Not all knowledge is of equal value. A Knowledge Scan high-grades the knowledge topics in most need of attention.
Purpose
A knowledge scan takes a Topic view of an organisation, and asks
- Which Knowledge Topics are well managed?
- Which knowledge topics are at risk, through poor KM?
- Which knowledge topics are at risk, through potential loss of personnel?
- What actions need to be taken, to reduce the risk of poor KM for these topics?
Method
Kabod Group has a standard approach for Knowledge Scan.
We identify the key knowledge areas through a workshop, then use individual interviews or smaller groups to identify the attributes of these topics in KM terms (the criticality of the knowledge, its level of documentation and ownership, and a number of other factors). Our proprietary spreadsheet then ranks the topics into order of risk, and order of required attention. A series of cross-plots allows us to determine the KM interventions most likely to be needed to reduce the KM risk.
Benefits
The Knowledge Scan or Audit allows you to focus your knowledge management strategy on the knowledge of highest value or urgency. It also provides a baseline of the level of KM risk, and can be repeated on a regular basis to check improvement above the baseline.