Tools: Lotus Domino 4.6, CGI scripts, Adobe PhotoShop, Visio 5.0
By Dave Molta
When your most strategic business resource is knowledge, finding a way to effectively manage that asset becomes a high priority.
That's the essential motivation behind Coopers & Lybrand's KnowledgeCurve, a corporate intranet accessible to a ll 17,000 of its U.S.-based partners and professionals. Its impact is nothing short of revolutionary, dramatically changing the way the $2.5 billion company delivers consulting services.
KnowledgeCurve delivers five categories of services. First, it offers a synthesis of world-class research information gathered from external sources. Second, it acts as an internal broadcast medium for real-time information and news. Third, the system's knowledge-sharing services include online discussion groups. Fourth, KnowledgeCurve delivers a broad range of internally developed content, ranging from client and competitor information to employee ben- efits data. Finally, it serves as a repository of external links to business-related Internet resources.
Unlike many corporate intranets that find their genesis in IT organizations, KnowledgeCurve is owned by C& L's Knowledge Strategies Group, which historically provided the firm's professionals with internal analysis of companies, products and markets.
Nearly half of all hits on KnowledgeCurve come from CyberLyb, which provides access to real-time news, client and industry analysis, Securities and Exchange Commission documents and key financial statistics. But this focus on content does not come at the cost of quality presentation; a consistent user-interface design makes the system easy to use.
The technological foundation for KnowledgeCurve combines Netscape Web servers with Lotus Domino. Domino lets geographically dispersed nontechnical writers focus on content quality and maintenance rather than site-design issues. A single account enables secure access to all resources.
Since May 1996, KnowledgeCurve use has grown from almost nothing to more than 6 million hits in November 1997. A group of 200 KnowledgeCurve Champions, drawn from across the C& L organization, provides ongoing input to intranet managers, mostly via online discussion forums. In addition, formal usability testing is integrated into design and development activities.
One effective measure of any intranet development effort rests in the degree to which the system acts as a unifying force for gaining access to information.
To be effective, content needs to be current and relevant. C& L's KnowledgeCurve accomplishes that goal and offers an excellent model for deploying open-systems technology within a knowledge-driven organization.
