The Intranet Benchmarking Association (ISPBA™) is currently a free association of professionals involved in their organizations Intranet. IBA™ conducts benchmarking studies to identify practices that improve the overall operations of the members.

IBA™ Mission

The Intranet Benchmarking Association™ (IBA™) is dedicated to investigating the whys and hows of creating company Intranets. Areas such as communications benefits, productivity, and cost reduction will be investigated to determine the optimal means of applying this technology to corporations as well as government businesses.

Objectives

The goal of this organization is to provide business and government sectors with a comprehensive forum to conduct studies of the benefits gained from establishing an Intranet. Examples of successful Intranets and their effectiveness and affordability will be researched. Specific recommendations will also be given, such as content material and implementation guidelines. These studies will assist small- to mid-size companies, in addition to corporate and government agencies, in determining potential benefits of developing an internal website, or Intranet.

These benchmarking studies are being designed to provide end-users with the knowledge of how a web server configuration of hardware and software (setup strictly for intranet usage) will perform in an otherwise stable environment Intranet usage for this benchmark is defined as a closed (to the internet) network that utilizes common internet tools and functionality, ie: web server, browser, and RDBMS. It will also incorporate "real world" based transactions, spanning the most common end-user tasks currently found in intranet/internet usage.

The studies will be based on current, standard , and commonly used internet/intranet functionality . Future phases, additions, and modifications of the intranet benchmark suite of tests will reflect current intranet technology and its common usage. IAB will explore the business, organizational and technical issues behind the setting up of an organizational Intranet. In addition, through conducting Benchmarking studies, IBA will provide some pointers in how to successfully deploy and manage an Intranet.

Potential Applications: Adopting a company Intranet can provide employees with up-to-date information and timesaving options. Some possible Intranet study topics include:

• Internal Electronic Bulletin Boards
• Immediate Information Access and Updating
• Efficient Personnel Services
• Internal Electronic Mail Service
• Elimination of Printed Materials
• Share Applications
• Level of Effort
• Creation of content
• Migration of content to desktop publishing environment
• Production of draft
• Revision
• Final draft production
• Duplication
• Distribution

IBA™ Membership

The scope of IBA™ membership includes individuals who work in ISP companies.

Company membership will be considered with respect to compliance with IBA™ mission, goals and operating guidelines, as well as, qualification of the organization within the scope of membership.

Participation in specific efforts will be optional and open only to members with costs shared by the participants. Members pay only if they join a specific study. Currently, membership in IBA™ is free. We reserve the right to review membership applications and to make the final decision whether or not to accept any application. Consulting firms are ineligible for membership.

Benefits of Membership

Studies:

IBA™ will identify and present to members opportunities to participate in Benchmarking studies on various topics addressing issues of importance to the internet service provision functions.

There are two types of Benchmarking studies provided:

• Consortium studies are offered to the membership as a whole with costs divided.
• Single company sponsored studies addressing the interest of one member company can be offered to other selected members for no fee.

The association will also support internet service provision benchmarking efforts:

• Research - Access public and private databases.
• Identify study participants - Top companies in internet service provision.
• Collect data - Manage response collection with the participants as a third party.
• Lead site visits - Structured with best participants.

Roundtables:

Interest group roundtables will be organized throughout the year. Members will pay a nominal fee to join real and virtual roundtable discussions that address specific procurement and supply chain processes.

Cost:

Currently, membership and meetings in IBA™ are FREE! Costs of studies are shared by the participants.