Developing a concept for a knowledge management system
"Our employees are our most valuable asset" is a quite common phrase alluding to the importance of knowledge and competencies of employees. Accordingly, every organization should strive to achieve a high level of knowledge and competence in a company. But how can it influence the degree of this level?
What is a Knowledge Management System (KMS)?
A knowledge management system offers a possible solution.
A KMS is an (IT-supported) system for collecting, structuring, managing and disseminating knowledge within an organization. Knowledge can exist in two forms: implicit and explicit. Implicit knowledge is non-formalized knowledge, i.e. information or skills that are not formally documented. Explicit knowledge, on the other hand, is formally documented, e.g. written down in a Word document.
The more knowledge exists in an organization in implicit form, i.e., is not formally documented or is poorly structured, the more inefficiently an organization will act. When employees leave, there is a corresponding threat of a so-called "brain drain," the irreversible loss of expertise. The formation of knowledge among new employees is also more time-consuming, because they must first gather knowledge, e.g., by proactively asking experienced colleagues and then structuring this knowledge further.
The goal of a knowledge management system is to harness the knowledge and skills of an organization's employees in order to increase economic efficiency.
Underestimated complexity in the design and implementation of a KMS
A KMS is a holistic interplay of processes, software solutions and workforce that must be individually tailored to an organization and ultimately mature. This inevitably leads to a high degree of complexity, regardless of the size of the organization, which results in a variety of challenges, especially during implementation.
The first step in setting up a knowledge management system is to analyze the current status of the KMS. This includes the identification of relevant knowledge and competencies. In combination with the requirements, which should then be surveyed, realistic goals for the future KMS can be defined. These lay the foundation for the conception phase, in which the target state is outlined. During the design phase, the main challenge is to find a suitable trade-off between functional diversity, usability/performance and costs. It can help to categorize the requirements of future users and then prioritize these classes. At the same time, when prioritizing the requirements, the associated future efforts should be made clear. The following steps include implementation planning and execution, and finally the go-live.
Our project experience of several years in knowledge management shows that the introduction is a great complexity. To assume that a functioning KMS could be introduced by an innovative "plug and play" software tool is an illusion. Many organizations therefore consult our experience in this field. If we have also aroused your interest, please contact us for a personal consultation.
Author: Jan Butt