THE ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE PORTAL ORGANIZATION
“. . . [T]he information revolution favors and strengthens network forms of organization, while making life difficult for hierarchical forms . . . It means conflicts will increasingly be waged by “networks,” rather than by “hierarchies.” It means that whoever masters the network form stands to gain major advantages in the new epoch.”
JOHN ARQUILLA AND DAVID RON, IN ATHENA’S CAMP: PREPARING FOR
CONFLICT IN THE INFORMATION AGE
The people that make up the teams in your organization assigned to the enterprise knowledge portal will become the soul and passion of your enterprise knowledge portal. The quality of the individuals will determine your success. The effectiveness of your change management plan and acceptance of the enterprise knowledge portal by knowledge workers throughout your organization will be directly affected by the strength of the people involved. The experience, skills, and personalities of the team members aligned with the enterprise knowledge portal will have a greater impact on the long-term success of the actual solution delivered. For this reason, you should carefully scrutinize the qualifications of the people behind the enterprise knowledge portal. Compile the teams with the appropriate expertise that will be able to maximize the talents of the individual team members.
Another important consideration when pulling together your enterprise knowledge portal organization is management styles that motivate employees. People will do their best work when they are encouraged, recognized, and rewarded for their achievements. As you develop your enterprise knowledge portal teams, look for strong leaders to establish process and governance and the appropriate management structure and style to define the appropriate culture and behavior in your organization. With the right mix of leadership and management styles, you will be able to create clear lines of organizational responsibility.
The most important person assigned to the enterprise knowledge portal is the executive sponsor. This individual will serve as the top manager and exercise day-to-day control over the enterprise knowledge portal. The executive sponsor who worked with the enterprise knowledge portal team to develop the enterprise knowledge portal program will usually continue in this role. This person will also position and champion the relationship of the enterprise knowledge portal initiative with all other corporate initiatives in your organization. The enterprise knowledge portal team, knowledge expert community, and stakeholders will be redeployed into the more permanent enterprise knowledge portal organization moving forward. The kinds of permanent enterprise knowledge portal teams that will be resourced include:
The steering committee
The stakeholders
The knowledge expert community
The enterprise knowledge portal program management
The enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center
The enterprise knowledge portal application development team
The enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team
The information library services
The subject matter experts
To begin to define your enterprise knowledge portal organization, start with your enterprise knowledge portal program charter, analyze your business processes, and define your roles and responsibilities. The overview of your vision and what to consider as you deploy and implement your enterprise knowledge portal can be reviewed in your enterprise knowledge portal program charter. You will need to evaluate the work processes needed to achieve your expected benefits from the enterprise knowledge portal program. Once the business processes have been identified, you will be able to define roles and responsibilities. A role is the complete set of knowledge, skills, and activities needed for one person to execute her assigned responsibilities in a given work process. The details around the process and governance, as well as the culture and behavior of your enterprise knowledge portal organization, are discussed in detail throughout this chapter.
Process and Governance
When examining your organization, managers usually begin with the formal structure that outlines the official lines of authority. It is important to think about how employees will be supervised and how job functions will be allocated. Clear lines of authority are important so all team members and managers can easily delineate areas of responsibility and decision making between each other. There are several questions to consider as you decide your company’s enterprise knowledge portal structure. These include:
Should responsibilities be allocated between functional areas or geographic divisions?
What will each team be responsible for? How will the different teams share work processes?
Will you use a production line or team approach to complete the assigned responsibilities within the different enterprise knowledge portal teams? Will each team member be responsible for one particular task, or will each team be responsible for many tasks?
The quickest and clearest way to communicate your management structure is through a graphic organizational flow chart. You can use two kinds of charts: one describing areas of responsibility, and the other outlining reporting or supervisory relationships. A proposed enterprise knowledge portal organization is presented as an example. The enterprise knowledge portal areas of responsibility are shown in Figure 5-1. You will notice that this is very different from the functional areas by business unit reporting relationships shown in Figure 5-2.
The areas of responsibility for the enterprise knowledge portal are the relationships that need to be explored in more detail. A short narrative description explaining the roles, objectives, guiding principles, and the work processes for each individual and team are included to provide more information as you think through the appropriate areas of responsibility for your company. The individuals and teams to review include:
The executive sponsor
The steering committee
The stakeholders
The knowledge expert community
The enterprise knowledge portal program management
The enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center
The enterprise knowledge portal application development team
The enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team
Figure 5-1. Enterprise knowledge portal areas of responsibility.
