Difference between revisions of "Implementation of a KM system"

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Definition

Implementation of a KM system is Installing a Knowledge Management System within an organization Source: [[]]

Summary

Description

In concordance with the vast literature on knowledge management, plenty of different ways of implementing knowledge management have been proposed to date. There is a general agreement that, like any other initiative within an organization, successful knowledge management implementation requires a proactively managed project (a KM project), containing a number of different steps (sometimes defined as stages) to reach the KM goals. While the details and sequences of these steps may vary widely in different approaches, common principal features become apparent which are critical to the success of the KM project.

Obviously, such general guidelines can only provide a first frame on specifying the KM project. The approach will be strongly influenced by the type of organization, and ultimately by the singularity of the organization itself. This may call for tailoring the KM strategy and the tools deployed to the specific needs of the organization.

IAEA's suggested approach starts from a self-assessment designed to identify the current status of KM with its strengths and weaknesses, and compare it to a desired target level. According to the outcome of that assessment, a KM strategy can be defined, describing the KM goals to be attained, followed by one or more pilot KM projects. The KM project will involve key personnel in management and subject experts, and may well call for assistance from outside experts.

The description of the implementation starts from considering steps in a generic implementation programme condensed from the various implementation approaches mentioned above. Subsequently, approaches specific to different types of organizations, namely Nuclear power plants (NPP), Radioactive waste management organisations (RWM),Research and development (R&D) and technical support (TSO) organisations, Regulatory bodies and Academic organizations are outlined. The KM elements which are of particular importance for the type of organization are emphasized and expanded.

Generic implementation stages in a KM project

For KM projects, a five - stage process is applicable as depicted by Fig. 1..

Fig. 1. Five stage KM implementation process

Stage 1 — Orientation

Orientation involves the understanding of basic KM concepts and the understanding of how KM can help drive change and increase organizational performance. The IAEA has done much to assist in this area and have produced significant reference material to help the initiation and education of managers and practitioners at all levels. In addition to the documentation listed in the References section of this publication, the IAEA has undertaken other initiatives to help with the understanding of KM concepts and the application of best practice. Such initiatives include:

• School of Nuclear Knowledge Management (currently held every year in Trieste, Italy);
• IAEA KM Assist Visits (these are described in more detail in Section 9 of this publication).

It is extremely important that managers and sponsors understand what KM actually is, understand how benefits can be achieved and have a basic understanding of the techniques that can be used to facilitate improvement. Orientation may take several months to organize and deliver. A useful exercise at this stage is to benchmark the current KM maturity of the organization. The IAEA maturity tool discussed in Appendix provides a means of achieving this.

Stage 2 — Strategy formulation

During this stage the organization begins to make plans on how to utilize KM approaches to help deliver the intended improvements or change. A good starting point here is to put together a KM policy or set of policies that will underpin future activities. This is similar to the approach that organizations use to implement formal quality management systems; in fact some organizations extend the existing quality assurance (QA) or human resources (HR) policies to address KM issues. Alternatively, a stand-alone KM policy can be prepared. Both approaches are equally valid and have their own merits. The main aim of this policy stage is to:

• Consolidate initial ideas;
• Communicate these ideas to others in the organization;
• Gain commitment from senior managers;
• Prepare the ground for stage 3 and future stages.

The policy document(s) contain top-level ideas and organizational beliefs but more detail is needed for the overall strategy and approach to be viable. This is best described by the creation of a separate strategy document or business plan that can be used as a means to guide a particular project or a series of future initiatives. This publication will usually be established by a group of senior managers responsible for the initiative and will involve many detailed discussions, meetings and workshops aimed to capture ideas from the main decision makers in the organization. The typical contents of a business plan or strategy document required to ‘kick-start’ a KM initiative or project may comprise:

1. Executive summary;
   • Brief, one page summary of the initiative.
2. Introduction;
   • Describes what the initiative is, why it is needed and why/how applying KM concepts can help the organization. KM terminology should be introduced and explained here.
3. Business opportunity and benefits;
   • Outlines the quantitative and qualitative benefits to be gained from the implementation.
4. Resources;
   • Describes what resources i.e. people, equipment, money, will be needed for the initiative.
5. Outline implementation plan;
   • Describes the approach, methodologies, technical solutions, team responsibilities, external assistance, timescales etc. for implementation.
6. Risk analysis;
   • Considers the main risks of implementation and the mitigation actions needed to address these risks.
7. Appendices;
   • Information required supporting where necessary.

Once available in draft form it is necessary to distribute the document to all participants involved in the process to gain as much support as possible before the KM project launch process begins.

Stage 3 — Design and launch

A successful KM implementation requires a number of prerequisites to be in place at the start of a project. These include, but are not limited to:

• Does the project align with organizational needs?
• Is the purpose of the project clearly defined?
• Are the benefits understood and well communicated?
• Is there top-level management support/commitment?
• Is there a senior management sponsor?
• Is a project manager assigned?
• Are resources made available?
• Is there sufficient ‘know how’ in the project team?
• Is the knowledge sharing culture of the organization understood and receptive to the needs of the project?

