Transforming intranet content

In February 2004, defence and aerospace systems vendor Raytheon decided to optimise the organisation of its intranet information to better assist its 78,000 employees worldwide. Keith Cromack, director of information services for Raytheon, speaks to ei magazine about why and how the transformation was made.

How was Raytheon’s intranet content previously managed?

As with most large companies, the information available through the intranet is managed in numerous repositories, web servers and shared drives. The information and knowledge-management initiative at Raytheon does not intend to move that information; only to provide transparency to the complexity of how it has been stored. We chose our solution provider because their system offered an understanding of that complexity so that we could begin to add some context for the user.

Why did you feel it was necessary to optimise the organisation of your intranet information?

Raytheon has over 80-years’ worth of information and much of this information is extremely valuable. We have found that the value of information is highly subjective and tied to the context of a particular process; however, some information loses value as it ages or is superseded by changes in technology and business strategy. Studies show that knowledge workers can be overwhelmed by information and are not always effective when it comes to handling information they need to do their jobs. There was a compelling need to improve the overall usability and value of our information and to help our employees utilise it more effectively. The data-discovery programme has given us visibility – now that we can ‘see’ the information, we can make more effective use of it.

What major implementation challenges did you face?

The sheer volume of information and the need for constant diligence were the biggest challenges we faced. Information is being created every day at a faster rate than ever before. Aside from the need to add value to what already exists, a significant effort was required to change the process and systems to stay ahead of the competition. System changes alone cannot provide you with lasting business value. We cannot lose track of the change-management challenge, which refers to how users think about, use and protect company information. Raytheon’s information and KM programme is arguably a series of change-management projects with a technology wrapper. Our response to the need for constant diligence is a series of change-management plans that identify our key stakeholders, influencers and organisational dynamics.

How does the data-discovery programme organise your information?

The data-discovery programme has helped us to understand the scope of the problem and to garner business support needed to change the way we manage information. To a certain extent, we didn’t know what we didn’t know and the data-discovery programme has allowed us to quantify the scope and condition of our information environment. Raytheon’s awareness of the information environment helped it to articulate a business case for why information management needed to be addressed. The process of organising information is underway and involves the creation of enterprise-wide meta schemas, taxonomy creation and ongoing profiling of information as it is stored.

What objectives were you looking to achieve with the programme?

The overall business case was based on the ability to increase employee productivity. In other words, we wanted to reduce the time being wasted looking for information or creating something that already exists so that this time could be better spent, allowing the organisation to grow.

How are you tracking specific penetration targets for the deployment of improved search capability and use of content management?

The underlying technologies provide us with several ways to measure and report penetration. We measure penetration because it is relatively easy to collect and it is a good indication of critical mass.

All of the projects in our information and KM programme require a certain level of participation to show value. As for company information under management, it is our approach to measuring the amount of information that contains some level of metadata or that is indexed within the company taxonomy.

The amount of time required to find any given piece of information is the main concern for the end user. Through the use of focus groups and user feedback, we will establish benchmarks and measure the impact of changes made throughout the year.

Have there been any unexpected benefits revealed from these measurements or the strategy as a whole?

Although we did not set out with an objective to save Raytheon money on storage costs, the programme has identified opportunities to reduce the level of duplication and to store data more intelligently based on its classification, relevance and age.

Were there any hidden costs?

There was the not-so-hidden cost of the cultural change required to manage company information more effectively. Information users have to see the value of understanding and applying metadata to new documents. They need to be engaged in the information-sharing process in order for a company to fully realise the benefits of information management – it is not a spectator sport.

Have there been any new business rules and guidelines created around intranet information following the data-discovery programme implementation? How are these rules enforced?

New information policies and processes have been established to help users understand their company information responsibilities. We are refining and updating our established policies and procedures regarding classification, labelling and tagging of information. For instance, we have added the requirement to use metadata, something that was not part of the original policy. Our deployment strategy is not to force the use of this system, but to show the value to each individual end user. This is a very participative process - if the individual user is able to find information faster and better perform their task, they are more likely to participate. The challenge is one of change management. We must ask ourselves how best to engage the individual user so that they see the personal value and are encouraged to participate.

How do you plan to boost the ROI of your strategies and systems in the future? What is your ultimate goal?

Our ultimate goal is to increase the value of Raytheon’s information. Our information and KM programme is focused on three elements: intelligent search, content management and knowledge representation. Each of the three elements of the information and KM programme are at different stages of deployment, and we have realised that the end of 2004 will not mark the end of the project. Already we are learning from our experience and building the value proposition for the implementation of a similar programme for 2005. Although the pace of technology change or vendor consolidation may cause us to look at systems as we go forward, the continued focus will be deployment and reaching critical mass of participation. Again, these are organisational-change projects with a technology wrapper. The three elements are the foundation, but there is still much to do.

What advice would you give companies following similar strategies?

Focus on adding value at the end-user level. Unless the information user can see the value, it will never translate into business value. You have to approach information management as an organisational change. Technology and change management go hand in hand in the deployment process.

How do you see the role of information/knowledge management developing at Raytheon over the next 18 months?

We need to complete the information and knowledge-management programme and look towards articulating a programme for 2005. Information and knowledge management is never truly completed. We will build upon the value we are able to show this year and add different skill sets into the process, including metadata architects, information architects and change managers.