Figure 5-2. Functional areas by business unit reporting relationships.
The information library services
The subject matter experts
The Executive Sponsor
The executive sponsor is the most senior decision maker for the day-to-day enterprise knowledge portal activities and tasks. This person will champion establishing relationships between the enterprise knowledge portal and other corporate initiatives. The executive sponsor will work closely with the steering committee and the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to secure funding and resources for the enterprise knowledge portal program.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the executive sponsor structure:
Approve and support the enterprise knowledge portal program.
Approve the high-level business case model to be used in subsequent design and implementation of enterprise knowledge portal efforts.
Provide funding and resources to establish the appropriate process and governance required to implement the enterprise knowledge portal program.
Guiding Principles
The executive sponsor structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for making executive decisions required to support the enterprise knowledge portal program, projects, and work processes.
Work with other senior executives to integrate the enterprise knowledge portal into other corporate initiatives.
Secure funding and resources for the enterprise knowledge portal program, projects, and work processes.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the executive sponsor structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal program development and approval process
The planning, budgeting, and forecasting process
The communication process
The change management process
The Steering Committee
The steering committee consists of several representatives from your organization’s senior management team. The steering committee is the enterprise knowledge portal program sponsor. They will serve as the overall decision maker and governing body for the enterprise knowledge portal. The group monitors program and project progress and makes global strategic decisions to coordinate and manage the enterprise knowledge portal investment.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the steering committee structure:
Ensure the enterprise knowledge portal initiative is consistent with corporate and business unit goals and objectives.
Provide administrative, functional direction, and support to the enterprise knowledge portal program management team.
Approve the enterprise knowledge portal program scope and continually assesses the program’s viability.
Resolve corporate issues.
Provide formal approval or rejection to proceed through each stage of the enterprise knowledge portal program.
Guiding Principles
The steering committee structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Act as the corporate sponsor for the enterprise knowledge portal.
Act as the governing body for global strategic decisions associated with the enterprise knowledge portal.
Monitor enterprise knowledge portal program and project progress.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the steering committee structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal program approval process
The planning, budgeting, and forecasting process
The communication process
The change management process
The Stakeholders
Stakeholders will represent all the functional areas of your organization. They provide usability, functionality, and feedback necessary to develop an enterprise knowledge portal that the full user community will accept. The stakeholders will be instrumental in the execution of your change management and communications plans.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the stakeholders structure:
Contribute to the enterprise knowledge portal vision, program, and objectives.
Assume ownership of the enterprise knowledge portal vision and objectives.
Demonstrate ownership through active and visible participation of the enterprise knowledge portal.
Identify cross-functional and business unit enterprise knowledge portal similarities and differences.
Review key enterprise knowledge portal program and project deliverables.
Guiding Principles
The stakeholders structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for working closely with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to develop and deliver the enterprise knowledge portal program, projects, and work processes.
Work with managers throughout the organization to educate and successfully implement the enterprise knowledge portal.
Secure resources for the knowledge expert community to work on enterprise knowledge portal project teams.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the stakeholders structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal program approval process
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The planning, budgeting, and forecasting process
The communication process
The change management process
The Knowledge Expert Community
The knowledge expert community is composed of people from information technology and each of the business units involved in the enterprise knowledge portal program and projects. The business unit representatives understand and improve work processes and help document architecture and work flow. The information technology members are responsible for validating the enterprise knowledge portal requirements for the enterprise knowledge portal projects, providing information and research as needed. You should expect knowledge expert community team members to dedicate at least 60 percent of their time to the enterprise knowledge portal projects they are involved in.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the knowledge expert community structure:
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team and subject matter experts on enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Provide a global communication bridge between business end-users, the enterprise knowledge portal program management team, and the enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team around the enterprise knowledge portal projects being deployed.
Ensure that global user needs are understood and properly represent business drivers to the enterprise knowledge portal program management team.
Document the business requirements definition for the enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Guiding Principles
The knowledge expert community structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for integrating locate, learn, capture, and reuse business opportunities into the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to successfully define and deploy the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with managers and users throughout the organization to educate and successfully implement the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the knowledge expert community structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The communication process
The change management process
The Enterprise Knowledge Portal Program Management
The enterprise knowledge portal program management office reports on status and raises issues to the steering committee. Team membership requires both business and technical areas of expertise. This team is responsible for maintaining the enterprise knowledge portal program, planning projects, reporting program and project status, assigning resources, monitoring the progress against the program plan, and managing multiple teams. This team will also identify and resolve issues independently and with the project leaders. It is responsible for delivering the enterprise knowledge portal on time, within a way that meets user expectations. A critical competence for the members of the program management office is prior experience or training in the management of complex enterprise systems development.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the enterprise knowledge portal program management structure:
Be responsible for overall enterprise knowledge portal program and associated project planning and coordination.