Much of the above should have already been discussed and agreed during phase 2, however, there may have been changes or a significant delay in starting the project since phase 2 and some of these aspects may need to be revisited. A project specific plan should be developed which describes the project aims and objectives together with a timed plan of tasks and details of resource requirements. The template discussed in para 7.1.2 can be developed and used for this purpose. The project should be run as an internal change initiative requiring buy-in and support from top-level management. The exact details of the plan will vary from project to project but will need to reflect the benefits sought and the KM tools and methodologies to be used. Many initiatives at this stage involve the concept of a pilot project, i.e. a project with limited scope used to test the tools and methodologies before a full roll out commences.

Stage 4 — Expand and support

Stage 4, ‘Expand and support’, builds on the project launch in Stage 3 and continues with the further implementation of KM in the organization. If a pilot project is adopted in Stage 3, then lessons learned from this project are important inputs to this stage. Expanding the KM capability of the organization can be done in a number of different ways, e.g.:

• Roll out of the tools and methodologies used in Stage 3 into other, additional areas or departments of the R&D organization;
• Extension of the KM tools and methodologies;
• Implementation of new or additional KM tools and methodologies.

This expansion of functionality will invariably lead to the requirement for additional budget and resources. Further support from senior management will also be needed to ensure that the initiative is correctly focused and does not falter. If there are multiple KM initiatives to deliver in parallel it may be necessary to consider the adoption of a ‘programme management’ approach. This considers the cross project links between the various initiatives and addresses aspects such as interdependencies and priorities. Programme management is a topic in its own right and is outside the scope of this publication.

Stage 5 — Institutionalize knowledge management

This stage is reached when multiple KM projects have been realized after many years of effort. KM techniques and approaches become a normal part of organizational activities and can be found, for example, integrated into the QA system (see Section 8). Cultural issues that may have existed following the introduction of KM projects will have been resolved and the organization will have a positive view of KM and its benefits. To reach this stage is not the end for KM in the organization but rather the beginning as with any other process; KM becomes part of the integrated management system and needs to be maintained within the cycle of continuous improvement.

Governance and project reporting structures

Governance for a KM project relates to consistent management, implementing cohesive policies, establishing appropriate methods/tools and providing the means of empowerment for a given area of responsibility. These should be derived and communicated via the strategy documents and project plans described above in stages 2 and 3.

The set up and reporting aspects for a KM project are very important and also relate to governance issues. Figure 1 shows the typical reporting structure that might apply to any kind of R&D organization looking to implement a KM project. The project sponsor is a key member of top management with decision making powers inherent in his or her main role.

Fig. 1. Typical KM project reporting structure

The IT development team and Process development team typically come from the IT Department and QA Department respectively (but this need not be the case). Process development is an important aspect as most KM projects will result in a new way of working for many employees.

The Implementation team should come from the area(s) of the organization where the project is to be implemented. This could be department, group or location based. This is a very important representative group as the project success or failure will dependent on how well the recipient group implement and derive benefit from the initiative.

A Phase review team is an independent team of senior managers who scrutinize the project and ensure alignment with the R&D business. They meet on a regular basis (perhaps 3–4 times during the duration of the project).

Some KM projects may also require specialist input from other departments such as Human Resources, Training, and Administration etc. It is important to select the most appropriate team structure and individuals to meet each project’s specific needs.

Avoiding common pitfalls

Insufficient management commitment

Incorrect business alignment

Underestimating resource requirements

Failing to address cultural issues

Poor communication

Underestimating implementation timescales

Source: Knowledge Management for Nuclear Research and Development Organizations

Organization-type specific implementation

In the following, guidelines are provided for implementing KM in nuclear organizations, concentrating on the specific challenges, the key elements required, and a road map for the implementation of the KM strategies. Differences in IT infrastructure, applications, organizational and national culture, language, and other variations are adressed by tailored approaches and tools.

NKM for nuclear power plants (NPP)

NKM for radioactive waste management organisations (RWM)

NKM for research and development (R&D) and technical support (TSO) organisations

NKM for regulatory bodies

NKM for academic organizations

Description 3

This section does not attempt to describe a complete nuclear facility Information technology programme, but rather serves to review the specific requirements of NPP information technology solutions to support a process-oriented NKM programme.

Needs

Before any information technology solutions may be considered, the terms and definitions of the basic elements into which information occurs must be understood.

Data

Information

Review and apply definitions of data, information, and knowledge

The acquisition of data and information, and the resulting knowledge that these two entities may produce is greatly influenced by the facility that the enterprise has with regard to information technology. IT systems cannot be relied upon to capture or create knowledge, but they often accumulate a great store of data and information coincident to the daily work and operation of the NPP. The degree and proficiency to which the NPP utilizes technology for design information and work management may determine the quality of information for knowledge management which can be acquired. In addition to coincidental information and data and implementation of specific knowledge management software and ‘expert systems’ is another way to acquire and evaluate data and information for knowledge management.

Identify required NKM software functionality

This section describes some of the functionality and general characteristics which should be considered when selecting process-oriented NKM software solutions. The specific functionality for knowledge management software depends on two criteria: the required functions and features for the software to fulfil, and specific organization needs and work culture considerations. Software designed for knowledge management emphasizes the ability to capture information from users as an integral part of daily work, without significant additional effort on the part of the worker.

