This document discusses practical knowledge management and outlines an agile process for assessing an organization's current knowledge management needs and developing a strategy. It begins by defining knowledge management and its business value. It then describes a benchmarking and iterative assessment process involving interviews, inspections, analysis and reporting to understand an organization's current and target states. Finally, it discusses best practices for developing a segmented strategy, change management and communication, and provides examples of successful knowledge management implementations.

1. Practical Knowledge Management
ASSESSING WHERE YOU ARE, WHERE YOU WANT TO BE,
AND
ENSURING YOU GET THERE

2. HEY, THAT’S ME!
ZACH WAHL
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, EK
@ZACHARYWAHL, @EKCONSULTING
#KMISHOW

3. OUTCOMES…
DEFINE KM AND BUSINESS VALUE.
LEARN AN AGILE PROCESS FOR MAPPING KM NEEDS AND STRATEGY.
DISCUSS BEST PRACTICES FOR KM STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION.
HEAR ABOUT REAL WORLD SUCCESS STORIES IN KM.

4. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INVOLVES THE PEOPLE, CULTURE,
PROCESSES, AND ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES NECESSARY TO CAPTURE,
MANAGE, SHARE, AND FIND INFORMATION.

5. KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SPECTRUM
Knowledge and Information
Management (KIM) efforts exist on
the same spectrum, with knowledge
moving from tacit to explicit, and
then content moving from
unstructured to structured.
The most effective KIM efforts are
those that are driven by “business”
value and end user needs.
Change management and
communications play a critical role in
effective KIM initiatives.
FIND
CAPTURE
ACT

6. CONFRONTING
TODAY’S KIM
CHALLENGES
WHY KIM MATTERS
EXPONENTIAL INCREASES IN
CONTENT.
MORE BARRIERS TO
COLLABORATION AND
CONNECTIONS
(ORGANIZATION,
GEOGRAPHIC, ETC).
PROLIFERATION OF
KNOWLEDGE AND
INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
LESS STRUCTURE, MORE
SOCIAL.
LOWER STAFF RETENTION,
HIGHER LEVELS OF
RETIREMENT.
CONSISTENT PRESSURE TO
“DO MORE WITH LESS.”

7. TODAY, 80% OF BUSINESS IS
CONDUCTED ON
UNSTRUCTURED
INFORMATION – GARTNER
GROUP
KNOWLEDGE WORKERS SPEND
FROM 15% TO 35% OF THEIR
TIME SEARCHING FOR
INFORMATION – SUE
FELDMAN, IDC
FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES
LOSE ROUGHLY $31.5
BILLION A YEAR BY FAILING TO
SHARE KNOWLEDGE –
PAMELA BABCOCK, HR
MAGAZINE.
UNSTRUCTURED DATA
DOUBLES EVERY THREE
MONTHS – GARTNER GROUP
EACH DAY IN THE U.S.,
10,000 PEOPLE RETIRE –
SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION
40% OF CORPORATE USERS
REPORTED THEY CAN’T FIND
THE INFORMATION THEY NEED
TO DO THEIR JOBS – SUE
FELDMAN, IDC
CONFRONTING
TODAY’S KIM
CHALLENGES
SUPPORTING DATA POINTS

8. ENTERPRISE KIM
PEOPLE
PROCESS
CONTENT
CULTURE
TECHNOLOGY
WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT’S NOT?
WHERE ARE THE GREATEST NEEDS AND
WANTS?
WHERE ARE PEOPLE’S INTERESTS AND
PRIORITIES?
WHAT AND WHERE ARE THE ORGANIZATION’S
GREATEST KNOWLEDGE/INFORMATION
ASSETS?
WHAT WILL HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT ON
THE ORGANIZATION?
WHAT WILL MINIMIZE THE GREATEST RISKS?
WHAT WILL THE ORGANIZATION BEST BE
ABLE TO ADDRESS/ACCEPT?
CURRENT STATE TARGET STATE

9. THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS
PLANNING INTERVIEWS INSPECTION ANALYSIS REPORTING
01
02
03
04
05
TARGET AUDIENCE
SCOPE
TIMELINE
GOALS
BROAD SPECTRA INTERVIEWS
FOCUS GROUPS FOR SYSTEMS,
CONTENT, AND TECHNOLOGIES
CURRENT STATE
TARGET STATE
BENCHMARKING
GAP ANALYSIS
BUSINESS CASE AND ROI
SYSTEM AND PROCESS TOURS
CONTENT ANALYSES
CULTURAL FIT ASSESSMENT
DOCUMENTATION
REPORTING
ITERATION
EXECUTIVE PRESENTATIONS

10. DEFINE
DEVELOP
RELEASE
EVALUATE
ITERATE
AGILE
BENCHMARKING ITERATIVE PROCESS
WEEK = 3 DAYS OF INTERVIEWING/INVESTIGATION + 2
DAYS OF ANALYSIS AND REPORTING
EFFORT COMPRISED OF TWO WEEK SPRINTS TO MAXIMIZE
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND BUY-IN.

