WISDOMSOURCE NEWS

Vol. 2, No. 2
Monday, July 12, 2004

K3M Level 1: Standardized Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing

The WisdomSource Knowledge Management Maturity Model (K3M)^TM

Over the next year, each edition of the WisdomSource News will explore another level of K3M - The Knowledge Management Maturity Model. For detailed information on K3M, please visit:

WisdomSource News, Vol. 2, No. 1, May 31, 2004
Measuring & Improving Organizational Effectiveness:
The WisdomSource Knowledge Management Maturity Model (K3M)^TM

In this edition we will explore K3M Level 1 - Standardized Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing:

Since the advent of Information Technology, businesses have had to aggressively adopt nearly every new innovation in hardware and software just to remain competitive. With trillions spent on the dream of a perfect organizational management system and the promise of competitive edge through technical superiority, companies are only now settling into a true understanding of the use of technology to support their core business operations. Many companies have been discouraged with the very expensive disparate systems and software applications, which promised to support operations in an ever-changing business environment, but ended up seemingly to cause more confusion. Instead of managing information, computers allowed for its chaotic distribution leading to the information overload of employees. The Internet brought us email systems with the hope of expanded communications, which unfortunately further complicated the challenge and need to manage the intellectual property of the organization's human resources. Valuable knowledge and expertise is now methodically deleted everyday. Companies have come a long way and are so highly invested in technology that there has never before been such an opportunity for a true organizational management effectiveness revolution to occur.

Enter K3M Level 1: Standardized Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing

Most organizations have a standard infrastructure for knowledge sharing, whether it be paper-based, word of mouth, disparate across multiple applications, an informal "creative" approach, or a customized combination of these methods. Whatever the case, WisdomSource v3.0 creates a working virtual representation of your organization's current communications structure and ties your organization's information systems and software applications to corporate processes. WisdomSource is a Web-based, functioning control framework for the knowledge flow of your organization. Your employees have one location to access all of the knowledge that they need to do their work, while being prompted to update that knowledge as new innovations occur. Acting as your standard corporate communications engine, WisdomSource delivers, collects, optimizes and applies the intellectual property of your organization, thus creating a master knowledgebase to be used as working methodologies by your people - the true source of wisdom.

The need for this control framework is well understood by people across all industries. In nearly all organizations, the knowledge of how things are accomplished lies in the hands of the employees spread throughout the enterprise - a precarious situation from disaster-recovery and employee turnover perspectives. Operationally speaking, this model is extremely inefficient as work performed is often redundant and lessons learned are not shared. WisdomSource provides the missing communications platform for injecting discoveries and innovations of methodology or core competencies back into your organization's bloodstream.

WisdomSource: Supporting COSO & Providing the Platform for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

In 1992, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) pulled together the Enterprise Risk Management Framework - a guide for companies to use in getting control over the business processes of the organization. This framework is designed to guide corporations and other organizations towards an effectiveness and efficiency of operations, reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. COSO is considered a cross-industry best practice for establishing and maintaining internal controls; and in 2003 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement declaring the financial reporting portion of the COSO model to be fully compliant with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Companies that hassle the details and implement COSO-style process management to the fullest extent will experience an operational environment free of non-value-added work and a seamless, single-image communications method across the entire enterprise regardless of how globally distributed they may be. WisdomSource provides everyone in the organization with the ability to publish knowledge to the Web, specifically, knowledge portals that form the foundation for structured communication and knowledge sharing. This fundamental infrastructure is made technically possible by the reach, power, and cross-platform capabilities of the Internet.

WisdomSource is specifically designed to help companies quickly and easily implement the COSO Framework. Once this foundational knowledge-sharing apparatus is in place, WisdomSource is able to walk the organization through the stages of the Knowledge Management Maturity Model (K3M)^TM, ultimately leading to complete Organizational Self-Actualization. This ideal, optimal work environment is characterized by high levels of employee morale, loyalty, enthusiasm, structured yet free-flowing teamwork, and the instant transmission of innovations and discoveries across the corporate body. The advent of the Internet, intranets, and the prevalence of dependable wireless technologies have put this once-impractical idea within reach of any diligent, visionary organization.

