Benchmarks for Building Extranets and Online Communities

This 18-page guide seeks to define benchmarks in the context of building extranets and online communities. The purpose of this publication is to help foundations and nonprofits as they work to incorporate the use of extranets and online communities into their operations. This guide emphasises "partnership between the parties that are requesting, designing and building the technology and “humanware” solutions that will drive the online community." According to Jillaine Smith, this makes many of these benchmarks "very focused on process."

Jillaine Smith first defines a benchmark as providing "the groundwork for creating a continuous improvement process that organizations may use to move towards 'best practices' in accomplishing their missions and advancing organizational objectives."
As Smith describes, the benchmarking process generally takes place in three phases:

1. "A team of individuals, representing a cross-section of the organization or organizations building and supporting the online community, is created. This team reviews the benchmarks and their respective explanations and assesses the organization’s current status against each one by checking which benchmark elements have been attained. The team uses these benchmark elements not as a test, but as guides to help the group plan the extranet and to help move implementation toward best practices in online community building.
2. Desired outcomes are identified for each section of benchmarks. Determining if these outcomes have been attained will require evaluation through such tools as interviews, online surveys, or possibly focus groups. Once the assessment is finished, the team should examine its results, highlight the group’s strengths and challenges, then create a plan to serve as a roadmap for addressing the identified challenges.
3. Finally, the team develops mechanisms for ongoing reflection about its online community. Regularly revisiting and revising the benchmark answers will enable the team to modify and revise its plan, leading to a greater likelihood of success with the online community."

The Guide recommends asking a number of questions when when building an extranet: how does this "advance or support your organization’s overall goals and objectives?" how does this "intersect with the needs and interests of your intended audience" and what are you trying to accomplish with it?

The author emphasises that the "development of an extranet is not a process that can simply be handed over to a Web design firm.
It is by nature an ongoing, collaborative process involving a partnership between the organization wanting to have the extranet built (the client) and the (usually) third party that is designing and building the architecture that will house the extranet (the vendor). And ultimately, "any extranet or online initiative is created for the purpose of serving your intended audience while at the same time advancing your own goals and objectives. The bulk of the extranet must serve the needs of its intended audience or it will not fly. It simply won’t."

According to Smith, many organisations fail to budget sufficient staff time and resources to promote and maintain their online community. She suggests that "Overlooking the key role of the human facilitator is perhaps the greatest reason that online communities fail to meet the expectations of their creators."