1. Case description Best practice description Tis case sows ow a large multinational went troug a bottom up organisational cange to become a knowledge-based company. A small community on knowledge Management witin Siemens grew to a corporate office, wic interlinked all KM initiatives in te company and elped it to become a leading global player in Knowledge Management. Te Siemens Corporation is a networked organisation, spread troug 190 countries, wit a total of over 450,000 employees. Te core business is electrical engineering and electronics in air traffic, ealtcare, railroads, telecom, power, medical, ligting, finance and more. But Siemens isn t a company tat just sells products; tey sell total solutions, wic are knowledge-based. According to Siemens CEO, Dr. Heinric v. Pierer, between 60 and 80% of te value added wic Siemens creates is directly linked to knowledge and tis proportion is growing. Terefore te first priority is to network and manage teir internal knowledge efficiently. In tis context, Communities of Practice are defined as: a group of people wo are linked togeter by a common ability or a sared interest, and consequently possess common practical experience, specialist information and intuitive knowledge. Tey sare information, experience and insigts and are supported by various tools. Resources (apart from ICT) Knowledge management in Siemens is aimed at promoting knowledge processes, suc as te localisation, recording, dissemination and accumulation of knowledge. One of te definitions for Knowledge management used ere is: an improvement of organisational capabilities on all levels of te organisation troug better andling of knowledge as a resource. Te costs of wole creation of te Corporate Knowledge Management Office amounted:. XXX involving XXX people. Te Office is now run by XXX people, at an annual exploitation cost of:. XXX Te Knowledge Management initiative started wit a group of 15 people trougout Siemens wo formed a Community of Practice on Knowledge Management (CoP KM). Tey sared teir know-ow on a quite informal base and met regularly on line or face to face. It developed as informal communities do: it ad no particular mandate and participation was voluntary and open to everyone wo was or wanted to be in te area of KM. But as te community grew to over a undred members, te need for support and formalisation grew. A request for support resulted in an interdisciplinary KM taskforce at corporate level, wic consisted of several community members, supported by a steering committee wit management from all over Siemens. A council was formed to identify te official representatives of te business units tat could serve in te Community and tereby build bridges between departments. In te wole discussing on te tasks of te new office, corporate integration was an important topic. In October 1999 Corporate Knowledge Management Office was a fact, wit its own special mandate and resources. By tat time, te Community of Practice on KM grew to 350 members. So te informal KM organisation is still alive. But tis wasn t te only KM activity: tere were over a undred more KM initiatives trougout Siemens, wic could now count on support from te CKM office. Its main tasks are: Te development of a corporate knowledge saring culture. Definition of a knowledge strategy and framework (including standards and guidelines. Alignment of existing Knowledge Management activities. BEEP 1
Development and roll out of a CKM roadmap. Initiation and support of Communities of Practice. Introduction and promotion of Best Practice saring across groups, regions and central departments. Provision of a Best Practice Marketplace for company wide knowledge excange. Definition and introduction of reference arcitectures and qualified services for Knowledge and Information Management systems and working environments. On a more practical level, te CKM improves Knowledge Management wit te following means: An internal Knowledge Community guide. A community support team wit ot line and intranet webpages. A Community@Siemens landscape in te employee portal were all employees can registrer teir communities. (In Spring 2002, more tan 400 communities are registred) SareNet, a standardized collaborative platform (see SareNet case). Every 6 monts tere is a conference on KM. In Spring 2002, a total number of 400 communities are registered, wic are supported by te new office. Togeter wit all oter KM initiatives, te creation of te Corporate Knowledge Management Office contributed to te reputation of Siemens as a igly respected learning organisation, serving as a igly qualified bencmark for oters. Siemens received several awards for tis, wit, amongst oters: Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) by Teleos, Great Britain: Siemens selected 1998-2002 as best German KM company by Fortune 500 CEOs/CFOs and 300 KM experts worldwide. APQC, USA, International Bencmark on KM: Siemens selected 1999-2002 as Best Practice Partner. MACILS, Germany: Siemens selected 1999-2001 as KM bencmark for German companies. KVD, Germany: Service Management Award 2001 for Knowledge Networking in Teleo-services Lessons and conclusions Tis case illustrates tat Siemens needed bot informal communities as well as a central organisational unit to transform into a knowledge based company. But, as Davenport and Probst state in te Knowledge Management Case Book (2002) on Siemens, certain