Knowledge Management

My journeyLyn Murnane

Knowledge Manager

About Lyn

What is a Knowledge Manager?

About Telstra

Challenges

Opportunities

About Medibank

Medibank’s approach to change

The players and process

What worked, what didn’t

Lessons’ learnt

Topics Intranet redesign @

Medibank

• The old view

• Analysing the info needed

• Card sorting

• Site architecture

• New site

• Results

• 2010 plans

The journey

IT Training & support Technical Writing

• Knowledge Manager

• KM Business Consultant

• Stakeholder engagement

• Collaboration with SMEs

• Networking

Blog - genverbosityTwitter - @boffin66RSS feedsSocial networks

Instructional DesignE-learning development

1999 – 2005◦ IT trainer: needs analysis, developing outcomes, writing guides,

producing & delivering training 2005 – 2008

◦ FastTrack Software: Product Consultant, Support Desk Team Leader◦ needs analysis, developing outcomes, writing guides, producing &

delivering training◦ Supporting clients incidents and providing solutions

2008 – 2010◦ Medibank Private: Knowledge Management Business Consultant◦ Stakeholder engagement, collaboration with SMEs, building

solutions July 2010

◦ FastTrack – Knowledge Manager - Building e-learning modules January 2011

◦ Telstra – Manager Knowledge Management◦ Manager of KnowHow – website supporting 14,000 customer

service staff

Quick CV

From www.stevedenning.com◦ The main function of the knowledge sharing

position would be to help champion organization-wide knowledge sharing, so that the organization's know-how, information and experience is shared inside and (as appropriate) outside the organization with clients, partners, and stakeholders.

What is a Knowledge Manager?

Skills Required Leadership Communications Customer / User Orientation Facilitate sharing & collaboration Teamwork Learning and knowledge sharing Analytical Thinking and Decisive Judgment

Thomas Davenport defines knowledge as what happens at the moment in time when information becomes valuable to the individual seeking it.

In call centres, help desks, and other support environments, that individual is either the support agent seeking information to help a customer, or a customer (product user, employee, partner, or vendor) seeking answers in a web-based self-help environment.

Thomas Davenport, the author of several works on the subject including, Information Ecology: Mastering the Information and Knowledge Environment and Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know.

What is KM?

The elements of a Knowledge Sharing Culture can typically be broken into: ◦ People, ◦ Process & ◦ Technology

Knowledge Sharing

Participation

Participation - Australia

http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/ http://www.useit.com/

Sites & Tools that might help

KnowHow – an intranet based process and sales information that supports 14,000 users – onshore , offshore and industry partners.

KnowHow’s supports consumer customers Including support for Telstra Business (Small

Business) Telstra has 10 ‘official’ KM systems 100’s of unofficial tools including

spreadsheets, personalised web pages, databases etc

My focus is on KnowHow

Telstra

Observations – content / information is verbose and not user friendly

NO collaboration Feedback loop is sporadic and not

transparent NO Governance, archiving or expiry of

content unless requested

KnowHow

User Feedback forums◦ What does KnowHow sound like / its

character◦ Understanding what works and

what doesn’t◦ What’s missing?◦ Suggestions for inclusions◦ Getting engagement / buy-in

Changes

Governance model Audit process Expiry process Writing style guide Publishing style New content management system should

automate some of these processes

Processes

Project to create a company wide KM strategy

Aims to create a single source of truth High level governance model Has leadership support and cross business

unit endorsement Project currently being scoped and mapped Identifying measures of success

Telstra Bigger picture

Suggested KM Roadmap Overview

Phase 1:Infrastructure Evaluation

Analyse the Existing Infrastructure

Align Knowledge Management & Business Strategy

Phase 2:KM System Analysis,

Design and Development

Design the Knowledge Management Infrastructure

Audit Existing Knowledge Assets & Systems

Design the Knowledge Management Team

Create the Knowledge Management Blueprint

Develop the Knowledge Management System

Phase 3:Deployment

Deploy, using the Results-driven Incremental

methodology

Manage Change, Culture and Reward Structures

Phase 4:Evaluation

Evaluate Performance, Measure ROI and

Incrementally refine the KMS

<TELSTRA DOCUMENT ID>

17`

Pause for breath

Any questions?

