In the know…

An intranet overhaul to encourage timelier information searches, collaboration and better knowledge management at healthcare manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.

By Janice Kite

The company
A mature organisation operating in a mature marketplace, Johnson & Johnson was founded in New Jersey in the US in 1886. It runs more than 200 operating companies – or franchises – employing roughly 115,000 staff in 57 countries around the world.

Today, it is one of the largest international manufacturers of healthcare products for the consumer, pharmaceutical and medical devices and diagnostic (MD&D) markets – generating $47.3bn in sales revenue during 2004.

In the UK, it operates 27 franchises across those three market sectors, including Johnson & Johnson Medical (JJM). This is one of two MD&D legal entitites in the UK and comprises: 16 of the MD&D franshises; 15 sales and marketing business units; and one shared-service business unit, Business Services UK (see figure 1).

The existing intranet
There were numerous, disparate intranet sites across JJM’s functions, geographic locations and franchises. We saw these as ‘first generation’ intranets, as each needed technical personnel (usually a single individual) to update content, which often created bottlenecks. Supporting and maintaining these sites involved duplication of costs, data and information. In addition, ‘Voice of Employee’ (VOE) surveys and other research suggested that there was a range of missing data and information – which was no basis for effective knowledge management (KM).

We regard ourselves as a growing company built on employee relationships and collaboration, so it was widely agreed that a single information source would give staff the opportunity to communicate more effectively and find their own opportunities for partnerships and the leveraging of business knowledge. Knowing and understanding what other franchises and functions are involved in would enable us to build on developments while sharing costs and effort.

Time and money were also being wasted during searches for information. Employees were spending a lot of time answering repetitive enquiries, rather than carrying out value-added activities. Some were wasting even more time searching for information in the wrong places. Our intranet studies suggested that 20 per cent of people wasted at least 15 minutes looking for information every day – four per cent claimed that they actually lost up to an hour. By calculating this time loss against an average salary and accounting for costs associated with printing, photocopying and intranet maintenance, we estimated that we could avoid costs of around £100,000 a year by implementing a new, more efficient intranet solution.

By implementing a second generation intranet portal, we hoped to:

Satisfy the issues raised in the VOE research;
Establish a foundation for KM;
Replace the existing, disparate intranet sites;
Leverage common content;
Enable employee self-service, therefore reducing support staff time spent answering repetitive enquiries;
Ensure that our solution was seen as the source of information for knowledge sharing.

Implementation
We approached the project as if it was the launch of a new product, from concept to end-user. Process Excellence (Six Sigma) Methodology was combined with Johnson & Johnson’s Project Management Lifecycle Methodology to manage the implementation.

User requirements
First, a group of employees sampled from various departments across JJM completed a VOE survey about their information needs.

Analysis of the responses identified 80 discrete information items, which were then ranked against the primary criteria of ‘business need’ (on a scale of five being ‘essential’ and one being ‘nice to have’). A secondary ranking, ‘difficulty to source’ was applied (one being ‘easy’ and five being ‘very difficult’). The project was segmented into three phases based on the above criteria:

Phase 1 – The items determined to meet 0-50 per cent of business need;
Phase 2 – The items determined to meet 51-75 per cent of business need;
Phase 3 – The items determined to meet 76-100% per cent of business need;

Solution assessment
Three solutions, which were already in use within the wider Johnson & Johnson organisation, were assessed against VOE requirements: Siebel’s Employee Relationship Management module (external); Johnson & Johnson Consumer’s ‘Intranet in a box II’ (an in-house tool); and Johnson & Johnson Janssen Cilag’s ‘eGlobe’ (another internal tool). This resulted in the selection of eGlobe – which in itself was good internal collaboration.

The Team
Janssen Cilag provided a small, dedicated project team. The leader of this group was, in turn, an integral member of the JJM project team, which also comprised of key users (who were selected from each participating function or franchise), the existing webmaster and the overall project manager. The key users were selected for their specific knowledge of their part of the business, including which content would please their audience. They coordinated all activities for their micro-sites and ensured that people in their departments or franchises were aware of the project and its objectives.

The portalis set up in such a way that editors require minimal or no technical skills. Each key user identified and recruited a team of editors, who each received the necessary training (which took less than 15 minutes) and were given access to specific folders. This enables them to add the most relevant content for their users, while spreading the workload and ensuring the portal is kept up to date with the latest, most relevant content. Governance processes and guidelines were also developed as part of the project, to ensure that content is appropriate and loaded in an efficient and secure manner.

The team created a ‘user requirements’ specification, which reflected the results of the VOE study and lessons learnt from the original intranets. In addition, a functional specification helped us to make decisions about how the site should perform. The Janssen Cilag team then developed the technical specification, which they adhered to throughout the development phase.

'The Know’ brand
The ‘product’ needed a name – a brand. We wanted to keep with the theme of using the prefix ‘The…’, as with ‘The Pulse’ (the corporate portal) and ‘The Globe’ (Janssen Cilag’s portal). We also wanted a title that hinted at the concept of KM. After team discussion, we decided on ‘The Know’, which lent itself nicely to a tag line to get people involved: “Are you in The Know?”

