Stevenson University partnered with WordHerd to modernize its internal intranet by migrating from a custom Microsoft-based system to a flexible, maintainable WordPress intranet solution. The existing intranet served as an important internal platform for university communication, departmental resources, faculty and staff information, student-facing content, documents, and events. As the university’s needs evolved, Stevenson needed a more user-friendly system that would be easier for departments to manage, simpler to train users on, and better suited for long-term content maintenance.
WordHerd rebuilt the intranet in WordPress, creating a secure and scalable internal platform designed around usability, distributed content management, role-based access, and long-term maintainability.
The Challenge
Stevenson University’s previous intranet was built on a custom Microsoft-based implementation. While it supported internal operations, the platform had become more difficult to manage and less flexible for the university’s evolving content needs.
The university needed a modern intranet solution that could:
- Make editing easier for faculty and staff across departments
- Support different access levels for administrators, faculty, staff, and students
- Provide a simpler front-end editing experience
- Improve content management workflows for documents, pages, and events
- Allow certain sections of a page to be hidden or staged when needed
- Support custom HTML snippets and code editing for approved third-party integrations
- Improve search, navigation, and responsive design patterns
- Provide a more maintainable foundation for future intranet enhancements
Because the intranet served multiple university audiences, the project required careful planning around authentication, permissions, content structure, and usability.
The Solution
WordHerd rebuilt the intranet as a WordPress-powered internal platform with a structure tailored to the needs of a higher education environment. The new WordPress intranet gives Stevenson University a centralized place to manage internal content, departmental information, documents, announcements, events, and resources, while providing a more approachable editing experience for non-technical users.
Key areas of the rebuild included:
Shibboleth Single Sign-On Integration
A major component of the project was integrating the WordPress intranet with Shibboleth single sign-on. This allowed the intranet to connect with Stevenson University’s existing authentication environment while supporting role separation across different user groups, including administrators, faculty, staff, and students.
The SSO integration helped create a more streamlined login experience and provided a foundation for controlling access to appropriate content and tools based on each user’s role within the university.
Role-Based Access and Data Layer Separation
WordHerd configured the intranet to support role-based access and content separation for different audiences. This allowed administrators, faculty, staff, and students to interact with the platform in ways appropriate to their responsibilities and access needs. This structure helped the university maintain a more organized internal platform while reducing unnecessary complexity for end users.
Front-End Editing for Faculty and Staff
The new WordPress intranet includes a simple front-end editing experience designed to be easier to train and easier to use across departments. Faculty and staff can manage content in a more intuitive way, helping reduce bottlenecks and allowing departments to keep their own information current without relying heavily on technical support.
Flexible Content Editing
The platform supports standard editing features while also allowing approved users to add custom HTML snippets or manually edit code when needed. This flexibility helps support third-party applications and specialized internal content requirements while preserving the usability benefits of WordPress.
Document Replacement Workflows
WordHerd implemented improved document management workflows that allow uploaded documents to be replaced while keeping the same link. This is especially useful for university intranets, where forms, policies, schedules, and internal documents may need to be updated regularly without breaking existing references across the site.
Hidden and Staged Page Sections
The new intranet gives authorized editors the ability to hide sections of a page when needed. This feature supports a variety of internal use cases, including campus emergency messaging, important announcements, temporary content, staged updates, or testing new page elements before they are made visible.
Calendar and Event Management
WordHerd added calendar functionality that allows university teams to add, edit, and delete events from within the intranet. This gives Stevenson University a centralized way to manage internal events, deadlines, meetings, and other calendar-based content.
Search and Design Templates
The rebuilt intranet includes a working search experience supported by associated design templates. This helps users more easily find internal pages, resources, documents, events, and other intranet content.
Responsive Tabbed Interfaces
To improve the responsive experience, WordHerd implemented tabbed interface components to replace older box-based content layouts. This created a cleaner and more mobile-friendly structure for organizing related content while improving usability across screen sizes.
Why WordPress
WordPress provided Stevenson University with a flexible content management foundation that could replace the previous custom intranet while making the platform easier for faculty, staff, and administrators to manage over time.
By moving to WordPress, the university gained:
- A more familiar and approachable editing experience
- Easier content updates for distributed teams
- Flexible templates for departments and internal resources
- Better support for documents, events, and announcements
- Role-based access for different university audiences
- Shibboleth SSO integration with existing authentication systems
- A scalable platform for future intranet enhancements
- Improved long-term maintainability
Rather than continuing to rely on a rigid custom system, Stevenson University now has a WordPress intranet foundation that can evolve with the needs of the university.
The Result
The completed project transformed Stevenson University’s intranet from a custom Microsoft-based implementation into a modern WordPress intranet solution built for usability, flexibility, secure access, and long-term content management. The new platform gives administrators, faculty, staff, and students a more organized internal experience while giving content managers better tools for keeping information current. With Shibboleth single sign-on and role-based access, the intranet supports secure authentication and appropriate content access across different university audiences.
Stevenson University now has a more maintainable intranet platform that supports internal communication, departmental publishing, document management, event updates, search, and future growth.
Project Highlights
- Migrated a custom Microsoft-based intranet to WordPress
- Rebuilt the intranet as a flexible internal university platform
- Integrated Shibboleth single sign-on
- Supported role separation for administrators, faculty, staff, and students
- Added a simple front-end editing experience for faculty and staff
- Supported custom HTML snippets and manual code editing when needed
- Improved document replacement workflows while preserving existing links
- Added the ability to hide or stage sections of a page
- Implemented calendar tools for internal event management
- Created search functionality with supporting design templates
- Replaced older box-style layouts with responsive tabbed interface components
- Delivered a more maintainable platform for long-term intranet management