tensions and callenges rise. Tese are: Local versus global knowledge excange. Employees ave to coose to allocate teir time between local and global KM initiatives. Te global knowledge excange can leverage expertise tat cuts across countries and businesses, wile some employees migt feel more comfortable excanging local knowledge in teir own language. Corporate versus business unit KM. Firm-wide initiatives elp to exploit te scale of Siemens business, delivering more knowledge synergy. But soecialised initiatives are easier to measure and may be better supported by managers wo are responsible for a unit s financial performance. How to nouris Knowledge Management in difficult economic times. KM grew in a growing world economy, but after te Millenium Siemens and its competitors experienced substantial decreases in demand, particular in information tecnology and telecommunications. BEEP 2
Specifically on Communities of Practice, oter lessons can be learned. According te autors of Te power of communities: How to build Knowledge Management on a corporate level using a bottom-up approac. (Enkel, Heinold, Hofer-Alfeis, Wicki, 2002) a number of key propositions can be drawn from tis case: 1. Communities of Practice are an effective and efficient form of Knowledge Management, excanging knowledge across ierarcical and Group borders. Tey are te eart of te KM system. 2. CoPs form sub-communities concerned wit special topics, wic enables tem to elaborate on solutions in sort notice. 3. A central form of organisation, like te CKM office, can satisfy te needs of te Communities for central co-ordination and can also act as foundation in a eterogeneous company. 4. In order to form CoPs, it is vital to first understand existing informal CoPs. 5. Communities sould be supported troug bot a provision of a knowledge marketplace (e.g. space, services and platform for knowledge saring and creation) as well as nurturing culture (e.g. official recognition, time and common understanding of business and knowledge strategy). 6. Openness to new organisations and callenges plays a significant role in establising successful CoPs. Executive summary (summarize te boxes above in two or tree lines): Preferred maximum number of words: 500. Timing of te case 1997-2002 Geograpic setting Global Type and use ICT Intranet, e mail, teleconferencing, data bases. Main actors contributing Te Community of Practice on Knowledge Management and te Corporate Knowledge Management Office. Main actors benefiting Te 450,000 experts working at Siemens Tis case sows ow a small community on Knowledge Management witin te Siemens grew to a Corporate Knowledge Management office. Siemens is a large multinational in electrical engineering and electronics. Promoting knowledge processes, suc as te localisation, recording, dissemination and accumulation of knowledge. Resources (apart from ICT) A corporate office was set up. A small community on knowledge Management witin te big multinational Siemens grew to a corporate office, wic interlinked all KM initiatives in te company and Knowledge Management elped Siemens to maintain its position as a leading global player. For tis effort tey received several KM awards. Lessons and conclusions Implementing Knowledge Management in a large company like Siemens gives tensions between local and global knowledge excange and between corporate and business unit knowledge excange. A Communities of Practice, supported by a central office, is a useful structure for optimising knowledge excange. 2. Case title (obligatory): Te case title must identify in a few words wat te wole case is about, including location (or geograpic spread) plus sectors covered were relevant, and te general type(s) of best practice it demonstrates, so tat it can be distinguised from all oter cases. BEEP 3
Siemens Corporate Knowledge Management Office (Global) 3. Beep input responsible for overall case caracteristic coding (obligatory): Input Name of person Organisation Date (dd/mm/yy) 1 Cris RAND Europe 08/04/02 2 Romana (review) RAND Europe 4. Case family (obligatory): Is tis case part of a case family in te Beep knowledge base. Answer yes if it is any of te following: does it as te ead case wolly contain one or more member cases? is it a member case wolly witin a ead case? is it a member case alongside oter member cases? Yes If yes, please list all oter cases in te case family (te current case is automatically entered into te first row), and if tere is a ead case mark te appropriate row: Case reference number Case title Mark if ead case Siemens Corporate Knowledge Management Office (Global) Yes 1 Siemens ICN SareNet, an Intranet application for managing m knowledge (Global) 2 Siemens Knowledge Master e learning (DE) m 3 Siemens KnowledgeSaring@MED (Global) m Siemens Telework (FIN) 5. IPR status (obligatory): V Public no restrictions Public but needs acknowledgement Pending : 6. Language of source material (obligatory): Language(s) of original documents Languages(s) of translations of original documents Englis Englis BEEP 4
