pervasive knowledge management & learning with sharepoint

Creating a Culture of

Pervasive Knowledge Management

and Learning with SharePoint

Setting up the Context…

What we are discussing today …

A methodology on how to create a participative model for sharing and consuming

knowledge and learning resources within your organization using SharePoint as an

infrastructure

An implementation focused reference framework for tools and navigation systems that

would provide the basis for democratizing knowledge sharing and consumption

1. Knowledge Management & Learning – TodayAn overview of the current approach of how knowledge and learning is managed within the organizations

2. The Emerging Needs and TrendsAn overview of what the current and next generation of knowledge workers and end users and organizations are

expecting out of a knowledge management and learning solution

3. Our vision for Pervasive Knowledge Management and LearningAn overview of our vision and concept of what pervasive knowledge management and learning is and how it fits in

the current state of things within organizations

4. Why SharePoint as the Solution?A quick overview of SharePoint, its features and functions that allow organizations to easily implement pervasive

knowledge management and learning solutions

5. Cultural Issues and Adoption – Some Thoughts.Some thoughts on how organizations can overcome the cultural issues and adoption roadblocks in their roadmap of

moving from traditional to pervasive knowledge management and learning implementations

6. Getting Started!The next steps

The Current KM and Learning Organization

Top down approach for knowledge and

learning management

Identification, decisions and approvals

are made by a select set of people and

driven down to the projects, individuals

and teams through professionals and

experts

Lack of a participative approach for

knowledge management and learning

Lack of feedback mechanisms to

capture real time experiences and

informal knowledge gained by

individuals, projects and teams

knowledge transfer occurs at the project

/ overall topic level, but is unable to do

the same when it comes to knowledge

and learning at specific task level details

Does not help identify “Informal”

experts and capture and share

knowledge contributed by these experts

OrganizationLearning, Vision, Strategy,

Culture, Flexibility, Enablement

(Select set of Management Veterans and visionaries who make the decisions and

drive to results)

IndividualExperience, skill, tacit

knowledge, learning capacity etc.

ProjectsDynamic formation, limited

lifetime, Ad-Hoc Knowledge and learning, driven by formal

processes

TeamsShared Goals, Synergy, Shared

Vision, Culture, Team Dynamics, Conflicts, Resolutions etc.

Experts & Learning Professionals

Subject Matter Expertise, formal knowledge contribution, best

practices development, focused learning contribution

Groups & Commitees

Focused interests, Topic centered knowledge & Learning group

dynamics, Continual knowledge association

Identify, Select and recruit experts

Setup knowledge and learning goals and

objectives

Review, approval and formalization

Identify competency based on the

immediate and future needs

Create expert groups for research

and competency building

Review, approval and formalization

Intra and Inter group

collaboration and knowledge

sharing

IntelligenceIntelligence

Formal Knowledge transfer and learning through courses, formal meetings, training sessions etc.

Top down Approach

Formal Project Collaboration

driven by Processes

Formal Team Collaboration

Driven by Processes

Formal

Participation

Formal

Participation

Feedback?

Feedback?

Feedback?

