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News from the Front:

Joint Force Land Component Command

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NEWS FROM THE FRONT

Major Jeremiah Owoh, U.S. Army South Knowledge Management Chief 

P. Keith Warman, CALL Military Analyst (Forward) at Fort Sam Houston

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May 2019

Operationalizing Knowledge Management in an 

Army Service Component Command 
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Photos: U.S. Army South photos taken and released by: Mr. Miguel Negron, U.S. Army 

South G7 Exercise Division, video information (VI).
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Operationalizing Knowledge Management in an Army Service 

Component Command

Introduction

This article is an account of the experience and initiative that drove major change in the 

United States Army South (U.S. Army South) Knowledge Management (KM) program 

from 2017-19, provided by MAJ Jeremiah Owoh, U.S. Army South, KM Chief. This 

record of enhanced practices and procedures is based on both doctrine and best 

practices. Although compiled from the capabilities and requirements of a single unit, the 

insights and lessons have applicability across the force, certainly with other Army 

Service Component Commands (ASCC). 

 

Purpose

To synchronize land component mission command, operations, and activities enabling 

the ASCC to maintain land domain situational understanding and command and control 

for forces operating across the geographic combatant command (GCC). U.S. Army 

South continues to evolve and improve practices to operationalize KM processes and 

procedures. Lessons and best practices by this command may well benefit other 

ASCCs, as well as, other units going through this transformation. 

Doctrine

According to doctrine, “Success in operations demands timely and effective decisions 

based upon applying judgment to available information and knowledge. As such, 

commanders and staffs seek to build and maintain situational understanding throughout 

the operations process. Situational understanding is the product of applying analysis 

and judgment to relevant information to determine the relationships among the 

operational and mission variables to facilitate decision-making.” (Army Doctrine 

Publication [ADP] 5-0, Operations Process). Indeed, there a direct information linkage to 

the decision-making process supported by organizational roles and functions as 

depicted in Figure 1. 

KM is the process of enabling knowledge flow to enhance a shared understanding and 

effective decision-making. At its lowest conceptual level, KM is ensuring relevant data 

and information are retainable and accessible to individuals in order to enable analysis 

and real-time, informed decisions.

As a FA26B, Information System Engineer, with no prior experience as a Knowledge 

Manager, I was assigned the daunting task of transforming U.S. Army South’s KM 

program. I was unsure how to successfully approach this task. After some initial 

research, there was a realization the command did not want to hear about people, 

processes, and tools. They wanted actionable KM recommendations. Ultimately, I relied 
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on my experience as a staff officer and leveraging my knowledge of dissecting 

processes and visualizing ways to make them more efficient. 

Figure 1. Information Linkage to Decision-Making Process (Insights and Best 

Practices Focus Paper, Knowledge and Information Management, Third Edition, 

Deployable Training Division, Joint Staff J7, May 2018 

Realistically, most senior leaders do not have the time to focus on ensuring the effective 

alignment of their people, processes, and tools to ensure a viable and operational KM 

program. The responsibility of understanding the KM methodology and the 

organizational culture and construct belongs to the KM Officer (KMO). The KMO must 

fully understand the commander’s vision, intent, objectives, our people, internal and 

external processes, and the tools that contribute to daily operations.

Assessments

Insight Vignette: To truly understand what drives your organization, first you must 

conduct a thorough assessment.
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After conducting an assessment of our KM program, U.S. Army South developed the 

below KM Management Program Methodology diagram shown at Figure 2. It served as 

a fundamental pathway used in the 2017 Assessment Report to the Chief of Staff. 

 

Figure 2. Knowledge Management Program Methodology

To properly assess requires the KM section to attend every battle rhythm event and 

major exercise. Key is understanding what are the meeting’s inputs and outputs, 

internal and external events, assigned personnel, and tools which are pertinent to 

Boards, Bureaus, Centers, Cells, and Working Groups (B2C2WG). 

Depending on the size and scope of your organization, this assessment may take 

approximately 60-90 days which allows for concurrent development and submittal of the 

assessment report. 

Knowledge Map

In addition to the assessment report, the KMO must produce a knowledge map 

depicting the inputs, outputs, tools, information storage locations, purpose, KM 

Develop & 

Evolve 

Business Case

Assess, Evolve 

& Sustain

Develop & 

Evolve KM 

Strategy

Design & Develop 

Implementation Plan

Pilot

Implement
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challenge areas, and key personnel involved in the organization’s major processes, i.e. 

plans, key leader engagements, and operation planning horizons.

ATP 6-01-1 describes knowledge maps, along with concept maps, as being performed 

prominently during the assessment phase of the KM methodology. The ATP states 

“Knowledge maps provide the ‘what’ and ‘where.” They help to pinpoint where the 

knowledge resides, who has access to it, and what the knowledge consists of. We 

found the map to be very informative and beneficial because gaps will be apparent 

when the path of the knowledge flow is clearly depicted throughout your business 

processes. The gaps where knowledge is not available are exposed and should lead to 

strategic discussions on how to resolve the situation.

KM Framework

Elements of Knowledge Management Maps

Concept maps/knowledge maps have these elements in common: 

• The over-arching categories or major headings which can 

be one or more categories under a major heading.

• The paths or the channels along which information or 

knowledge moves or the link a category has with its 

supporting or connected parts. Paths indicate directional, 

bi-directional, or multi-directional linkage. 

• Connecting verb or phrase or term(s) used to show the link 

and between one or more categories or elements of the 

concept.

• Gaps to show the delta between what the unit should know 

(can know) and what it does know. Knowledge or 

information that is required to fill a void in the concept or 

knowledge map. 

ATP 6-01-1

Techniques for Effective Knowledge Management, Page 2-10

6 March 2015

Insight Vignette: Develop the KM framework at the completion of the assessment. 

The framework serves as a roadmap of milestones on how to improve the KM program. 

Establish short-term, which we termed “quick wins”, and long term initiatives to ensure 

a more sustainable program. 
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Below is the list of U.S. Army South’s short and long-term KM initiatives accomplished: 

Short-term initiatives:

• Produced and implemented a Knowledge Management Standard Operating 

Procedures (SOP) manual (Figure 3). The policies and procedures included 

naming convention, historical information archival, training requirements, and 

elimination of manual processes. 

Figure 3. U.S. Army South Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

• Revamped the U.S. Army South SharePoint site. Specifically accomplished this 

to build confidence and promote using this powerful collaboration tool. Following 

major exercises, after conducting interviews across the staff, we found many 

personnel did not like using the old portal because it was hard to search for 

current and relevant documents. Our developers created a new homepage with 

information and links the general user needs to perform daily tasks. Additionally, 

the Commander’s Dashboard was re-engineered to visually depict information 

and reduce the amount of clicks retrieving pertinent information. See previous 

and new Commander’s Dashboard at Figures 4 and 5 below.
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Figure 4. Previous U.S. Army South Commander’s Dashboard

Figure 5. Newly Developed U.S. Army South Commander’s Dashboard

• Conducted knowledge management representative (KMR) collaboration tool 

training and provided appropriate permissions. To minimize the portal account 

approval time, training was provided which gave each KMR permission to 
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add/remove personnel from their site. They also received permissions to manage 

their specific directorate content in lieu of submitting a service request. 

Long-term initiatives: 

• Implemented the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Purebred 

program. This allows personnel to enroll in the program. Program stores digital 

certificates on DISA servers. Additionally, it enables mobile device users to send 

and read encrypted emails, authenticate to .mil websites, and to sign portable 

document format (PDF) documents. This is considered more of a long-term 

initiative because the ultimate goal is to minimize sending of emails with huge 

attachments. In lieu of sending the attachments, we recommend the sender 

upload the document to the portal and send an email with the link to the 

document. All U.S. Army South personnel having a government mobile device 

are now able to click on the link and access documents, even if they are out of 

the office.

• Storing the most relevant information on the portal and archiving of any 

document older than two years to the organization’s shared drive. This initiative 

allows for faster searching and retrieval of operational relevant information on the 

portal and accessibility of historical information from the shared drive. Previously, 

directors and action officers stated challenges with finding previously developed 

documents and having to recreate documents used during previous exercises. 

The content management procedures were implemented to minimize, if not 

eliminate, this challenge. To manage storage space, each directorate KMR is 

required to review and evaluate their section’s information during U.S. Army 

South’s annual digital clean-up week. KMRs are now retaining documents in 

accordance with published policies and regulations. 

• Worked in conjunction with our higher headquarters to improve information flow 

and access to collaboration tools. This exchange improved and streamlined the 

account request process. Moreover, this collaboration mitigated challenges to 

accessing their portal. Mutual efforts led to more effective and efficient 

knowledge sharing and transfer.

Conclusion

It is critical for a unit’s KMO to be at battle rhythm events, exercises, and operations. 

This will ensure KM’s relevance, sustainability, and foster future vision. Key is to actively 

listen and observe for information gaps or knowledge challenges. The KM team must

Insight Vignette: If there’s no legal requirement to retain specific documents, only 

the most current and relevant documents are retained and archived on the shared 

drive. 
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also stay abreast of technological enhancements and innovative methods that can be 

leveraged to streamline information flow for the Commander.

Understanding and conceptualizing what KM means and what it does for the 

organization equals operationalizing this capability. Operationalizing KM is broader than 

merely understanding the technical aspects of information technology. It demands the 

KM team to translate this technical jargon into operational language and business 

practices that leaders can relate to. 

Success is when both the Commander and Soldier understand how KM enables the 

organization’s mission and objectives. Taking this into account, implementing KM 

information and best business practices entails it be repackaged to fit your 

organization’s culture and organizational construct. 

Insight Vignette: KM is the synergy of the art and science of efficient informationsharing and effective decision-making. The KMO must internalize the methodology and 

ensure the strategy supports their organization’s people, processes, and tools. 
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