lost knowledge

DNV | KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Retention of Critical Knowledge

PEOPLEPROJECTSASSETS

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lost knowledgeROCK /// lost knowledge

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lost knowledgelost knowledgeCOST OF IGNORANCE /// Costly mistakes are repeated, as earlier ones were not recorded or analysed

People. Organisations are potentially vulnerable to the

loss of knowledge through retirement, career moves or

mobility of staff. This will diminish performance until

such time as work is either reorganised or successors

become equally productive.

Projects. Organisations risk reinventing the wheel and

replicating mistakes if knowledge from projects is not

captured, transferred and re-used.

Opportunities to build new knowledge and share good

practices are lost.

Assets. If not managed carefully, asset knowledge may

be lost, resulting in higher lifetime costs, performance

gaps or increased exposure to safety risk. Poor asset

knowledge utilisation, improvement and hand-over to

new owners or operators hampers operational excellence

and introduces risk for asset safety and availability.

DNV has developed significant experience in designing,

coordinating and embedding programmes to capture

and transfer critical knowledge from people, projects

and assets for clients.

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Good management practice

The capture and transfer of knowledge should be part of any organisation’s management system.

■ PEOPLE Do your HR processes pro-actively help to reduce the time-to-competence of successors,

ensure your reputation is not damaged through the loss of knowledge and prevent the loss

of productivity associated with staff mobility, retirement and career moves?

■ PROJECTS Do your programme and project management procedures ensure that learning from

successes and failures is undertaken rigorously and systematically? Can the knowledge

accumulated in projects be re-used by current and future projects?

■ ASSETS Are you able to access and re-use knowledge of your assets, from the original design intent

to current performance? Is this knowledge held in various repositories and by a variety of

staff and members of the supply chain?

Over recent years, DNV has developed robust processes to assess and mitigate associated with lost

knowledge. These include the screening and risk assessment of organisations’ experts, knowledge and

learning infrastructures focussed on projects and single points of knowledge for assets.

DNV deploys a portfolio of tools that support knowledge capture and transfer, involving interviewing,

workshop facilitation and video capture, thereby producing knowledge artefacts that are often visual in

nature and therefore easy to read, making complex matters accessible for end users.

DNV’s perspective is that a Retention Of Critical Knowledge (ROCK) programme should be initiated as a part

of ‘good management’ and not as a troubleshooting exercise when for example an expert leaves, a project is

faced with a critical issue or when historical records on assets cannot be retrieved or interpreted correctly.

The examples provided next show a small selection of tools that illustrates the variety of methods and results

that DNV can offer.

COST OF IGNORANCE /// Employees spend too much time to search for information and knowledgeable people

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ROCK Toolbox /// a selection of DNV’s ROCK tools for people COST OF IGNORANCE /// Good ideas and best practices are not shared, raising costs and missing opportunities

Pearls of Wisdom involve

the selection of a list of an

individual’s contacts, activities

and lessons learned. As part

of succession planning, this

method helps to prioritise

and capture key information.

A Network Map illustrates an

expert’s key contacts and their

relationships or can be focused

on a knowledge area identifying

the key actors.

Shadowing is a technique

to transfer a specific set of

expertise and skills to

a successor.

An Audience with... is a

session that helps to transfer

knowledge through the expert

telling stories and anecdotes.

Sessions are usually filmed

to enable as many people as

possible to access the content

provided.

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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Loss of critical knowledge due to retirement and mobility of workforceROCK Toolbox /// a selection of DNV’s ROCK tools for projects

A Project Chronology

captures the key knowledge

accumulated over the project’s

history to date. This helps to

capture memory in a visual way.

Conducted in the presence

of new staff, this supports

induction and accelerates

learning.

The Job Manual is an extensive

handover document that will

allow project members to

understand critical tasks and

responsibilities and the resources

needed for successful execution

of the role.

There are a number of

Gateway Reviews that enable

project managers to mobilise

knowledge already captured in

the organisation’s memory and

to contact others who can help

make projects more effective.

Despite its name, this tool can

be used to kick-start the various

project gateways.

Peer Assists follow a

structured, 10-step process

in which individuals share an

issue or problem for which they

are seeking feedback from a

number of peers in order to

solve problems collectively.

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COST OF IGNORANCE /// 1 or 2 key employees hold crucial knowledge, putting continuity at riskROCK Toolbox /// a selection of DNV’s ROCK tools for assets

The Doormat Letter is a

checklist that needs to be

completed to ensure that all

tasks relating to the asset are

handed over properly. The letter

is created by interviewing key

experts.

A Concept Map breaks down

key knowledge areas into

their component parts and

demonstrates their relationships.

Deep Dive is a recorded,

annotated walkthrough of a

plant and its assets to mobilise

and transfer knowledge

and experience to capture

specific aspects of a plant’s

configuration, using relevant

documents like drawings and

maps and recording the walk

and the commentary.

The Plant lite is a tool to

mobilise and transfer knowledge

and experience about

specific aspects of a plant’s

configuration based on a review

of using relevant documents like

drawings and maps.

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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Knowledge is not readily available at the point of actionDNV’s systematic approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of knowledge loss

SCREENING of people, projects

or assets for potential loss of knowledge

IDENTIFICATION of knowledge areas at risk

PH

ASE

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PH

ASE

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Result: People, projects or assets are scored 1-5

> critical, unique knowledge or skills

> critical knowledge and skills

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4

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2

1 > common knowledge and skills

> proceduralised, non-mission- critical knowledge and skills

> important, semi-documented knowledge and skills

screening questionnaire people, project or asset

critical knowledge areas

effort to retain knowledge

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f kn

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dge

loss

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4

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COST OF IGNORANCE /// Employees use outdated and non-validated information in actionDNV’s systematic approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of knowledge loss

DNV provides the following services that cover all aspects of effective ROCK

programmes and will support you in:

■ Screening of people, projects or assets for potential loss of knowledge;

■ Identification of knowledge areas at risk;

■ Selection and execution of actions to capture and transfer knowledge;

■ Recommending IT environments that support easy retrieval through improved

document indexing and structuring;

■ Developing a sustainable programme for knowledge retention.

Our delivery modes are:

■ Consultancy, programme management, coaching and (in house) training.PH

ASE

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ACTIONS to capture and transfer selected knowledge areas

> Advanced ROCK

> Intermediate ROCK

> Basic ROCK

> Standard procedures exist

> Acceptable, no action required

action level CA

PTU

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&

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NSFE

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ROCK toolbox

WHAT ARE YOUR COSTS OF IGNORANCE?

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For more information please contact Rob van der Spek, Director of Knowledge Management Advisory Services

/// t +31 (0)6 54781900 /// e rob.van.der.spek@dnv.com, kmservices@dnv.com /// w www.dnv.com/knowledgemanagement