Gathering and Formalization of Knowledge Discovery and Lessons Learnt

The Process Issues

Identify / Strategy Create / Source

Analyze the current needs

based on competency

gaps, skill set gaps,

knowledge and learning

gaps

Setup the goals, strategy

and approach for filling up

the gaps in terms of


Feasibility studies

Identify experts and

professionals

communicate the goals

and objectives

Form focused committees

Formal research

processes, Interviews and

meetings to gather

intelligence

Group collaboration and

knowledge sharing

Creation of drafts and

prototypes

Submission for reviews

and approvals

Formalize

Review meetings,

feedbacks and updates

Additional research and

interviews to drive

towards completion

Finalize on the knowledge

and learning plan and

artifacts

Final approvals

Organize

Taxonomy and metadata

definitions and application

Decisions and approvals

on categorization, target

audiences, roles, functions

etc. of the knowledge and

learning artifacts

Reviews, group

discussions, finalization

and approvals

Distribute

Submission to the

Knowledge management

and learning portals

Sending of notifications

and emails to identified

set of users on the

availability of the


artifacts

Knowledge sharing

through formal classroom

exercises, training sessions

Consume

Ad-Hoc consumption of

information on a need to

know basis

Access the knowledge and

learning portal via search

and limited tools

Sequential set of Formal Activities

Issues / Gaps

Majority of the

information that is

created / sourced is

formal in nature

Does not consider as

much from the real-time

experiences, knowledge

around the neighboring

areas and point solutions

Experts involved may not

be connected to the real

life scenarios due to the

nature of their jobs and

may reduce the usefulness

of the artifacts created

Issues / Gaps

The identification is done

based on the needs of

business continuity at an

overall organizational level

Does not consider, and is

disconnected from the


gaps that exist in the day

to day of the organization

Issues / Gaps

Standard taxonomies created / defined around the

artifacts – which is useful, but forces the users to

remember the taxonomy structure definitions in order to

easily access the information

Does not provide the flexibility to the end user to define

their own meaningful metadata around the artifacts –

creating a disconnect and reducing the utilization and

consumption of the artifact in a timely and useful

manner

Issues / Gaps

Does not involve anything

beyond the KM and

learning portal and

probably some email

notifications

Issues / Gaps

Users think of consuming

information on a ad-hoc

basis – only when they

realize that they need

help, or have a mental

block when they carry out

their day to day activities

A separate activity that is

disconnected from the

day to day of the users

“Context” is not provided

by the systems to the

users

No mechanisms for

providing feedbacks /

informal communications

The Emerging Needs and TrendsFeatures Current Needs & Trends

Objectives Centrally store and manage


artifacts

Command and Control

Centrally store and manage knowledge and learning artifacts

Enable users to easily capture, contribute, disseminate and

utilize knowledge and learning artifacts to solve problems and

gain knowledge

Pervasive - Expanding the scope of knowledge management

beyond “business critical” to “day to day” support and “just in

time” availability

Drivers “Information” retention

Standardization and

formalization of Knowledge

Management and Learning

Processes

Enterprise Knowledge retention

Flat Organizational Structures

Reducing the Enterprise learning curve

Knowledge and learning for productivity and efficiency

Bridging the gap between knowledge management and

learning

Skills identification, utilization and competency development

Targeting the Gen Y users who are more accustomed to the

latest technological trends like Web 2.0

Integration of Enterprise 2.0 in the organizations vision, mission

and strategy to build a competent organization, ahead of the

curve in terms of competition

Knowledge Management

& Learning Culture

Formal and structured Social, Collaborative and Contextual

The Emerging Needs and TrendsFeatures Current Needs & Trends

Knowledge & Learning

Content Management and

Delivery

• Utilize Standard taxonomies

• Unidirectional – from top down to

the bottom

• Free flowing taxonomies integrated with the standard

taxonomies

• Multi directional – Top to bottom, bottom to top and peer

to peer in a asynchronous fashion

Knowledge Sharing &

Learning

• Class rooms, training sessions,

meetings and word to mouth

• Informal, self service, collaboration, dialog and conversation

based knowledge sharing and learning

Knowledge Management

& Learning Roles

• Trainers, Subject Matter Experts • Mentors, Coaches, Technology and Process Enablers, SMEs

