DNV | KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Retention of Critical Knowledge
lost knowledge
PEOPLE PROJECTS ASSETS
lost knowledge lost knowledge ost knowledge ROCK
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lost knowledge
People. Organisations are potentially vulnerable to the loss of knowledge through retirement, career moves or mobility of staff. This will diminish performance until such time as work is either reorganised or successors become equally productive.
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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Costly mistakes are repeated, as earlier ones were not recorded or analysed
Projects. Organisations risk reinventing the wheel and replicating mistakes if knowledge from projects is not captured, transferred and re-used. Opportunities to build new knowledge and share good practices are lost.
Assets. If not managed carefully, asset knowledge may be lost, resulting in higher lifetime costs, performance gaps or increased exposure to safety risk. Poor asset knowledge utilisation, improvement and hand-over to new owners or operators hampers operational excellence and introduces risk for asset safety and availability.
DNV has developed significant experience in designing, coordinating and embedding programmes to capture and transfer critical knowledge from people, projects and assets for clients.
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Good management practice
The capture and transfer of knowledge should be part of any organisation’s management system. ■ PEOPLE
Do your HR processes pro-actively help to reduce the time-to-competence of successors, ensure your reputation is not damaged through the loss of knowledge and prevent the loss of productivity associated with staff mobility, retirement and career moves?
■ PROJECTS Do your programme and project management procedures ensure that learning from successes and failures is undertaken rigorously and systematically? Can the knowledge accumulated in projects be re-used by current and future projects? ■ ASSETS
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Are you able to access and re-use knowledge of your assets, from the original design intent to current performance? Is this knowledge held in various repositories and by a variety of staff and members of the supply chain?
COST OF IGNORANCE /// Employees spend too much time to search for information and knowledgeable people
Over recent years, DNV has developed robust processes to assess and mitigate associated with lost knowledge. These include the screening and risk assessment of organisations’ experts, knowledge and learning infrastructures focussed on projects and single points of knowledge for assets. DNV deploys a portfolio of tools that support knowledge capture and transfer, involving interviewing, workshop facilitation and video capture, thereby producing knowledge artefacts that are often visual in nature and therefore easy to read, making complex matters accessible for end users. DNV’s perspective is that a Retention Of Critical Knowledge (ROCK) programme should be initiated as a part of ‘good management’ and not as a troubleshooting exercise when for example an expert leaves, a project is faced with a critical issue or when historical records on assets cannot be retrieved or interpreted correctly. The examples provided next show a small selection of tools that illustrates the variety of methods and results that DNV can offer.
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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Good ideas and best practices are not shared, raising costs and missing opportunities
ROCK Toolbox /// a selection of DNV’s ROCK tools for people
Pearls of Wisdom involve the selection of a list of an individual’s contacts, activities and lessons learned. As part of succession planning, this method helps to prioritise and capture key information.
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A Network Map illustrates an expert’s key contacts and their relationships or can be focused on a knowledge area identifying the key actors.
Shadowing is a technique to transfer a specific set of expertise and skills to a successor.
An Audience with... is a session that helps to transfer knowledge through the expert telling stories and anecdotes. Sessions are usually filmed to enable as many people as possible to access the content provided.
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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Loss of critical knowledge due to retirement and mobility of workforce
ROCK Toolbox /// a selection of DNV’s ROCK tools for projects
A Project Chronology captures the key knowledge accumulated over the project’s history to date. This helps to capture memory in a visual way. Conducted in the presence of new staff, this supports induction and accelerates learning.
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The Job Manual is an extensive handover document that will allow project members to understand critical tasks and responsibilities and the resources needed for successful execution of the role.
There are a number of Gateway Reviews that enable project managers to mobilise knowledge already captured in the organisation’s memory and to contact others who can help make projects more effective. Despite its name, this tool can be used to kick-start the various project gateways.
Peer Assists follow a structured, 10-step process in which individuals share an issue or problem for which they are seeking feedback from a number of peers in order to solve problems collectively.
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COST OF IGNORANCE /// 1 or 2 key employees hold crucial knowledge, putting continuity at risk
ROCK Toolbox /// a selection of DNV’s ROCK tools for assets
The Doormat Letter is a checklist that needs to be completed to ensure that all tasks relating to the asset are handed over properly. The letter is created by interviewing key experts.
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A Concept Map breaks down key knowledge areas into their component parts and demonstrates their relationships.
Deep Dive is a recorded, annotated walkthrough of a plant and its assets to mobilise and transfer knowledge and experience to capture specific aspects of a plant’s configuration, using relevant documents like drawings and maps and recording the walk and the commentary.
The Plant lite is a tool to mobilise and transfer knowledge and experience about specific aspects of a plant’s configuration based on a review of using relevant documents like drawings and maps.
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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Knowledge is not readily available at the point of action
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Result: People, projects or assets are scored 1-5
5 4 3 screening questionnaire
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> critical, unique knowledge or skills > critical knowledge and skills > important, semi-documented knowledge and skills > proceduralised, non-mission- critical knowledge and skills > common knowledge and skills
IDENTIFICATION
of knowledge areas at risk
effort to retain knowledge 1
people, project or asset critical knowledge areas
impact of knowledge loss
SCREENING of people, projects or assets for potential loss of knowledge
PHASE 2
PHASE 1
DNV’s systematic approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of knowledge loss
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5 4 3 2 1
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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Employees use outdated and non-validated information in action
PHASE 3
ACTIONS to capture and transfer selected knowledge areas > Advanced ROCK > Intermediate ROCK > Basic ROCK > Standard procedures exist > Acceptable, no action required
action level
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ROCK
toolbox
CAPTURE & TRANSFER
DNV’s systematic approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of knowledge loss
DNV provides the following services that cover all aspects of effective ROCK programmes and will support you in: ■ Screening of people, projects or assets for potential loss of knowledge; ■ Identification of knowledge areas at risk; ■ Selection and execution of actions to capture and transfer knowledge; ■ Recommending IT environments that support easy retrieval through improved document indexing and structuring; ■ Developing a sustainable programme for knowledge retention. Our delivery modes are: ■ Consultancy, programme management, coaching and (in house) training.
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irisdesign.eu
WHAT ARE YOUR COSTS OF IGNORANCE? For more information please contact Rob van der Spek, Director of Knowledge Management Advisory Services /// t +31 (0)6 54781900 /// e rob.van.der.spek@dnv.com, kmservices@dnv.com /// w www.dnv.com/knowledgemanagement