Iknow approaches all its client assignments, large or small, with sound project methodologies and processes. Our consulting methodologies have been developed and refined through years of experience in the knowledge management field, and this experience translates into more efficient and effective project management and savings of time and money for our clients.
Iknow’s core project methodology is based on the IDEAL model, an organizational improvement model that serves as a roadmap, or framework, for initiating, planning, and implementing improvement projects and programs. The model was first developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University. The IDEAL model was originally conceived as a lifecycle model for software process improvement based upon the Capability Maturity Model® (CMM).
The IDEAL model is named for the five phases it describes:
- Initiating. Lay the groundwork for a successful improvement effort.
- Diagnosing. Determine where you are relative to where you want to be.
- Establishing. Plan the specifics of how you will reach your destination.
- Acting. Do the work according to the plan.
- Learning. Learn from the experience and improve your ability to adopt new improvements in the future.
The phases and their major activities are illustrated in the Exhibit.
Iknow has refined and extended the IDEAL model to make it incredibly valuable for facilitating knowledge management improvement efforts. Most knowledge management projects and programs are quite complex and involve extensive technology deployments and organizational changes. Because of this complexity, Iknow follows this specialized, systematic framework for managing the overall KM project lifecycle. Iknow’s enhancements include adding our own proprietary methodologies, processes, and workplans to the core IDEAL framework. The detailed project activities and tasks are then customized to the specific requirements of each client assignment.
Iknow’s consulting assignments follow this five-step approach.
The five phases and major activities of the IDEAL model are described in the remainder of this Section. Additional background on the IDEAL model is presented at the end.
Initiating Phase
The groundwork for the KM improvement effort is completed during the Initiating Phase. If the activities of the Initiating Phase are done well, subsequent phases and activities usually proceed as planned; if they are done poorly, incompletely, or haphazardly, then additional time, effort, and resources are usually needed later in the effort.
The Initiating Phase includes four major activities:
- Stimulus for Change
- Set Context
- Build Sponsorship
- Charter Infrastructure
Stimulus for Change
It is important to recognize the business reasons for changing an organization's practices. The stimulus for change could be unanticipated events, an edict from senior management, a piece of competitive intelligence, or information gained from benchmarking activities. Whatever the stimulus, it can have a far-reaching influence on the effort's visibility, conduct, and ultimate success. In general, when the business reasons for change are more evident, there is greater buy-in throughout the organization and there is a greater chance for success.
Note that the Stimulus for Change is not really an activity, but rather it is the condition, event, or direction that indicates that some sort of change is needed. This stimulus initiates an IDEAL cycle.
Set Context
Once the reasons for initiating change have been clearly identified, the organization's management sets the context for the work that should be done. "Setting context" means being very clear about where this effort fits within the organization's business strategy and answering questions such as:
- What specific business goals and objectives will be realized or supported by this change?
- How will it affect other initiatives and ongoing work?
- What benefits, such as return on investment or improved capabilities and morale, will result?
Context and implications often become more evident as the effort proceeds, but it is important to be as clear as possible regarding these issues early in the effort.
Many times, the Set Context activity involves the development of a more formal business rationale or business justification and a business case with a ROI calculation. This activity involves ensuring that the change under consideration is tied to a key business driver or critical success factor. Iknow works with the project’s sponsors to develop an appropriate business case to justify the investment and help them effectively communicate the value of the KM effort to the rest of the organization.
Please see the Section on creating a KM business case for a more thorough discussion on preparing a sound business justification.
Build Sponsorship
It is always necessary to build and maintain solid sponsorship throughout a KM improvement effort. The sponsors’ personal attention and active visible support is essential for success. Because of the uncertainty facing the organization in the beginning of an initiative, it is especially important to build critical management support early in the process.
Charter Infrastructure
The organization must set up a mechanism for managing the implementation details for the effort. The infrastructure may be temporary or permanent and its size and complexity may vary substantially depending on the nature and scope of the project. For a small effort, the infrastructure may be a single part-time employee; for a large and complex effort, it may involve a dedicated program management office (PMO) and as many as 2 to 3 % of the entire workforce. Chartering the infrastructure involves developing explicit written agreements that document and clarify expectations and describe responsibilities.
