Citrix Podio is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based collaboration platform. It’s a flexible and easy to use intranet with a number of free apps to extend its features available in the Podio App Market. Such add-on Podio apps give you the freedom and flexibility to create a feature-rich intranet without the need for a programmer. The free Intranet pack add-on is a good basis for creating an intranet. It includes the following apps:

  • Bulletins
  • Staff Meetings
  • Department Directory
  • Procedures
  • Document Templates
  • Vacations
  • Expense Vouchers

The steps in this post assume that you’ve already set up a Podio account. Here is how to create an intranet using the Intranet pack.

Set up a workspace in Podio

You may install the Intranet pack in an existing Podio workspace, but sometimes it’s better to start from a fresh workspace.

To set up a Podio workspace:

1. Click Go To Workspace.

2. From Go To Workspace, click Create A Workspace. The Create A New Workspace dialog box appears (Figure A).
Figure A

Create A New Workspace dialog box (Click the image to enlarge.)

3. Enter a name for your intranet in the What Do You Want To Call Your Workspace Field?

4. Select one of the following as the access settings for your workspace:

  • a. Open, making the workspace accessible to all your employees. Click Automatically Join New Employees.
  • b. Private — Invite Only.

5. Click the Create & Invite button. The blank workspace that will serve as the foundation for your intranet appears (Figure B).
Figure B

Blank workspace (Click the image to enlarge.)

6. To invite other users, you have the following options:

  • a. Find contacts from your Podio contacts, Google, and LinkedIn.
  • b. Enter contact email addresses manually in the You Can Also Enter Email Addresses Manually field.

7. Enter a personal message.

8. Select one of the following roles for the user: Light Member, Regular Member, or Workspace Admin.

9. Click Add. The main page of your new intranet reappears.

Create your intranet

Now that you have a blank Podio workspace, it’s time to install the Intranet pack.

1. Click Add App. The Add App dialog box appears.

2. Click Go To The App Market.

3. Click Intranet. The Intranet page of the Podio Apps Marketplace appears. Packs of apps are in the top row; the bottom row is individual apps.

4. Click Get Pack In The Intranet Pack. The Install Pack dialog box appears.

5. Select a Workspace where you want to install the pack.

6. Click Next. A dialog box appears when the pack has been installed.

7. Click See Installed Pack.

The Intranet pack apps are now installed in the workspace you specified. You can populate the intranet with your organization’s information and documents.

Populate your intranet with content

You need to start populating your new intranet with content. To get started building our intranet, let’s add a bulletin, a staff meeting, a department directory, and a procedures document.

Create a bulletin

A bulletin is a way to communicate important organizational information to your users. It’s a bit more detailed than just placing a quick note in the Activity stream.

To create a bulletin:

1. From the main page of your intranet, click Bulletins. The Bulletins screen appears.

2. Click Add Staff Bulletin. The Create Staff Bulletin page appears.

3. Enter your bulletin information including title, bulletin text, link to external website or other Podio page. You also can attach files to the bulletin and then tag it.

4. Optionally, add tags to the bulletin if you use tags to organize your Podio content.

5. Click Save. Notice of the bulletin appears in the Activity stream. Figure C shows an example of a Podio Bulletins page.
Figure C

Podio Bulletins page (Click the image to enlarge.)

Organize staff meetings

Putting information about your staff meeting on your intranet is a useful reminder for on-premise and remote workers about upcoming meetings.

To organize staff meetings:

1. Click Staff Meetings. The Staff Meetings page appears.

2. Click Add Staff Meeting.

3. Set a date and meeting time for the meeting.

4. Optionally, enable GoToMeeting for the meeting.

5. Specify attendees from your Podio workspace and contacts.

6. Enter a meeting agenda in the Agenda field.

7. Enter Minutes for the meeting in the Minutes field.

8. Enter a location for the meeting in the Meeting field.

9. Click Add Files to add files from Evernote, Google Drive, or your local hard drive.

10. Optionally, add tags if you use tags to organize your Podio content.

11. Click Save. Figure D shows an example of a staff meeting in Podio.
Figure D

Staff meeting (Click the image to enlarge.)

Create a department directory

Putting department directories online saves you from having to email a spreadsheet of employee phone numbers around.

To create a department directory:

1. Click Department Directory.

2. Click Add Department. Figure E shows the Department Directory page.
Figure E

Add department information (Click the image to enlarge.)

3. Enter a department name in the Department Name field.

4. Select a workspace member as the Head Of Department.

5. Select workspace members as staff members.

6. Enter a location for the department in the Location field.

7. Click Add Files to add files from Evernote, Google Drive, or your local hard drive.

8. Add tags if you want to use tags to organize your Podio content.

9. Click Save.

Add a procedures document

The Procedures app is a useful way to centralize your organization’s policies and procedures documents. You can assign a responsible party to the document, and even let employees comment on the document using Podio’s comments feature.

To add a procedures document:

1. Click Procedures. The Procedures page appears.

2. Click Add Procedures Document.

3. Enter a title for the procedures document in the Title field.

4. Enter a description for the document in the Description field.

5. Select someone to be responsible for the document from your workspace members.

6. Click Add files to add a file from Google Drive, Evernote, or local hard drive.

7. Click Done. Figure F shows an example of a policies and procedures document in Podio.
Figure F

Policies and Procedures document (Click the image to enlarge.)

Add other information to your intranet

Entering information in the Vacations, Expense Reports, and Document Templates apps work very similarly to the other intranet apps I walked through in this post.

Conclusion

The Intranet pack is just one example of how you can install apps from the Podio App Market into Podio to customize a Podio workspace with tools your team or organization can use for better communication and collaboration and a more polished user experience.