The direct answer
An intranet is a private website that only people signed in to an organization can reach. It carries company news, policies, forms, people directories and links to the tools staff use every day. On Microsoft 365 the intranet is SharePoint: the content lives in SharePoint sites inside the organization's own tenant, access follows each person's Microsoft Entra account, and the same sites appear on the web, in the SharePoint mobile app and, if the organization chooses, inside Microsoft Teams.
EPC Group builds intranets on SharePoint by deciding the structure before any page is designed: which communication sites publish to everyone, which team sites hold working content, which hub sites group related sites, and which site becomes the home site. Governance, meaning who owns each site, who may publish news and how content is reviewed and retired, is agreed before launch, because an intranet without owners goes out of date quickly.
The building blocks
| Component | What it does | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Communication site | Broadcasts content to a wide audience | Company news, HR, policies, department portals |
| Team site | Private space where a group works on files and lists together | Project teams, departments, Teams-connected work |
| Hub site | Joins related sites with shared navigation and branding | A department or region with several sites |
| Home site | Landing page of the intranet; searches the entire intranet and is the default news source | The front door for every employee |
| Global navigation (SharePoint app bar) | Shows intranet links wherever a user is in SharePoint; requires a home site | Links to the main portals and tools |
How a request moves through the intranet
When an employee opens the home site, SharePoint checks their sign-in and shows only the content they are permitted to see; audience targeting can narrow news, navigation links and some web parts to specific groups. A search from the home site covers every site in the intranet rather than one site. News posted on the home site becomes official organizational news. Pages are built from sections and web parts, and authors publish them when ready.
How EPC Group builds one
- Inventory the content and portals that exist today and agree what moves, what is rebuilt and what is retired.
- Design the structure: hubs, communication and team sites, the home site, navigation and branding.
- Agree governance: site owners, news publishers, approvals, review cycles and retention.
- Build the sites and pages, apply audience targeting and test with real users.
- Launch in phases and review usage data after go-live.
For design patterns, see SharePoint modern intranet design best practices and enterprise SharePoint intranet examples; for bringing the intranet into Teams, see the Viva-powered intranet guide.
Primary sources
- Intelligent intranet overview — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-27
- Plan, build, and launch a SharePoint home site for your organization — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-27
- Create and use modern pages on a SharePoint site — Microsoft Support, accessed 2026-10-27
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an intranet and the internet?
EPC Group explains it to clients this way: the internet is public, while an intranet is a private set of sites that only people signed in to your organization can open. A SharePoint intranet sits inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, so access follows your Microsoft Entra accounts and the permissions on each site.
What is a SharePoint home site?
EPC Group sets up the home site as the landing page of the intranet. Microsoft describes it as a communication site with special capabilities: its search covers the entire intranet rather than one site, and by default it is the official source of organizational news (Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-27).
Do we need Viva Connections for a SharePoint intranet?
EPC Group builds the intranet in SharePoint first; the SharePoint app in Teams (formerly Viva Connections) is an optional way to bring it into Microsoft Teams. Microsoft notes that an Enterprise, Frontline or Academic license is required to create a Connections experience (Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-27).
How long does it take to build a SharePoint intranet?
EPC Group sizes it after a scoping call, because the time depends on how much content moves, how many portals the home site links to and how much governance is already in place. Microsoft’s own sequence runs from exploring and aligning goals, through governance and building, to launch and ongoing measurement.
Talk to a senior architect
A one-hour scoping call with a senior EPC Group architect covers the sites you have today, the structure of the new intranet and the order of the build. Email contact@epcgroup.net or call 888-381-9725.
Documented and anonymized engagements
Named engagements come first; anonymized summaries follow under the anonymized-engagement rule — the client is not named and every statement is EPC-reported. Documents behind named engagements are in the Evidence Center.
- Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. — SharePoint Server 2019 build and deployment: custom user experience, navigation, web parts, search, enterprise-application integration, quality assurance and training (2021)Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. · 2021 · Contracted — countersigned
- Canadian Forces Morale & Welfare Services (CFMWS) — SharePoint consulting support (2014)Canadian Forces Morale & Welfare Services (CFMWS) · 2014 · Contracted
- Stryker Corporation — SharePoint Center of Excellence development (2012)Stryker Corporation · 2012 · Delivered — payment-corroborated (client payment records published)
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York — SharePoint best-practices needs assessment, architecture and governance gap analysis, roadmap for a global SharePoint Center of Excellence across the twelve Reserve Bank districts (2010)Federal Reserve Bank of New York · 2010 · Contracted — countersigned, with historical work product
- Copilot and SharePoint AI Governance: Regional Bank (2024)Anonymized engagement summary · Regional bank · 2024
- SharePoint Intranet Permission Automation: Contractor (2024)Anonymized engagement summary · Federal government contractor · 2024
- Two SharePoint Farms to SharePoint Online: Regional BankAnonymized engagement summary · Regional bank · 2024
- SharePoint Health Check, Upgrade and Support: ManufacturerAnonymized engagement summary · Consumer-products manufacturer · 2017–2023
More engagements: NASA (agency-wide, across the NASA Centers) — Agency SharePoint Phase 1 Initiative: needs assessment, architectural review, governance, and a global SharePoint Center of Excellence for knowledge management, intranet and enterprise content management across the NASA Centers (2009–2010) · National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) — SharePoint records management and Center of Excellence advisory and implementation support (2010) · National Institutes of Health — SharePoint Center of Excellence design (2010) · Northrop Grumman — 'Finance I.R.M. Automation Process' statement of work on SharePoint (2010) · NASA Johnson Space Center — SharePoint Site Provisioning Solution (2009) · YMCA (Houston) — Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 implementation (2007) · SharePoint Support and Custom Apps: Professional Services · SharePoint 2010 to 2019 Migration: Regional Bank (2020) · SharePoint Online Document Management: Transportation (2020) · SharePoint 2010 to Online Design: Global Law Firm (2018) · SharePoint 2016 Intranet Redesign: Energy Company (2018) · SharePoint Intranet Redesign: Financial Services · SharePoint Migration: Major Healthcare Network