case studies private sector On this page you can read TFPL case studies of projects undertaken for private sector organisations. 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 User-centred approach to define a Membership Knowledge Centre Defining an information architecture A professional membership organisation was looking to improve its service by reviewing the current web site to ensure the content and delivery of this primary information channel met the members’ needs. TFPL was engaged to help capture the members’ requirements and from this define an environment for knowledge exchange by using a taxonomy to index pages, topic-based navigation, and guidelines for user friendly and well-presented content. We gathered inputs via telephone interviews with a cross-section of over 50 members and an on-line questionnaire to all 50,000 members. Working with the client’s team we refined this data and used a method called "Triadic Elicitation" to provide a structured and evidenced-based approach to prioritise, group and highlight key content areas. Deliverables from TFPL included an outline information architecture, content specification, high level taxonomy and recommendations on subject content. contact: Alan Flett Taxonomy and Business Classification Structure Development Providing the Information Architecture to support a new Documentum installation A global corporate client had purchased Documentum and was implementing the pilot program in their Corporate Affairs department. This department manages all external communications for the corporation within a highly litigious environment and is required to maintain all supporting and final content for compliance, eDiscovery and risk mitigation. TFPL provided support and coaching to the project team around the metadata model and in planning and scoping an information architecture that the business users and the planned technology delivering the storage, search and retrieval capability would fully utilise. For example, TFPL helped the client to understand the interaction between the activity-based Business Classification and subject-based Taxonomy and assisted in developing independent vocabularies which correctly represented the classification and retrieval axis for the content in question. TFPL delivered: Subject, with Activity and Content Type taxonomy structures to be implemented in Documentum for manual content classification. A thesaurus of “evidence terms” to be loaded into Documentum’s Content Intelligence Services to pilot automatic classification. A Business Classification Structure (BCS) to be used as the primary filing mechanism. A mapping from the BCS so a base set of taxonomy tags could be automatically inherited from the various facets. All the structures were developed using a mixture of workshops, interviews, desk research and content mining. contact: Miles Oldrey Records management organisational development Integrating records management and knowledge management A major global financial institution sought TFPL assistance to review its records management function as part of an organisational redesign. A TFPL consultant met with the records teams and with key members of the organisation's knowledge management group to produce 1) recommendations for integration and re-structuring and 2) a re-definition of the services offered by the records management group. The recommendations were accepted by the client and implemented in full. contact: John Davies Knowledge management strategy for effective research and development A small biotech company had recognised that effective knowledge management was essential for its future growth. TFPL worked with its senior managers to identify the most urgent opportunities for knowledge management and to select the mix of knowledge management approaches that would work best in the organisation. The use of knowledge agents for major projects - to catalyse good information management practice; bring in, target and filter published information; and to accelerate knowledge transfer - has been piloted over the last year. With TFPL providing coaching and training throughout. Seventeen knowledge agents are now in place in response to demand from business managers observing the impact of the pilot. In parallel with the agent pilot TFPL worked with the Head of Information Services on good information management practice, a strategy for linking information services more directly to business demands, and techniques for value and impact assessment. Ian Wooler and Sandra Ward worked on the assignment. contact: Guy Johnson Developing knowledge management competencies We worked with the knowledge management team of a global professional services firm to develop a customised competency framework for knowledge managers. The competencies were developed to link into organisation wide general competencies. Grouped into four levels of expertise, the knowledge management competencies will help KM team members structure their personal career development and develop their KM competencies. contact: Val Skelton Facilitated customer advisory panels We have worked in partnership with a global information provider to develop, facilitate and report on regular global customer panels. The panels bring together key clients in a facilitated forum that enables key issues and challenges to be debated and ideas and lessons learned to be shared. The workshops are structured to enable input from the information provider and facilitated debate with various groups of clients. The attendees at the workshops have benefited from being more closely associated with the product and service development processes of the provider, while the panels have ensured that the provider engages regularly and effectively with key