11. SEGMENTED STRATEGY AGILE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Workstreams dividing work by
concept area (People, Process,
Content, Culture, Technology).
Discrete tasks each with actions,
owners, business value, and
measurable success criteria.
OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
KM-3
S-6
CM-1
INT-1
20172014 2015 2016
KM-1
KM-2
KM-4
KM-5
KM-6: Implement Business Processes
KM-8: Implement Comm and Change Mgmt Plan
KM-9: Measure and enhance business processes
S-1: Search POC S-2: Select Search
Third Party POCs S-4
S-5: Design Search
S-8
S-16
S-17: Search Governance
S-18: Manage Taxonomy and Enrichment ProcessS-9: Design Tax Bus. Taxonomy
S-7: Search Gov.
S-10
S-11: Develop Tax Specific Search
S-12 3rd Party Index
S-13: Dev Topic Pg
S-14
S-15: Implement Tax Mgmt Tool
CM-8: Training
CM-9
CM-10: Implement Content Governance
INT-2: Map KM
INT-3 INT-4 INT-5: Int Strat
INT-6: Tax Pages
INT-7: Imp. Integrations INT-8: Support Integrations
CM-2: Content Inv.
C-3: CMS POC
C-4: Cont. Auth, Wkflow CM-5: Cont. Types CM-7: Implement CMS
CM-6: Cont Gov Plan
KIM efforts work best when
results are shown often.
Naviga&on
Findability
Taxonomy &
Tags
Search
Func&onality
Types of
Content
Content
Format of
Content
(by Type)
Content
Workflow
(Crea&on, Edi&ng,
Archiving)
Users and
Groups
Access/Permissions
Content
Management
Collabora&on
Func&onality
Apps
Integra&on
Colors and
Styles
Look and Feel
Images
© Enterprise Knowledge, LLC

12. BEST PRACTICES FOR STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION
ASSESS PROGRESS
AND ADJUST
UNDERSTAND
THE KIM
BUSINESS
DRIVERS
PUT KIM IN TERMS
RESULTS
LEVERAGE AN
ITERATIVE
APPROACH
ACTIVE COMMUNICATE
AND DIALOGUE

13. CHANGE MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
CUSTOMIZED/SPECIFIC
FOCUSONVALUETOAUDIENCE
WHAT WE’RE GOING
TO DO.
WHAT ARE YOUR
NEEDS/PRIORITIES?
BENEFIT TO THE
AUDIENCE.
WHAT WE’RE GOING
TO DO FOR YOU.
BENEFIT TO YOU. HELP US UNDERSTAND
YOUR NEEDS, WE WILL
DESIGN FOR YOU, AND
HERE’S THE VALUE OF
YOUR PARTICIPATION.
KM’ER
STAKEHOLDER
THE VALUE OF KM
AND WHAT IT CAN
DO FOR YOU.
MY NEEDS,
FRUSTRATION, AND
WANTS.
HOW KM CAN
ADDRESS YOUR
NEEDS, AND WHAT I
THINK I’VE HEARD
AS YOUR PRIORITIES.
YES, KIND OF, NOT
SO MUCH, BUT I
LIKE THAT YOU’RE
ASKING.
REFINED DESIGN
BASED ON WHAT
WE’VE HEARD.
THIS COULD
WORK, THIS PART
WON’T…
I KNOW WHAT IT WILL DO AND HOW WE GOT
HERE.

14. PUT KIM IN TERMS OF RESULTS TO THE END USER AND THE
ORGANIZATION. JARGON MEANS VERY LITTLE. RESULTS MEAN
EVERYTHING.

15. LEVERAGE STORIESRESULTS, NOT JARGON
Findability, Discoverability
KM is an abused term and has
long been infected with “ivory
tower” associations.
Why do we need to address our
KIM?
What is the business value?
Lift & Conversion
Organizational Alignment
Risk Mitigation & Litigation Preparedness
Compliance (RM)
Better Use/Reuse of Information
What is the result?
Improved Revenues
Improved Collaboration, Strategy, Planning
Reduced Risk
Cost Avoidance
Speak in terms or real
organizations and real results.
For KMS, discuss functionality
over systems.

16. PERSONAS ARE FOR MORE THAN UI
Role
Mission
FunctionGender
TechSavvy
Bias
PlatformConnectivity
Level
Tenure
Geography
Expertise
LanguageEducation
Age

17. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Challenge: The NPS L&D Office
needed a single system to provide
access to all Park Service employees,
providing consistent and intuitive
access to Structured, Unstructured,
and Social Learning.
Solution: EK conducted a workshop
methodology in order to understand
business user needs and engage them
in the design process. We leveraged
WordPress to develop a
comprehensive Learning Ecosystem,
spanning multiple types of content and
interactions.
Results: The tool has quickly been
adopted and has widespread support
for iterative improvements, guided by
strong change management and
governance plans.
KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
User Engagement: The site
replaced over 20 existing sites full
of content. User buy-in was
critical. We leveraged workshops
from the outset to capture user
feedback and design iteratively.
Change Management: EK used
our workshops to create a
dialogue with NPS staff so that
they feel part of the process.
Measurable Success Criteria:
Each area of the project has
measurable success criteria to
keep the project focused on the
business needs. These measures
also allow NPS to communicate
the value of the new system.

18. WORLD BANK
Challenge: The World Bank Knowledge
Exchange Group was seeking a
lightweight Knowledge Management
System (KMS) that could be deployed
for government agencies with minimal
burden and maximum customization.
Solution: EK developed a workshop
methodology to capture design
requirements while conducting
knowledge transfer and encouraging
adoption alongside a cloud-based,
open source solution.
Results: Over the last year, EK has
conducted workshops for eight
agencies and deployed five instances
of the KMS. Organizations including
BNPB (Indonesia), NACO (India), and
SBM (India) now have a simple tool to
share knowledge and connect with
experts.
KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
Agile Development: The
“template” system was developed
in three sprints (total of 11 weeks).
Each subsequent system is
developed over two sprints.
Focused Functionality: The core
system includes document
uploading, tagging, expert profiles,
favorites, and social interaction.
Open Source Technology: The
underlying technology is Alfresco.
The system is designed for
minimal administrative burden, but
allows for customization and
personalization.

20. QUESTIONS?
HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/ZACHARYWAHL
@ZACHARYWAHL, @EKCONSULTING
571-403-1109
ZWAHL@ENTERPRISE-KNOWLEDGE.COM