Collaborative Intranets:A (Sometimes Uneasy) Marriage

of People and Technology

Fredda N. Lerner

October 31, 2001

Enterprise Knowledge

Enterprise Knowledge =Social Capital +Intellectual Capital

Components of Social Capital

Components of Intellectual Capital

Knowledge Nexus

Knowledge Management

• Enterprise Knowledge Management (KM) is a collaborative, integrated strategy to create, capture, organize, access, use and reuse enterprise knowledge assets

The Intranet provides access and enables use of enterprise knowledge

The Intranet provides access and enables use of enterprise knowledge

Agenda

• Content• Managing content• Process • Managing change• The Collaborative Intranet• Case study

Enterprise Content

Tacit Knowledge

UnstructuredData

Structured Data

Explicit Knowledge

EnterpriseContent

CorporateCulture

• Who knows how (expertise and skills)• Acquired through practice and experience• Complex to capture• Qualitative

• Who knows what• Formalized and specialized• Available for capture• Quantitative

• Databases• Spreadsheets

• Documents, images• Audio, video, multimedia• eMail

100%

80% 20%

20% 80%

Using Content

• KM implementation affects the tacit versus explicit, i.e., 80:20, ratio– More tacit knowledge becomes explicit

• Accessible• Applicable• Usable• Reusable

• As more tacit knowledge is captured– Enterprise knowledge base and content grow– Tacit versus explicit ratio shifts, i.e., 80:20 20:80

Agenda

Content• Managing content• Process • Managing change• The Collaborative Intranet• Case study

Destroy

Corporate controlled

Gestation and

Authoring

ArchiveInactive Usage

Active Usage

Pu

blish

an

d

Dis

trib

ute

Con

ten

t A

cti

vit

y

Time

Record

Records Management

Content Management

Author controlled

Intranet Content Lifecycle

Content and an Intranet

• Static content, e.g., documents, records, images• Dynamic content, e.g., interactive forms• Web pages, modules, and page elements such

as text, graphics, controls, multimedia, advertisements, and scripts

• Applications, middle-tier components, database procedures, and other programming logic

• Database information that directly supports the creation of dynamic Web pages or enables the customer to execute business transactions

• Downloadable files of all types

Intranet Content Management

• Design• Authoring• Review• Approval• Conversion• Storage• Testing• Staging

• Deployment• Maintenance and

updates• Retirement and archival• Reporting and analysis• Automated workflow

and audit

THE GOOD NEWS: Anyone can be a content providerTHE GOOD NEWS: Anyone can be a content provider

THE BAD NEWS: Anyone can be a content providerTHE BAD NEWS: Anyone can be a content provider

Library services

Check-in and check-out

Version control

Search and retrieval

Foldering Security Indexing

Workflow management

Navigation Mark-up tools Intelligent

objects Message-

based project management

Product suite

Object middleware

File-format conversion

Neutral interchange formats

Language translators

Library Services

ContentDevelopment

Content Interchange

Generic CM Application Functionality

Benefits of Content Management

• Provides control• Intranet information is timely, correct, and

accessible• Increased responsiveness to the end user• Single point of contact for content

management and change management• Minimize retention of out-of-date content• Decrease the business process time• Organize and share information

Agenda

Content Managing content• Process• Managing change• The Collaborative Intranet• Case study

Process

• Business rules govern all business processes– Who does what– When does it happen– What transpires– What documents change

• Processes naturally evolve over time– Usually manual and paper-driven– Can have as many work-arounds as participants

• Automated processes are known as workflows

The Three “Rs” of Workflow

• Rules determine which items take which routes at each decision point, and what needs to be done to them in the transformation process.

• Roles define what each worker’s specific function(s) in the process of delivering the organization’s goods and services.

• Routes are the paths the workitems take in being transformed from inputs to outputs.

WfM Features

• WfM system features include:– ability to set rules and

policies governing flow and fulfillment of work tasks

– ability to audit, monitor workloads and reallocate resources accordingly

– the capability to revise the flow of work after identifying inefficiencies and bottlenecks

• Workflow Management (WfM) enables organizations to define and manage work processes in terms of participants, inputs and outputs, and to route work tasks, and the information required to perform them, automatically throughout the organization.– Workflow can route any type of

information, including images, electronic documents, video, e-mail, etc., coded or uncoded data.

• A WfM system can manage workflows ranging from small groups through the entire enterprise.

• A WfM system effectively binds and digitizes enterprise business processes.

Agenda

Content Managing content Process • Managing change• The Collaborative Intranet• Case study

Change Management

• Change management is the process of helping an organization to operate successfully in a new environment, by optimizing--– The understanding that the workforce has of the new environment

– The ability of the workforce to operate effectively in the new environment

– The willingness of the workforce to accept and adapt to the new environment

Change Management

• Provides traceability• Manages content change as it is published on

the Intranet– As close to real time as possible

• Business rules based• Auditable• Current and timely content only

– Legacy content either deleted or archived (records management)

• Incorporates automated workflow management

Change and Culture

• Organizational culture varies from rigid to flexible– Larger and older organizations tend to be more

rigid

• Rigid cultures are slower to change– Individuals within rigid cultures can be much more

receptive to change and therefore can serve as catalysts (and champions) for change

Cultural Evolution

• Knowledge hoarding– Little or knowledge base

– Paper-based

– Older business models

– Little automated workflow, usually by e-mail

– Client/server applications

– Vertical organizational models

• Knowledge sharing– Large knowledge base– Web-based applications– Intranet– Automated workflows– Integrated e-document

management systems– Newer business models– Communities

Resistance to Change

• Organizations resist change for several reasons– Large-scale change

programs require changes in behavior

– Change programs often require people to think in new ways (e.g., learn new skills or tools)