Assume ownership of the project deliverables and responsibility for day-to-day project management.
Proactively anticipate project deviations and be responsible for taking immediate corrective action.
Set enterprise knowledge portal project standards and milestones and monitor work against those standards to ensure on-time completion.
Monitor and report progress against milestones for the enterprise knowledge portal program and projects.
Manage and communicate scope and potential scope changes for the enterprise knowledge portal program and projects.
Assume overall coordination of all activities to ensure proper communication.
Guiding Principles
The enterprise knowledge portal program management structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Create, develop, and maintain the enterprise knowledge portal program.
Manage enterprise knowledge portal projects working with knowledge expert community team members and subject matter experts.
Provide overall communication for the enterprise knowledge portal program and projects.
Provide overall change management for the enterprise knowledge portal program and projects.
Maintain progress reports for the enterprise knowledge portal program and projects.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the enterprise knowledge portal program management structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal program development and approval process
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The planning, budgeting, and forecasting process
The communication process
The change management process
The Enterprise Knowledge Portal Support and Competency Center
The support and competency center will maintain and support the production releases of the enterprise knowledge portal. They will champion the best practices, standards, and guidelines to be understood and used consistently across the organization. This team will maintain the enterprise knowledge portal library of development objects, documentation, and other information that needs to be centralized to effectively manage the enterprise knowledge portal.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center structure:
Maintain a stable enterprise knowledge portal environment that supports the daily production activities, enterprise knowledge portal project team activities, and other preimplementation activities.
Support users in their use of the enterprise knowledge portal.
Resolve user questions, problems, and requests in a timely manner as defined by defined service-level agreements.
Implement and manage maintenance and other approved production releases of the enterprise knowledge portal.
Maintain the enterprise knowledge portal library of documentation, enterprise knowledge portal objects, and other centralized information that needs to be managed and communicated.
Guiding Principles
The enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Provide seamless end-to-end support for enterprise knowledge portal users, project teams, and enterprise knowledge portal teams.
Communicate, teach, and share the enterprise knowledge portal library.
Leverage the existing support applications and solutions where applicable.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center structure:
The call management process
The problem management process
The enterprise knowledge portal library management process
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The communication process
The change management process
The Enterprise Knowledge Portal Application Development Team
The application development teams support the enterprise knowledge portal program management team and the enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team in managing and implementing the enterprise knowledge portal. This team is responsible for building and testing the features to meet the specification and customer expectations. They participate in the design of the enterprise knowledge portal and estimate the time and effort to complete each feature. Make sure to include the enterprise knowledge portal application development team in defining the quality bar for the enterprise knowledge portal.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the enterprise knowledge portal application development team structure:
Provide consistent portal objects for the enterprise knowledge portal using a well-defined and organized rapid application development environment.
Provide portal objects that meet quality assurance standards for deployment and inclusion for reuse in the enterprise knowledge portal library.
Establish regression, system, integrity, integration, and other test plans to maintain the enterprise knowledge portal.
Leverage the existing enterprise knowledge portal library where applicable.
Guiding Principles
The enterprise knowledge portal application development team structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for the design, development, and deployment of the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to successfully define and deploy the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center and information technology teams throughout the organization to register enterprise knowledge portal objects into production and the enterprise knowledge portal library.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the enterprise knowledge portal application development team structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The communication process
The change management process
The Enterprise Knowledge Portal Architecture and Infrastructure Team
The architecture and infrastructure team is responsible for ensuring that the enterprise knowledge portal technical solution satisfies the organization’s present and future business requirements. This team sets the direction and establishes the approach to select technical platforms, network architecture, and system software. They work closely with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to plan effectively for the current and future enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team structure:
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team and subject matter experts on enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Provide a global communication bridge between information technology, the enterprise knowledge portal program management team, and the knowledge expert community around the enterprise knowledge portal projects being deployed.
Ensure that information technology needs are understood and properly representative of infrastructure requirements to the enterprise knowledge portal program management team.
