TFPL case studies From this page you can access case studies of projects undertaken for clients by TFPL. New case studies are added to this page regularly. You can select a sub-group of case studies using the drop-down menu below. select: TFPL case studies ... Networks and events Consultancy - Information management - Knowledge management - Records management - Web & content management - Information architecture & taxonomies - Blended learning Project management & interim management - Interim management - Project I-teams Training and learning - In-house and customised learning    - customised learning    - in-house training    - e-learning - Skills and competencies    - Skills Toolkit    - Competency Dictionary TFPL Sectors - Public Sector - Private Sector - Not for Profit - Information Providers There are 83 case studies available. page 1 of 9 Dealing with the baby boomer crisis Many organisations and professions are facing the risk of severe skills shortage as the baby boomers approach retirement. Information specialists in this organisation were building their knowledge of KM prior to being assigned formal responsibilities for KM. Knowledge harvesting was one of the TFPL courses they attended. Just a few weeks later the information management team was contacted for help by a technical team which had recognised the imminent risk of knowledge loss from the retirement of key team members. The information management team used TFPL experts to help them deepen their knowledge of harvesting processes and to coach them in developing and testing approaches that would well with the specific 'subjects'. The first harvesting sessions have been held, have been rated highly by the 'harvestees' and their colleagues, and this success is widening the organisation's understanding of the value of knowledge management techniques. contact: Vivienne Winterman The penalty from loyalty bonuses Mergers and acquisitions often mean a phased programme of job losses with loyalty bonuses in place to retain all key staff for a specific period. This pharma company had time therefore to plan a harvesting programme not just to be used as the loyalty period ended but with the aim of embedding knowledge capture into the work process so that panic harvesting could not occur. The programme was designed as a toolkit to be used by line managers for movers, leavers, and starters. The toolkit was designed collaboratively with the lead knowledge management team and also with experienced company experts who were already encountering the problems of knowledge transfer for maternity breaks, promotion, and joiners. It needed to be practical, simple, engaging, and scaleable. A web-based tool was ideal and provided a 'how to' guide; templates to use and to adapt for knowledge capture; and actions for managers, the 'harvestee', and their colleagues. The initial experience is that the tool works well. The current challenge is to develop a sound and simple approach to measuring its benefit. contact: Vivienne Winterman Even routine jobs need harvesting Retirements have the advantage of providing reasonable periods for planned handover. However, in organisations where budget pressures limit or even prevent overlap with successors, harvesting techniques can still be needed. This is especially so where administrative personnel solely responsible for a key process are retiring. Often these individuals are unused to being in the 'public eye' and may not realise that losing the wealth of knowledge that they've grown in years of experience in the same job is a real disadvantage to the organisation. Persuading them to be harvested requires tact, diplomacy and encouragement. In a busy NHS trust, the recruitment administrator had grown with the job which was very much a solo role. The harvesting plan was phased carefully with the work cycle - indeed the annual calendar of what needed doing and when was an important asset for her successor and developed with TFPL support. The final knowledge asset included a map connecting details of the recruitment process, national policies governing recruitment, terms and conditions, key contacts, the lifecycle of medical staff, a glossary of the terms met during the working year, and a number of hits, tips and insights distilling the administrator's experience. Video clips made the asset a real working tool. Assets of this type cannot replace an individual's full experience - but are powerful resources for new staff who can then hit the ground running. contact: Vivienne Winterman Harvest or salvage? This utilities company faced the loss of a technical expert to another organisation. With only three weeks to ensure that his team were not severely disadvantaged by his departure, a rapid sharing programme needed to be devised. A critical success factor was the expert's sense of responsibility towards his colleagues. To provide the best possible protection, a number of harvesting techniques that could be quickly set up were used. Highlights for the team included the organisation of key reference material - the expert's information assets including - contacts and their relevance, publications, internal documents, and important emails, plus the lessons learned in dealing with problems. These were brought to life in an 'Audience with...' session where he dealt with a number of questions that represented the situations in which colleagues usually tapped into his experience. The session was video’d as were the initial interviews to build the collection of information assest. A poster highlighting key knowledge areas then acted as a visible trigger to use the harvested knowledge - with a sell-by date reminding colleagues that within six months the need to use the expert's resources would probably have been superseded by their experience. TFPL worked closely with the organisation's knowledge team throughout the work so that they were left with a sustainable process that they have continued to use on their own. contact: Vivienne Winterman Leveraging the chance opportunity Starting a knowledge harvesting programme with a departing Chief Executive might be thought