and Facilitators

Knowledge and Learning

Enablement

• Brochures, catalogs, online and

offline course material, emails, tools

that are part of the formal

knowledge management and

learning management solutions

• Frameworks and tools embedded and integrated within the

various work / knowledge and learning related portals that

are capable of capturing tacit and spontaneous information,

structure information based on standard and user driven

taxonomies and contextually bubble up the artifacts – based

on the profile, preferences, interests, topics, skills and roles

of the users

Systems and Solutions • Multiple, Disparate systems and

solutions to take care of knowledge

and learning functions

• Implemented based on the ad-hoc

knowledge and learning needs of

various departments, teams and

business functions of the

organization

• Integration of Knowledge management and learning within

your everyday apps - No new systems

• Platform, solution or a framework with tools and applications

capable of capturing and delivering knowledge and learning

artifacts from existing systems, internet or multiple other

sources

Introducing the Pervasive Process…

Identify / Strategy Formalize Organize Distribute ConsumeCreate / Source

Create / Source Formalize / Organize

Contextual Distribution / ConsumptionCollaboration / Learning / FeedbackInte

lligen

ce

Integration

The Pervasive Approach

The Traditional Approach

Participants include anybody and everybody in the

organization who has a knowledge and learning artifact

to Share

Contextual tools integrated within the day to day work

systems capable of capturing and storing information

centrally

Sharing of informal and tacit knowledge and

experiences that spontaneously arise in context of

everyday work, research and other activities

Use of standard as well as free flow taxonomy

and folksonomies to categorize information as

part of the submission process which will allow

the system to automatically bubble up

information through tools in context of the

project, topic or an issue that the user is

focused on

Bubble up of knowledge and learning artifacts

in a contextual fashion based on the user’s

profile and other metadata artifacts

Omnipresent and ready to consume through

tools integrated within the day to day work

systems of the user

Natural ways of consumption and

collaboration with peers / experts and teams

for better learning

Providing informed feedback leading to

refinement of the knowledge artifact in a

pervasive manner

Better intelligence

gathered by the

management and expert

teams helping them to

identify the most critical

and used information and

completely formalize the


processes

Integration of the formal

learning and knowledge

artifacts into the pervasive

environment to make

available anything and

everything that is of value for

active distribution,

consumption and learning

The Pervasive KM and Learning Organization

Individual

Groups

ProjectsExperts &

Learning Professionals

TeamOrganization

Experience, skill, tacit knowledge, learning capacity etc.

Shared Goals, Synergy, Shared Vision, Culture, Team Dynamics, Conflicts, Resolutions etc.

Dynamic formation, limited lifetime, Ad-Hoc Knowledge and

learning, driven by formal processes

Focused interests, Topic centered knowledge & Learning group dynamics, Continual knowledge association -

Learning, Vision, Strategy, Culture, Flexibility, Enablement

Subject Matter Expertise, formal knowledge contribution, best practices

development, focused learning contribution

My Site

Team Sites

Intranet

Project Sites

Community

Sites

Learning and

KM Portals

The Pervasive Knowledge Management & Learning Framework

Web 2.0 Taxonomy

Contextual

Search Templates

Knowledge & Learning Artifact Repository

Social Infrastructure

KM &

Learning Tools

KM & Learning

Tools

KM &

Learning Tools

KM & Learning

ToolsKM &

Learning Tools

KM & Learning

Tools

Is there a need to build a

new solution to foster

pervasive KM and

Learning?Our approach is to use the

same systems that you already

have, but extend the systems

with a framework of contextual

tools, profile extensions and

make these tools available to

the users “in context” of their

day to day work systems

Does/Did Your Organization Deploy SharePoint in a Production Capacity?

Source: AIIM State of the Market –Microsoft SharePoint

Indicate the Scope and Level of Use of the SharePoint

Applications in Your Organization

Source: AIIM State of the Market –Microsoft SharePoint

Approximately How Many Users Access SharePoint In your Organization?

Source: AIIM State of the Market – Microsoft SharePoint

Approximately How Many SharePoint Sites are Deployed Within Your Organization?


Rank the Degree to Which Your Organization Uses the Following SharePoint Functionality


Indicate the Level to Which SharePoint is Used in the

Following Business Processes


Which collaboration platform do you use MOST for team/project sites?

Source: AIIM industry watch –Collaboration and Enterprise 2.0

Do You or Are You Likely to Use SharePoint to Create, Manage and

Store the Following Types of Business Content?


Microsoft SharePoint helps

your organization to fill in the

gaps that exist in

collaboration, information

utilization and management,

knowledge management and

process automation among

others.

SharePoint can be the one

platform that can help bring

together content, data,

processes, knowledge and

people in a centralized fashion

– helping improve the

organizational productivity and

efficiency

General

Employees

Executive

Business Users

Customers,

Partners. Etc.

Departmental

Users

SAAS

Providers

Application

Databases

Profile Stores

Business Critical

Systems

Microsoft Office

SharePoint Server

2007

Rich Media

Experience

Document

Managment

Content and

Metadata Mgmt

Personalization

and Choice

Contextual

Information

Delivery

Mashup Apps

and Web 2.0

Dashboards

and Reporting

Extensible

Search

Collaboration

Communities

Workflow and

Forms

Automation

Business

Solutions

Web Enabled

Applications

Microsoft

SharePoint

FormalInformal

Audiences

Individuals

Teams

Groups

Projects

Experts &

Learning

Professional

Organization

My Sites

Team Sites

Communities

Project Sites

Knowledge Mgmt

& Learning Portal

Enterprise

Intranet

Fra

me

wo

rk T

oo

ls th

at in

teg

rate

with

th

e e

xis

tin

g p

ort

al in

fra

str

uctu

re

Pervasive Knowledge Management and Learning Artifact Repository

Lists, Libraries and Pages for

Best Practices, Documents,

Presentations, Videos, FAQs, Quizzes,

Surveys, Research Papers, Links, tests,

Whitepapers, Course Catalogs, Learning

Resources etc.

