MIS98 Mindshare Conference Knowledge Management Survey Results
Organisations' profile IT operations Staff turnover Use of Web-tech /Intranets Integrity /codified knowledge
Organisations' profile
	(Click on the illustration to see it larger -click on the browser's `Back' button to return.) This survey was conducted at the MIS98 Mindshare Conference held on 29 to 31 March 1998 at Wirrina Cove Resort in South Australia. It was conducted in conjunction with the keynote session `Preparing for the Knowledge Era' presented by Onno van Ewyk of HCi Consulting. The purpose of the survey was to draw a quick sketch of some indicators of the status of the organisations' knowledge management capabilities, with particular emphasis on their IT operations.
Of the 95 delegates who attended, 32 responded to the questionnaire. The figures shown here give an indication of the size of the organisations surveyed in terms of number of staff, and the size of their IT operations. Nearly half of the organisations represented in the survey are from the Public Sector. The next highest proportion are in the `Other' category. These are mostly `services' organisations. Manufacturing, Distribution, and Finance are almost equally represented. One shortcoming of the survey was that it did not take into account the degree to which organisations have outsourced their IT activities in the recent past. Public sector organisations have outsourced a high proportion of their IT activity. The survey questions did not distinguish between internal and outsourced resources which means that IT Division staff numbers are probably understated.
IT operations
	(Click on the illustration to see it larger -click on the browser's `Back' button to return.) From a Knowledge Management point of view, an IT operation's key resource is the Technical Writer. This role is responsible for capturing and communicating information about computer systems and they way they work, both for the benefit of the user of those systems (user manuals and online help) and for future maintenance and update (systems manuals). It is difficult to determine an optimal ratio of Technical Writers to Software Developers but a rough rule of thumb is 1 to 5. This means that, on average, the organisations surveyed (average ratio 1 to 8) would benefit from greater technical writing resources.
It is important to note that Technical Writers improve the productivity of programmers by relieving them of documentation responsibilities. In a tight market for programmers this can be a critical consideration. Studies have shown that the quality of codification and diffusion of this knowledge is critical to the successful operation of computer systems.They also reveal that better quality documentation (paper and online) reduces the number of Help Desk staff required, reduces software development costs if the writer is involved early (by anticipating user needs), and reduces future software maintenance costs. Technical Writers tend to be used exclusively for software documentation. The IT Division, in common with all other organisational units, needs to codify and diffuse knowledge of its own internal operations in order to manage its knowledge. The findings shown in the illustration below headed `Integrity /codified knowledge' apply equally to the IT Division as to other Divisions.
Staff turnover
	Click on the illustration to see it larger -click on the browser's `Back' button to return.) If knowledge is not consistently codified, then it will be lost to the organisation when employees leave. This means that high staff turnover can lead to high costs as new employees take time to `come up to speed'. The incentive to codify knowledge is high because it allows new employees to be productive faster. This applies to all sources of knowledge, not just documentation (paper and online) for computer systems. It applies to policies and procedures, quality systems, critical reports, technical papers, etc.
The staff turnover statistics collected relate only to IT operations. Surprisingly, for 62% of the organisations surveyed, staff turnover is relatively low at less than 10%pa. This reduces the pressure on the knowledge system to support new employees but it creates another danger - when long term employees do leave they tend to take a wealth of knowledge with them. For 48% of the organisations surveyed, staff turnover is greater than 10%. This means a completely new set of people every 5 to 10 years. If knowledge is not managed well in this environment then a lot of money is being wasted on constant `re-learning' at the individual employee level. It also means a lot of opportunities to improve systems or capitalise on strengths are missed because of employees' lack of `carry-over' knowledge.
Use of Web-tech /Intranets
	(Click on the illustration to see it larger -click on the browser's `Back' button to return.) The paper `Preparing for the Knowledge Era' argued that the current interest in Knowledge Management would not have come about without recent developments in IT, in particular, the World Wide Web and the explosion of Web-based technologies and systems. Paper-based knowledge capture and transfer is simply too inflexible and expensive to support advances in Knowledge Management.
There is no doubt that Web-based technologies have captured people's imaginations and this is supported by the survey findings. A stunning 87% of the respondents' organisations have Intranets in place or under development. Another 10% are planning Intranets. This takes the overall rate of penetration to an amazing 97%. But having the technology is one thing, taking full advantage of it is another. The catchcry here is `content, content, content'. Many organisations are finding that the quality of paper-based knowledge ready for transfer to an Intranet is poor (leaving aside, of course, knowledge that is not yet captured in any form). Further, managing knowledge in an electronic environment to ensure that it has a high level of integrity (and therefore usefulness) is a greater challenge still. Survey findings on the issue of knowledge integrity are shown in the next illustration.
Integrity /codified knowledge
	(Click on the illustration to see it larger -click on the browser's `Back' button to return.) To assess the integrity of current organisational knowledge, respondents were asked to make judgements in terms of five characteristics - accurate, easy to read, easy to find, secure, and controlled (ie up-to-date and authenticated). These are just some of the characteristics which Knowledge Management systems seek to optimise. They were asked to rate these characteristics as `yes' (meaning generally present), `sort of', or `no' (not generally present).
They were asked to rate knowledge currently held in codified form, such as manuals (all types including user manuals, policies and procedures manuals, technical manuals, etc) as well as other sources such as reports and technical papers. The survey showed that only a third of respondents judged their current codified knowledge as accurate and readable. Fewer still judged it to be secure and controlled, and only 10% said that this knowledge was easy to find. These results underscore the significant potential which exists for improved Knowledge Management systems, without even touching on the important issues of knowledge generation and knowledge capture.
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