Managing Information

Managing Information 

As a Management Consultant 

H Y Ip 

Copyright © 2005 Institute of Management Consultants Hong Kong. All rights preserved.

Course Objectives 

To learn the concepts and skills of 

managing information in a management 

consultant firm. 

To apply the concepts and skills of 

managing information as a management 

consultant for a successful assignment. 

Copyright © 2005 Institute of Management Consultants Hong Kong. 

All rights preserved. 

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Course Content 

Data, Information and Knowledge 

Why Managing Information 

Concepts of Managing Information (MI) 

Managing Data on Staff 

Knowledge management in management 

consulting- practices 

Managing an Assignment 

Client and Past Assignments 



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Data 

A fact, presented as an item out of context 

With no apparent relationship to anything 

Examples: 

– 101101 

– MAY 

–17 



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Information 

Adds context through relationships between data, 

or other information. 

– Limited in context about the past or present, with little 

implication for the future 

– Example: 101101 becomes information if it is 

defined in the “date” context and the 

relationship within it is also defined such as 

dd/mm/yy limited to the current century. 

– “date” is well defined in the past up to now (it 

may be “known” as something else in the future) 



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Knowledge 

Adds understanding and retention to information 

– To have "knowledge" requires information to be 

processed between data, information, and other 

knowledge, knowing and remembering all steps in the 

process. 

– Example:Knowing and remembering how to convert 

any binary number to decimal number such as 

converting the binary number 101101 to decimal 

number 45 



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Knowledge Management 

A concept to collect, analyze, organize, and share 

the knowledge of individuals and groups across 

the organization in order to enhance performance 

– Example: a process to help people to communicate and 

share information leading to business success. 

A KM process is about getting the right data, in 

the right context, to the right person, at the right 

time, for the right business objective. 



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Skills and Knowledge 

Processing in STM, MTM, LTM 

– CPU, Cache, SIMM, Disk 

– Driving a car vs Binary-decimal conversion 

Vocational training vs professional practice 

Very Personal (no clear cut definition in general) 

Tacit to Explicit (lossy skill transfer) 

– Capturing explicit part of knowledge with process 

Explicit to Tacit (skill regeneration) 

– Information to Knowledge transformation 



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Knowledge types 

Tacit knowledge 

– Very personal 

o Cannot be separated from owner 

o Cannot be fully transferred or transformed 

– Situational (some “guess” involved) 

o Cannot be represented by simple algorithms 

o Often as unique, one-off decision making 

– Partially transferred by apprenticeship, mentoring and 

coaching 

Explicit knowledge 

– Transformed tacit knowledge (with losses) on media 



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Why Managing Information? 

As a bridge to KM (knowledge management) 

– Knowledge cannot be fully captured by non-human yet 

– KM can be managed but it requires specific strategy, 

technology and people depending on situations 

– MI Based on good MD (managing data) infrastructure 

and practices 

– Past and current can be captured 

– The best manageable and reusable (regenerate 

knowledge) format currently 



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Concepts of 

Managing Information 

Relevancy – What is needed? 

– A typhoon signal hoisted in the nearby region should 

not be the reason in canceling the important event 

tomorrow. (However, a contingency plan should be in 

place) 

Accuracy – How is it needed? 

– The hoisting of No. 8 signal for less than an hour before 

taking it down is not accurate for making many 

decisions of impact. (It is a false alarm) 

Timeliness – When is it needed? 

– The hoisting of No. 8 signal should be just in time 

before the typhoon effects arrived for major decision. 



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Concepts of 

Managing Information (2) 

Completeness – What is enough to decide? 

– The signal hoisting should be followed by 

announcement from the HK Observatory and 

authorized government depts. The notice should be 

announced thru all possible media for the public to 

receive and enquire information. 

Simplicity – How easy is it to understand? 

– The well-defined and publicized icon of the twotriangles 

pattern would be displayed for easy cognition. 

Lengthy press release is not necessary for the initial 

announcement. 



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Relevancy 

Information is only relevant and needed, if it is 

used to make a decision 

When asking for information: 

– How can we apply this principle in practice? 

– ask for exact, no more, no less 

– tell decision basis 

When asked to provide information: 

– ask what decision is to be made, based on it 

– confirm that the information you will provide is exactly 

what is required. 



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Accuracy 

Accuracy may lead to wrong decision 

– Not enough Information may not be sufficient 

to make a decision 

– Too accurate may not include the crucial 

uncertainty 



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Timeliness 

Information is only required when and 

where decisions have to be made 

– Wrong people vs Right people 

• Executives vs Front line saleman 

– Wrong time vs just-in-time 

• Too early (incomplete info.) 

• Shipment arrived/on the shelf 



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A Managing Information 

Process 

To deciding which information you need: 

– Determine what the objectives are, 

– Decide on what decisions to make, 

– Decide on what information (relevancy, 

completeness, simplicity) are needed, 

– Determine when to make the decisions, 

– Decide on the accuracy required to make the 

decisions. 



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Example of a MI Process 

OBJECTIVES 

Increase 

assignment 

revenue by 6% 

DECISION 

Advertise 

When and how? 

Launch new 

services 

INFORMATION 

Forecast HR activities figures 

Previous and planned advertising 

campaigns 

Competitors’ advertising 

campaigns 

Advertising rates 

Revenue growth figures during 

advertising campaigns 

Market research 

Market share by services – 

competitors and ours 

Planned new service experts in 

development 



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Managing Data on Staff 

Identify objectives and decisions 

Transform data into information 

Collect information on specialties and 

experience for maintenance and updating 

Access and dissemination 



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A MI Process to build the staff 

database 

Identify Objectives and Decisions 

OBJECTIVE 

Collect 

Management 

Consultant 

expertise 

DECISIONS 

Expertise 

What Role? 

Qualification 

INFORMATION 

HR 

Training 

Project Management 

Business Plan Designer 

Degree/Certificate 

Discipline 

iMCHK Ladder 



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Implement the Staff Database 

with selected technology 

• Collect information on specialties and 

experience for maintenance and updating 

• Select technology (database) 

• Define Database schema 

• Access and dissemination 

• Set access right and user lists 

• Provide operator training 



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Knowledge Management 

KM Types 

– (Explicit) Knowledge Capital on media: 

• management strategies, methods, and technology 

• A KM Database 

– Human Capital (Implicit or Tacit Knowledge): 

• the KM process of gathering, managing, and sharing 

employees’ “intellectual capital”. 

KM Process: Conversions of Explicit and Implicit 

Knowledge with the goal of achieving gains in 

human performance and business competitiveness. 



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A KM Process 

requires business strategy, technology and people 

Process: 

– Capture collective knowledge of organization 

– Analyze it 

– Transform it into easily recognizable forms for self or mass 

consumption 

Transformations 

– Tacit Explicit ( knowledge representation) 

– Explicit Tacit ( knowledge regeneration ) 

– Explicit Explicit ( knowledge building ) 

– Tacit Tacit (mentoring) 

Goal: minimum loss and maximum regeneration 



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KM Metrics 

Identify KM Metrics: Knowledge Template 

– A Tacit to Explicit Knowledge transfer: 

Support/ 

Leadership 

Organization 

Technology 

People 

Knowledge 

Proposal 

Strategy; 

Project 

Management 

Champion: 

CEO/P/VP 

Board/ 

Council/ 

Depts 

KM tools 

Manager/ 

Individual 

contributor 

Skills 

Business 

Board mbr 

Mkt/sale 

IT tools 

Everyone 

Plan design 

Sr. Mgmt 

R&D/Manu 



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Example of a KM template 

Bid now, Source later strategy 

– Objective: To win a proposal for professional 

services in a competitive marketplace 

– Decisions: To overcome the time and resource 

constraint problems 

– Solutions: bid first, source after proposal is won 

See template detail in HO3-A 



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KM database 

Knowledge must be transformed into Information 

and vice versa through KM processes 

Human being is best suited to render information 

into a format easily transformable into knowledge 

by another human being upon retrieval 

– Benchmarking, Best Practice, Case Studies 

– Peer Assist & After Action Review 

Technologies 

– Statistical analysis software, data mining tools, OLAP 

and decision support systems, AI, and data visualization 

tools 



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Virtual KM Database 

A decision support system 

Select on an Objective will generate a Decision 

Tree 

– Select “proj mgmt” with “BPR”; “> 3 yrs”; “banking” 

– Output: “Diana Tai”; “G Williams”; “Kevin Fung” 

Select on a “Decision choice” will generate 

Information identified by MI Concepts and KM 

Metrics 

– Select “Diana Tai” with “BPR” 

– Output: BPR consultant for eBuy project; (MI: R = 

airline); (Metric: P) 



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Virtual KM Database 

Objectives 

Decisions 


MI Concepts 

KM Metrics 

(choices) 

(output) 

(more info) 

(support) 

Proj Mgmt 

w/ 

BPR,>3y,ba 

nking 

Diana Tai; 

G. Williams; 

Kevin Fung. 

3 possible 

matches 

R, C, T 

L, P 

Diana Tai 

BPR 

consultant 

(drill down 

on this item 

will yield 

more info) 

R = airline 

(need to 

evaluate for 

banking) 

P 

(learning 

and sharing 

culture 

oriented) 



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KM metric problems 

Problems in collecting KM metrics 

– “Knowledge is power” 

– Lack of knowledge 

– Lack of Time 

– Difficult to measure “known” 



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Managing an assignment 

Needs Tacit Knowledge 

Record and Maintain information 

– Tacit to Tacit (mentoring and coaching) 

Disseminate information 

– Retrieve from KM database (Explicit to Tacit 

conversion) 

Define KM matrics to meet the assignment 

objective 



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Managing an assignment 

KM Process: (Metrics and Virtual KM DB) 

MI Process: (Objective, Decision, info.) 

Important Factors: 

– Leadership, 

– Organization, 

– Technology, 

– Learning. 



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KM Leadership 

Identify business and operational strategies 

Align knowledge management with 

business tactics to drive the value of KM 

throughout the enterprise 

Build executive support and KM champions 

Obtain strong and dedicated leadership 

needed for cultural change 



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KM Organization 

Operational processes must align with the KM framework 

and strategy, including all performance metrics and 

objectives. 

KM processes throughout the organization must align to 

operational needs. 

Redesign the organization and identifying key levers of 

change, including roles and responsibilities. 

KM transform the organization’s culture. 

– The increasing value placed on highly capable people 

– Rising job complexity 

– Universal availability of information on the Internet 

KM must be integrated into business processes. 



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KM Technology 

Enables and provides all of the infrastructure and 

tools to support KM within an enterprise 

Eases cultural and organizational changes which 

are vital to achieving a KM strategy 

Any technical solution must add value to the 

process and achieve measurable improvements 

Properly assessing and defining IT capabilities is 

essential, as is 

Identifying and deploying best-of-breed KM 

software and IT tools to match and align with the 

organization’s requirements 



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10 requirements for a KM tool 

The functional requirements for building a KM 

solution include: (from Gartner Group) 

– capture and store; 

– search and retrieve; 

– send critical information to individuals or groups; 

– structure and navigate; 

– share and collaborate; 

– synthesize; 

– profile and personalize; 

– solve or recommend; 

– integrate with business applications, and; 

– maintenance. 



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Select technology and tools 

No technology product meets every 

requirement, and before selecting a solution, 

enterprises need to clearly define their KM 

strategy, scope and requirements, and 

perform product evaluations to identify 

technology products that effectively meet 

their needs. 



