Who Knew? People Hold the Key to the Enterprise Portal
Thousands of records, endless statistics, facts, industry articles and reams of reference materials are kept in departmentally segregated corporate databases of every flavor. Implementing an elaborate enterprise portal that only addresses providing access to these disparate bits of information does little to build your corporate knowledge store, increase learning, enhance cross-departmental communiction, decrease decision-making time or boost overall data integrity. Many enterprise portal implementations simply miss the point; or rather, they overlook the human element. The human brain transforms information into knowledge. People, not database records, are the crucial components of successful enterprise portal implementations. Successful enterprise portal implementations build in methods for constructing, graphically displaying, easily maintaining, distributing and analyzing all of the organizational structures that comprise your company. These structures can become the navigable map of knowledge equity in your company and serve as an intelligence filter for the ongoing flow of corporate information.
The Human Factor
Knowledge processing is enhanced by the interaction of unique minds involved in collaboration. Different people can be presented with the exact same information, but based on their own knowledge and specific experiences, produce different results. The results you gain when these same people can quickly and easily locate one another and collaborate are far and above what can be gained via multiple text queries into a standard enterprise portal. With economic limitations forcing every organization to do more with existing resources, it is imperative that we tap into our own corporate teams' store of experience. In doing so, we can evaluate performance, benchmark systems and assign stellar teams to new projects and shake up under-performing teams with a new mix of resources so that their knowledge can in turn produce stellar results. But, how can we accurately identify exactly who possesses knowledge on specific topics or who is involved in particular initiatives at any one given time? There are numerous methods of documenting hierarchical structures, functional areas as well as program or project structure within your organization. One such method is automatically producing and distributing accurate, real-time organizational charts that can be easily accessed via the enterprise portal.
Getting Organized
It is no wonder that the organizational chart is the most recognizable, globally used business graphic. If people are your most valuable asset, then understanding where they are allocated across the enterprise is very important. However, typical organizational charts only represent the reporting hierarchy in an organization and often times don't represent workload distribution, skill allocation or cross-team functionality. These components are paramount to understanding your organization’s capabilities as you begin to construct a map of your knowledge equity. When team members use the enterprise portal to follow the organizational structure-based map, they will identify knowledge repositories within the company and will automatically:
- decrease decision-making time,;
- increase data integrity, and;
- grow the corporate knowledgebase.;
TimeVision, Inc. produces the web-based software products, OrgBuilder™ and OrgPublisher™, which automate the processes of constructing, maintaining, distributing and analyzing organizational charts. Organizational charts built with OrgBuilder or OrgPublisher can include an organization's administrative reporting structure, extensive profiles of each employee’s skill sets or knowledge expertise, program or project team structures, functional division structures, geographically based structures, matrix reporting structures, and more.
Whether or not a company stores exist- ing human resource data in traditional ERP systems, corporate databases or a simple email list of employee names, organization al charts can be automatically created, maintained and distributed via the enterprise portal. You construct org charts in two ways:
1) Using OrgPublisher, which is an organizational charting software that allows you to automatically generate, publish and analyze human capital information or 2) Using OrgBuilder, which is a graphical database. OrgBuilder uses either existing human capital data or allows you to manually input data then distribute the process of constructing and maintaining multiple organizational charts to multiple resources. OrgPublisher, TimeVision's flagship product, publishes existing human resource data in the form of an organizational chart, out to a web environment. Once published, the org chart, containing comprehensive human capital information, can be easily searched by end users. Search results can be saved and shared to expedite future efforts. From a knowledge management perspective, end users can simply search the published organizational charts via the enterprise portal for resources (subject matter experts) that possess specific skills, participate in specific teams, reside in specific regions of the world or share other similar characteristics. One knowledge resource can be worth 1,000 documents.
OrgBuilder is a graphical database that allows multiple team members to create and maintain multiple knowledge-based organizational structures, such as program and project teams or matrix reporting structures. Information captured within OrgBuilder organizational charts can be shared with its original data sources via synchronization services that are developed for each unique environment. OrgBuilder also provides end users with direct access to personal information such as education, skill set or subject matter expertise. Allowing each team member to own and report on their expertise increases the adoption rate of systems like this. As org charts are updated and modified, they can be published and easily accessed via an enterprise portal using OrgPublisher.
Org charts built with OrgBuilder or OrgPublisher provide the accelerant that fuels the transition of information in your organization to knowledge.
Extending Your Reach
Once a knowledge equity map (org chart) that clearly points out internal knowledge resources is implemented, the next step is to construct a picture of external knowledge resources such as business partners, customers and supply chains. Portal-based collaboration and knowledge exchanges with such alliances will fuel rapid global expansion.
Information about external resources is inherently captured in existing systems, but rarely put to use. It is possible to construct team-based organizational charts that clearly display external relationships and knowledge stores by centralizing this information.
TimeVision’s product, OrgBuilder, provides a means by which to capture this information, and has a security model in place that allows you to invite external resources into the process of building and maintaining team charts. The point is, you must capitalize on the knowledge you have and extend your knowledgebase to incorporate every resource in which you have invested time.
The Time Is Now
You cannot separate human capital management and knowledge management. It is imperative that you tap deeply into your human capital, using best thinking combined with best practices to extract portal-based information and turn it into expansive enterprise-based knowledge. There are products, such as TimeVision’s OrgPublisher and OrgBuilder, that assist you in building and maintaining an accurate picture of your company's organizational structures to fully realize the benefit of enterprise portal-based knowledge sharing. Such products extend your investments in data, systems and people while creating valuable collaboration as a by-product. By putting your people first, success will follow. The enterprise portal is no different.
Founded in 1994, Irving Texas-based TimeVision, Inc. is the leading global provider of Internet/Intranet-based, organizational charting software used by more than 1,500 companies and organizations in nearly 50 countries. Customers include American Airlines, the Bank of Montreal, Colgate-Palmolive, Compaq Computers, Heinz North America,the Internal Revenue Service, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., Reliant Energy and XO Communication, among others. Stand-alone or combined, TimeVision's products OrgPublisher and OrgBuilder provide the most comprehensive solution for creating, maintaining, distributing, and analyzing organizational information across the enterprise. For a free 30-day trial of TimeVision’s products OrgBuilder and OrgPublisher, please visit TimeVision.