clients. contact: Val Skelton Developing a competency focused knowledge team Working with a new team created following an organisational merger, TFPL undertook an intensive project to: review and define the roles that existed within the knowledge management team at the client define the competencies required for each role benchmark the salaries for comparable roles and skills levels in the marketplace provide insight into areas where the team may wish to develop its capability The project consisted of the following stages: Preparation - including preparatory meetings with both knowledge management and HR representatives from the client. Workshops - several two-hour workshops were held with participants grouped with ‘contemporaries’ where possible. The goals of these workshops were: to collect as much information as possible from the participants about how they defined the primary purpose and objectives of their role and the skills they needed to perform this role effectively. This information was then used by TFPL to create a first iteration of a role description. One-to-one meetings - each knowledge management team member then participated in a one-to-one discussion in which the role description was further refined, and roles were reviewed in more detail. Role descriptions development – finalised role descriptions were drafted and each role was linked to the required competencies Salary benchmarking – the roles were benchmarked by TFPL against pertinent market data using similar role types in the market place and considering market conditions. The process produced the expected salary level for such roles, and also the costs of recruiting equivalent staff from the open market. This data was further refined after the role descriptions had been grouped Competency dictionary – competency definitions to support development were refined and edited following input from participants. Deliverables competency based and outcome focused role descriptions for all team members, including recommended new job titles. salary benchmarking data outlining value and replacement values for all roles identification of competency gaps within the team with recommendations for future training and development programmes In addition, the project process built trust across the newly formed team and gave all participants the opportunity to contribute their ideas and concerns to its development. contact: Val Skelton Knowledge management strategy implementation We worked with this client to develop and facilitate a participative workshop that would be rolled out in the UK, Europe and the US. The objectives of the workshop programme were to: explore ways in which knowledge sharing were already taking place around the organisation consider the barriers and enablers for knowledge sharing identify the skills that are needed to help embed knowledge sharing in everyday work identify the skills that make knowledge sharing successful and rewarding We also undertook to identify a new guest speaker for every workshop and to ensure that lessons were learnt from knowledge leaders in other organisations as well as those within the client. contact: Val Skelton Anticipating future skills for employees in the knowledge economy TFPL was commissioned by ISNTO to research the future needs for information and knowledge skills in both the public and private sector and from the perspective of not just information professionals but knowledge workers across the organisation. Using scenario planning techniques, TFPL developed a workshop product to enable the participating organisations (eight in total) to develop future scenarios for their businesses, determine the factors that would influence the probability of these scenarios happening and identify the impact on the organisation in terms of its success and failure and the need for information skills. The workshop attendees were drawn principally from the business, rather than the information teams. From this, TFPL developed a report which maps the future skill requirements in this area with competency models and a web-enabled skills toolkit to be used for assessment and development of competencies. The work was published in November 2001 as Scenarios for the knowledge economy: strategic information skills and it has been highly regarded, providing input to the professional development framework currently being developed by CILIP. contact: Val Skelton Developing an information strategy for a law firm This was a comprehensive information audit of a London based, medium sized law firm. The project looked at all aspects of the fee earners’ information requirements (including non-legal information used for marketing and business development), the role of support staff and attitudes to knowledge sharing and co-operative working. The investigation combined a questionnaire with interviews and a benchmarking survey of the firm’s library service. The recommendations from the findings were translated into a knowledge and information strategy that dealt with, amongst other things, the management of internally generated ‘know-how’, the use of professional support lawyers and the role of support staff, including secretaries, in information finding and management. contact: Guy Johnson Devising a knowledge management strategy for a professional services firm The purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive knowledge management strategy for a niche marketing consultancy. TFPL combined desk research, one to one interviews, and the use of ‘knowledge and information diaries’ to produce a series of detailed diagrams illustrating the client’s core business process. Workshop activities with a representative cross section of the company were used to test the accuracy of the diagrams