A Pharmaceutical Company Creates Improved Channels and Structures for Collaborative Knowledge Sharing

The client recognized the untapped value of its internal knowledge asset. The client's R&D employees are separated by geography, business units, and projects. These factors, together with the overwhelming size of the organization (100,000+ employees), and its history of organizational acquisitions, has made it extremely difficult for employees to share information, resources or expertise outside of their own “silo”. The client wanted to create channels for the enterprise-wide delivery of content and put in place structures that would allow knowledge sharing amongst and between groups within the organization. To explore options for information sharing, the client’s senior management first chartered a pilot project to explore an industry-leading knowledge management solution for multiple sub-communities.

Evaluating and Filling in the Gaps of a Knowledge Management Solution

West Pole provided the project management and requirements analysis needed to quickly configure and implement the pilot solution, coordinate with the software vendor to provide training, monitor its effectiveness, and gather and analyze feedback. Upon the successful completion of the pilot project, the client turned once more to West Pole to locate the gaps in the knowledge management infrastructure and identify the requirements that would allow the most efficient use of existing resources. West Pole led the definition of a user and community profile system which provides a structure for expressing individual or group interests through the client’s proprietary enterprise metadata. Subsequently, West Pole worked with the client team to design and develop applications to take advantage of the profile system.

Creating Knowledge Structures around People and Communities

The results from the pilot program significantly enhanced the understanding of the way the client’s corporate teams communicate, with the outcomes informing subsequent development of an enhanced toolset. Moreover, as a result of the creation of the profile system and related applications, the client has a much improved knowledge management infrastructure capable of delivering targeted content and resources on any topic to any member or community within the enterprise. The system includes a user-configurable topic-focused alert system for delivering targeted information through flexible, proprietary channels – featuring variable display screens, RSS feeds and email notification options. Additionally, the system allows for improved knowledge sharing through the use of attributes within user and community profiles thus leveraging collaborative opportunities throughout the enterprise.

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