– Change will not be sustainable without the support and active participation of those being asked to change

• There are numerous issues at play in new system implementation– Changed service offering– Loss of perceived

“control” of the source– Changed organizations,

processes, reporting relationships, and responsibilities

– Displaced IT workers

Incorporating Change

• Human nature tends to resist change– Users may (unknowingly) construct their own

“barriers”

• To integrate and adopt a new system and/or process into the corporate culture, identify and motivate using WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)

• Motivate/reward for knowledge sharing

Change and Technology

• Business drives technology– New business opportunities drive new

technologies– Intranet content can reflect the enterprise

evolution

• Embracing change is key for adoption of new technology– Resistance to change is the single biggest

deterrent to adoption of technology, a digital knowledge base, and a “living” intranet

Agenda

Content Managing content Process Managing change• The Collaborative Intranet• Case Study

Intranet Evolution

• The collaborative Intranet is the evolving enterprise operating environment

• It has progressed from a static repository where vertical entities post general information to an interactive hub of collaboration, standardization, knowledge-sharing, business transactions, training, and document distribution

• The Intranet can serve as the corporate/enterprise knowledge base.

Intranet Components

• User interface to the enterprise

• Content aggregation• Search (Intranet, Internet

and document management system)

• Communities• Workflow management• Categorization and tagging• Application integration• Enterprise knowledge base

• Collaborative project workspaces

• Taxonomy (classification of tacit and explicit knowledge)

• Personalization• Single sign-on and

security• Caching• Uniform user interface• Metadata dictionary

Knowledge Islands

Why Use an Intranet?

• Positive motivation– Personal reward– Personal benefit/growth– Group/enterprise benefit– Excitement

• Negative motivation– No other options– Ramifications if new procedures not followed– Fear

Intranet Challenges

• Inconsistent Environment– HW/SW configurations– Security– Reliability

• Inconsistent application support and troubleshooting• Reduced portability and scalability• Content management• Change management• User acceptance, adoption and use

– Personalization

General Implementation Issues• Who has what• Who does what• Who knows what• Who knows how• What is the process

• Lack of consistency• Lack of relevant

documentation• Lack of reliable

accountability• Lack of reliable

guidelines and governance

• Lack of comprehensive and repeatable processesLack of control

Lack of control

Issues and Risks

• WfM perceived as policeman• Reward systems based on intranet use• Intranet content is limited• User experience and expectations are

different for every user– How can users expectations be met?– Users have different perspectives

• User and enterprise perceptions of technology as the problem solver

Risk Mitigation

• Initially, the Intranet content can be very focused (see case study)– Potentially initial greater acceptance and adoption– Intranet content and breadth will grow as it gains

enterprise-wide acceptance– Pilot application and receive feedback

• Include “warm and fuzzy” content• Mimic the “paper” world

– Too much change can turn off many potential users

• Perform BPR (if needed) on the digital processes when they are more mature and users are more comfortable

A Successful Marriage

• Define Intranet value– Users will have a better understanding

• Value all content providers– Non-technical users are important, too

• Recognize achievement from content providers– Individual or group

• Celebrate successes– Seek and integrate quick successes into the Intranet

• Create a strong identity and sense of community• Motivate and reward through WIIFM

– Reward for knowledge sharing

Agenda

Content Managing content Process Managing change The Collaborative Intranet• Case Study

Phase 3

Phase 2

Phase 1

DevelopTarget(To-Be)Models

ConductGap

Analysis

AssessCurrent(As-Is)Models

Establish Guidance,

Value PropositionObjectives and Goals

DefineVision and Strategy

Pilot

Implement MaintainDeploy

Implementation Methodology

Implementing a KM Intranet

• Refine enterprise vision• Define enterprise goals• Subdivide goals into “palatable” KM

subprojects– Define subproject goals– Define subproject tasks– Develop metrics of success for each subproject– Iterate as needed

• Incorporate completed project into IT strategy• Redefine enterprise goals

Case Study – Introduction

• The Organization - NIH DCAB• 75 Project Managers• 3,000 Construction Projects per Year• In-house and contracted services

– Large and small projects– Potential (significant) administrative delays

• Little collaborative efforts• No effective documentation and use of

“lessons learned”

Case Study - The Problem

• ISO 9000 Certification• Existing system paper-based• Difficult to easily monitor projects• Funding requests/contracts etc., lost• Unable to manage projects collaboratively• Auditing very difficult

Case Study - The Solution

• Automated workflow system that follows ISO 9000 procedure manual

• Electronic forms for all form requirements with integrated workflows

• Central repository for all project related documents

• Named user access control to prevent casual access

• On-line, real time collaboration with threaded discussions

PO – Lerner, Fredda

Enterprise Workspace

Logonto PIN

Team 3 – Research East

Active Projects

ProjectOfficer Name

Specific project

HCA0006

Categories of Work

PINDCAB Teamsand Other Groups

Personal Workspace

Project Workspace

Active projects

Case Study - The Solution

Case Study - The Solution

• Integration with legacy contracting systems for consolidated view of cost information

• Ad hoc and standard reporting• Automated download of project from

mainframe project initiation system• On-line time cards• Auditable• Completely web-based

Case Study - Technical Details

• Solution included customization using three COTS software packages– Open Text - Livelink Intranet– IBI - Web Focus– Pure Edge - XML Forms

• During system development, the project team used Livelink to:– Demonstrate and learn capabilities and limitations– Actively use the tool prior to deployment– Practice what we preach

• Project duration from requirements analysis to deployment was approximately five months

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Fredda LernerBooz-Allen and Hamilton8283 Greensboro Drive

McLean, VA 22102703-377-1643

lerner_fredda@bah.com