The COSO framework consists of 5 elements: Control Environment, Risk Assessment, Control Activities, Information and Communication, and Monitoring. The following examines how WisdomSource enables organizations to rapidly implement these elements to achieve an exemplary, COSO-compliant and therefore, Sarbanes-Oxley compliant, organization.

Control Environment

WisdomSource removes the pain from the process of establishing a Control Environment where management objectives are tied into work processes. In this control environment, work processes become transparent and are easily evaluated. With WisdomSource, company leadership establishes quality standards and operating methodology, enabling employees to receive a filtered view of this master knowledgebase specific to their particular roles and responsibilities. Employees know exactly what`s expected of them; management has a clear view of how work is getting done. The best aspect of this scenario is that WisdomSource allows companies to unobtrusively achieve a control environment, without causing major cultural upheavals or internal resistance. Establishing a control environment will succeed because of the clear benefits for everyone at all levels of the company.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment requires that objectives be laid out clearly. The means for achieving these clear objectives must also be spelled out. Additionally, the organization needs to gauge employee knowledge and competence. WisdomSource makes it easy to do both. In addition to the digitization of work processes by corporate role, WisdomSource provides quizzing mechanisms so that managers can assess employee skill levels. By viewing each work process on a step-by-step basis and assessing the skill level of the people carrying out the process, reviewers have the information they need to accurately assess the risk.

Control Activities

Once appropriate Control Activities are determined, they can easily be incorporated into WisdomSource like any other work process. They can be included as tasks within existing work processes or defined as stand-alone processes assigned to the roles of the process auditors. Auditors can see the details of the organization that they are reviewing, who they need to interface with, and to whom they need to communicate the results of their control activity.

Information and Communication

WisdomSource provides a structured platform for the management of Information and Communications: the ability to tie documents, process details, quizzes, and discussion forums together in a single message. WisdomSource retains a record of all important communications for reuse and audit trail purposes. The sender can decide whether to send the communication to the recipients' email boxes and/or directly display it on their user portals.

Monitoring

WisdomSource enables the digitization of the Monitoring of control systems. Once management devises an effective monitoring strategy and decides what roles will own the responsibility, everything is easily incorporated into WisdomSource knowledgebases. Continued evaluations of control processes can be conducted through WisdomSource discussion forums and process surveys, which managers use to determine future control process changes.

Simply by incorporating WisdomSource v3.0 into your organization, you achieve a primary backbone for the interaction between your people and your information technology systems. A true K3M Level 1 maturity is concretely established, setting the stage for future K3M levels and all of the benefits the COSO framework or any management framework seeks to bring.

Choose WisdomSource and Get to the Next Level

WisdomSource v3.0 empowers you to understand your organization and to be able to gradually change over time so as to always be in harmony with the demands of the time. Our software provides a gradual path to organizational self-actualization that enables your resources to share their valuable lessons-learned and to benefit from the wisdom of your best people so that you can take things to the next level and ensure your future.

WisdomSource enables your organization to harness change and to maintain a balance with change by capturing the changes that are taking place right now in your business and applying them to your products, services, and operations across your enterprise.

Contact WisdomSource to Succeed in Transforming Your Organization so that You Can Engage in Real Innovation

WisdomSource v3.0 is the turnkey solution that eliminates the organizational risks that stem from undergoing transformation. Contact us today for a consultation with an experienced change management specialist who will help you to see what needs to be done. There is no charge for consultations. If you would like to discuss the possibilities that a WisdomSource Knowledge Management Solution affords your organization, please Contact WisdomSource. We look forward to hearing from you.

Please visit the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission: