The Canadian Forest Service has linked the success of its Knowledge Management business plan directly to its corporate strategy of using information as a strategic asset. The development of the CSF business case, took five years, from 1997 - 2002, to ensure the integrity of the plan, adequate resources, management support, and organizational buy-in.

Dr. Al Simard, Director of the CSF Knowledge Management Division, notes that the KM project will enable the Service to provide improved stewardship of Canada's forests, and to increase the competitiveness of Canada's forest sector. Central this happening is their strategy for CFS becoming the preferred source of knowledge on Canada's forests, and better coordination and reduced duplication.

Their short-term strategy is to learn from pilot projects that span KM business lines, and to leverage the early deliverables by learning from their successes and problems they encounter. These will serve as the precursors to an enterprise-wide KM solution, and content will be shared with scientists, providers and the public.

The criteria and indicators for elements to be included evaluated on an ongoing basis are:

• Support of CFS mission
• Efficiency: project management, meeting targets
• Effectiveness: productivity, enabling, learning
• Impact: visibility, reach, richness

The CFS methodology for preserving knowledge is:

• Capture - document, codify, digitize, enter
• Organize - classification, thesauri, metadata
• Store - libraries repositories, data warehouses
• Retrieve - browser, search engine, access
• Maintain - security, integrity, access
• Migrate - evolve technology · Manage - value, life cycle, capacity

Learn More About KM September 16 in Washington D.C. 

Those wanting to learn more about KM in action can attend the Digital Government Institute seminar on Boosting the Return on Agency Intellectual Assets: Improving Decisions for Performance Effectiveness.

The September 16 program at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC will present experts and agency case studies to help you learn how to plan and implement KM projects in today's demanding climate. You'll find out how adopters are providing timely, salient information to decision makers and their partners, so that they can make better informed policy and service delivery decisions. Serving as AM moderator will be John Andre, Knowledge Manager, GSA E-Gov Program Management Office. PM moderator will be Abby Pirnie, Director , Knowledge Architecture, AARP.

The Agenda

• 8:00 Welcome
• 8:10 How Leveraging Intellectual Assets Is Transforming Agency Decision Making
• Dr. Robert E. Neilson, CKO and Professor, IRM College, NDU
• 9:10 Putting Together a Knowledge Management Strategy in Times of Limited Resources
• Ramon Barquin, President, Barquin International
• 10:00 Break
• 10:20 How to Overcome Barriers to Knowledge Sharing
• Mike Novak, Senior Program Analyst, IRS
• 11:00 The Role of IT: Assessing the Range and Benefits of Technologies and Products
• Susan Menke, Chief Technology Editor, Government Computer News
• 12:00 Lunch
• 1:00 FAA's Knowledge Services Network: A Grassroots Approach to Knowledge Productivity
• Ron Simmons, Knowledge Officer, and Bob Turner, Knowledge Strategist, FAA
• 1:30 FedStats: Reaching Out to Citizens across Federal, State and Local Government Agencies
• Marshall DeBerry, Program Manager, FedStats/ Bureau of Justice Statistics
• 2:00 Break
• 2:15 How the USPS Web Enterprise Information System Provides a Single Interface from Sixty Systems to USPS Employees
• John Edgar, Manager, Enterprise Architecture and Standards, USPS
• 2:45 Knowledge Management in Action: How the Coast Guard Portal Gained Internal Support to Achieve Its One Stop Shopping Mission
• LCDR Janet Stevens, Website and Portal Program Manager, U.S. Coast Guard
• 3:15 Q&A with Afternoon Agency Case Study Presenters

For more information and to register visit www.digitalgovernment.com or call 202-624-1762.

Photo Courtesy Canadian Tourism.