7. Information source(s) (obligatory): Description List of main case sources List of main case websites Te information for te case is gatered from te Siemens Case Book, togeter wit e mail correspondence wit Peter Heinold, CIO Marketing & Communication Enkel, E.; Heinold, P.; Hofer-Alfeis, J.; Wicki, Y.; Te power of communities: How to build Knowledge Management on a corporate level using a bottom-up approac. In: Davenport, T., Probst, G.J.B. (2002), Knowledge Management Case Book. Publicis Corporate Publising ttp://books.publicis-erlangen.de/de/produkte/management/bwl/index.cfm?booki d=5697 www.siemens.com 8. Contact information (obligatory): Te only obligatory field is organisation name in column 1, but fill in as muc as possible. Inclusion of data ere is for Beep team purposes only, and does not imply automatic availability to Beep users. Weter and ow muc is put into te public domain are separate decisions. 1 2 3 4 Name of case person Peter Heinold Günter Klementz Dr. Josef Hofer-Alfeis Role in case CIO Marketing & Contact person 1 Contact person 2 Communication Role in organisation ead of marketing communication at Corporate Knowledge Management Office Vice President and Cief Knowledge Officer, Siemens AG Corporate Information and Operations Enabling Processes and Knowledge Management (CIO EPK) Senior Manager Siemens AG, CIO EPK Corporate Information and Operations Enabling Processes and Knowledge Management Organisation name Siemens Siemens Siemens Address, including post code (if known) and country. Südallee 1 D-85356 Munic Südallee 1 (Müncen- Airport) D-85386 Munic Germany Telepone +49 89 636-36466 +49-89-636-36408 Mobile +49 171 5583003 +49-171-7659829 Fax +49 89 636-37591 +49-89-636-718838 Email Peter.Heinold@sieme ns.com guenter.klementz@si emens.com josef.oferalfeis@siemens. Web www.siemens.com www.siemens.com www.siemens.com 9. Timing of case (obligatory): At least part of row 1 and te executive summary must be filled. Case timings -- as precisely as possible Give start and termination dates in actual mont (mm) and actual year (yy) if possible. If not possible to give dates, enter unknown, on-going, etc. in comments. on wat timing refers to as precisely as possible. If more tan one timing, including wic elements/csfs of case referred to if possible. BEEP 5
1 2 Start Termination elements/csfs of case referred to if possible. Mont 1 1997 Mont Mont 12 1998 Mont 15 people from across Siemens start a Community of Practice on KM, saring experience and know ow and creating a common understanding of Knowledge Management.. Te community grows to over a undred members 3 Mont 1998 Mont Te community officially requests central support for KM activities. A task force is establised on corporate level, supported by a steering committee. 4 Mont 2 1999 Mont A meeting on organisational integration. A council was formed for te CKM and te future tasks were described. 5 Mont 10 1999 Mont Te Corporate Knowledge Management Office goes down to work. 5 Mont 5 2000 Mont Te Commuinity as grown to 350 members. An International meeting was eld on te purpose of self-reflection. Since ten every 6 mont a conference is eld on KM. 5 Mont 2002 Mont Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) by Teleos, Great Britain: Siemens selected 1998-2002 as best German KM company by Fortune 500 CEOs/CFOs and 300 KM experts worldwide. APQC, USA, International Bencmark on KM: Siemens selected 1999-2002 as Best Practice Partner. 5 Mont 2002 Mont Total number of registered communities: 400 10. Number of people directly involved in case (not obligatory): Tese are full-time person equivalents (were relevant), and sould include all persons directly involved in te case itself, weter or not paid. Enter a number (as accurately as possible) Contributor: number of people directly responsible for, or 350 (1) Describe types of people (use descriptors from CHAR 13 if tis is relevant and elpful) Te Community of Practice on BEEP 6
contributing to, te case persons wo ave an interest or involvement in te case but are not te ultimate beneficiaries of it (tese can include Beep users, i.e. tose wo will use te Beep services) Beneficiary: number of people directly benefiting from te case (tese are equivalent to Beep end-users). unknown (2) Knowledge Management (1) and te Corporate Knowledge Management Office (2) 450,000 Employees of te Siemens AG (Corporation) 11. EU support classification (not obligatory): None 12. Investment in, and costs of, case (if possible): Investment source for case, including timing (in monts) if known EU Programme National government programme/ initiative (NUTS 1 level) Regional programme/initiative (NUTS 3 level) Local programme/initiative Industry organisation Private NGO, carity, non-profit trust/fund Oter (specify) Total investment Euro 000 Cost expenditure for case Expenses for end user ardware Examples: PCs, laptops, mobiles, PDAs, local printers, etc. Expenses for end user software Examples: off-te-self applications/tools, client software, etc. Expenses for system ardware Examples: servers, routers, switces, networks, centralised storage media, centralised printers, etc. Expenses for developments and canges Examples: applications development, software programming, software modification, content developments suc as populating a database, integrating new software wit existing tools or designing new Internet/web-based facilities, etc. Enter actual components, plus oter comments including timing (in monts) if known. Euro 000 BEEP 7
