Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

70 | Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water Utilities
THE TOOLS
Tools are practices and processes to support implementation of KM in drinking water utilities.
Each tool can be considered separately as an initiative, or a set of tools can be used in support
of a KM strategy. These tools can also support other utility strategies.
While many of the tools have been linked directly from the phases of the KM Toolkit, others
are cross-linked from the strategies, ideas pages, and other tools. There are 55 tools, most of
which could be considered as KM initiatives. Table 8.1 lists each tool, a description of the tool,
what it supports and what it is connected to in the virtual KM Toolkit. For ease of use, each tool is
also rated in terms of level of effort, size of utility, and scope of work.
The level of effort is the relative amount of investment in terms of time, people, and funds
needed to implement an initiative. Level of effort is indicated as low, medium or high. The size of
utility appropriate for each tool is indicated as small, medium, large or scalable. Small is 0–50
people, medium is 50–300 people, and large is greater than 300 employees. The term “scalable”
indicates that the tool can be effectively used in all sizes of utilities. The scope of work indicates
the range of situations, issues, problems that this tool (initiative) can address. This is expressed in
terms of narrow, medium and wide. Two additional indicators that periodically appear in relationship
to specific tools are “C 2 ” and “NA.” C 2 means that the initiative is very context and content
sensitive, and is difficult to categorize. NA represents “not applicable.”
The detailed Tools that are part of the KM Toolkit are in Appendix C.
THE IDEAS
Ideas pages are resource lists that include a variety of concepts and approaches that can
support the application of KM practices in drinking water utilities. Each concept or approach
includes a short description. In the virtual toolkit, Ideas pages also include links to Tools, Project
Studies, Case Examples and Case Studies as appropriate. The Ideas pages were developed to build
the catalogue of choices and stimulate the imagination.
Table 8.2 lists the areas in which the Ideas are organized and a descriptor of the ideas in
each area.
The KM Toolkit Ideas pages are in Appendix H.
OTHER RESOURCES
In addition to the Tools and Ideas introduced above, the KM Toolkit includes Project
Studies, White Papers, Case Examples, Case Studies and other Resource Documents. KM Toolkit
indexes are listed in Appendix I.
Project Studies
Project Studies are short studies contributed by drinking water utilities nationwide specifically
for Project 4003. These Project Studies are examples of KM initiatives that are either in the
process of implementation or have been applied. (See Chapter 2 and Appendix B.)
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