About private health insurance:

• Highly government regulated – and the regulations change

• Extremely complicated – for staff as well as customers

• Customers often don’t really understand their cover until they claim

• PHI is a high use compared to other insurances

As at 2009 Market share in private health

insurance in Australia - 29%

Number of people covered 3.5 millionNumber of memberships 1.8 million

Total contribution income $3.4 billion

Total benefits paid $2.9 billion (84.8% of contributions)

Number of customer transactions in Call Centre and Retail

6 million Number of staff 3000

Medibank Private

“Empowerment for Ground crew” “We don’t need a McKinsey or a Boston

Consulting to tell us how to improve the business – we’ve got over 1200 ‘ground crew’ staff who know exactly where the real gaps are to be addressed in the business,” George Savvides – MD.

Medibank’s culture - approach to change

We embrace change better when we do it ourselves

Intranet – 1400 files, out of date, inconsistent, poor search, slow Many sources of information: Lotus Notes, shared drive (40,000 files),

local info, Circulars 20,000 internal staff helpdesk calls per month Communication to frontline staff ineffective – Circulars, Manuals, Guides,

many emails Inconsistent information given to customers One size fits all communication – 400 page fund policy document! Feedback from exit interviews - staff leaving because not sufficiently

supported to do their jobs effectively

In 2004 - The problems frontline faced

Access to knowledge is confusing, inaccurate and inconsistent.

Departments

• HR• Marketing • Compliance• Product• PHI• Fund Policy• Complaints• Corporate

Affairs • Finance• Management

Modes

• Email• Intranet• Policies• Newsletters• Mentors• Helpdesk• Relationships• Training

courses• Phone

Staff

• What do I do?

• Inconsistent messages

• Complaints• Silence• Complaints• Too much to

read• Too much to

change

Customer

• Waiting• Frustrated• Leaving

Biggest problem – too much information!

Opportunity costs > Millions

Training – new starters ◦ $12.5Keach /30% turnover

Staff Help Desks ◦ 20,000 calls to 2 helpdesks.

Call Handling Time ◦ The Pilot Program statistics

demonstrated a reduction of 6.3% in Call Handling Time.

Ex Gratia Payments ◦ Cost MPL $500,000 in FY03.

Consistent, complete and accurate information in a central repository has the ability to reduce this cost.

Opportunity costs and benefit realisation

• On-going costs 6 staff and support.

• Benefit realisation within three months.

Ongoing savings ~ Millions

Knowledge Management

Process

Technology

People

Content

Medibank’s elements of KM

•databases

• search engines

• intranets

•portals

•building a learning environment

•knowledge sharing

• trust

• support the capture of explicit knowledge

• continual learning and improving

•organisation & meaning

•accuracy

• consistency

• currency

Departments

• HR• Marketing • Compliance• Product• PHI• Fund Policy• Complaints• Corporate Affairs • Finance• Management

Modes

• Knowledge Repository

Staff

• I am in control• Consistent messages

• Reduced Complaints

Customer

• More satisfied• Better service

Desired state – Communication to frontline staff

Knowledge Enablers

Team◦ Built by staff for staff

Frontline engagementGet the end users involved…make it a knowledge system◦ focus groups (New Starters, Experts,

20+ years service)◦ super user group◦ competitions ◦ pilot◦ surveys◦ road shows◦ video – of staff response to project

Brand – identity ◦ stickers, soft balls, umbrellas◦ quick reference guides/materials

Tool◦ good search◦ no bells and whistles◦ met requirements◦ easy to use

Ongoing support◦ Feedback mechanism was and still is

the most popular feature Content

◦ Write it for the audience◦ Write if for how they think about it◦ Avoid jargon

What worked well…initial project

Business experts & Management engagement - resistance

Approval process – subject matter experts took three times longer than expected

Training – self-led through a workbook doesn’t work for call centre / retail environment

What didn’t work well….initial project

A quick peek at Max

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

900000

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

04-05

05-06

06-07

07-08

08-09

09-10

Growth

Max / Molly / Intranet

Where are we headed?

Let’s take a look

Create a Knowledge Management System (KMS) that is the single point of reference for all learning and knowledge materials, updates and alerts so staff are not trawling multiple mediums for information.

Identify what knowledge is critical to the effectiveness of the Contact Centre and where gaps exist. Work closely with Operations Managers, front line staff and other stakeholders to identify the priorities for inclusion in the KMS.

ahm KM implementation

“We share knowledge with our colleagues to deliver professional excellence.”

“Anyone in the organization who is not directly accountable for making a profit

should be involved in creating and distributing knowledge that the company

can use to make a profit” Sir John Browne – CEO of BP

Interesting article on BP’s knowledge management strugglehttp://www.ikmagazine.com/xq/asp/sid.0/articleid.750C40CD-3510-47CA-9827-5403ADCE1D93/eTitle.Greater_than_the_sum_of_its_parts_Knowledge_Management_in_British_Petroleum/qx/display.htm

Are you still with me?

