Looking back at the successes and challenges of Communities of Practice in

Local Government

Insert date Insert website

KM Strategy 2006

• Procure or develop a technology that will enable and encourage collaboration, learning and sharing through people to people connections

• Pilot communities of practice that will facilitate ‘p2p’ and ‘p2i’ connections currently delivered via the IDeA-Knowledge web site

• Develop a Community of Practice toolkit• Develop and deliver Community of Practice

Training

TimelineSept 05 Business Case

Various iterations of business case to get management backing for KM strategy, including CoPs

Intensive work with stakeholders

Produced spec for the KM team structure

Apr 06 Planning

Management team approval

Developed and run training for facilitators

Developed technology spec for online platform

Sept 06 Pilot

First pilot built on Drupal failed

Assisted in running focus groups with potential members of the Pilot communities

Introduced a technology

platform to support collaboration

Dec 07 Launch

Official launch December 2007

Ongoing support to selected communities at the IDeA through a coaching and mentoring scheme

Completion of application form to set up a community

Nov 08 People

Over 19,000 people registered

550 Communities

109 have IDeA involvement

May 2009

Phase 3 launchedOver 29,000 people registered

Tag and social bookmarkingThemes

Upgraded administration

Feb 2010

Phase 4 launched

Over 49,000 people registered

Community landing page, updated profile area

June 2011

Upgraded search engine

October 2011

100,000 people registered on CoP

Mar 2012

CoP Platform closes down

Key ingredients• Purpose: a CoP needs a clear purpose which is relevant and meaningful to its

members. It should specify exactly what the community is for and what will be gained from being part of it.

• Facilitation: every CoP should begin with a team of three facilitators as a minimum, they will work together to ensure that the purpose of the community and the needs of the members are being met through a variety of online activities and discussions. They welcome new members and keep the community vibrant and focused.

• Activities: within each CoP there are a variety of activities, tools and techniques employed to aid and enhance conversations and the transfer of knowledge.

• Active membership: each community will have active members with a lively interest in sharing knowledge with each other.

• Promotion: ensure high levels of management buy in and promote the CoPs ability to help solve daily work challenges

Technology

•People Finder•Profiles•Tags•Blogs•Forums•Wikis

•News•Document Library•Events•Polls•Alerts•Administration•Search

Communities of Practice - IBM Websphere J2EO

Knowledge Management Team

Help Desk

Training

Community facilitation Facilitators Community

Knowledge and Information Management CoP

Training

1. Purpose, characteristics and roles2. Planning cycle3. Facilitation methods4. Communication channels5. Technology6. Benefits, measures and impact 7. Management plan and charter8. Community management

Lesson learned

Lesson learned

Lesson learned

Stats - CoP

Contributions 

per year

2007 - 12283

2008 - 42773

2009 - 165748

2010 - 241838

2011 - 275313

Communities

created per year 

2007 - 75

2008 - 153

2009 - 391

2010 - 637

2011 - 732

New members per year

2007 - 5696

2008 - 14381

2009 - 24069

2010 - 33183

2011 - 69514

Survey Results

Value

• Value through saving time• Innovations• Sharing Good Practice / avoiding duplication

of work• Carbon Footprint reduction• Keep up to date with current thinking• Developing ideas• Induction to new roles / staff development• Relationship building

One Day Face to Face Conference (est costs)

Delegates = 100Venue Hire = £2,000

Audio – Video for venue = £2,250

Marketing Materials = £800

Advertisement = £1,500

Delegate Rate @£65 per person = £6,500

Conference Team Accommodation = £600

Conference Team Travel = £400

Speakers Travel = £200

Conference Team (11 days @ £500 per day) = £5,500

(Includes before, during and after)

Speakers time (average 2 speakers) = £2,000

Couriers = £300

Delegate Accommodation (est. £40 per person) = £4,000

Delegate travel (est. £50 per person) = £5,000

Total Cost = £31,050

5 Day online Conference (est costs)

Delegates = £100Venue Hire = £0

Audio – Video = £250

Marketing Materials = £250

Advertisement = £250

Delegate Rate = £0

Event Team Accommodation = £0

Event Team Travel = £0

Speakers Travel = £0

Conference Team (15 days @ £500 per day) = £7,500

(Includes before, during and after)

Speakers time (average of 8 speakers) = £4,000

Couriers = £100

Delegate Accommodation = £0

Delegate travel = £0

Total Cost = £12,350

Cost avoidance of £18,700

Value Examples

154 document created

2445+ downloads est. cost avoidance £19,804

est. 1.5 days saved per member

52% of members contributing

est. cost avoidance £123,900

Value Examples

236 members x £525 (1.5 days @£350 per day) per person =£123,900 in avoidable cost

Based on the current the cost of an immediate download from the British Library is £8.10

Facilitators Community saves 354 days