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What is a knowledge map?
A knowledge map can be
described as an electronic form of the Yellow Pages containing information
regarding the knowledge, information and experience of each employee. It does
not contain the knowledge itself, but is a referral to a person who (either
implicitly or explicitly) possesses that knowledge. As such, it is a tool that
can be used to trace people that possess relevant knowledge. Knowledge maps can
be created for single persons, groups (a department, a team, a project group, a
sector, a profession, external consultants, suppliers) or an entire
organization.
The appearance of the electronic
knowledge map may vary, depending on its purpose or the persons or groups it
describes.
What is the purpose
of a knowledge map?
The most important purpose is to
show the people within an organization where they can find the information they
need. An organization chart does not supply a clear view of where specific
knowledge is located, a knowledge map does. It can also be used to present the
organization’s capabilities and expertise to third parties. In such cases, the
knowledge information will be of a more general nature.
When can you use a
knowledge map?
Examples of questions that can be
answered with the aid of a knowledge map include:
-
Who can
offer which service?
-
Who
is or has been in contact with which customers?
-
Who
possesses the expertise that is needed to solve a certain
problem?
-
Who
has had experience with a certain type of project?
-
Who has
written publications on a certain subject or has given presentations on a
certain theme or knowledge domain?
-
Who is
interested in collecting information that is needed for a (current)
project?
In short, a knowledge map can be
used to select and present the persons that are qualified to carry out a (new)
assignment more quickly, more effectively and more accurately.
Your customers deserve to be certain
that the best experts will carry out their projects. Naturally, you also want
the projects in your own organization to be carried out in the best possible
way. That is why it is so important to find the persons with the right
education, knowledge and experience, before assigning them to projects. Often,
these people are available within your organization. If not, the knowledge map
is a useful tool to support the decision to hire external expertise. When
bidding for international projects, often the standardized résumé’s of important
members of staff are required. The Repris CV module, which forms the source of
the knowledge map, allows you to extend this standard résumé content with fields
that are specific to your organization.
Simplifying the sharing of
knowledge
In many cases, organizations are not
fully aware of the knowledge they possess in-house. Often, third parties are
unnecessarily consulted. In some cases, knowledge is purchased of which it was
unknown that it was already available in the own organization.
Since Repris was entirely written in
web technology, it can be made part of your intranet. That way, the need to
quickly determine which people within (or outside) the organization possess the
required knowledge, can be easily satisfied.
What
do you need?
- Conclusively
define knowledge domains and sub-domains that are relevant to your
organization. Start with the domains that are directly significant to your
organization and expand these with important general knowledge domains and
sub-domains, in order to be able to make an unambiguous
comparison.
- Conclusively define
your customers, projects, publications, presentations and courses.
- Conclusively
define the levels of education, knowledge and experience and combine them with
all the other relevant information, in order to be able to make an unambiguous
comparison. The knowledge map is a fitting medium for storing and presenting
this information.
- A flexible design, to
which information can easily be added.
- Make
sure that your activities are widely supported by the organization and set up
collective agreements with regard to the use and maintenance of the knowledge
maps. Use the knowledge maps for allocating assignments, projects, etcetera,
as well as for performance reviews, in order to stimulate employees to take
responsibility for keeping knowledge maps up-to-date.
Which actions
must you take?
Draw up an inventory of the
available knowledge:
The HR department usually has an
overview of the basic knowledge of all employees.
Questionnaires can help you to
obtain more detailed information with regard to the individual knowledge of
specific persons.
Convert all education, training,
seminar, publication and skill details to an internal valuation table. This
enables you to make comparisons and to pose exact search questions.
Make a distinction in skill types,
including social, organizational, job related technical, artistical and other
skills. Determine whether it concerns explicit or implicit skills.
Regularly evaluate the knowledge and
skills of the employees. The input for this process may come from performance
reviews that are conducted by the supervisor and discussed by the entire
team.
The results of the evaluation
process can be used to create a knowledge map of people, teams and departments.
The knowledge map can be made available to the entire company through the
intranet.
The online knowledge map can, for
example, be used by a manager for determining which employees are best qualified
to make up a new (project) team.
The success or failure of knowledge
work strongly depend on the business culture, which is why the advantages of the
knowledge map should not be underestimated.
What advantages can be
achieved?
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A
stronger internal knowledge network (faster and more contact between employees
who, without the availability of the knowledge map, would not have found each
other at all, or not as easily), leading to the optimal use of internally
available knowledge and the efficient use of third party
knowledge.
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A
more conscious approach of employees to their own (current and desired)
knowledge profile.
-
Better
insight into the available knowledge potential and a better overview of the
measure in which the required knowledge domains are covered. This insight
offers management the opportunity to either stimulate employees to extend
their knowledge or to temporarily attract knowledge from outside the
organization.
  Download the REPRIS Knowledge Map
folder, Dutch!
Download the REPRIS Knowledge Map philosophy
folder, Dutch!
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