• Connection — the solution should routinely and seamlessly connect all affected users. Accessibility is particularly important for knowledge management applications to ensure the widest possible audience of users and to help minimize lost opportunities.
• Repository — the way that information is stored by the NKM system is very important for later compatibility and usability, both from a technical perspective and by organization of the raw data. The repository may not be the final storage location for the information.
• Validation — the solution should be able to apply elementary data validation and NKM business rules to validate input immediately upon entry, as well as be able to apply more sophisticated rules during data post-processing.
• Integration — the ultimate goal of knowledge gathered for an NKM programme from processes is evaluation of diverse information with other related information, as well as overall analysis in the context of the facility. Integration is thus a key element of NKM technology, with major License holders’ other IT applications not only referring to technical issues, such as data formats and IT infrastructure, but also including user interfaces, context, templates and format of results. Successful integration depends heavily on software and data compatibility, discussed below.
• Mechanisms — the processes by which people are brought together with machines for the purpose of capturing and transferring knowledge must be carefully matched to the software, but also the work culture and techniques for capture of legacy knowledge. For example, handling senior staff members will require different processes and likely a different level of computer literacy than capturing newer information from young staff members.
• Software compatibility — the widest possible compatibility potential should be included in the criteria for any dedicated NKM software, as the ultimate repository for most facility knowledge will be someplace else. Industry standards with low ‘footprint’, such as open standards like XML and other metadata-based architectures generally have the highest compatibility and are preferred if available.
• Knowledge templates — software solutions for NKM should feature ‘templates’, or standard guides, for different types of activities that can be a source of technical and process knowledge.

Identify IT Project sponsors and responsibilities

A successful NKM programme will require the identification and development of one or more project sponsors. These sponsors should have sufficient authority and influence in the enterprise to be able to support the facility in NKM requirements for setting up programmes, acquiring technology and affecting procedural and process requirements to ensure that NKM goals and objectives are met.

Statutory responsibilities

The nuclear facility has statutory requirements for capture and management of data and information produced coincident to facility processes. These originate from regulator, industry standard and best practice and they are usually contained in the facility Quality Assurance plan, facility programmes and procedures, as well as owner or corporate directives concerning management of data and information technology.

Programmatic requirements

An NKM programme should be developed and approved by top-level management in the enterprise or facility. Ideally, the NKM programme should also be identified in mandating facility documents such as QA Plan and Facility Programmes, as well as supporting procedures. In addition, related facility procedures should be reviewed for enhancements or additions to support NKM. The programme should also describe, if only in general terms, the functions and features to be expected in a technology solution for NKM, and how best to utilize technology to support NKM.

Appointments

License holder management should appoint key NKM sponsors and staff, and facility and operating appoint positions to be filled to execute key NKM programme roles, such as coordinators, facilitators, training, etc.

Identify user community and needs

In order to develop the best technology solution to support NKM, the following questions should be considered and evaluated for design, selection or development of an NKM technology:

• Who: Conceivably, everybody in the facility or enterprise can contribute to collecting information for NKM and may therefore become part of the user community.
• When: Knowledge is best collected as it is created. Thus, knowledge from management is best gained during an organization change, knowledge from engineering during a design change, knowledge from operations during operating incidents.
• What: A large volume of knowledge may potentially be acquired from any process from within the POKM system.
• Where: Knowledge potentially exists anywhere facility work has been performed, and may or may not have been documented and evaluated. Much of it may still be resident in worker’s minds and must be transferred to a technology platform, or risk permanent loss.
• Which: Technology support for the capture, processing, and evaluation of data and information, and converting it into ‘knowledge’, is a key strategy of the POKM approach.
• How: By combining the factors discussed above, the POKM IT approach is developed to implement ‘how’ POKM is executed by the technology system.

Existing IT infrastructure

Existing IT strategy and plans

The Information Technology organization in the nuclear facility will have an IT strategy, Target architecture and the facility Information management system (IMS), which form the overall path forward for facility technology projects and deployments. This strategy affects most every aspect of technology and computing in the facility, and may be decided by the facility itself or may be mandated by the facility license holder, owner or corporate interest.

Because of this, the NKM technologies that are selected or created for the facility must be able to be deployed within the facilities IT architecture. The key constraints in this selection are usually two: which hardware Central Processing Unit (CPU) technology is selected (the ‘platform’), and which Operating System is selected for implementation on the platform. These two choices will strongly govern all subsequent possibilities and choices for networks, application software and even data formats which can be used on the system. Table 2 Figure xx below shows some of the relationships of typical nuclear facility software applications.

TABLE 2. 3-TIER LICENSE HOLDERS INFORMATION MODEL

Before finalizing the specifications, the NKM software concepts and project plan should be presented to the facility IT organization. The decision should be made of whether to ‘buy or build’, and budget and economic plans should be reviewed with IT management. If it is decided to purchase software, or outsource the development, the vendor selected may be controlled not only by reputation, quality, past products or size alone, but may also be subject to an approved vendor’s list or other criteria for selection as a facility vendor. Since compatibility is particularly important for NKM functionality, the IT organization will evaluate the selected solution(s) with the facility’s current IT applications inventory.

IT techniques for acquiring external and contractor data

The facility license holder likely has quality procedures for interfacing with contractors and vendors for the purpose of exchanging information in the course of engineering design, procurement or other operational services. The IT organization is sometimes involved in this process for technical purposes. To implement the knowledge management programme, procedural and technical requirements must be developed and implemented in external vendor contracts to support delivery of data and information created from outside of the facility. Contracts with vendors should include:

• Ensure requirements for sharing of data, information and knowledge are included in vendor contracts. This includes work process milestones and ‘hold points’ where data is to be captured and published back the facility.
• Make sure external contractors have a connection to the system. For active, real-time (PLM) systems, this connection must be continuous and reliable.
• Make sure contractors understand what is required from them, in terms of source, type, format, content and delivery time for data and information.

