Description
Organisations that out perform their competitors understand the valued of sharing and managing their organisations Knowledge. Knowledge is needed to support the staff performing Manual activities that are part of the organisations business processes and ensuring that these processes are completed right first time.
Having the right information for the staff at available in the context of the current business process reduces the cycle time need to complete the activities.
Both these common measures process cycle time and right first time can be improved by having a Knowledge Management process and system in place.
The benefits of improving these include;
- Improved Customer Satisfaction
- Reduced Cost to Serve Customers or Employees in the organisations
- Reduce Waste due to rework required
- Improve time to market
The architect needs to understand what are the Critical items of knowledge in the Organisation that will add value. They also need to know When and How this information needs to be accessed.
Overview
There are a number of common definitions of Knowledge Management. Here are a two of them.
*Knowledge Management (KM) is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using Organisational knowledge. Wikipedia*
*Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving and sharing all of the enterprises information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously uncaptured expertise and experience in individual workers Knowledge World.*
What is common about each of them that the IT Architect has to recognise is the full life cycle of the information from identifying the need, capturing and delivering the information in the right context.
Proven Practices
The following are a set of proven practices for Knowledge Management.
There are four key sub capabilities;
- Creation,
- Codification,
- Application and
- Sharing
Sub-Capabilities
Knowledge Creation/Generation
Organisations generate a significant quantity of information and content. The information is generated as part of the day to day activities to support the key business activities. KM focuses on the information that is used to support the key activities, such as Checklists, Standard Operating Procedures, Run Books, Frequently Asked Questions, Industry Specific documents including Legal and Regulatory compliance and Health and Safety instructions. This core information/data needs to be generated at this stage.
| Iasa Certification Level | Learning Objective |
|---|---|
| CITA- Foundation | - Learner will be able to name the various ways of how Information/Data is created and understand what they are |
| - Learner will be able to name the elements that are involved in Content Generation and Activities | |
| CITA – Associate | - Learner will be able to describe the differences between various methods of generate Information/Content |
| - Learner will be able to describe the key elements of each of the Data and Information and the dependencies | |
| CITA – Professional | - Learner will be able to describe when it is most appropriate to use which Information and Data gathering, and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each |
| - Learner will be able to describe how use at least one of the methods of Information and Data Generation in detail for a project and be able to set up the functions | |
| CITA – Distinguished | - Learner will be able to use parts of different Information gathering techniques together in a project when this is the most effective thing to do |
| - Learner will know the risk of missing out activities defined in the Information gathering and be able to justify this where appropriate |
Knowledge Codification
To create Knowledge from the information and content generated by the organisations during the course of the business it needs to be analysed and codified.
Users accession the information need to able to find the right knowledge and in many cases in the right context. Once the information/data has been generated it has to be classified and positioned in the right place in the Knowledge Base. Users can find the data via keyword searching or browsing. Relationships are also generated via the use of information/data. This metadata needs to be captured as part of the codification process.
| Iasa Certification Level | Learning Objective |
|---|---|
| CITA- Foundation | - Learner will be able to name the various ways of how Information/Data is Codified and understand what they are |
| - Learner will be able to name the elements that are involved in Content Codification and Activities | |
| CITA – Associate | - Learner will be able to describe the differences between various methods of Codify Information/Content |
| - Learner will be able to describe the key elements of each of the Codification and the dependencies | |
| CITA – Professional | - Learner will be able to describe when it is most appropriate to use which Codification techniques, and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each |
| - Learner will be able to describe how use at least one of the methods of Codification in detail for a project and be able to set up the functions | |
| CITA – Distinguished | - Learner will be able to use parts of different Information Codification techniques together in a project when this is the most effective thing to do |
| - Learner will know the risk of missing out activities defined in the Codification and processing and be able to justify this where appropriate |
Knowledge Application
Once the information has been codified it has to be managed and assigned a value that the business understands. Access to the information needs to be tracked, information that is used infrequently needs to be reviewed to identify the value to the business/organisation.
The knowledge must be made accessible to applications within the organisation, Standard Operating Procedures and User Guides made available to interactive workflow activities. Reducing the need to search for instructions, leading to efficiencies in manual processes.
| Iasa Certification Level | Learning Objective |
|---|---|
| CITA- Foundation | - Learner will be able to name the various ways of how Applying the Knowledge and understand what they are |
| - Learner will be able to name the elements that are involved in Knowledge Application and Activities | |
| CITA – Associate | - Learner will be able to describe the differences between various methods of Applying Knowledge Management |
| - Learner will be able to describe the key elements of each of the Knowledge Application and the dependencies | |
| CITA – Professional | - Learner will be able to describe when it is most appropriate to use which Knowledge Application, and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each |
| - Learner will be able to describe how use at least one of the methods of Knowledge Application in detail for a project and be able to set up the functions | |
| CITA – Distinguished | - Learner will be able to use parts of different Knowledge Application techniques together in a project when this is the most effective thing to do |
| - Learner will know the risk of missing out activities defined in the Knowledge Application and be able to justify this where appropriate |
Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge needs to be adapted and shared within the organisation and with its customers and business partners. The Knowledge base is the repository where the information/data resides. In cases where information is shared with others structured access to the information has be be provided to support the transfer of information to users of the knowledge.
In some cases for regulatory reasons a record is kept about who access the information, it it is part of online training guides.
| Iasa Certification Level | Learning Objective |
|---|---|
| CITA- Foundation | - Learner will be able to name the various ways of how Information/Data is created shared and understand what they are |
| - Learner will be able to name the elements that are involved in Information Sharing and Activities | |
| CITA – Associate | - Learner will be able to describe the differences between various methods of Sharing Information/Content |
| - Learner will be able to describe the key elements of each of the ways Information can be Shared and the dependencies | |
| CITA – Professional | - Learner will be able to describe when it is most appropriate to use which Knowledge Sharing methods, and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each |
| - Learner will be able to describe how use at least one of the methods of Knowledge Sharing in detail for a project and be able to set up the functions | |
| CITA – Distinguished | - Learner will be able to use parts of different Information Sharing techniques together in a project when this is the most effective thing to do |
| - Learner will know the risk of missing out activities defined in the Information Sharing and be able to justify this where appropriate |
Resources
Online Material
Knowledge Management http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management
Method for an Integrated Knowledge Environment http://mike2.openmethodology.org
Blogs/Webcasts/News/Reference sources:
- Summary of Knowledge Management YouTube: https://youtu.be/HwMzpJa6Y-w
- EDxKC - Michael Wesch - From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able https://youtu.be/LeaAHv4UTI8
- How knowledge management drives enterprise strategy | University of Stellenbosch Business School https://youtu.be/SvEcTEB9ajQ
Training:
- The Global Community of Information Professionals http://www.aiim.org
Certifications:
- The Global Community of Information Professionals http://www.aiim.org
Author
Alistair Herriott Head of Strategy and Architecture, Communications and Media – Bearing Point