This paper concerns a study that was conducted regarding the functionality and usefulness of Intranets at South African universities. The aim of the study was to determine the minimum content required for an Intranet at a South African university as well as supplying guidelines for improving the usefulness of such Intranets. An initial literature study was conducted to establish a structural framework that would enable the theoretical capturing of issues such as a definition, components, steps involved in developing informational architecture as well as problems that might arise. The empirical part of the study was done in two phases. During the first phase users of the Intranet websites were required to complete a survey with regard to the usability of the Intranet in general and the importance and necessity of specific functionalities.  The second phase involved an analysis of the content of the Intranets of four South African universities. This analysis was done as an objective, comparative study with regards to the facilities that were available, applicable criteria, layout, usefulness, security, contents etc. of these participating Intranets. On completion of these two phases three overhead groups were clearly identified. These groups could be used to categorize the facilities. The first group contains facilities that can be regarded as providing the minimum for an Intranet by determining the facilities that are common to the four participating universities and the subjective rating of the significance of each facility by the users of the websites. The second group of facilities that was identified can be called the “nice to have’s”. These facilities are seldom used by the majority of users, but rather by a minority. The third category is one that is occasionally included in Intranet websites, but which is never used or is totally redundant. This study led to recommendations that universities may find valuable and may even consider implementing.  Universities should now also be able to evaluate their intranets by using the facility grid and the recommendations regarding usability.

Key words: University intranet websites, usability, functionality, minimum content