Diagnosing Phase
The Diagnosing Phase builds upon the groundwork laid in the Initiating Phase to develop a more complete understanding of the improvement project or program. During the Diagnosing Phase, the current state and the desired future state are defined. These organizational states are used to develop high-level improvement recommendations.
The two major activities of the Diagnosing Phase are:
- Characterize Current and Desired Future States
- Develop Recommendations
Characterize Current and Desired Future States
Characterizing the current and desired states is similar to identifying the origin and destination of a journey. Specifically, we assess, model, and measure the current-state KM processes and practices within the organization. Iknow utilizes a variety of proven methodologies, frameworks, and tools, including needs analysis, knowledge elucidation, process analysis and mapping, organizational readiness assessment, and expertise mapping. These methodologies are customized to fit our clients’ specific objectives, processes, and culture.
Characterizing these two states can be done more easily using a reference standard. Benchmarking is often used to establish baselines as well as set thresholds or targets.
A gap analysis is generally performed to estimate the magnitude of desired performance improvements.
Develop Recommendations
The assessment team develops high-level recommendations on the vision, goals and objectives, and approaches that should be taken to get from the current state to the desired future state. These recommendations often weigh heavily in the decisions made by key managers and sponsors.
Establishing Phase
The purpose of the Establishing Phase is to develop detailed project workplans. Priorities are first set that reflect the organization's broader operations and the specific constraints of its operating environment. A high-level approach is then developed that takes these priorities and constraints into account. Finally, specific actions, milestones, deliverables, and responsibilities are added to create a detailed action plan.
The Establishing Phase includes three major activities:
- Set Priorities
- Develop Approach
- Plan Actions
Set Priorities
While some work around business goals and objectives was done in the Set Context activity, the overlay of priorities helps place the appropriate emphasis on end deliverables. Criteria are developed to evaluate each of the high-level recommendations based on business drivers and business area impact, and each recommendation is evaluated against the criteria.
Constraints, such as resource limitations and the dependencies between project tasks, are also identified during this activity.
Develop Approach
In this activity, a viable approach for accomplishing the work is developed. Specifically, the Develop Approach activity expands and refines the recommendations to meet the objectives and priorities that have been set for the effort.
Developing the approach may uncover a need for scope expansion. For example, to increase the probability of project success, the effort might require the addition of new workstreams or project tasks. For example, the effort might require new skills and knowledge to adopt a particular improvement (awareness/training), to overcome sources of resistance, to improve sponsorship levels, or to deploy a new technology.
Plan Actions
After a high-level approach is defined and agreed upon, a detailed implementation plan is then developed. This detailed plan includes schedule, tasks, milestones, decision points, resources, responsibilities, measurement, tracking mechanisms, risks and mitigation strategies, and any other elements required by the organization for implementation.
Acting Phase
The activities of the Acting Phase help an organization implement the work that has been conceptualized and planned in the previous three Phases. These activities will typically consume more calendar time and more resources than all of the other phases combined.
The four major activities of the Acting Phase are:
- Create Solution
- Pilot/Test Solution
- Refine Solution
- Implement Solution
Create Solution
The Create Solution activity brings together all available information to create an initial "best guess" solution. Iknow may conduct interviews and facilitates collaborative workshops with client stakeholders to design new knowledge and information flows for the selected business function or business process. This activity includes process mapping that shows where KM capabilities are needed and where the greatest leverage can be achieved. Iknow may also conduct hands-on simulation exercises with stakeholders to create the experience of working in the “future state” KM environment. The objective of these workshops is to gain consensus among the participating stakeholders on the scope and value of proceeding with a pilot.
The solution, which may be quite complex and multi-faceted, is often created by one or more technical and specialist working groups. The primary output from this Phase is a high-level design requirements document.
Pilot/Test Solution
Once a solution has been created, it must be tested, as “best guess” solutions rarely work exactly as planned. During the Pilot/Test activity, Iknow translates the high-level requirements into detailed requirements, and typically conducts one or more pilots to test and refine the design concepts.