and to identify the most significant information and knowledge issues in the business processes. The workshops were also used to build a picture of the required knowledge infrastructure to simplify access and re-use of information whilst retaining the creativity of face to face contact. An outline knowledge management strategy was drawn up intended to capture and make available internally generated know how, promote the exchange of expertise amongst and between project teams and more effectively manage information for business development activities. Final modifications were made to the strategy document after testing reaction to it in a series of stakeholder meetings. The organisation has made substantial progress in implementation recommendations in the areas of culture, leadership, information organisation and skills. contact: Guy Johnson Knowledge management software review A large multinational required an overview of software available to support Knowledge Management (KM). A report was submitted which defined the different components of knowledge management amenable to software support and mapped a range of software products to the knowledge management activity matrix. The client could then move on to plan their technical strategy for knowledge management. contact: Guy Johnson Managing and utilising corporate memory in a research organisation Records management in the context of wider knowledge and information management issues A research organisation recognised that good records and knowledge management is essential to improve its knowledge base so that learning and information can be shared to good effect across the various projects and with its clients. Starting from a situation of high volumes of predominantly paper-based records held in silos across the organisation, with little standardisation in records management systems and processes, the organisation engaged TFPL to diagnose the issues and design and implement way forward. Using a series of interviews, focus groups, web questionnaires and process assessments, TFPL carried out an extensive review of the current information management and practices together with an extensive inventory of the records held by the company. The findings were used to highlight the many issues and to recommend options for a records and knowledge management strategy. A detailed records management programme was designed and delivered. TFPL created core record lifecycle elements (retention schedules, metadata frameworks, etc) and mentored new records management staff. An action plan was created and rolled out to the organisation via facilitated events (“de-dupe and “throw away” days) and tactical engagements to identify, complete, capture and scan critical information collections. TFPL associates were employed in an interim management capacity to help the company to implement the recommended strategies. TFPL also recruited the key staff to deliver this initiative. The process and capability put in place by TFPL ensured the organisation was better able to manage an office relocation and to continue to deliver high value research to a growing client base. contact: Martin Sanderson Rationalising the acquisitions and subscription policy of an international law firm In this project TFPL audited the UK electronic subscriptions of an international law firm with the aim of rationalising its acquisitions policy. The project team collated and reviewed the existing subscription agreements and conducted a user needs investigation. As a result, TFPL was able to identify duplication and gaps in the provision of external electronic information and highlighted areas in existing licensing arrangements with scope for renegotiating more advantageous terms. The project resulted in direct, net savings to the client in its acquisitions budget. contact: Guy Johnson Reorganising a corporate archive through use of the 'I-team' TFPL using its ‘I team approach’ (i.e. a mix of advisors and contract information staff) provided a cost-effective reorganisation of the registry function and archive of a corporate finance company. TFPL applied a records lifecycle approach to the storage, protection and retrieval of registry files, carrying out records appraisal, applying retention schedules and indexing the contents of the archive. As part of the project, TFPL facilitated the reorganisation and safe transfer of archived records to an offsite storage facility for their continued and more cost effective storage and service provision. TFPL are now engaged in a review of the earlier stages of the records life cycle. This is to understand and make recommendations on how business records should be created, captured and managed in a hybrid paper and electronic records environment so that their knowledge content can be leveraged and shared across projects to support business growth and efficiency savings made. For this project TFPL consultants are interviewing and analysing the records management practices and information requirements of a representative sample of project groups and mapping the current information flows. TFPL will then use focus groups to discuss the key issues and test recommendations the necessary changes to the company’s records management practices. contact: Martin Sanderson Using scenario planning to turn research findings into a plan of action TFPL used its scenario planning methodology to generate recommendations for action from the results of a previously completed library review. A creative thinking exercise was held, which enabled TFPL to draw up a number of 'ideal scenarios' for the library and assist in preparing a plan of action to achieve the desired scenario. The client was a multinational mining company. contact: Guy Johnson back to top