Legacy facilities, life cycle and paper dependency

Nuclear facilities must evaluate knowledge management strategy and planning in terms of what stage in the facility lifecycle they are currently in. For example, a legacy facility nearing the end of service life having the bulk of its knowledge residing on paper-based documentation and a very senior, long-term working staff, may wish to adopt a different approach to NKM than a new facility which is still in the design stage, completely technology-driven information systems and just beginning to hire new staff members.

Older, legacy facilities are a particularly important source of knowledge from a transferability standpoint (e.g. for decommissioning, use at other similar facilities, etc.). They represent thousands of man-years of operating experience and offer a great amount of history and lessons learned for new facilities. The following list describes those knowledge management technology pre-requisites that are the most applicable to older facilities. In order for paper, microfilm or other physical legacy record media and documents will require optical scanning and digitizing (creating electronic image) and reading through optical character conversion (OCR). The information may then be processed through technology solutions for content, relationships and context in an NKM environment. The NKM project must review these records and may wish to grade or filter by importance, age or relevance.

Processing of old/obsolete IT systems and storage Media usually have large amounts of data and information stored in older technologies which may prove difficult to extract or even read data. These can include data and information stored on media that can longer be read, reading devices no longer supported by contemporary computers, and even software and file formats that are no longer supported. The usual life span for a storage technology solution (hardware platform, operating system, application and read/write mechanism together) is nominally ten years (five for magnetic tape). Records stored exclusively on electronic or optical media to be refreshed at some interval.

Capture of Latent legacy knowledge requires identification of Latent knowledge that is not written or digitized, so it is the hardest to identify, measure and ultimately collect. This also makes it the difficult to quantify cost, return on investment and real benefit.

NKM technology project planning and scheduling

A project to develop and implement a technology-based NKM programme will require a plan and schedule to coordinate the process with most facility activities and organizations. The process will include not only the selection and deployment of technology solutions, but procedural and organizational changes impacting the facility and its work.

Define schedule and milestones

The overall schedule and start/end points of the project must be determined, as goals for completion. This schedule loading is based on the project scope, or activities to be completed, within the time frame. If the end point is not satisfactory, additional resources may be added, the scope and/or work effort reduced, or a combination of these. The project should also have definite milestones, where project progress is reviewed, interim results evaluated, and some increment or portion of the system is completed and may be tested and deployed before moving forward or general quality hold points to verify system operability and satisfaction of the system requirements. Milestones may also be tied to financial events such as payments or user acceptance of the system. Milestones that are tied to system demonstrations or visible deliverables also increase management and user confidence in the viability and success of the system.

Define acceptable risk

Like all projects involving the expenditure of time, money, and other resources, there is risk to be calculated for each phase of the project as well as the NKM programme as a whole. The risk calculation process includes defining risk for all possible approaches and outcomes, including the ‘null set’ of risk resulting from doing nothing. A risk assessment should then be conducted and reviewed by management, with the intent of using this as a basis for approval of project phases and the particular approach and plan to be followed. Risk can be expressed in terms of safety, cost, technology life, collateral benefits, public relations, regulator and state, or client, investor and owner relations, as well as other factors.

Finding practical solutions

When considering the requirements, needs and risks for the development of an NKM Programme and project, the most practical solutions offering the best economies and results for a given cost should be sought using the strategies described in Section 3.

Evaluate industry and facility/License holder best practices

The NKM programme should investigate and research industry best practices very early on in the programme planning process. In addition to technology selection, industry practices such as graded approaches, criteria for critical knowledge and handling of legacy information should be reviewed and applied to the facility NKM programme as they apply or can contribute to the Programme Consider joining industry focus groups and CoP’s to review and ask questions about technologies and how they were utilized in NKM programmes.

Measuring results

During the development of the NKM technology solution, certain benchmarks and standards should be utilized to determine if results are meeting original goals and expectations of the programme and software solutions. Assessment approaches are presented in Section 6.

Evaluate cost/benefit and return on investment

When preparing the NKM Project proposal and plan to present to management and the facility IT organization, the feasibility review should include a quantification of the cost/benefit and estimated return on investment, like would be required of any significant capital project undertaken by the facility or owner.

Quantification of short-term benefits for a knowledge-based system that may require years to demonstrate a tangible benefit requires a strong understanding of the concepts of NKM by management and investors, as well as commitment on the part of the facility owner. In addition, the use of milestones, progress demonstrations and other tangible results can greatly reassure management that progress is being made and money is well-spent toward the goal of meeting the technology requirements for NKM. Some of the elements of this evaluation are described below.

Fitness-for-purpose

NKM technology solutions should be carefully evaluated for fitness-for-purpose. A true understanding of the intention of the NKM solution to be selected, and the true expectations for the technology, will greatly improve the ability to select the correct solution for the task.

The user interface (UI)

This should be a serious consideration in selection of solutions. This aspect of the software is so important to overall relevance and success of the technology solution that, if a suitable interface cannot be identified for an otherwise best-in-breed solution, a ‘front-end’ interface may be considered to be developed in-house and utilized in lieu of the original.

