Preserving and Using Institutional Memory Through Knowledge Management Practices (2007)

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27 Question 13 asked responders to specify specific staff by job title assigned to KM responsibilities with full-time equiva- lents (FTEs). Table F9 in Appendix F shows staffing by indi- vidual STA. Figure 6 displays the cumulative results for all 14 responding STAs. The figure shows that STAs rely most on IT professionals and records managers to perform KM tasks. This runs contrary to the trans-discipline approach dis- cussed previously in this report. Additionally, the literature survey contains many examples encouraging IT to play an enabling rather than a driving role. Also, there is no appar- ent, clear career path for employees who may want to serve their organization in a KM role. ARE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES CLEARLY DEFINED? Question 14 asked a simple question: are KM responsibili- ties clearly defined? The possible answers were “yes” or “no, there is overlap or confusion about who is supposed to do what.” Figure 7 summarizes the results. These results corre- spond to the earlier ones regarding authority, leadership, and responsibility, where responsibility was shown to be diffuse. Table F11 in Appendix F provides detailed results by STA and Table F12 contains a few comments from STAs. DOES YOUR STATE TRANSPORTATION AGENCY HAVE A SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT BY WHICH INDIVIDUALS FROM WITHIN OR WITHOUT THE AGENCY CAN OBTAIN PUBLISHED INFORMATION OR DOCUMENTS, SUCH AS RESEARCH REPORTS? Question 15 deals with how easily employees can obtain published information, whether emanating their own or from other agencies. The question explores the overall efficiency of obtaining documents in which knowledge has been cap- tured explicitly. This is important because typically these are CHAPTER SIX SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS REGARDING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STAFFING: QUESTIONS 13–19 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 IT Pr ofe ss ion als Re co rds M an ag ers Kn ow led ge M gt Pro fes sio na ls Pr ofe ss ion al Lib rar ian s Cle ric al Su pp ort Pa ra/ Te ch nic al Sp ec ial ist s Sc an nin g/I nd ex ing /Re co rds M gt Sta ff HR M an ag ers /Sp ec ial ist s Cu sto me r R ela tio ns M an ag er ER MS Su pp ort St aff Tra ini ng M an ag er N u m be r o f F TE s FIGURE 6 Knowledge management staffing in FTEs. ERMS = electronic records management system.

28 NO There is confusion, overlap about who is supposed to do what (14 responses) YES (8 responses) YES we have a single point of contact (12 responses) NO we do not have a single point of contact (9 responses) FIGURE 7 Are knowledge management responsibilities clearly defined? FIGURE 8 Single point of contact for obtaining published documents. high-level consensus documents containing the results of hard-won, costly research. The ability to obtain efficiently such documents makes professional work easier and can help to avoid repeating research. Figure 8 summarizes the results. Although more STAs had such a point of contact then did not, 21 STAs responded, possibly indicating that in general STAs are weak in this regard and in many cases lack coher- ent internal practices to make published information readily available. DOES A LIBRARY FUNCTION EXIST? DOES YOUR STATE TRANSPORTATION AGENCY HAVE AT LEAST ONE PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIAN ON STAFF? Question 16 determined whether an STA does have a formal library. Of the 18 DOTs responding affirmatively to Ques- tion 16 regarding the existence of a library function that deals mostly with external publications and provides formal and informal links and access to published references, etc., 16 also have a professional librarian as lead staff member in the library functional unit. Table 1 shows that most states with an existing KM program do have a formal library function and at least one professional librarian on staff. See Tables 15F and 17F for detailed results by STA and Tables 16F and 18F for comments regarding libraries and librarians. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT BUDGETS Questions 18 and 19 dealt with KM budgets. Virginia DOT alone has a line item in the enterprise-wide budget. Califor- nia, Iowa, Kentucky, and Texas have a line item in a divi- sional or department budget. Fifteen others reported no specific KM budget allocation. In spite of that, Virginia and Utah were able to approximate total budgets amounts at $850,000 and $1 million, respectively. Note that Utah’s budget includes microfilming plus publication and two FTEs. It is apparent that costs for KM practices are dispersed through- out organizations, with no clear definition as to what is or is not included, and virtually no STAs were able to provide even an approximation of actual costs.

29 STA Formal Library Function Professional Librarian on Staff KM Program Exists Arizona Yes Yes Yes California Yes Yes Yes Iowa Yes Yes Yes Idaho Yes Noa Yes Kansas Yes Yes Yes Kentucky Yes No Yes Massachusetts Yes Yes No Michigan No No Yes Minnesota Yes Yes Yes Missouri Yes Yes Yes Montana Yes Yes Yes Nebraska Yes Yes Yes New Brunswick No No Yes New Jersey Yes Yes Yes Nevada Yes Yes No Ohio Yes Yes Yes Pennsylvania Yes Yes Yes Texas Yes Yes Yes Utah Yes Yes Yes Virginia Yes Yes Yes Vermont Yes Nob Yes a Library is staffed by Research Program Manager and Research Program Assistant. b Librarian on contract assisted in cataloging function. TABLE 1 CORRELATION OF FORMAL LIBRARY FUNCTION, LIBRARIAN ON STAFF, AND EXISTENCE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM