The Difference Between Mapping and Characterization

When implementing a solution within a knowledge management project, we must first clarify the need and then propose the solution, not vice versa. Proposing a solution before understanding the need is like putting the cart before the horse, and therefore, organizations that offer a solution before thoroughly investigating the need later discover that the solution does not address the need has no added value, and is left with a "white elephant." It's also important to remember that an unsuccessful knowledge management activity makes it difficult for employees to give a second chance to such activity in the future.

So, how do we clarify the need?

The process of mapping needs is essentially a process of diagnosing needs. In this process, we meet with key stakeholders in the organization or unit and identify their "pain points" in the area of knowledge management:

• What information and knowledge they lack to perform their work

• What information and knowledge do they have that are important for them to share with others?

During the needs mapping interviews, we try to identify strengths and challenges that may contribute to the success of knowledge management activity or delay and even fail it. This is to understand to what extent the solutions we want to reach will benefit the organization and meet business goals and objectives. We also want to understand to what extent the solutions are culturally feasible and their chances of success. The output of this stage should be pointing to different solution directions while presenting prioritization for their implementation. This concludes the needs mapping process in a few sentences.

The Next Stage

Now that we have decided on the direction or directions of the solution (and after we have received approval from management), we need to characterize them. That is, to define what we want each solution to contain and how we want to see it. If we deal with a portal, we will define what we want the navigation framework to contain, what the content tree will contain, which buttons we will have, which components will appear on the homepage, and so on. The output of the characterization process is a detailed specification document that defines the solution down to the level of information items and fields and how they are updated. This document ultimately serves as the foundation for the technological and programmatic establishment of the solution.

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Want to learn more about change management?

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• Making Sense of Change Management - Book review

• Zen and the art of Knowledge Management

• The Importance of Change Management in Implementing Business Intelligence Solutions