General Archive

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

H&H Webranking Best Practice is a new section that will highlight different examples of companies and corporate websites using the online medium efficiently. Our second area of focus is two examples of “General Archives”.

H&H Webranking Best Practice

General Archive

H&H Webranking Best Practice is a new section that will highlight different examples of companies and corporate websites using the online medium efficiently. These examples often go one step further than the H&H Webranking Criteria since the thought and creativity behind the solutions are often extraordinary. Our second area of focus is two examples of “General Archives”.

In our terms, a General Archive means a separate section where all reports, press releases, presentations and other company related material is presented, preferably in different file-formats. The main purpose of a general archive for a corporate website is to simplify the search process for visitors and at the same time also encourage further reading and understanding.

In 2006 the H&H Webranking consisted of 124 objective criteria covering various aspects on content and technology. Out of these 124 criteria, one of the most important, according to all target groups, is “General Archive”. Even though the criterion is highly important, the scores tend to be low. Remarkably low.

We have therefore chosen to present two Best Practice examples of a general archive; 



This General Archive above is from J Sainsbury plc. It is a good example on how to visually present a general archive. Functionality, efficient design and user friendliness are some of the strengths of this General Archive. Even though this General Archive is good, it still lacks some crucial information. Our belief is that a General Archive should contain even more categories and information than presented in the J Sainsbury plc case. Other preferable categories of a General Archive, that are missing in this case are; Annual Reports, Corporate Governance Reports and Sustainability Reports.

Another example of a Best Practice General Archive, relating to preferable amount of information, is the archive of UniCredit Group.

UniCredit Group

Combining these two examples of General Archives would be the ultimate mixture between design, functionality and content, and subsequently the perfect way to present your general archive.


More information:

Annual Report 2.0 - a wholly online annual report