International Institute for Learning to Present The Virtual Learning Summit: People, Processes and Projects

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 15, 2009 — International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL), a global leader in professional training in the areas of Project, Program, and Portfolio Management, Business Analysis, Microsoft® Office Project and Project Server, PRINCE2®, and Lean Six Sigma, today announced its first Virtual Learning Summit, “People, Processes, and Projects.”

Co-sponsored by PMINYC, the New York City chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI), the summit will provide an invaluable opportunity for professionals to examine and create dialogue with the company’s globally-recognized experts on the role project management will play as a discipline and strategic business tool in the 21st century.

In order to serve the needs of the global project management community, IIL is presenting three opportunities for attendance in August 2009, enabling participants to choose the offering that works best for their local time zone. The event is comprised of two unique three-hour sessions, each featuring three presentations and a question-and-answer period, providing attendees with direct access to IIL’s most senior subject matter experts — all through the convenience of a virtual venue.

“The Virtual Learning Summit will deliver strategic insights and best practices, empowering individuals with the knowledge to achieve continuous improvement in their day-to-day work with people, processes, and projects,” said E. LaVerne Johnson, Founder, CEO, and President of IIL. “Utilizing our state-of-the-art virtual learning platform, the Summit will afford professionals the unique opportunity to create dialogue with some of world’s leading authorities on Project, Program, and Portfolio Management, Business Analysis, Six Sigma, Microsoft® Project Server, and interpersonal development — in a format that is ideal for this economic climate.”

The Closing Keynote Address for the Virtual Summit, Project Management: The Key to Business Leadership in the 21st Century, will be delivered by Dr. Harold Kerzner, world-renowned expert on project management and Senior Executive Director, IIL. To view the complete event program, visit www.iil.com/virtualsummit.

Attendance will be limited to ensure interactivity. The first 100 registrants for each summit will receive a free copy of the upcoming textbook Value-Driven Project Management (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) by Dr. Harold Kerzner and Frank P. Saladis. Registration is now open at www.iil.com/virtualsummit.

For additional information, please contact Jennifer Seitz at +1-212-515-5107 or Jennifer.seitz @ iil.com.

Knowledge Mapping

Why is establishing a knowledge map important for your organization (or project for that matter )?

Well, lets look at it this way, unless you had a travel map you wouldn’t know what was out there and more importantly you wouldn’t know how to get there. A knowledge map works in pretty much the same way. It tells the you where knowledge resides and where the gaps are.

However the most important thing to keep in mind when creating a knowledge map in your organization, or your project,  is to map it in the context of the business processes that you are trying to improve. Otherwise you end up mapping knowledge you have no idea what to do with.

It’s critical to understand that if you are starting a KM initiative you first create a knowledge map, this will establish a platform upon with you could build your KM approach. Since institutionalizing KM is such a mammoth task you will most definitely create unnecessary hurdles for yourself if you don’t know where the gaps and strengths are.

However this is a lot easier to accomplish within a project, so you should take heart in the fact that implementing small KM initiatives within your project do not take all that much effort. Just some thinking.

So why would you spend effort on Mapping knowledge? well….

• to find key sources, opportunities and constraints to knowledge creation and flows.
• to encourage re-use and prevent re-invention, saving search time and acquisition costs
• to highlight islands of expertise and suggest ways to build bridges to increase knowledge sharing and exchange
• to discover effective and emergent communities of practice where informal learning is happening
• to reduce the burden on experts by helping staff to find critical solutions & information quickly
• to improve customer response, decision making and problem solving by providing access to applicable information, internal and external experts

Knowledge maps can be either strategic or tactical depending upon the need and intent. The best way to start the mapping exercise is by targeting processes that need improvement, from either the enterprise or process level.

The highest level mapping – at the enterprise level – is whats known as an expertise review. This is a crucial area of mapping as it identifies the various silos of knowledge available in the organization as well as the key assets of knowledge. Unfortunately due to the nature of the knowledge this map quickly gets outdated.

The expertise tacit knowledge map focuses specifically on business units and other such entities. It’s purpose being to identify resources with specific knowledge.

The knowledge map gap analysis however is the most specific map of all. This map gathers specific information about what knowledge is needed, who possesses it, who uses it, where it is located, and what business issues it addresses. This however is a time consuming exercise as it defines the flow of knowledge in an organization.

When a process such as the one described above is completed it gives an organization amazing insight into the knowledge it possesses and how it can go about maximizing its use.

The ideas above apply in the same manner for projects ( both large and small ) as they do for organizations. So before you start a KM project you might just want to conduct a Knowledge Mapping excercise.