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KM Learning 

People are responsible for using the tools and 

performing the operations 

Creating organizational behavior that supports a 

KM strategy will continue long after the system is 

established 

Organizational learning approaches 

– Increasing internal communications 

– Promoting cross-functional teams and 

– Creating a learning community 



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KM Learning (2) 

An important part of knowledge 

management 

– The acquisition of knowledge or a skill through 

study, experience or instruction 

– Collaborating, sharing knowledge and building 

on each other’s ideas 

Management recognition 



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Tasks in Assignment 

Identify Strategy, Tools, People knowledge 

and skill levels, 

building a knowledge database with 

people’s expertise conforming to strategic 

objectives through the KM Process. 



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MI Process 

OBJECTIVE 

HR Re-org 

due to 

Merging 

DECISIONS 

Redundant 

expertise 

(e.g. trainer) 

Unique expertise 

INFORMATION 

Select trainer of Staff database 

Output names 

Single output name, 

No Output (new skill) 



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Assignment Metric 

Support/ 

Leadership 

Organization 

Technology 

Learning 

Knowledge 

Project 

Management 

Skills 

Champion: 

CEO/P/VP 

Board/ 

Council/ 

Depts 

KM tools 

Manager/ 

Individual 

contributor 

Business 

Board mbr 

Mkt/sale 

IT tools 

Everyone 

Plan design 

Sr. Mgmt 

R&D/Manu 



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Assignment Database 

Objectives 

Decisions 


MI Concepts 

KM Metrics 

(choices) 

(output) 

(more info) 

(support) 

Proj Mgmt 

w/ 

BPR,>3y,ba 

nking 

Diana Tai; 

G. Williams; 

Kevin Fung. 

3 possible 

matches 

R, C, T 

Proj Mgmt 

skill 

Diana Tai 

BPR 

consultant 

(drill down 

on this item 

will yield 

more info) 

R = airline 

(need to 

evaluate for 

banking) 

Managed 

BPR 

(learning 

and sharing 

culture 

oriented) 



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Explicit to Tacit knowledge 

Project Management template 

Apply template on merging organizations 

task to re-generate tacit skill to manage the 

assignment 

See HO4-A 



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Clients and past assignments 

Explicit to Explicit Knowledge transformation 

Key information on existing clients 

–Bank: 

– Universities: 

• E.g. Select Universities of Staff Database 

• Output: HKU, CUHK, HKSTU, PolyU 

• Build the assignment list under each university 

Recording and using data on past assignments 

–HR: 

– Training: 

– Project Management: 

Transform each data with the MI Process 



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MI Process on Client and 

Assignment data transformation 

– Determine what the objective is, 

• Training 

– Decide on what decisions to make, 

• Trainer, developer, tester, training consultant 

– Decide on what information (relevancy, completeness, 

simplicity) are needed, 

• Organization: bank, government, academic, corp 

– Determine when to make the decisions, 

• When no more output is obtained 

– Decide on the accuracy required to make the decisions. 

• Exact match or approximate 



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Example of MI process 

OBJECTIVE 

Collect 

Training 

expertise 

DECISIONS 

Expertise 

What and who? 

Trainer 

Developer 

Tester 

Training 

Consultant 

INFORMATION (Check concept) 

Bank 

Government 

Academic 

Corp 



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Clients/Assignment 

relationship 

Past Clients/Assignments: 

Clients/ Banks Universities Government 

Assignments 

HR 

Corp/SME 

Training: 

Trainer 

Developer 

Tester 

Training Cons 

Financial 

(drill 

down to 

get 

names) 

Local and 

international 

universities 

HKSAR 

(direct 

names) 

Airline 

Trading 

(drill down 

sectors) 

Re-org 



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Summary 

What we have learned: 

– KM, MI, MD concepts and process skills 

Applied what we learned to: 

• Build a Staff Database (MD, MI processes) 

• Build a KM Database (Tacit to Explicit) 

• Managing an Assignment (Explicit; Tacit to Tacit) 

• Build Clients and Assignments database (Explicit to Explicit) 

Further study: database, MI, KM system and tools 

Survey 



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