Cost expenditure for case Expenses for actions of implementation Examples: planning, surveying user requirements, pilot testing, evaluation, etc. Expenses for operation of service etc. of te case after implementation Examples: ly operational costs i.e. maintenance costs, cost of personnel, marketing costs, etc. Expenses for training and tecnical support Examples: courses funded by organisation, iring trainers, etc. Expenses for oter activities/purcases Enter actual components, plus oter comments including timing (in monts) if known Oter (specify) Total cost Euro 000 BEEP 8
So, ow does tis all fit in our conceptual matrix? Procedure: 1. Select one ore more KF from te list below tat apply to te case 2. Describe wat appened on KF level, only if tis is different from te description in te beginning 3. Put information wit one or more of te indicator, in a way tat we can put a score to te outcomes. Examples: Teleworking mostly applies to: KF 121, 133 Knowledge Management tools: KF 113, 122, 123 and 125 E learning: 111, 112, 113, 114 Key Factor KF: 1-1-3-0 Improved provision of learning Relevance of KF igly Timing of te key factor Geograpic setting Type and use ICT Main actors contributing Main actors benefiting Resources (apart from ICT) Lessons and conclusions Indicator 1: wat appened? IND: 1-1-3-1 Improvement in conditions for Non-Formal or Informal Learning Te new Corporate Knowledge Management Office facilitated Communities of Practice. In Spring 2002, a total number of 400 communities are registered. Indicator 2: wat appened? IND: 1-1-3-2 Improvement in time spent by employees in non-formal learning activities Employees will spend more time on informal learning troug Communities of Practice. Indicator. IND: 1-1-3-3 Improvement in te use of work-based ICT facilities for continuous learning Te Communities of Practice are facilitated by te Intranet: for e mail newsgroups, registering new communities, giving overview of communities one can attend, etc. Key Factor Relevance of KF Timing of te key factor Geograpic setting Type and use ICT Main actors contributing Main actors benefiting KF: 1-2-2-0 improved management of organisational knowledge most BEEP 9
Resources (apart from ICT) Lessons and conclusions Indicator 1: wat appened? IND: 1-2-2-1 An increase in knowledge saring facilities witin te organisation Te CKM office supports knowledge saring by: Te development of a corporate knowledge saring culture. Definition of a knowledge strategy and framework (including standards and guidelines. Alignment of existing Knowledge Management activities. Development and roll out of a CKM roadmap. Initiation and support of Communities of Practice. Introduction and promotion of Best Practice saring across groups, regions and central departments. Provision of a Best Practice Marketplace for company wide knowledge excange. Definition and introduction of reference arcitectures and qualified services for Knowledge and Information Management systems and working environments. Indicator 2: wat appened? IND: 1-2-2-2 An increase in te use of ICT knowledge saring tools Te CKM improves knowledge saring wit te following means: An internal Knowledge Community guide. A community support team wit ot line and intranet webpages. A Community@Siemens landscape in te employee portal were all employees can registrer teir communities. (In Spring 2002, more tan 400 communities are registred) SareNet, a standardized collaborative platform (see SareNet case). Every 6 monts tere is a conference on KM, wic can also be attended troug te Intranet. Indicator. IND: 1-2-2-3 An improvement in te use of ICT to capture organisational knowledge Key Factor KF: 1-2-3-0 improved participation on decision making. Relevance of KF medium Timing of te key factor Geograpic setting Type and use ICT Main actors contributing Main actors benefiting Resources (apart from ICT) Lessons and conclusions Indicator 1: wat appened? IND: 1-2-3-1 BEEP 10
An improvement in te organisational structure to allow greater participation in decision making. Te new Corporate Knowledge Management Office facilitated Communities of Practice, wic in teir turn stimulate organisational cange. Indicator 2: wat appened? IND: 1-2-3-2 An increase in te use of ICT to enable self-managed teams. Indicator. E mail, newsgroups and te Intranet is used by te Communities of Practice, wic can be seen as self-managed teams. Key Factor KF: 1-2-5-0 more innovation organisational structures Relevance of KF most Timing of te key factor Geograpic setting Type and use ICT Main actors contributing Main actors benefiting Resources (apart from ICT) Lessons and conclusions Indicator 1: wat appened? IND: 1-2-5-1 An increase in te use of ICT for informal communication witin te organisation. Te Community of Practice used e mail and newsgroups to evolve and paved te way to te organisational cange to a learning organisation. Tis resulted in te Corporate Knowledge Management Offices, wic, on teir turn, use Intranet to stimulate Communities of Practice and facilitate telemeetings on KM. Indicator 2: wat appened? IND: 1-2-5-2 An increase in te use of ICT to disseminate organisational innovation Te Community of Practice used e mail and newsgroups to evolve and paved te way to te organisational cange to a learning organisation. Tis resulted in te Corporate Knowledge Management Offices, wic, on teir turn, use Intranet to stimulate Communities of Practice and facilitate telemeetings on KM. Indicator. IND: 1-2-5-3 An improvement in employees' participation in organisational innovation Tis major organisation cange evolved out of informal communication of employees on Knowledge Management. BEEP 11