Document the technology requirements definition for the enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Guiding Principles
The enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for integrating enterprise portal, business intelligence, content management, collaboration, and learning features and functions into the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to successfully define and deploy the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center and information technology teams throughout the organization to educate and successfully implement the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The communication process
The change management process
The Information Library Services
Information library services is a special team of subject matter experts to establish the corporate knowledge organization system. This collection of term lists, relationship lists, and data dictionaries used to manage indexes and catalogs, taxonomies, and category schemes will ensure integrity and interoperability for the enterprise knowledge portal. Information library services will work closely with the steering committee to maintain your organization’s knowledge organization system.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the information library services structure:
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team and the knowledge expert community on enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Provide enterprise taxonomy and categorization schemes for the enterprise knowledge portal.
Ensure that search, index, and cataloging features are understood by the enterprise knowledge portal project teams and the enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center.
Document the taxonomy and categorization scheme requirements definition for the enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Guiding Principles
The information library services structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for integrating federated search and the knowledge organization system into the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to successfully define and deploy the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center and information technology teams throughout the organization to educate and successfully implement the taxonomy and categorization schemes for the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the information library services structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The communication process
The change management process
The Subject Matter Experts
The subject matter experts have special skills in technical solutions or business systems. They provide insight and experience in setting the direction and establishing the approach for the enterprise knowledge portal. Technical experts provide insight into selecting technical platforms, network architecture, and system software. Subject matter experts should be involved in designing the enterprise knowledge portal’s conceptual architecture, quality standards, and performance metrics. Business experts can help in identifying and solving business issues and problems, developing business models, and providing guidance to the enterprise knowledge portal program management team.
Objectives
The following objectives are outlined to provide direction in developing the subject matter experts structure:
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team and knowledge expert community on enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Provide insight and expertise around business issues and technical requirements for enterprise knowledge portal projects.
Guiding Principles
The subject matter experts structure is developed using these guiding principles:
Be responsible for providing experience and expertise to enterprise knowledge portal project teams.
Work with the enterprise knowledge portal program management team to successfully define and deploy the enterprise knowledge portal.
Work Processes
There are several work processes identified for the subject matter experts structure:
The enterprise knowledge portal project process
The communication process
The change management process
Culture and Behavior
There are several enterprise knowledge portal activities that need to addressed and completed as soon as your enterprise knowledge portal organization is formed. Completing these activities will help the enterprise knowledge portal organization be effective and successful in moving forward. They will also make it possible for the enterprise knowledge portal organization to be effective in generating a well-defined and well-accepted enterprise knowledge portal for users across your organization. These activities include:
Identifying all enterprise portal and knowledge management applications and solutions in your organization. There will be several business unit solutions that exist in your organization for enterprise portals and knowledge management. You will need to spend some time researching the majority of the resources involved in these business unit applications and solutions.
Identifying overlapping functional and technical requirements. Once the enterprise portal and knowledge management applications and solutions have been identified, take some time to review the functionality and technology. This research will help you identify the redundancies in the solutions and the work processes that exist in the current applications, solutions, and services.
Evaluating the work effort to establish a single enterprise knowledge portal. Your previous efforts to create the enterprise knowledge portal map report and the enterprise knowledge portal program charter have framed the benefits of a single enterprise knowledge portal. Use this information to research what obsolescence and migration plans for applications, solutions, data, and services need to be established to standardize on a single enterprise knowledge portal.
Identifying work process integration requirements for the enterprise knowledge portal. Work with business units throughout your organization to define end-to-end work processes, the roles and responsibilities involved in the work processes, and the relationships between business units that share these work processes. This information will help you anticipate enterprise knowledge portal integration issues that will need to be included in the long-term enterprise knowledge portal program.
Establishing a methodology and owner for enterprise knowledge portal objects. The enterprise knowledge portal will consist of several development and documentation objects. An enterprise knowledge portal library will need to be established and an owner identified. Several templates, development objects, best practices, guidelines, and standards will be generated and made available to be used consistently by enterprise knowledge portal project teams.
Establishing relationships with other corporate initiatives to ensure recognition and integration of the enterprise knowledge portal. Leaders of other corporate initiatives in your organization may not have recognized the enterprise knowledge portal as an enabling technology for their individual efforts. In order to facilitate wide adoption of the solution, you must integrate the enterprise knowledge portal into your other corporate initiatives.
Coordinating with information technology teams to integrate several technologies and architecture planning issues. The enterprise knowledge portal requires significant integration with related technologies such as business intelligence, content management, collaboration, and learning. Make certain all the appropriate teams are aware of the enterprise knowledge portal program requirements.
