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Employee experience (EX) platform onboarding and intranet onboarding refer to the structured processes of planning, configuring, training, launching, and optimizing your new EX software or intranet so that teams adopt it quickly and get value over time. This post – the third in our Steps to EX platform success series – covers everything you need to know about the onboarding process and how it can set you up for long-term success.
This post provides a practical roadmap for launching an employee experience platform or intranet, focusing on how to organize work, make informed decisions, and keep the project moving forward. It outlines what to expect at each stage, responsibilities across teams, and how to align stakeholders around clear outcomes.
We’ll cover collaboration with your vendor, the essentials of strategy and ownership, preparing content for day one, and more. You’ll also find concise guidance on the tactics that sustain momentum after release, metrics that signal healthy adoption, and common pitfalls to avoid. Let’s get started.
What is employee experience platform onboarding?
Onboarding for an employee experience platform covers everything between “we’ve chosen a platform” and “employees reliably use it”: outcomes and scope, EX governance and roles, content readiness (audit and migration), platform configuration, author training, change communications, launch, and continuous optimization.
The intranet onboarding process plays out in the same way – the only difference is what you’re launching, as an employee experience platform will have more features to coordinate and deliver.
If you’ve been tasked with leading your company’s intranet or EX platform onboarding process, or if you’re shopping for EX software and want to know what the journey entails, read on for details, tips, and answers.
What are the phases of employee experience software onboarding and intranet onboarding?
Employee experience platform onboarding and intranet onboarding phases include planning, setup, training, launch, and ongoing optimization, typically following these steps:
- Pre-onboarding & project planning
- Strategic planning & governance
- MVP launch
- Implementation & build-out
- Soft launch or phased rollout (optional)
- Full launch
- Optimization & ongoing success
The onboarding process will be guided by your intranet or employee experience vendor, who should ensure everything unfolds smoothly and that your team is well-supported from start to finish. Let’s review the basics for each phase of the project:
Phase 1: Pre-onboarding and planning
- Discovery of business goals, how to best meet your organization’s EX needs, and challenges to solve for
- Mapping of project roles (IT, HR, comms, content owners)
- Projecting your onboarding timeline
- Development of a migration plan and initial content identification or content audit
Phase 2: Strategic planning and governance
- Working with your vendor to set objectives (we recommend sticking to between three and five goals) and create a comprehensive strategy for your EX platform
- Establishing governance frameworks, publishing models, and approval channels
- Identification of essential content and assignment to content owners
Phase 3: MVP creation
- A minimum viable product (MVP) is typically built by your vendor at this stage
- An MVP is an initial version of your employee experience platform, featuring core functionality and sample content
- Early author training and feedback sessions (including with stakeholders) help refine the MVP before broader rollout
Phase 4: Implementation and build-out
- Finalization of site structure and configuration of integrations
- Building out content, which should include content owner training and author training for admins and contributors
- Continuation of iterative design and technical setup
Phase 5: Soft launch or phased rollout (if applicable)
- Release of the platform to a select group or department for pilot testing (soft launch)
- Gradual expansion of access before the full launch (phased rollout)
- Gathering feedback, monitoring adoption, and making improvements
Note: Soft launch and phased rollout are optional, but both are recommended for larger organizations
Phase 6: Launch
- Launching your new EX platform for all users at your organization
- Execution of launch communications and engagement campaigns
- Providing training, guidance, and support to new users
- Monitoring initial adoption and engagement metrics
Phase 7: Ongoing optimization
- Analyzing usage data and user feedback post-launch and over time to drive continuous improvement
- Offering ongoing training, refreshers, and advanced feature workshops
- Conducting regular strategic reviews and planning for future enhancements
Who should be involved in the employee experience platform onboarding or intranet onboarding process?
The onboarding team for your intranet or employee experience platform should include individuals on both the vendor side and the customer side.
