CASE STUDY
Establishing governance structures for Communities of Practice and knowledge management systems
The challenge
Our client, a South American oil company, had already worked with WSS Energy to develop an Enterprise Knowledge Management (EKM) system to return value to the business through the dissemination of tacit knowledge. Our client now wanted to establish knowledge management governance structures to allow for the operation and management of different planned EKM initiatives.
Result highlight
18
Stakeholder engagement interviews
3
Interrelated CoP governance structures developed
WSS Energy was able to connect the functionality of predetermined CoPs with specific roles and responsibilities. WSS Energy went on to work with our client to establish KPIs and value assessment metrics and work through the detail of the deployment of the pilot CoP. Lessons from these activities enabled our client to self-manage the deployment and operation of subsequent CoPs themselves.
Related Consulting Services
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Knowledge Management
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Processes Optimisation
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Operating Model
Related Sectors
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Oil and Gas
Our approach
Having already worked with the client, and with other clients in the region, WSS Energy understood both the oil and gas operating environment and the cultural subtleties of our client’s organisation.
With this understanding, and the challenges it might pose for a new EKM system, we were able to navigate our client through processes to specify roles, responsibilities and to establish a deployment roadmap in a highly collaborative manner.
Key activities
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Develop management function and role requirements for the different elements of the EKM. This included engagement with relevant stakeholder groups to explore existing informal and formal knowledge transfer channels that could be integrated into the EKM structure.
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Mapping and organisation design to highlight interconnectivity, dependencies and hierarchy. The outputs were used to specify the governance framework and became a critical communication aid during the deployment phase.
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Establishment of governance and processes to ensure that the EKM was able to operate in a sustainable manner. This included the specification of staff profiles and the identification of a key group of core stakeholders responsible for the success of the EKM.
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Communication to the wider organisation, through a phased and targeted dialogue with participating individuals and groups with specific messaging based around how they stood to benefit from the implementation of the EKM.
