A&N Electric Cooperative Intranet

Overview

A Shared Space for a Shared Mission

For a cooperative like A&N Electric Cooperative (ANEC), internal communication is just as essential as the power lines that keep its communities connected. Serving more than 28,000 cooperative members requires steady coordination behind the scenes; especially with 78 employees working across 12 departments, each with a distinct role in keeping operations running smoothly. As ANEC continued to grow and evolve, leadership recognized that staying connected internally was becoming just as important as staying connected with the community they serve.

After partnering with Powerful to redesign its public-facing website, ANEC turned its attention to an equally important audience: its own workforce. The cooperative set out to create its very first intranet as a practical, human-centered hub that would support everyday work. Their goals were to increase engagement, improve navigation through intuitive design, and make sure internal content stays current and easy to find. At its core, the intranet was designed to reflect who ANEC is as an organization and to give employees across all departments a shared space to stay informed, collaborate more easily, and strengthen the service they provide to their community.

Keeping Everyone in the Loop

Since this was ANEC’s very first intranet, both ANEC and Powerful placed a strong emphasis on first impressions. Leadership wanted employees to feel comfortable using the new platform right away, without a learning curve or frustration. The goal was to help staff adapt quickly, find what they need with confidence, and feel that the intranet made their workflows easier from day one.

Alongside ease of use, ANEC also wanted a reliable way to share timely information internally. Important announcements, schedule changes, and operational updates were happening across the organization, and leadership wanted a clear, consistent place where employees could find the latest information without confusion.

Powerful designed ANEC’s intranet using the Tabor blueprint, a search-focused layout built around how people naturally look for information. The homepage greets visitors with a large, prominent search bar at the center of the experience. Suggested search prompts such as “Employee Directory,” “Internal Announcements,” and “Policies” guide employees toward the most commonly sought tools and resources, helping them get oriented immediately.

This search-first approach allows employees to type in exactly what they are looking for instead of clicking through menus or guessing where something lives. Whether someone needs a policy document, a colleague’s contact information, or a recent internal update, the intranet meets them with a clear starting point.

To support up-to-date communication, Powerful also integrated the News Releases app and the Calendar and Events app. Internal announcements are displayed prominently, giving employees a quick snapshot of what’s new across the cooperative. The Calendar and Events section highlights upcoming meetings, internal events, and key dates in a familiar, easy-to-scan format.

Strengthening Internal Connections

With 78 employees working across 12 departments, ANEC wanted to make it easier for team members to connect with one another and collaborate across roles. Leadership also wanted to bring more consistency and organization to everyday operational tasks that were previously handled through manual processes. The goal was to create a shared internal space where employees could quickly find the right people, complete routine tasks more efficiently, and feel that the intranet actively supported their daily responsibilities.

Powerful implemented the Staff Directory app as a central feature of the intranet. Employees are displayed in a friendly, personable layout that includes a photo, name, title, department, office location, phone number, and email address. Each department also has a dedicated page, making it simple to browse by team or role.

For example, if someone from Member Services needs to reach a colleague in the Accounting department, they can navigate directly to Accounting’s department page and see the full directory for that team. This shortens the time it takes to connect with the right person.

To support daily operations, Powerful also integrated a set of online forms directly into the intranet. These include forms for daily operations reports, daily outage summaries, vehicle registration, and daily construction crew assignments, among others. Each form is designed to be easy to complete, with clear fields and straightforward instructions. Submissions are stored in one central place, creating a consistent, dependable process for collecting operational data.

Together, the Staff Directory and online forms help strengthen both connection and efficiency across the cooperative. Seeing faces alongside names makes the directory feel more personal and helps employees feel more connected, especially across departments that may not interact daily.

The online forms bring structure and clarity to everyday workflows. Employees can quickly submit updates, log assignments, and share critical information without extra steps or confusion. Supervisors and team leads can more easily track submissions and stay informed.