to be a little risky but for a major UK Charity it provided the ideal opportunity to promote knowledge management techniques with the senior management team, as well as being practically useful to the organisation. Acting as its knowledge management coach, TFPL persuaded the CEO to engage in a harvesting exercise spread over his last month in the organisation, and involving a number of interviews with him, the story of his time with the organisation, working with his PA to organise contacts and documents, and a facilitated audience with his colleagues to share key insights gained in his time with the organisation. This latter exercise was rated as enormously valuable. As well as leaving the organisation with a well structured knowledge asset, TFPL used the experience to work with the knowledge management team to develop a harvesting toolkit which is now owned by the Human Resources group and used throughout the organisation. contact: Vivienne Winterman Business Classification Scheme for a Non-Departmental Public Body The Arts Council England commissioned TFPL to develop a business classification scheme as the first activity of its Information Management Kick-start Project. Using a series of interviews and a one-day workshop, TFPL consultants developed a scheme covering all Arts Council functions that was rigorously tested in two further focus groups. The scheme as delivered was deployed immediately in a pilot electronic archive for the Arts Council and has subsequently been used to structure content in its new Content Management System. contact: James Lappin Information Management Framework Preparing an organisation's content for an EDRMS A regional development agency are currently procuring an EDRM system. TFPL has developed the frameworks, policies and procedures necessary for the configuration and operation of the EDRM system. This included: Working with organisation's scientists, policy makers and administrators to produce a two level business classification. Then working with regional offices to complete the fileplan. Producing a retention schedule for their records and linking it to the business classification Developing a metadata schema for documents and folders on the EDMS Developing a records management policy, supported by a document naming convention, advice on version control and an e-mail policy contact: Martin Sanderson Developing enterprise information management skills TFPL developed and delivered a four-day residential development programme for a global oil company. The programme focused on the skills required by information managers to develop their capability as internal information management consultants by exploiting the organisation’s internal resources in records, information and knowledge and to promote the global mobilisation of knowledge. The programme included: breakthrough thinking skills; developing as an internal consultant; information and knowledge architecture and enterprise information management. 100% of the course participants stated that they would recommend this course to a colleague. contact: Val Skelton Intranet Review Creating a framework for more effective use of informaiton in a NDPB TFPL was selected to undertake a comprehensive review of the Intranet for a Non-Departmental Public Body based in Wales serving 300 users in 17 offices. The review focused on the information needs of target audiences, the overall site structure/design and its day-to-day management. Desk research, a series of one-to-one interviews with key users and several group workshops enabled the organisation to understand how the Intranet was being used and what opportunities existed to extend is usefulness. The overall goal was to create a clear vision for the Intranet and a credible a plan for its achievement. contact: Guy Johnson Assisting a government department to implement an eChannel programme Defining an information architecture The large government department was finding the organic growth of their separate, and highly diverse, websites restricted their ability to deliver consistent and comprehensive content to their audiences. Following clear government guidelines the department was required to make the existing information available through more recognisable channels, for example, placing citizen-focussed content on the DirectGov web site. To address these issues the department was implementing a new content management system and supporting business processes. TFPL were primarily brought in for their expertise in the areas of vocabulary development, web and information design. The additional recruitment and librarian services of TFPL and IDOX provided a complete information solution. A department-wide set of controlled language terms was required for classifying content and subsequently improving search and access to the content. This sizeable challenge required TFPL to sort through all the information for the entire department’s content and present it in a management system. TFPL used text-mining software to give a corpus of draft terms; their information scientists then worked the terms into an initial draft structure. At this point a “Delphi Review Process” was conducted with representatives of the department: the controlled vocabulary was reviewed and comments/suggested amendments returned, sorted centrally, made anonymous and voted on. Through a number of time-boxed iterations the language and structure were refined. TFPL mapped the controlled vocabulary to a number of additional taxonomies used in the content management system and provided a management framework to ensure continued upkeep. TFPL worked on the department’s “corporate” channel, reviewing the content covering department strategy, who’s who, press releases, ministers speeches, white papers, etc. We developed the site navigation, ensured the content would fit on the new technical platform and defined mechanisms to review, migrate and re-purpose the content. A successful department-wide controlled vocabulary was created alongside the specific corporate area’s channel vision taking shape. contact: Miles Oldrey  1  2  3  4  5 ...  9  [next »]