Iknow works with the project stakeholders to select a functional group, department, or process that would be the best candidate for the pilot. During the pilot, Iknow interviews selected stakeholders using a detailed assessment questionnaire that provides an in-depth look at the characteristics of the target population and its readiness to proceed with implementing a KM solution. At the conclusion of the pilot, Iknow reviews the results with management and the stakeholders and makes recommendations where improvements are needed to support a successful implementation.
Iknow works with clients to identify, evaluate, and select the hardware and software products that will become part of the overall KM solution. Once the vendors have been selected, Iknow may build one or more prototypes that demonstrate some of the critical functionality of the finished system. Iknow also develops relevant metrics to measure the effectiveness of the solution and revises the project ROI, if necessary.
See a more detailed discussion about rapid prototyping in the Rapid Prototyping and Pilots Section.
Refine Solution
Once the solution has been tested, it should be modified to reflect the knowledge, experience, and lessons that were gained from the prototyping and pilots. Several iterations of the test-refine process may be necessary to reach a satisfactory solution. A solution should be workable before it is implemented, but waiting for a "perfect" solution may unnecessarily delay the implementation.
Any problems found in the Test/Pilot Solution activity may or may not be corrected; this is a decision made by the project manager/coordinator based on risk, resources, and other business and rollout considerations.
Upon successful completion of the pilots, Iknow works with the client organization to develop a detailed implementation plan. The implementation plan covers user groups, training needs, promotion and launch activities, and resources needed to manage the rollout activities.
Implement Solution
Once the solution is workable, it can be implemented throughout the organization. Various roll-out approaches may be used for implementation, including top-down (starting at the highest level of the organization and working down) and just-in-time (implementing project-by-project at an appropriate time in its life cycle). No one roll-out approach is universally better than another; the approach should be chosen based on the nature of the improvement and organizational circumstances. For a major change, implementation may require substantial time and resources.
Iknow’s involvement could vary widely during the Implement Solution activity. This work can be done by the client organization’s staff, Iknow’s professional services staff, and by Iknow’s integration partners. Several specific tasks could include monitoring and assessing the solution implementation, coordinating any necessary refinements to ensure adoption, and reporting the results of the rollout to management at the completion of the Acting Phase.
Learning Phase
The learning phase completes the improvement cycle. One of the goals of the IDEAL model is to continuously improve the ability to implement change. In the learning phase, the entire IDEAL experience is reviewed to determine what was accomplished, whether the effort accomplished the intended goals, and how the organization can implement change more effectively and/or efficiently in the future. Data must be kept throughout the IDEAL cycle with this phase in mind.
The Learning Phase includes two major activities:
- Analyze and Validate
- Propose Future Actions
Analyze and Validate
The purpose of this activity is to compare the results of the improvement effort with its intended goals. This activity answers several questions: In what ways did the effort accomplish its intended purpose? What worked well? What could be done more effectively or efficiently? Lessons are collected, analyzed, summarized, and documented. The business needs identified during the initiating phase are reexamined to see if they have been met.
Propose Future Actions
This activity identifies what additional actions should be planned in the future. Recommendations based on analysis and validation are developed and documented.
Background on the IDEAL Model
The IDEAL model provides a usable, understandable framework to continuous improvement by outlining the steps necessary to establish a successful improvement program. Following the phases, activities, and principles of the IDEAL model has proven beneficial in many improvement efforts. The model provides a disciplined engineering approach for improvement, focuses on managing the improvement program, and establishes the foundation for a long-term improvement strategy.
The IDEAL model was originally developed as guide to planning and implementing an effective software process improvement (SPI) program. The IDEAL Model v. 1.1, developed by Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, describes an improvement adoption life cycle consisting of five major phases (Initiating, Diagnosing, Establishing, Acting, and Learning). These phases are further divided into 15 sub activities.
IDEAL is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University. The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University. Copyright 2004 by Carnegie Mellon University.
Details may be found at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/ideal/.
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Related Topics
To find out more about Iknow's project delivery methodology, please see:
- Phases of a KM Initiative
- Solution Approach
- Project Support Processes and Infrastructure
- Technology Recommendations
- Strategic Business Alliance With Incoda Corporation
- KM Business Case
- Rapid Prototyping and Pilots
- Getting Started
Learn More
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- About Iknow LLC
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