Evaluate available commercial solutions

The ‘Buy or Build’ decision will be affected by software availability, but may be more influenced by the IT organization’s culture and management mandates. Some facility IT organizations have very strong and active software programming teams while other IT organizations routinely purchase or outsource the development of software, and consist mainly of analysts and systems staff to support application design and manage infrastructure.

Customization

In the course of reviewing approaches and alternatives for technology solutions, the decision to purchase or develop software in-house (‘build or buy’) should be explored. If commercial software is considered, the degree to which the software must be customized (if at all) must be evaluated in terms of the facility NKM project, integration and functionality requirements. It should also be considered the effect that customization will have on future license terms and ability to apply periodic version upgrades or updates for the software from the manufacturer.

Total cost of ownership

Most hardware, software and technology solutions are evaluated on the basis of total cost of ownership (TCO), which includes not only purchase cost but periodic maintenance and annual service contracts, as well as version upgrades and other software lifecycle events. TCO consideration also considers an estimate of the total service life of the software before obsolescence.

New technology and simplification of IT and networks

Information technology is changing and improving daily, and capabilities not possible only a few years (or even months) ago are available now. Because of this, it is paramount for the NKM programme to work closely with the facility IT organization, not only to ensure the latest technologies and products are considered, but to also evaluate some new technology that, while promising, may be too new, untested, or just not quite ready for ‘prime time’. To support this, the following should be considered:

• Improvements in knowledge capture and publication;
• Integration strategy for candidate solution(s) and known limits;
• Strategy and plans for user acceptance;
• Front work and publicity user involvement;
• Training;
• User feedback;
• Pilot project and prototyping;
• Access and security.

ANNEX EXAMPLES

Refer to Annexes IV, V, VIII AND IX VII and VIII ????Annex for Sample KM technology scenarios (mini KM portals) (Frantisek Siegel) for example IT Solutions, Portals and Tools case studies.

Description 4

Implementation overview

Knowledge management is an integral part of a nuclear operating organization’s overall management system, not as a separate, stand-alone programme. In POKM, each knowledge management project is defined and developed around an organizational mission and process with a rationale and objectives for improving performance. It also maintains the overall repository for use at any future time. POKM allows progressive organizational and individual learning to occur in the form of process designs, process changes, case histories and lessons learned. POKM can also receive new capability through benchmarking (see Appendix I) or influences from Communities of Practice (see Appendix II).

Leadership/sponsorship

Leadership/sponsorship is the most important enabler of a successful POKM initiative because support from the top is critical to gain overall employee buy-in and ultimately the success of the approach. Top management should be interested in NKM because:

• Knowledge can give senior management the best opportunity for an effective leadership role;
• Members of the board and plant senior managers can reach out together applying NKM excellence to leader by example in trusting employees and giving them a sense of accountability.

Senior management should make sure that when implementing NKM the following supporting strategies and programmes are in place:

• A communication strategy;
• A workforce planning strategy;
• A human performance improvement programme;
• Strategies for knowledge transfer and retention;
• An effective process is established that clearly defines expectations for procedural compliance.

Senior management must ‘Live leadership’ in order to achieve employee — based POKM results. This concept is illustrated by Fig. 11 below.

FIG. 11. Leadership portfolio.

Leadership’s support for ownership and organizational culture

Senior management is also responsible for:

• An organizational culture promoting the building, transferring, retaining and using knowledge is developed and reinforced;
• All managers ‘own’ the POKM residing within their area of responsibility;
• Self-assessment and external benchmarking are applied to trend and improve performance; and
• Managers have established and support a continuous learning environment.

Systems thinking

Leaders must further be committed to ‘Systems thinking’; how does the overall system of processes work, and how is KM embedded within that system? This is conceptually illustrated in Fig. 12.

FIG. 12. Achieving the highest levels of ownership.

Road map implementation phases

In order to establish an NKM-culture and effectively implement POKM, senior management should implement POKM in stages. The example presented applies four phases as follows:

• Visioning phase;
• Planning phase;
• Execution phase; and
• Ongoing phase.

All tasks in each phase represent ‘End States’ that are reached overtime by use of a ‘Road Map’ and application of change management methods facilitated by application within each Road Map step in Fig. 13 below.

FIG. 13. NKM implementation Road Map.

Visioning phase

In the vision phase top management sponsors select key leaders who meet then together to establish the Vision. This important step sets the tone for conduct of POKM implementation. It also provides leaders with an early opportunity to begin supporting by example specific NKM expectations, approaches and key enablers such as in supporting a knowledge sharing culture.

Sponsorship

The sponsor(s) are the leaders who authorize and oversee the POKM implementation. Sponsors insure the initiative is property budgeted and staffed for success. The CEO of the nuclear operating organization should personally approve the implementation of the POKM system. This is most easily done by issuing a ‘New management order’ along with a personal communication to all employees. This order constitutes the policy that senior management is also committed to the POKM vision. The communication of the vision should include clearly defining POKM.

The definition of process oriented knowledge management (POKM) is: An integrated approach, based on processes within the context of an overall managed system for identifying, acquiring, transforming, developing, disseminating, using, sharing and preserving knowledge to achieving specified objectives. Knowledge management helps an organization, and the associated process owners, to gain insight and understanding from its own experience as well as from other process owners within their associated Communities of Practice.

