In the run-up to today’s U.S. presidential election, I’ve been struck by the way data and analytics have taken center stage. More and more people seem to be obsessing over polling data, “polls of polls” that synthesize data from disparate sources, and statistical models spitting out different predictions. In addition to telling voters who might be ahead in the horse race, these analyses tell both campaigns where they should invest their (not so) limited resources in order to get the best return.
Here at APQC, we don’t track mood shifts in swing states, but we do help organizations apply measures and analytics to make the same kind of data-driven investment decisions the campaigns strive for (in KM, our Knowledge Analytics process is a great example). And as the political pundits are quick to point out, we also emphasize that those decisions are only as good as the data underpinning them. You have to have smart analysts and good models to do the "whiz bang" predictions, but you also need to be measuring the right things and measuring them consistently and accurately.
If you’re interested in enhancing any aspect of your KM measurement program, check out our Measuring Knowledge Management Initiatives collection, which contains articles and best practices to help you design, implement, and analyze KM-related measures. We also have a new collection, Key Measures for Knowledge Management, which contains suggested measures to evaluate both your KM program as a whole and individual KM tools and approaches:
- Organizational Performance Measures Impacted by Knowledge Management
- Key Program-Level Measures for Knowledge Management
- Key Measures for Communities of Practice and Networks
- Key Measures for the Transfer of Best Practices
- Key Measures for Lessons Learned Processes and Approaches
- Key Measures for Content Creation, Management, and Use
- Key Measures for Expertise Location Processes and Systems
- Key Measures for Enterprise Social Networking and Microblogging
- Key Measures for Enterprise Wikis
- Common Measures for Collaboration
Our most recent KM Advanced Working Group helped us put these measures together, so they have been validated in the “real world,” but please let us know if you think we missed anything. If I get any great suggestions, I’ll add them to my next revision of the documents above.