Background

When a central procurement team decided to introduce a Knowledge Management (KM) system, Atmaana knew from experience that developing the MoD's organisation's policy, process, culture and behaviour would be just as crucial to success as the introduction of the new technology itself.

The central customer for all MoD equipment procurement, the Equipment Capability Customer (ECC), has an annual budget of £6bn. It needed effective KM to achieve several crucial objectives including improving the quality of information for decision making, fostering greater collaborative working and meeting the demands of the Freedom of Information and Public Records Acts. It also needed to reduce working hours and respond to an imposed headcount reduction - all without losing effectiveness.

The ECC also knew that some of the MoD's deep-rooted, historical problems could seriously hinder progress. These included fragmented and duplicated information, incoherent filing, a 'need to know' culture and the limitations of the existing, and often basic, technology.

Atmaana's role

Atmaana therefore scoped the programme to ensure that development of policy, new processes and behaviour were given as much prominence as the introduction of new technology.

Atmaana designed and delivered a pilot capability, played a major role in choosing the appropriate technology and provided programme management and change management expertise throughout the rollout of the pilot to an initial 150 users.

Subsequently, Atmaana has provided ongoing consultancy support to the roll-out of the new system across the rest of ECC (450 users).

Deliverables

To date, Atmaana's deliverables have included:

- Initial Scoping and Requirements Definition reports.

- Evaluation of the appropriate technology and identification of Autonomy as the chosen tool.

- Provision of a uniform taxonomy for filing shared information.

- A set of tailor-made processes, standards and roles, to improve the ECC's ways of working.

- A programme to ensure that the users are well trained and well motivated.

- Project office support, including change and communication management.

Client benefits

Tangible benefits from the MoD's implementation of KM include:

- A structured, consistent approach to filing. Most information is now filed centrally.

- Less time wasted searching for information.

- Far wider availability of key organisational knowledge.

All this has been instrumental in supporting better, more-informed decision-making by senior officers and civil servants. Atmaana's work, particularly in communications and stakeholder management, also proved critical in the transition of the organisation's culture from 'need to know' towards 'duty to share'.

To find out more about this project, or Atmaana's extensive range of services, contact Ian Bliss