Create an Information Management System

Creating a new corporate culture is a monumental challenge in the best of circumstances. Unfortunately, many organizations make it more difficult on themselves than it needs to be. Often these self-imposed obstacles seem trivial, but can have an oversized impact because of their repetitive nature.

The way you store information is one of these forms of barriers. As you progress on your Lean journey, you will find that there is a load of knowledge and information that you must manage effectively. You will have training materials, both internally developed and content that you have purchased. You will have loads of forms and other sorts of tools that will be used throughout the organization. You will have calendars, checklists, evaluations, audit documentation, and more. And that does not even include your process documents or best practices.

The easier it is to find and share information without corrupting the versions the document, the easier your journey will be.

Prerequisites

You must have a program leader selected prior to developing your knowledge management system.

Section Details

Estimated Time for Section: >1 Day

The time for this task is fairly minimal to get started. Setting up the folder structure and creating the core process will not take long. There is quite a bit of ongoing work, though, to make sure the system adapts to your changing requirements as well as to make sure that the organization adheres to the process.

Difficulty: Low

Setting up the folder structure and creating the core process is fairly simple. It will, however, be increasingly difficult down the road as the amount of continuous improvement knowledge you are managing grows at an accelerating pace.

Risk: Medium

The risk of getting this step wrong is more related to psychology than technology. Any mistakes you make in your structure can be fairly easily fixed through cut and paste efforts, though it can be time-consuming. Unfortunately, though, those mistakes will have an impact on the people using the system. If they find it difficult to locate what they’re looking for, or unwieldy to maintain their documentation, they will tally the problem in the “reasons Lean does not work” category.

In the early stages of a cultural shift, every hiccup in a process has a potential to contribute to derailing the transformation. Because people will be relying on information extensively, the impact of a poor knowledge management process will be amplified.

In a nutshell, this section is intended to reduce the waste associate with looking for information. If you do not have a good file management system, you will have a significant waste of time in both searching for documents or re-creating existing documents.

You also miss out on a great deal of improvement opportunity if people do not know what resources are available to them. If best practices are not posted, people will be continuously re-creating the wheel. If training materials, especially audiovisual materials that are available to all team members, are hidden away, your organization will not grow as fast as it can.

One of the challenges with this lesson is that every organization has unique needs. That means that your information management process will also be unique. It is very difficult to create a one size fits all template that can be overlaid into any business.

That does not, however, mean that you will have to start from scratch. There are some standard tasks that you should complete regardless of the nature of your organization.

Developing a Continuous Improvement Knowledge Management System

1. Start with a needs assessment. Create a list of all the different types of information that you will need to manage for your organization. Consider the following items:

• Purchased training materials
• Internally developed training materials
• Process documents
• Training records
• Kaizen “report outs”
• Project tracking info
• A3 reports
• Best practices / sample pictures
• Contact information
• Reading lists / website summaries
• Inventory of physical training materials / check out process
• Room / equipment reservation information
• Forms & tools
• Process documentation

2. Assess resources and technology. Consider the resources you have available to develop and maintain your information system. If you are a large company with a robust IT department, you may use a database and/or a website on your internal network. If you are a small company, you may track information with a simple spreadsheet.
3. Create your process document. This will be a work in process for quite a while you come to understand your knowledge management needs. The most important point here is to document the process and make sure it is followed. Change as necessary, but make sure that the process is consistently adhered to.
4. Create your folder structure. Once you know what you want to maintain and where/how you want to maintain it, it is time to actually create the folders. Consider who will have access to the information, as well as what you will do with hard copies of information or physical training products such as DVDs or Lego training kits.
5. Test the process. This information is only available in our premium version of this section of our practical guide to continuous improvement.
6. Train your leadership team. This information is only available in our premium version of this section of our practical guide to continuous improvement.
7. Leaders train teams. This information is only available in our premium version of this section of our practical guide to continuous improvement.

Special Considerations

Organization Size

The size of the organization will dictate how comprehensive the knowledge management system will need to be. Generally, the larger the organization, the more structure the system will need to have. This is especially true regarding best practices and process documentation. You want it to be easy to move people around, and that only happens if there is structure.

Small organizations, though, should still make sure to document as much as possible. Any turnover affects them to a much greater degree. A single person leaving can take years of valuable “tribal knowledge” with him.

Revision Privileges

Make sure you clearly define who can update materials, especially training information. It can be disruptive to have individual trainers adding to or removing content that other trainers rely upon.

Access Privileges

While I am a big believer in openness, I also understand that…

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• You may, and probably will, encounter resistance from managers if they are asked to post their process documents in a central location. This is more about ceding control and being forced to document processes than it is about the system. Regardless, be focused on eliminating any obstacles or challenges they encounter in using the system.
• Be sure to keep original copies of training materials in a safe place. Documents in a community location have a way of mutating or disappearing.

• A poor information management system creates waste that impedes your company on its path to build a continuous improvement culture.
• It is far easier to add information to an existing system than it is to create a system after you have accumulated a wealth of information.

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