Questions?

Time for a break?

Developing the right information architecture

for Medibank’s Intranet

About Medibank, KM and the old Intranet

About the process we have used to design our new Intranet

◦ Streamlining the information flow to meet diverse user needs

◦ Catering for intuitive user search and navigation

◦ Collaborating with customers for user satisfaction and efficiency

◦ Techniques and online tools for information architecture

Topics for discussion – Medibank’s new Intranet

About Knowledge Management:

• Established in 2004

• Team of 6 including:

– Manager

– KM Consultant

– Senior Technical Writer

– 3 KM analysts

• Manage the Intranet and 2 knowledge bases

– Intranet – all staff

– Max - 1200 member-serving staff (Retail, Call centre, processing)

– Molly – all staff policies, processes, forms etc.

About Medibank

The Old Intranet: Intranet seen as static and not valued Technology last upgraded in 2000 Unsupported by vendor No development environment Missing standard features (eg functional search, forums, surveys, staff polls)

No ability to segment content for different users Authoring is limited to those trained in HTML coding Most of the valued information lies in a separate knowledge

base (called Molly) that is not seamlessly integrated Feedback from staff – “the tools are hard to use and

confusing”

Overview – new Intranet project

Aims for the new Intranet:

• People will be able to find people (drill down by division, location, or search)

• Will showcase company events, jobs, and encourage employee collaboration and networking

• Content – the top 20% of information 80% of employees need to know

• Brand new design and architecture - user-centric

Aims

A look at our current high level taxonomy – Intranet

Start by mapping what we know: Map what is in scope (existing content) for

Molly and Intranet

Classifying and presenting content in a logical way

Techniques Determine current use (heat map) Determine what people are looking for

(search log analysis) Listen to and capture your users opinions

(Affinity diagram) Create persona’s Determine what can go (ROT analysis –

Redundant, out of date, trivial) Determine what is missing (Gap analysis) Work with the content owners to convince

them of a user centric design

Streamlining the information flow to meet diverse user needs

Draw on what else you know:

• KM Employee satisfaction surveys

• KM Strategy staff interviews

Defining your users and their needs Define the different user segments

◦ Board◦ GE◦ SET◦ Managers◦ Corporate staff◦ Retail◦ Call Centre◦ Claims◦ Member Liaison

Techniques Determine what they need – interviews

◦ What they need◦ What they use

Set tasks and observe use◦ How they use it◦ How they search and find

Get them to draw their ideal Intranet◦ Crayons◦ Butchers Paper◦ Coloured Pens

Streamlining the information flow to meet diverse user needs

Segment, profile and interview our users

Affinity diagrams

Create cards from the top content used (heat map)

Performed card sorting exercises on different segments◦ Open and closed

Created cards from the top used content

Analyse how they think – Open card sorting

•Take the top content and get staff to openly verbalise what they would name it, how they would categorise it

•Do this for multiple staff segments and notice the language used, and common trends

Determine the new site structure (high level)

Observations Card sorting

Search log analysis Search database mapping and

rationalisation

Look at Best practice navigation designs

Provide multiple ways to search/navigate

Catering for intuitive user search and navigation

Search log analysis - MollyMolly

Intranet

Start to build your new structure

Design multiple ways to search/navigate

Wireframes

Created Wireframes – conceptualise the outcomes we wish to achieve in next three years

Engaged all major stakeholders – 1:1 interviews from Frontline staff to MD

Published samples on the Intranet Road showed wireframes at all

corporate inductions Road showed at senior executive

offsites Recorded feedback – modified designs

Collaborating with customers for user satisfaction and efficiency

Narrow down the designs – 1st phase (of 3)◦ Tested these designs with stakeholders

Road show the new designs with staff ◦ senior managers to frontline, new inductions

Take in feedback and modify the designs Create functional specification Receive more feedback from the project team What happened (Aug 2009)

◦ Project was delayed due to financial concerns◦ Decided to upgrade the intranet based on all this work

with current systems◦ Built using html and then copying that into the CMS

Refine your designs

The writing / design / card sort process commenced early 2008

We notified of impending change in early March via Intranet bulletin board.

Removed all content apart from home page and intranet bulletin board at 31 March

Completed all content pages on 8 June 2009

Notified of change for 3 weeks prior to launch including an email with instructions on how to navigate

Launched 15 June 2009

Change Management

Summary - Techniques used to create new design

New design & architecture

Affinity diagram

ROT analysis

Heat map use

Open Cardsorting

Closed cardsorting

Map in scopecontent

Observations

Search log analysis

Questions?