Knowledge Management reaches new milestone
New KM Portal rolls out this month
Knowledge Management (KM), in its current form, has been a key component of Force policy since the turn of the century. In a large sophisticated organisation, like the Force, it is vital for information to be managed in a professional manner. However, the sheer volume and size of the information that the Force manages brings attendant problems.
The Force has over 500 Databases and 200,000 WebPages that store disparate documents. These include manuals, orders, aide memoire, action cards, policies, directives, strategies and other miscellaneous items. Individually these pieces of information are important to the Force. However, this information is stored at different locations. Compounding this problem, such information has often been stored in an inappropriate and disorganised manner. This makes such data difficult to find for decision-making purposes and upkeep and updating is rendered almost impossible. In an age where there is a premium on optimum use of resources, this inefficiency should be eradicated.
Fortunately, the Force has come up with the answer in the shape of a new KM Portal, which will roll out on May 8. Its overall objective is to provide a content management system to facilitate content updating and uploading, and to provide an effective, efficient way to retrieve information for making decisions. This new and exciting knowledge portal has been named POlice Working Experience Repository (POWER). It has four main components: Content Management, Navigation, Search Engine and My Briefcase.
The Content Management System caters for two sources of information, namely, Databases and WebPages. Through stakeholder consultation, the KM team of Service Quality Wing (SQW) has developed a classification scheme for Databases, which enables those Databases to be more clear and concise. Concerning web content management, the main focus is on managing information stored in Formation WebPages. This will now have a more corporate focus with a series of templates that can be selected to create a corporate look, while avoiding the pitfalls of all Formation's WebPages looking the same. Organisation of web content management is assisted by the classification of Formation WebPages into two tiers, thereby establishing clear lines of communication within the Force organisational framework.
Information retrieval has been enhanced by designing a comprehensive and intuitive navigation flow for Force members to get information by browsing and by developing a much more refined search engine that has grouped results and a related topics search. Fundamentally, it will also search for the information searchers actually want.
The My Briefcase component, which will be delivered by the end of 2006, will provide a personalised workspace for Force members to gather work-related knowledge. It has the ability to integrate with the search engine, save the results and share with other Force members. Individual officers will be able, via My Briefcase, to subscribe to certain types of information to keep themselves updated. The concept that underpins My Briefcase is to prevent the loss of knowledge and experience when an officer transfers from a post or leaves the Force, by ensuring that knowledge and experience is stored in My Briefcase.
In addition to POWER, there are two other exciting KM information-based initiatives that are part of this new portal. They are: Practices and Experiences Acquisition Kiosk (PEAK) and Legal Advice Bulletin (LAB).
PEAK has been developed so that good practices, areas for improvements and lessons learnt are captured. Sources for PEAK will be inspection reports, smart tips, Formation good practices and wash up notes. LAB, being the third phase of the Force's KM implementation plan, will contain less accessible information and legal advice that has been consolidated by Crime Wing. Following consultations with the Department of Justice, LAB is accessible to all Force members.
Important though these KM initiatives are, the Force has taken the ethos of KM one step further by providing a framework, enabling people to link up with each other to share and transfer knowledge and experience. Two such projects that embody these ethos are the Peer Advisor Scheme and the Collaboration Forum.
The Peer Advisor Scheme provides officers with an expert network for knowledge sharing and transfer. These experts can be approached through Advisory Net. There are four subjects that will be covered in the first phase of the Peer Advisor Scheme. These are Public Order Policing, Deception, Death Enquiry and Rural Policing.
Collaboration Forum
The Collaboration ForumÕs aim is to enable officers with similar responsibilities to engage together so that ideas, questions, experiences and knowledge can be shared. There are currently three networked communities - the Police Negotiation Cadre, Learning and Development and the Criminal Investigation Team Working Group. To increase the likelihood of success of these networks, moderators and deputy moderators have been appointed for the first two forums and active net workers will receive recognition of their contributions.
Concurrent with information and people-based KM initiatives, the Force is also engaged in a change management culture to enhance the prospects of a successful KM policy. Firstly, a KM e-Learning package has been developed for all officers to enhance KM awareness and learn how to apply KM tools in their daily work. This e-Learning package is a comprehensive production containing scenario video clips, FAQs, quizzes and reference material.
Furthermore, a communication plan has been developed for the Force to disseminate the benefits of KM. The plan will spread the message of KM through publicity material, internal communication and Force events. Indeed, the events are a key component of the communication plan, with a KM road show being arranged.
In future, the Force aim remains the development of people-based KM initiatives in the form of a knowledge-sharing network. This will involve the linking of people in a community to share knowledge and experience. Ultimately, many communities will have to be formed, all with the goal of sharing different types of knowledge and experience. In essence, an integrated framework dedicated to KM.
For enquiries, contact the following KM Team members:
| Cheung Chun-por, Francis | ||
| So Kam-pang,Stephen | ||
| Choy Sun-yam, Eric |
New KM Portal Interface - Browsing by Formation