When I joined the CI team in May 2024, the digital workspace was a disaster. Files scattered across Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint. No structure. No brand. No single source of truth.

The mandate was clear: fix it.

The solution wasn't technical—it was architectural. We needed two things:

■Private Workshop: Secure internal collaboration with coherent folder hierarchy
■Public-facing site: Official agency-accessible presence

The build:

■Designed complete visual branding (colors, fonts, layouts)
■Created Public Data Repository for CI initiative findings
■Built essential pages with team intros and contact info
■Established governance framework

The result: 60% reduction in information retrieval time.

But the real lesson wasn't about SharePoint. It was about organizational memory.

Digital infrastructure isn't just storage—it's institutional knowledge made accessible. Every folder structure is a decision about how work flows. Every naming convention is a statement about what matters.

The CI ecosystem became the foundation for everything that followed: the AI Central hub, the CIN portal, the project command center. You can't build advanced systems on chaotic foundations.

Three principles emerged:

■Structure precedes content: Get the architecture right first
■Brand is clarity: Visual identity isn't vanity—it's wayfinding
■Public by default: Transparency forces quality

The Workshop site became our team's operating system. The public site became our accountability mechanism. Together, they transformed how we work.

From chaos to system in 6 weeks. The technical work was straightforward. The organizational change was the hard part—and the part that mattered.