Planning with staff and key suppliers

After the vision has been established a management team should be selected for development of the POKM implementation plan. This team should include management stakeholders as well as key suppliers who currently provide services as well as those suppliers who will be performing POKM implementation roles. Given the vision, the management team should:

• Establish the preliminary overall objectives and priorities of the POKM initiative;
• Create the common understanding of the main objectives of POKM within the senior management;
• Create the common understanding of nuclear safety within the senior management;
• Establish what information and data are to be established and maintained within the Book of Knowledge;
• Define strategies for human performance and for empowering NPP knowledge building; and
• Determine specific objectives to establish POKM culture.

Name process owners

Next based on the objectives developed, the process owners should be formally assigned for each process. This establishes the authority for process development, integration role and implementation approval authority.

Strategy and vision

Once the process owners have been established, an expanded project team should be selected by the process owners for completion of the visioning phase. The expanded team should be oriented to the new strategy and vision. This means the team roles have been made clear as to what part each team member will play and how the team is expected to transform existing functional roles into new process-oriented roles by implementation of a change process (Where are we now, Where are we going and How can we get there?).

Survey and Business Case

Next, the NPP should complete the IAEA NKM survey and do a preliminary assessment of where the most value is likely to be realized through application of POKM. This forecasted improvement should be documented in a ‘Business Case’ to help identify benefits for NPP staff. Achievement of the Business Case results will be dependent on a number of critical factors such as ongoing management sponsorship, application of constructive feedback during implementation as well as achieving a high degree of cooperation within the implementation team and employees overall with trying and accepting the new NKM methods selected.

Map culture path

Having determined specific objectives to establish POKM culture, the implementation team should identify characteristics of desired behavior that should be positively reinforced. Then as work is performed each day, the new behaviors should consistently be embedded into work processes, peer observations and management oversight. Also management should be giving clear and strong signals that safety in the NPP is the final success and that it is more important than a purely financial success. A strong knowledge sharing culture is also developed by making all work at the NPP ‘transparent to employees’. This means the team must validate and publish all the relevant management functions descriptions and procedures as well as establish open access for all essential and relevant information to NPP staff. Employees should also receive regular feedback as to how they are doing in the knowledge culture transformation.

Planning phase

In the planning phase the team begins with the preliminary objectives and assessments establishes more detailed plans for actual implementation.

Designate NKM leadership and conduct orientation training

The first planning step is to designate all process, sub-process, activity and task owners and then to conduct a training course for them to understand job roles, data sources and the overall project plan including a timeline for the remaining phases. The training should be conducted by the sponsors and process owners and be supported by key suppliers if required. This educates the team and also provides a good opportunity for questions and feedback. Once the team has been training, additional orientation training should be provided to all employees prior to implementation of any process changes affecting their job roles.

Establish POKM model and NKM base technology platform

Once the training is complete, the actual POKM processes should be finalized and the new technology platform(s) should be selected for use. This begins to establish the ‘to be’ processes and tools for configuration by the implementation team. Whenever possible, each new process should be reviewed and approved for testing by a member of the responsible management organization, a member of the technology group familiar with the related tool functionality and a member of the implementation team who is responsible for the NKM attributes of the process.

A summary of all required knowledge is referred to as a ‘Book of knowledge’ (BOK). NKM is a long-term commitment due to the overall length of time necessary for development designs, construction, operations and decommissioning. The BOK may be thought of as a way of identifying the NKM scope in terms of the nuclear life cycle. NKM tools are also needed for each topic area as well.

The configuration management process is very important in order to carry forward very important design basis information to facilitate and maximize NKM re-use.

Configuration management is the engineering process where a systematic approach is applied to the correlation of the plant design basis and engineering design changes, the physical plant content and equipment (including components and parts), and the associated documentation. When these three aspects of engineering design agree and are synchronized by content and time, they are said to be in ‘Equilibrium’ [11].

BOK requirement guidelines come from many sources including regulators, standards organizations, reactor designers, architect-engineering company, nuclear suppliers, company training requirements and other guideline affecting people, technology and equipment. They also: — Create the common understanding of reviewing and self-assessment of the existing situation and gaps of the NPP within the senior management; — Define the stages of excellence in managing the nuclear operating organization.

FIG. 14. Example Book of Knowledge Concept

Refer to Fig. 14 for an example of information and data that may be included in the Book of Knowledge from the configuration management process;

• Using a technology platform will require a new discipline by employees for following ‘rules’ to be sure all knowledge requirements are understood and also that data, records procedures and similar elements are consistently deposited in the ‘Book of Knowledge’ and maintained as they change in the future;
• The technology platform must consist of hardware and software tools for implementation of information technology (SS001) (office computing, technical computing, process computing, telecommunications) assets as well as information management (SS003) assets (procedures, drawing and other records for use, storage retrieval, archive and destruction).

BOK major topics occurring during the ‘Life Cycle’:

• Nuclear research and development;
• NPP conceptual design;
• NPP design and engineering;
• New plant procurement and materials manufacturing;
• New plant construction, start-up/commissioning;
• Operations and maintenance;
• Refurbishment/capital modifications;
• Decommissioning.

Once the BOK goals and structure have been established, a KM capture process can be created to locate data and place it into the KM system. An example of such a process appears below in Fig. 15. Each ‘channel’ represents a specific method and circumstance for capturing knowledge. After each capture event a verification step insures the data is correct and in the proper content. Finally the knowledge is processed by the KM system as determined by the needs of the organization.

FIG. 15. Example book of knowledge capture process.