This can vary by project, but on the vendor side, expect to work with an Onboarding Manager, strategy, design, and technical consultants, training and build consultants, and a Customer Success Manager.
Your organization’s side of the team will include an internal project manager (this could be you) and any other relevant players from comms, HR, and IT. It will also include content owners and internal champions.
Which individuals need to be part of employee experience platform or intranet onboarding?
Here’s an example of a typical team during the EX software onboarding process (note that there may be overlap between these roles on your team – for example, the Project Manager may also serve as the Comms Lead, and your HR Lead may also be a content owner):
| Vendor team | Your team |
| Onboarding Manager: Keeps the project on track | Project Manager: Manages timeline |
| Strategic Consultant: Guides strategy with best practices | Comms Lead: Drives internal communication |
| Design Consultant: Creates intuitive, on-brand design | HR Lead: Aligns with internal communications |
| Customer Success Manager: Drives long-term platform adoption | IT Lead: Ensures integration |
| Training & Build Consultant: Builds and trains for launch success | Content Owners: Own and review content |
| Technical Consultant: Ensures technical setup | Internal Champions: Support and promote usage |
What support do vendors provide during the EX platform onboarding process or intranet onboarding process?
A good EX or intranet software vendor will offer the following forms of support during the onboarding process:
Dedicated project management
An onboarding manager on your vendor’s team should serve as your primary point of contact, coordinating all activities, managing timelines, and ensuring smooth communication between you and the vendor. They keep the project organized and proactively address risks before they escalate.
Strategic consultancy
Vendors should help align your platform with business goals by guiding governance planning, content strategy, and feature prioritization. This includes workshops, best-practice frameworks, and tailored recommendations to maximize adoption.
Change management expertise
Your vendor should guide you through a structured change management approach that includes:
- Stakeholder engagement and communication planning
- Role-based training programs and self-service resources
- Identification and support of internal “change champions” to drive adoption
Technical support and integration
Expect your EX software or intranet vendor to provide infrastructure review, integration planning, and secure data migration. Your vendor’s IT experts should coordinate with your team’s IT Lead during the project to ensure compatibility with existing systems and future scalability.
Comprehensive Training
Training should be role-specific and flexible – covering administrators, content authors, and end users through workshops, webinars, and e-learning modules. Vendors should also provide ongoing resources to maintain engagement post-offboarding.
Post-Launch Optimization
Vendor involvement doesn’t stop at launch. Your vendor should continue to offer support, including:
- Usage analytics and adoption insights
- Advanced feature training and best-practice updates
- Opportunities to participate in case studies, awards, and other opportunities to highlight your achievements
Spotlight: What is the role of a Customer Success Manager in the EX software and intranet onboarding process (and beyond)?
Your vendor should assign you a dedicated Customer Success Manager during the onboarding process. This person will be your partner and advisor throughout the journey and beyond, ensuring continuous value for your investment. Their role is to:
- Align and focus on your business outcomes
- Identify continuous opportunities to meet your needs, address challenges, and advocate for you
- Advise on strategy, best practices, and trends
- Provide updates and guidance for increased adoption and engagement with your new platform
Tips for successful employee experience software onboarding
How do I measure success during employee experience platform onboarding or intranet onboarding?
Here are some key metrics to track your EX platform’s success, starting during onboarding:
- Adoption: Track active mobile and desktop users, repeat visits, and mobile app onboarding rates to understand engagement.
- Findability: Monitor search success rates, top failed queries, and average time-to-content to ensure users can easily find what they need.
- Content health: Review the percentage of pages with current review dates and the number of content updates per month to keep information fresh.
- Outcome alignment: Regularly assess progress against the goals set during the pre-onboarding and strategic planning phases of the project to ensure your EX onboarding plan or intranet onboarding plan is delivering on business objectives.
Tracking performance (particularly adoption, findability, and content health) from the start allows you to make changes that improve experiences and lead to higher engagement and adoption. The earlier you spot potential improvements, the better your long-term outcomes will be.
