Knowledge Management Initiative

A medium-sized consulting firm would like to leverage the knowledge of its people by identifying and sharing best practices. Project teams that are performing the same type of work are not connected, and they are not sharing their experiences. The teams generate a lot of valuable knowledge in deliverables such as design documents and proposals, but this knowledge frequently stays within the team. There was no corporate-wide repository or forum in which to share ideas and practices.

I was the chief knowledge-sharing advocate in the firm and I took the initiative to launch and manage an internal knowledge management initiative.

• Defined and established seven Communities of Practice which focused on various personal, technical and industry related knowledge areas
• Defined and designed the company's knowledge management repository. Interviewed knowledge area representatives, determined key audiences and documented information requirements. Constructed an information hierarchy for each respective audience. Classified and categorized the existing documents into the new structure.
• Worked with the Chief Operating Officer to promote the use of the repository and have adding knowledge to the repositories treated as value-added activities
• Organized software, books and training materials around the Communities to supplement the project team knowledge

As a result of my research into knowledge management, I became the primary resource for presenting the key concepts of knowledge management to clients and internal groups, including the CEOs and COOs of many organizations.

It was this desire to share knowledge and organize information that led me to pursue a degree in Library and Information Science, which I completed in May of 2002.