Blogs, Wikis &

Discussions

Bubble up of

Information

Knowledge &

Learning Networks

Contextual

Information

Aggregation

Expert and Topic

Tracking Tools

Activity Streams

Embedded

Authoring and

Publishing tools

Social

Collaboration,

Networking

Integration to deliver formal


elements from existing systems

Web 2.0

Taxonomy

Taxonomy definitions and

metadata stores

Search

Faceted mechanisms that

allow for experts, people,

documents, content,

learning and knowledge

artifacts using the

taxonomy and metadata

infrastructure

Collaboration

Site Templates,

workspaces, peer review

workflows, information

sharing

Social Infrastructure

Profile management,

expert tracker,

community templates

Governance and Reporting Infrastructure

The Pervasive Knowledge Management and Learning Framework

Cultural Issues and Adoption – Some Thoughts.

Let’s try to address the cultural issues and adoption concerns by taking the example of a informal and pervasive

knowledge, information sharing and collaboration platform – The Internet

What does the internet provide that makes it a popular, indispensable platform?

The internet is a vast collection of various, ready to use online tools that can be accessed by the users any time, any where

in context of their knowledge and learning requirements – this is what makes the internet a Pervasive Platform

Users are presented with the tools to post, share and consume information, as well as collaborate with experts around the

globe without any compulsion, obligation or force –Despite this, Users are naturally motivated to post, share,

consume and collaborate

Blogs and forums allow users to post ideas and opinions, involve professionals as well as informal experts in the

conversations and create focused communities around specific topics and interest areas – Users will gain a wider

knowledge on topic and around the topic, foster communities and quickly get recognized as an expert based on

the contribution, quality of the conversations and thought leadership put forward.

Facebook and LinkedIn type of applications provide the tools that are able to make almost informed assumptions by

utilizing the taxonomy and metadata of the user’s profile and bubble up the most relevant contacts, groups and other

suggestions – Users will be readily presented with a set of informed options, which the user can choose to do

something with and always discover new connections without much efforts

Search engines like Google are widely used by users to get just in time information and knowledge around their day to

day work – Productivity and efficiency can be greatly improved if these tools are integrated within the users work

applications systems

Cultural Issues and Adoption – Some Thoughts.

Our Recommendations…

Focus on creating a pervasive environment within your organization Transform your view of looking at knowledge management and learning from only a process focused standpoint to

more of a free flowing, informal and naturally evolving activity

Focus on enabling the users with the right set of tools and providing them in the right places

Analyze what the “Context” is for the various types of users in your organization and strategize and plan on what

types of tools are required and how you can integrate it within the day to day work systems of the users and other

factors like ease of use of the tools

Replicate the best of tools and applications on the internet in the context of your organization

Some of the best and widely used tools include search, social and professional networks, blogs and forums among

others that can be easily replicated in context of your organization. You can also look at other tools like youtube,

slideshare, scribd, digg, etc. among others and how these types of tools can best benefit your organization’s

knowledge management and learning objectives

Analyze and identify the incentives and benefits for users to proactively use the tools

Some of the incentives that can be thought about and demonstrated can be – recognition, quick adoption and

learning, improving work-life balance, improved productivity

Getting Started! Analyze your organizations needs in terms of pervasive knowledge management and

learning

What are the challenges your organization faces today in terms of Knowledge

Management & Learning?

How do you deliver Knowledge Management artifacts to your community and how

can social technologies help?

What objectives are paramount to your organization in terms of Knowledge

Management and Learning?

Which Web 2.0 Technologies do you use and would need to be part of the Social

Collaboration and Sharing framework in your organization?

How do you intend to use SharePoint in your organization and what is the roadmap ?

Develop a Strategy for Pervasive KM & Learning for your organization

Build the framework and tools necessary to support the strategy

Thank YouOptimus BT, 2550 Northwinds Parkway, Suite 140, Alpharetta GA 30009, USA Phone: (770) 569 1240 Fax: (770) 569 1242 Email: [email protected]: www.optimusbt.com

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pervasive knowledge management & learning with sharepoint

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terms of knowledge

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