How do you get the most out of the employee experience software onboarding process?
Do the following during the EX-platform or intranet onboarding process to make things easier for your team, move the project along faster, and get the best results:
- Prioritize and keep it simple: Start with the most important features and content. Don’t try to do everything at once.
- Get content owners involved ASAP: Ask the people who know your company’s information best to help prepare and review content well in advance. Getting tasks on their radar early helps them budget their time and helps you avoid chasing people.
- Complete baseline IT setup early: Address technical requirements and integrations at the outset to avoid surprises – and resulting delays – later on.
- Keep leadership involved and informed: Regular status updates and check-ins with leaders help keep the project moving and show you’re making progress.
- Tap your vendor’s experience: Your vendor has done this many times before. Ask plenty of questions and take advantage of their frameworks, best practices, and tips. Above all, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, let them know – they can provide reassurance and solutions to help.
- Invite and act on feedback: Collect and use feedback from pilot groups, stakeholders, and end users to refine the platform and your launch efforts. This means engaging multiple audiences – for example, frontline workers, remote workers, and office workers will all have different perspectives.
How can companies ensure the long-term success of their EX platforms starting at onboarding?
Start applying these strategies during onboarding to boost long-term adoption and success for your EX platform:
- Make training part of your strategy: Take advantage of vendor training resources to be sure employees are engaging with – and making the most of – your new EX platform. Include training as part of your internal onboarding process for new hires, so every employee starts off on the right foot.
- Monitor and share adoption metrics: Use analytics to track usage, highlight wins, and identify areas for improvement. This is especially important early on, so that you can work with your vendor to optimize your platform and content – leading to higher usage now and in the long run.
- Keep content relevant and up to date: Plan for regular content reviews and updates to maintain trust and usefulness. Establish the when, how, and who of these processes early to keep everyone accountable.
- Promote champions and peer advocates: Empower internal champions and early adopters to support and encourage others. Peer influence goes a long way.
- Celebrate milestones and successes: Recognize teams and individuals for high adoption, innovative use, or content quality.
- Keep partnering with your vendor: As we mentioned above, a good EX software vendor doesn’t disappear after onboarding – they’re there to provide continuous support, guide you through any new features, and optimize your platform over time. They want to see you succeed, so take advantage of this partnership.
Employee experience platform onboarding and intranet onboarding: Frequently asked questions
EX platform onboarding and intranet onboarding refer to the process of planning, configuring, and launching employee experience software or intranet software so teams can adopt it quickly and get long-term value. This process covers everything from initial setup to ongoing optimization.
The main phases of the onboarding process for an EX platform are pre-onboarding, strategic planning, MVP creation, implementation, soft launch or phased rollout, full launch, and ongoing optimization. Each phase builds toward successful adoption and continuous improvement.
A soft launch releases the platform to a small group for testing, while a phased rollout gradually expands access. Not all organizations use these strategies, but if you want to identify issues early and improve adoption before a full launch, we recommend considering one or both of them.
An MVP is an initial version of your employee experience platform with core features and sample content. It allows for early feedback and refinement before a wider rollout.
An EX platform POC is a customized, time-limited test environment with your branding, use cases, and vendor support – ideal for validating complex requirements. An MVP is a functional version with essential features for real user feedback. The MVP is closer to the final product.
Both vendor and internal teams are involved in the onboarding process, including project managers, IT, HR, content owners, and champions. Each plays a role in planning, setup, training, and driving adoption.
Vendors should offer project management, strategic advice, technical support, training, and ongoing optimization throughout the onboarding process and beyond. Their goal is to ensure a smooth launch and sustained platform success.
To ensure a successful EX platform or intranet onboarding process, prioritize key features, involve content owners early, complete IT setup upfront, and use vendor expertise. Regular feedback and ongoing training are essential for long-term success.
