically display when you open a Chrome or Edge web browser, or open a new tab in these browsers (you will need to restart your computer on, or after, 5 December for this to take effect). If this automatic display is not occurring – or if you are a Mac or Firefox user – please follow the instructions to set the staff intranet as your homepage.

The staff intranet user guide provides easy-to-follow instructions for accessing the staff intranet on various devices; navigating the homepage and News Hub; setting up quick links. and managing news channel subscriptions.

The guide will always be available in the ‘Intranet resource hub’ (under ‘Services’ in the top navigation of the intranet). The hub also contains information and training materials for content authors and site owners.

What do staff need to do from 5 December?

It is highly recommended that you take some time next week to set up your homepage quick links and subscribe to preferred news channels to ensure you continue to receive important updates relevant to your work. The user guide outlines the steps you need to follow.

Pop-up help desks will be available around campus and online from 5 to 11 December, should you need assistance with setting up your quick links and subscriptions. Ensure you have your laptop with you if attending one of the pop-ups.

If you would like to access the intranet on your smartphone, ensure you have the Microsoft Teams or Microsoft SharePoint applications downloaded (see the user guide for instructions for accessing the intranet via these apps).

Reporting bugs, broken links or errors

Each page in the intranet has a ‘Leave feedback/report a problem’ link at the bottom of the page where you can alert the page owner to broken links or bugs that may have occurred during the migration of staff portal content. Ideas or suggestions can also be made via this link.

Replacing the current staff portal website, the intranet is a central hub of fully updated information, served automatically to your web browser and hosted in a secure SharePoint environment accessible only to staff.

As highlighted by Vice-President Professional Services Nicole Gower in September, everything about the intranet has been designed to make working lives easier for Macquarie staff. Fully customisable homepage quick links, people/page/document search and personalised news and events feeds have all been configured to save you time and keep you informed.

A tour and how-to guide for the staff intranet will be shared in the last issue of This Week on 28 November.

What is changing from 5 December?

The staff intranet will automatically display when you open a web browser on a University laptop or desktop computer.

You will  need to restart your computer for this to take effect. You can also access the intranet by clicking on ‘staff’ on the Macquarie University homepage, or by selecting the ‘Intranet’ icon in the Microsoft Teams app.

Most all-staff and faculty/portfolio-level communications will be sent via the staff intranet, not email.

This Week will no longer be emailed to staff weekly. Instead, all-staff news will be published daily on the intranet homepage via the searchable news hub. Personalised homepage feeds will deliver news, events and leader messages based on a staff member’s faculty/portfolio. Staff members can also choose to view, or subscribe to, news from any other part of the University.

Subscription-based channels will serve staff involved in teaching and research

Content currently found in Teche and Research Spotlight will be delivered via two subscription-based channels: Learning and Teaching, and Research Services. Staff can adjust their subscriptions at any time.

You will need to set up your homepage quick links

Every staff member will be able to create a set of quick links on the intranet homepage to their own most used tools, sites and pages (including external webpages and tools). Instructions will be provided, and help will available via pop-up help desks at various campus locations, and online, from 5–8 December.

Use SharePoint – not Google – to search the intranet

The staff intranet is secure internal platform, with content not discoverable by external search engines. You can also use the SharePoint search bar to find intranet content, along with people and M365 documents and sites.

If you have questions about the new staff intranet, please contact Lauren Bradshaw, Intranet Business Lead: lauren.bradshaw@mq.edu.au.

Earlier this year, the Vice-Chancellor highlighted our focus on improving internal communication at Macquarie as a key deliverable of the Our People stream of the Operating Plan 2020-2024. We knew Macquarie staff wanted a reliable and user-friendly way to stay up to date with activities across the University, find the information they needed more easily and perform everyday work tasks as quickly as possible.

This is why we invested in improving the employee experience at Macquarie with the development of a new staff intranet – a personalised central hub to give staff a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the information and tools they need.

The project team and working group have been working hard, in collaboration with teams across the University, to bring this vision to fruition and I am excited to announce that we will be going live with our new staff intranet on 5 December.

Here are some of the things you can look forward to.

A personalised experience

With fully customisable homepage quick links, one-click access to your most recent Microsoft files and sites, and news and events feeds that are based on your work area and job function, the staff intranet has been designed to be your personal hub, and a place to start every working day.

Streamlined and up-to-date resources

A full overhaul of staff portal pages means information and tools, including a new service catalogue, will be easier to find when you need them. With the intranet built in the easy-to-use SharePoint Online platform, content owners will find it easier to keep pages updated and will have dedicated support for content management and governance.

Real-time communication

University news, leader communication and important operational updates can be quickly and easily shared on the intranet, reducing our reliance on emailed newsletters (and the burden on staff email inboxes). Alerts functionality will allow us to communicate emergencies and system outages quickly.

Responsive and integrated

The intranet will provide a significantly improved experience for staff using mobile or tablet computing during their working day, and being SharePoint Online, it will integrate seamlessly with other SharePoint sites and the Microsoft applications we use in our everyday work.

More information about our new staff intranet, including user guides and information for content owners and publishers, will be shared in This Week as our 5 December launch date approaches. I can’t wait to see how the intranet improves my working life, and yours.

If you have questions about the new staff intranet, please contact Lauren Bradshaw, Intranet Business Lead: lauren.bradshaw@mq.edu.au.