Assess NKM processes

Next each process, sub-process, activity and task owner should conduct an assessment of current capability and select appropriate NKM strategies that are needed for implementation of POKM. This task is led by the process owners. Create the common understanding of reviewing and self-assessment of the existing situation and gaps of the NPP within the senior management.

Change management plan and align to NKM industry partners

Once the assessments and NKM strategies are selected the implementation team should construct a detailed change management plan to integrate and set priorities for the transition to POKM. The plan forms the basis of the actual work schedule of the transition with a goal of doing ‘first things first’ and also to be sure the most efficient use is being made of NPP resources. One strategy that can save resources is to align the NKM effort to similar work done elsewhere in the nuclear industry. This means the NPP is encouraged to use industry organizations and other practioners of POKM whenever possible to assist with obtaining outside sources for NKM materials, tools and methods that have already been determined to be good or best practices. Sources could be other NNPs in the region or specific practices identified by organizations such as IAEA, INPO or WANO. Also in some cases suppliers engaged can offer existing solutions for evaluation that might result in lower implementation cost and or a reduced time to implement. Next the team creates a long range plan which is high level schedule for the implementation. This plan is expected to take several years and the actual time to complete will depend on the resources invested, how many changes are required, the amount of teamwork that can be sustained and also how many knowledge strategies can be adopted from external sourced and how many strategies are developed from within. The long range plan should be adjusted periodically to account for actual progress and any changes in management objectives. Finally an implementation method should be documented and adopted by the team. This should consider all factors required to create and implement a fully integrated set of work processes as follows:

• Define all tasks, reviews and decision models;
• Establish how information should flow;
• Establish measures of efficiency and effectiveness;
• Create and approve job-descriptions and qualifications required for all employees;
• Outline all NPP functions and procedures that should be included in a steady state operation as well as emergency responsibilities and methods.

Once the change management plan, long range plan and project methods for operation are complete, a detailed communications plan is developed to support it throughout implementation. Topics employees are most interested in things like: ‘What are we doing next?’, ‘How will it affect me?’ The communications can be distributed in many ways including executive meetings, supervisor briefings, newsletters and company intranet tools. Employees should also be reminded that the knowledge manager of the plant is the CNO; also that CEO and CNO are managing the most expensive resource in the plant — the knowledge, skills and expertise needed to run the plan safely and efficiently. Awareness to plant safety can also be reinforced by understanding the consequences of mismanaging NKM could be in the billions.

Performing phase

In the performing phase, the most important processes are implemented for commencement of POKM. It is not possible to implement all processes at once however a few can be deployed to create the basic NKM functions and then the remainder can be introduced later in the ongoing phase. Senior management communicates the benefits of knowledge-sharing within teams. The emphasis is that ‘We all get the profit and benefit’. Also a key point is that ‘We is more important than You or Me’ and that NPP performance will usually demonstrate how well knowledge is being shared. Financial rewards should be linked to knowledge-sharing. Also improved plant safety should be viewed as receiving a bonus from the regulator. Managers also need to ‘Walk the talk’ concerning NKM behaviours and communicate their scores by management.

NKM process alignment

Create a work breakdown structure for tracking cost and performance measures for each process envisioned to be in place at the end of the implementation. Establish process design and integration points for the following high-value processes that will be implemented first:

1. Business Services — business planning, budgeting, workforce planning, process costing and overall cost and performance tracking (see Ref. [12]);
2. Licensing — integrate the regulatory and other legal requirements and standards to the business framework;
3. Human resources — Establish job roles for all staff in the context of processes as well as an establish a way to maintain all roles current as process requirements change;
4. Training — establish methods for training and development of all plant staff with emphasis on operations, maintenance and engineering as a first priority;
5. Industrial Safety — implements a process to protect NPP staff from work-related accidents and other hazards;
6. Operations — develop the core process for NPP operations to govern reactor start-up, shutdown and at-power operations. Certify staff using the training, human resources and licensing processes;
7. Emergency Planning — establish NPP emergency roles and implement an emergency plan to prepare for this contingency;
8. Performance Improvement — integrate capability for corrective action, self-assessment, data trending, human performance, behaviour observations, benchmarking and industry operating experience sub-processes;
9. Configuration Management — capture and maintain the NPP design basis and link the basis to all plant technical requirements;
10. Information technology — establish technology infrastructure (see Section 4);
11. Information management — given the configuration management requirements and the established information technology infrastructure, establish a process for managing all NPP information (see Ref. [13]);
12. Work management — establish an end-to-end process for conducting all NPP work for both on-line and outage conditions. This contains maintenance staff roles;

(13) Materials and services — establish a process for procuring materials and services that support the work management process (see Ref. [14]).

Portal design

Implement a knowledge portal (see Ref. [15]) and connect it to the information technology infrastructure and the information management tools. A knowledge capture tool is an essential element of the portal functionality (refer to Fig. 15). In the early implementation stage priority should be given to capturing critical knowledge to staff members near retirement.

Start NKM processes

Implement the processes described in 4.6.1 above, preferably in the order listed, especially if this is a new NPP. Another order may be preferable to an existing NPP.

Begin NKM benchmarking and CoPs

Using the performance improvement process established above, encourage process owners to begin comparing their process performance with other facilities. Coordinate benchmarking requirements through the performance improvement process and the business services process.

Cost and performance measures

Begin collecting cost and performance data using the business services process. Consider joining the Electric Utility Cost Group (EUCG) (see Ref. [16]).

