Finding the knowledge projects need

Technical services firm

The firm, which has 70 employees, had fifteen years of project files. Its 45 professionals were looking for approved clauses, lessons learned and deliverable templates, and answers often depended on two experienced people.

Approach

1. 01

   Frame

   The director wanted to reduce search time and speed up the preparation of deliverables. The project was limited to approved documents; each professional remains responsible for what they reuse.

2. 02

   Investigate

   I measured the searches of twelve team members and checked versions, access rights and duplicates, distinguishing a document that was hard to find from information that had never been recorded.

3. 03

   Explain

   Two causes were compared: poor filing, or knowledge held only by experts. An assistant could address the first problem; the second required interviews and validated documentation.

4. 04

   Build

   We compared the existing search engine, a reorganized library and an assistant that cites the passages it uses. The status quo included the time spent with experts.

5. 05

   Test

   Eight users tested 180 questions over four weeks. The thresholds were 95% of answers accurate, sourced and up to date, and 30% time saved. A first pass failed because of outdated versions; after cleanup, 174 of 180 answers met the criteria and search time fell by 35%.

6. 06

   Decide

   The director released $30,000, including $8,000 for strategy. Assisted search started on a limited document collection. A document manager keeps the updates current and checks access rights.

7. 07

   Steer

   The firm tracks search time, source validity and the additional hours actually billed to clients. Added availability with no client demand is recorded as capacity, with no associated revenue.