# Presentation: 434558

## Preliminary Remarks

**Presentation is tool agnostic**
**About Human expertise**
**Capture and Access**
**Tacitly and Explicitly Communicated**
**Cultural Obstacles**
**Willingness to share**
**Understanding of digital communication & collaboration**
**Relates experiences with AskMe**
**Chosen tool of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s SSME Program and Engineering Process**

## SSME Program AskMe Pilot

**Why AskMe?**
**Long-standing desire for a directory of experts (yellow pages)**
**Numerous attempts**
**None very successful**
**AskMe provides broad KM functionality**
**Expert/Expertise location**
**Capture/Store/Organize/Locate/Provide**
**Content-rich conversations and FAQs**
**Links to web pages and server shares**
**Uploaded documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)**
**New blogging capability**

## SSME Program AskMe Pilot

**Why AskMe? (cont.)**
**Limited number of products available with same functionality**
**Tacit**
**Primus**
**AskMe features closer to our requirements**
**Natural language search, multiple documents and repositories**
**Integration with email, enterprise search, legacy databases**
**Protection of Proprietary and Export Controlled knowledge a major issue**

## Preparation for Pilot

**Participants chosen**
**SSME Program (everyone)**
**Evangelistas**
**Preliminary organizational decisions**
**Taxonomy (categories)**
**Initially influenced by need to keep the number small, ensuring all were populated**
**Who are the Experts (providers)?**
**Only Tech Fellows, SMEs, Process Leads, etc.**
**Everyone has something to offer**
**Development of metrics**
**Use and performance**
**Success**

## Pre-Population & Communication

**AskMe supplied method for Providers to answer questions and have their profile automatically populated.**
**Communication**
**Emails explaining pilot, roles, etc.**
**Posters**
**Flyers**
**Training sessions**
**Articles in Canoga Park Today**

## Value Propositions & User Scenarios

**Define ways in which AskMe adds value to daily activities**
**Discover specific instances of use**
**Best done on a group, team, or process basis**
**Requires knowledge of current processes and needs**
**Properly used, fits into existing culture**

## Pilot Success Criteria

_**Metric**_**	**_**Target**_**	**_**Actual**_
**Knowledge Articles Created****	****300****	****595**
**Solution Views (Traffic)****	****1800****	****1600**
**Number of Participants****	****300 (60%)****	****310**
**Average Rating of Answers****	****3****	****3**
**Average Time Saved Per Solution****	****1 Hr.****	****.75 Hr.**
**Percentage of Questions Answered**
**Within 24 Hours****	****50%****	****74%**
**Average Response Time****	****72 Hrs.****	****47 Hrs.**

## Final Implementation Issues

**Major Sticking Points**
**Do we Control The Assignment of Individuals as Knowledge Providers &, if so, How do we Qualify And Present Them Within AskMe?**
**How do we Protect The Integrity of Sensitive Information Without Needlessly Restricting Open Sharing Within Rocketdyne?**
**How do we Create a Taxonomy (Directory Structure) That Accurately Mirrors The Rocketdyne Organization & Will Allow Expansion Within IDS**

## Our Resolution

**Controlling, qualifying, and presenting providers**
**Anyone can register as a provider.  Certain classifications will be called out or labeled. These classifications will be:**
**Tech fellows**
**Process leads**
**IPT lead**
**Critical skill resource**
**Designate the main program a provider is familiar with.**
**AskMe will primarily "rank" providers based on designated labels, then on text mining of profiles.**

## Our Resolution

**Protecting sensitive info without needless restriction**
**Provide method to mark submissions properly**
**Build in warnings, admonitions, and links to proper procedures and training**
**Build in flexibility for more or less restrictive IP designation of all knowledge components**
**Plan for future technology to automate, but implement current methodologies, i.e. training and awareness of issues and restrictions**
**Use Web Single Sign-On (WSSO) as initial gateway**

## Our Resolution

**Creating an accurate, flexible taxonomy**
**Use core competencies recognized by the Technical Fellowship and organizational structure**
**Have Division Directors nominate community champions to monitor usage and ensure accuracy and validity**
**Tech Fellows**
**Process & Product IPT Leads**
**Other SMEs**
**Provide training and assistance**
**Use AskMe as a central point of organization for building Communities of Practice**

## How Are We Using it Now?

**Connects employees experiencing technical or business problems to experts within PWR Canoga Park**
**Presents a single point of access to:**
**Experts (providers)**
**Solutions to commonly faced problems**
**Documents from Goldfire**
**Websites and documents from Google (soon to be ISYS)**
**Enables employees to actively share information and contribute to the success of not only themselves and their team, but of the entire program**

## Cumulative Usage Metrics

**Number of user visits **
**Unique users **
**Users who’ve joined a community **
**User profiles viewed **
**Unique questions **
**Total answers **
**Total searches conducted **
**FAQs created **

- 2002
- 2557
- 325
- 207
- 8141
- 277
- 256
- 1840
- 96

- 2003
- 7255
- 1242
- 333
- 13237
- 421
- 376
- 5955
- 199

- 2004
- 24566
- 2065
- 540
- 20865
- 762
- 835
- 20840
- 305

- 2005
- 32899
- 2556
- 642
- 26665
- 1004
- 1136
- 36342
- 364

## Values of Communicative Tools

**Immediacy**

**Richness**

**Retentiveness**

**Searchability**

**Accessibility**

**Instant Messenger**

**Email**

**AskMe**

## Lessons Learned

**Requires active support at Upper Management level (some participation would help as well)**
**Lead the required culture change (walk the talk)**
**AskMe must be somewhat pre-populated**
**Provider profiles**
**Important documents**
**Links to valuable websites**
**Training is invaluable**
**Not entirely intuitive**
**AskMe captures a great deal of tacit knowledge**
**Can be somewhat anecdotal**
**May be short-lived**

## Other Lessons Learned

**Knowledge Management Requires a Cultural Transformation in Order to Succeed**
**Cultural Transformation is Frequently Painful**
**Two Types of Anxiety Drive Change**
**Survival Anxiety (job requirement)**
**Learning Anxiety (desire to excel)**
**Preferred Method is to Lessen Learning Anxiety**
**Process Requires Unlearning as Well as Learning**
**Change Can’t be Forced or Wished Into Being**
**Change Requires Careful Planning and Assessment**

## Conclusion

**Demand upper management support**
**Understand your audience**
**Provide lots of help**
**Be sensitive to the cultural change you’re fomenting**
**Pre-populate, especially with profiles**
**Be patient but insistent**
**For further info or questions contact:**
**	****	*****rick.ladd@pwr.utc.com***
***	******	******(818) 586-7367***