Sponsoring and establishing an enterprise knowledge portal laboratory. An enterprise knowledge portal laboratory provides a proven approach to defining and maintaining architectural integrity and application interoperability. Business units can use the enterprise knowledge portal lab to carry out the initial evaluation of different requirements and other enterprise knowledge portal–related activities.
Establishing the enterprise knowledge portal framework. The requirements that are common across all business units, cross-functional teams, work processes, and external groups are the enterprise standards and become the framework of your enterprise knowledge portal best practices, guidelines, and standards.
Identifying unique enterprise knowledge portal requirements. Apply the enterprise knowledge portal framework and determine the unique requirements of a particular area implementing these unique requirements using the same process in a similar manner each time.
Creating the knowledge organization system. For enterprise knowledge portal access across the organization, standard naming conventions, taxonomies, categorization, rules, and information technology architecture standards will be required.
The enterprise knowledge portal organization needs to execute the change management plan to modify the culture and behavior of people throughout your organization. Your culture represents the accepted practices and politics that define how work gets done. Behavior is how people respond and interact within the corporate culture. The enterprise knowledge portal will identify new practices to be adopted by your organization. The change management plan will be a way to change the behavior of the employees to adopt and accept these new practices.
Knowledge management has been adopted to promote locating, learning, capturing, and reusing information and best practices. When the process works and employees begin working on collaborative teams, their normal work behaviors are changed and, over time, the culture begins to change. The purpose of the enterprise knowledge portal is to bring these knowledge management best practices and work processes into everything employees and knowledge workers do. There are several opportunities available in your organization to work on changing behavior. These include:
Enterprise Knowledge Portal Structure. Look for opportunities in work processes and relationships to influence behavior.
Coercion. Look for small teams with opportunities to implement unique ways of working together and force them to work differently from the status quo.
Rewards and Recognition. Make certain that how employees are recognized and what reward system is used are tied directly to desired behaviors.
Setting Expectations. Manage expectations for enterprise knowledge portal users so the solution is successful and matches their requirements and knowledge management objectives.
Role Modeling. Look to showcase successful enterprise knowledge portal implementations and model new releases after proven success stories.
Participation. Include as many stakeholders, knowledge expert community members, subject matter experts, and other people in your enterprise knowledge portal projects as possible so they feel ownership of the enterprise knowledge portal deployed.
Key Points
To begin to define your enterprise knowledge portal organization, start with your enterprise knowledge portal program charter, analyze your business processes, and define your roles and responsibilities. You will need to evaluate the work processes needed to achieve your expected benefits from the enterprise knowledge portal program. Once the business processes have been identified, you will be able to define roles and responsibilities. A role is the complete set of knowledge, skills, and activities needed for one person to execute his assigned responsibilities in a given work process. The details around the process and governance, as well as the culture and behavior of your enterprise knowledge portal organization, need to be well defined and comprehended. A proposed enterprise knowledge portal organization to be resourced includes:
The executive sponsor
The steering committee
The stakeholders
The knowledge expert community
The enterprise knowledge portal program management
The enterprise knowledge portal support and competency center
The enterprise knowledge portal application development team
The enterprise knowledge portal architecture and infrastructure team
The information library services
The subject matter experts
There are several enterprise knowledge portal activities that need to be addressed and completed as soon as your enterprise knowledge portal organization is formed. Completing these activities will help the enterprise knowledge portal organization be effective and successful in moving forward. They will also make it possible for the enterprise knowledge portal organization to be effective in generating a well-defined and well-accepted enterprise knowledge portal for users across your organization. These activities include:
Identifying all enterprise portal and knowledge management applications and solutions in your organization
Identifying overlapping functional and technical requirements
Evaluating the work effort to establish a single enterprise knowledge portal
Identifying work process integration requirements for the enterprise knowledge portal
Establishing a methodology and owner for enterprise knowledge portal objects
Establishing relationships with other corporate initiatives to ensure recognition and integration of the enterprise knowledge portal
Coordination with information technology teams to integrate several technologies and architecture planning issues
Sponsoring and establishing an enterprise knowledge portal laboratory
Establishing the enterprise knowledge portal framework
Identifying unique enterprise knowledge portal requirements
Creating the knowledge organization system
The enterprise knowledge portal program will be implemented in your organization as a series of enterprise knowledge portal development projects and infrastructure projects. You will want to establish an enterprise knowledge portal methodology to deploy a consistent and cohesive solution. Chapter 6 identifies a series of activities and tasks as well as templates you can use or modify to create a methodology to successfully implement each of your enterprise knowledge portal projects.