Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Many tools used for gathering information and knowledge can also be used as assessment
tools. From that point of view, a number of these are briefly addressed below.
Action Assessment and Learning. The AAL is an action learning-while-assessing
approach that ensures what is planned stays in resonance with emerging utility needs. AAL
would be based on a series of periodic “reviews” throughout the life of a project or program.
These reviews are similar to After Action Review, except they are process-driven rather than
action-driven. Both a pre-AAL and during-AAL become part of the process. The pre-AAL
brings a project or management team together to focus on the direction ahead, how
progress will be assessed, and sharing Lessons Learned from previous projects or related
utility projects. Following each AAL session, the project team would continue to learn from
the feedback from actions taken and actions underway to ensure the relevance of continuing
and future actions.
Benchmarking. Benchmarking has historically proven useful for transfer of Best Practices
when situations are similar in process context. When this is the case, benchmarking can
provide a point of comparison, potentially offering insights and guidelines for actions or
questions.
Case Study. As an assessment tool, the case study would be a formal and comprehensive
report about a specific individual or group (organization) who has successfully (or not
successfully) implemented a process or approach that is similar to the one being assessed.
It can be used to build an understanding of connections and causes, thereby helping a
project team create patterns that may apply to present or future situations. Since the case
study is a detailed description of a project, situation or group, including heavy context, it
provides a setting to examine numerous elements within a component of the implementation
process. Always beware of the differences in context between the case study and the one
being assessed.
Cost Benefit Analysis. A cost benefit analysis can be used to assess the value of a
knowledge management project in term of its real costs to stakeholders, the quantitative and
qualitative outcome and overall project costs. What were the resources spent and what was
the result? One of the costs is time, another is knowledge created or lost. Part of the
outcome may be in peripheral benefits. When coupled with a priority technique such as a
Prioritization Matrix, this can aid decision-making among several choices.
Inquiry Groups. These are groups brought together to investigate or examine some
specific issue. These can be held both face-to-face and through interactive technologies
(video conference, conference calls, e-discussion groups). They may include the full or
partial group of stakeholders with invited outside resources. Inquiry groups provide the
opportunity for each stakeholder to assess the project, sharing diverse perspectives and
building future capacity through learning and teaching. Basic inquiry procedures are used,
including questioning, cycling between action and reflection, and in some cases Dialogue
and Interviewing.
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