Performance management

Begin overall performance management of new processes using the performance improvement process in conjunction with cost and performance measures. This can be done for example by providing data to the EUCG, a non-profit utility organization specifically designed for this performance management facilitation role. The NPP can also consider the benefits of joining one or more Communities of Practice (see Appendix III) to gain process management experience from NPPs engaged in similar activities. As performance assessments are completed the NPP can then begin to implement improvements to the existing processes as well as to begin to compile ‘Lessons learned’ for others. These lessons can be shared via the industry operating experience process or communities of practice.

Ongoing phase

In the ongoing phase the remaining processes are implemented and a continuous improvement cycle is implanted.

Continue implementation

Implement the remaining processes for POKM. These should include:

1. Security — establishes nuclear security for the NPP site including physical infrastructure, monitoring and alarm systems and staff qualifications;
2. Chemistry — implements primary and secondary chemistry control as well as environmental controls for plant releases and the management of effluents at the site boundary;
3. Radiation protection — implements radiation protection controls for NPP staff and qualify the radiation protection staff to manage those requirements;
4. Radioactive waste management — establishes methods for minimizing, collecting, processing, storing and ultimately disposition of all forms of radioactive waste;
5. Nuclear fuel — establishes a process for ordering, receiving, storing, loading, unloading and ultimately disposition of nuclear fuel;
6. Fire protection — establishes methods for preventing fires at the NPP including methods for safety conducting welding, cutting, grinding or other industrial burning techniques required to maintain the NPP. Also establish staff roles and methods for combating any type of fire at the NPP;
7. Internal and external communications — implement an NPP communications plan as well as a supporting process for keeping communication relevant to NPP staff as well as external stakeholders and members of the public;
8. Industry trade associations — establish methods for joining and maintaining productive relationships with external industry organizations, trade associations and similar organizations in order to share knowledge;
9. Non-nuclear facilities management — implements a process for maintaining non-nuclear facilities on site but external to the nuclear structures. This process should operate similar to work management but it may be less rigorous and have staff with different roles to carry out execution;
10. Equipment reliability — establishes a criticality rating for all NPP equipment. Implement a preventive maintenance optimization plan incorporating both predictive and preventive maintenance. Establishes the life cycle plans for all plant structures, systems and components. Integrates these programme elements to the performance improvement process, the configuration management process and the business plan to create an overall equipment reliability process. Providing oversight using a system health team staffed by all process stakeholders and chaired by the ER process owner.

Ongoing NKM benchmarking

With all processes now implemented, the NPP should begin to assess performance with the performance improvement process beginning with a periodic self-assessment of all programmes and processes. This should include invitations to externals peers for participation in self-assessments and also by having NPP staff participate in self-assessments at other NPPs. When performance issues occur that cannot be resolved internally, external benchmarking on focused is topics may be required. This is an ongoing process.

CoP case studies

By participating in CoP activities the NPP should receive case studies in problem resolution or change management transformations. After a suitable time for POKM to take root, the NPP should consider making contributions to these case studies as well.

Continuous improvement

Continuous CoP involvement

With a more mature POKM, the NPP can extend and deepen participation in CoPs including encouraging the process owners to strong participants and eventually leaders within CoPs. This knowledge growth will provide increasing benefit to the NPP as well as enhance the career growth and individual knowledge of the CoP participants. Also the improved knowledge levels attained can assist the process owner in achieving a more effective role at the NPP in training and mentoring of NPP staff. Monitoring and continuous improvement depends greatly upon: — Having senior management involved to monitor for progress and take an active role in managing emerging issues; — Progress made in implementing and continuously improving the integration of all management tasks and functions should be a primary goal; — Leaders should be under the CNO or Chief Engineering Officer, as this person has a direct role in management of all knowledge assets; — Some organizations refer to this role as the Chief Knowledge Officer.

Ongoing implementation summary

Figures 16 and 17 show examples of how to maintain the POKM framework once implementation has begun. Figure 16 illustrates how new information from the regulator or other sources should be evaluated with respect to the POKM system and Figure 17 depicts how new NKM information should be evaluated by the NPP organization.

FIG. 16. Ongoing phase: Sharing the knowledge in the industry

FIG. 16. Ongoing phase: sharing the knowledge in the industry.

Note: Arrows are equal to the direction of knowledge-transfer and people-transfer.

FIG. 17. Performing phase example — knowledge and the organization.

FIG. 17. Performing phase example — knowledge and the organization.

Note: Arrows on Fig. 16 are equal to the direction of implementation of knowledge transfer.

POKM end result

Following POKM implementation the organization will have in use a KMS defined by Section 3. Continuous improvement should then be used to upgrade POKM capabilities using increasingly advanced approaches also described in Section 3 and also keeping the Business Maturity concepts in mind that were presented in this section are presented in the next sub-section.

POKM maturity concept

Implementation oversight

Overall management of the POKM approach may be provided by a ‘Chief Knowledge Officer’ (CKO). Example duties, competencies and skills are summarized in Fig. 18 and Chief knowledge officer and Subject matter expert

FIG. 18. Role of the Chief Knowledge Officer.

Understanding the roles, skills and job competencies of the CKO also are useful in getting another perspective for answering the question of ‘What is NKM’. Also if the role of CKO is not established for an NPP, it means these roles must be fulfilled by one or more other members of NPP management.

Source: Process oriented knowledge management for nuclear organizations

References

[1]

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