The design of the site and its graphics (see homepage, figure 2) came thanks to our resident graphic designer, the existing webmaster. She designed and created the logo and brand, which have become recognisable across the entire organisation.

The launch
In the weeks preceding the launch, we began a poster and e-mail-based awareness campaign across all our locations. Our employees are discerning customers who are familiar with website and internet technology. They already knew that the lack of information was making their jobs harder, so we marketed how The Knowcould help tackle these issues. Lunchtime drop-in events hosted by members of the project team were held during launch week and included presentations that demonstrated the benefits of the site.

Problems overcome following implementation
Looking back, it would be fair to say that The Know is transforming the way our employees work. It is not uncommon to hear people responding to enquiries with, “Have you looked on The Know?”

Communication
For more than 50 years Johnson & Johnson’s guiding principles have been embodied in the company ‘Credo’, a statement that not only defines our culture, but also aids all forms of decision-making. Regular Credo surveys are undertaken across the organisation. Results from a previous UK survey suggested that, among other things, employees would like to see improvements in communication. The Know is a channel that has already gone some way to address this – we await the next survey.

Employee Self- Service
The Knowprovides a base for developing KM, along with a wealth of work-related information to enable employees to find the answers to their questions more efficiently and effectively. Content includes, for example, staff contact details, project information, share prices, healthcare news, policies and procedures to facilitate employee self-service. Using filters and user recognition, the portal provides timely and relevant information that is personalized to all employees in any part of the business.

Duplicate Information
Previously, staff had duplicate information on shared drives, erooms and personal folders and often blocked e-mail systems by sending attachments over e-mail. Along with a high (and increasing) number of remote users, downloading of information was time-consuming and frustrating. Replacing the existing intranet sites has reduced duplication of effort and costs.

First generation intranets
Our research highlighted that the limitations of our first generation intranets were common to most organisations that jumped on the intranet bandwagon early:

They were seen as ‘technical’ and therefore the domain of the information technology/information management department ‘techies’;
Usually, one individual had responsibility for uploading content – on top of their everyday job functions;
Uploading of content was reactive, in that nothing was uploaded unless someone provided it;
The intranets were in addition to existing communications channels (e-mail, e-rooms, notice boards) and were not always used to their full potential;
The content was not reviewed for accuracy;
No statistics were gathered on system usage.

So, after the initial launch and hype, these intranet sites became stale, out of date and irrelevant – and unused. The implementation of The Know addressed all of these issues.

Results versus original goals
We expected to complete phases one and two by the launch date and phase three by the end of the year (2005). Amazingly we completed 93 per cent of all three phases by the launch date – well ahead of our expectations and a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the project team involved. In the first month after launch there were 126,000 page views.

Empirically, our HR department has noticed a drop in the number of enquiries coming in via phone, e-mail or in person. Comments have been made on the reduction of e-mail received (I personally estimate that my e-mail has been reduced by 40 per cent) and the portal ‘dashboard’ indicates that content is continually being added/updated by more than 40 editors. Furthermore, we no longer place information on notice boards (apart from a notice telling people to use The Know).

A month after launch, an online survey was uploaded, with positive results (see figure 3). Employees of JJM now see The Knowas a useful source of information and can see the potential in using and developing it. Since the launch, we have averaged 4,300 visits and 160,000 page views per month.

Cost benefits
The Know is an easily scaleable tool, allowing any team to have their own mini-site created quickly and easily. The benefit of adding more teams’ information is that original development costs are split between all parties. The more teams we have on board the cheaper it gets for all involved. What is harder to measure are the intangible savings. Our original research suggested that time and effort was being wasted looking for information, which was coupled with frustration and decreased productivity. The Know has gone some way to address this. Based on an average salary in JJM, time savings equating to more than £100,000 have been achieved.

Project Review
The project review/closure meeting took place in September 2005. A key topic was, ‘What would we have done differently?’ Essentially, the items identified could be grouped into two themes: finance and stakeholder management.

Finance
It took some time to get a decision regarding project funding from the finance department. Subsequent to that, it took a further period of time before we could confirm, to the participating units, the proportion of the total cost that they would be cross-charged.

Stakeholder management
The delay relating to finance had a knock-on effect on the level of commitment of stakeholders. Senior managers and department heads, although they had identified key users, would not commit the resource to the project. Consequently, this affected the commitment of key users in the early stages and it was difficult to focus the early team meetings on moving forward.

Interestingly, their responses to the post launch online survey did show that we realised their commitment in the end.

Ongoing Governance
The review meeting constituted the closure of the project. However, two activities needed to be carried forward:

1. Mini-projects to bring on additional teams – for example, manufacturing operations;
2. We wanted to establish a team responsible for ongoing maintenance, development and governance.

This resulted in the creation of The Knowsteering committee. The steering committee members are the key users, the webmaster and the project manager of the mini-projects. A guide has been produced that explains how the steering committee will operate and the representatives meet quarterly.

Already, the steering committee has reviewed the outstanding user requirements from phase three, approved the quote for development and secured the funding for development to take place, meaning that 100 per cent of user requirements will have been met within the first year of the project.

Janice Kite is UK e-business manager at Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics. She can be contacted via e-mail at jkite@medgb.jnj.com