Case Study Report
IBM’s Knowledge Management Proposal For The Ontario Ministry of Education

Name: Nancy (Huinan) Li
ID: 5000520
Email: huinan1988@gmail.com
Module 5 (Session 7)
June 03, 2014

Executive Summary

In the early 2000s, the Ontario Ministry of Education contracted IBM in order to find a solution to its poor knowledge management. As a result, Kathryn Everest, a knowledge management consultant at IBM Canada, developed three options that would be beneficial to the organization and possibly resolve the problems. The three alternatives included implementing document management, cultivating communities of practice and creation of an expert directory. After much time spent determining which option, or combination of
There was overlap in 15% of all stored documents. The electronic data was generated and significantly different from paper-based documents in the previous way. Therefore, it was very difficult for the Ministry’s employees to find out what knowledge was available and who to approach for that expertise.

Alternatives & Options

According to the initial study of ministry needs and believed that the organization could benefit from one or more knowledge management solutions, including cultivating a Document Management System, creating Communities of Practice and Building up an Expert Directory System. Implementing a document management would help the employees to work mutually as a company rather then a department. Having the employees to feel they are all part of a company rather than a department will help build trust amongst all employees. Less time will be spent locating documents; this alone will drastically reduce cost. Implementing a document management control system will also improve security by providing better, more flexible control over sensitive documents. The system will provide an audit trail of persons viewing and editing documents and the time of the occurrences. Furthermore, they can implement the other option such as cultivating Communities of Practice. Implementing Communities of Practice