Knowledge sharing system and communities of practice: supporting DAU's performance learning model - Acquisition, Technology And Logistics

Program Manager, Sept-Dec, 2003 by Sylwia Gasiorek-Nelson

In March 2002, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD [AT&L]) authorized the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), Fort Belvoir, Va., to facilitate the transformation of the legacy Defense Acquisition Deskbook, hosted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, to a new AT&L Knowledge Sharing System (AKSS) that provides a more robust and capable support system for the DoD AT&L workforce (Figure 1).

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About the AKSS

AKSS was launched in October 2002. Like its predecessor, the Deskbook, it continues to provide acquisition information for all government and industry workforce members, covering all functional disciplines (Figure 2, p. 17). AKSS serves as the central point of access for all AT&L resources and information as well as communications regarding new acquisition initiatives. As the primary reference tool for the Defense AT&L workforce, it provides a means to link together information and reference assets from various disciplines into an integrated, but decentralized, information source.

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AKSS Vision

The vision for AKSS is not only to provide a reference source for policy documents, but also to foster and facilitate the growth and sustainment of AT&L-related knowledge communities, commonly referred to as communities of practice (CoPs). CoPs are an integral part of the AKSS vision and serve to promote sharing of discretionary assets (lessons learned, best practices, templates, etc.) on a continuing basis. CoPs do this by bringing together individuals who have a common interest in a particular topic and who find value in connecting to peers and increasing their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter so as to better perform their jobs.

Commenting on the AKSS, John Hickok, DAU director of knowledge management, said, "The purpose of AKSS is to provide the members of the AT&L workforce, both government and industry, a 24/7 place on the Web where they can get the knowledge and expertise needed to support their work activity in developing, producing, acquiring, and supporting our weapons and support systems." Hickok emphasized that the vision is for the AKSS to be a gateway to the DoD "enterprise" knowledge residing in the OUSD, the Services, agencies, and industry, so that it is shared to the maximum extent possible. This includes sharing human tacit "working" knowledge and providing the tools to collaborate on critical issues affecting the workforce on a real-time basis. "AKSS," he continued, "should make it easy for the user to get to mandatory policy/process in documents like the FAR/DFARS, 5000, and JCIDS [Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System] and even easier to get to discretionary best practices, lessons learned, performance support tools, and subject matter experts."

According to Hickok, AKSS can be described as a transformed Defense Acquisition Deskbook. The Deskbook was initiated in 1995 as a centralized database of the best information available at that time to support the workforce. "AKSS builds on the Deskbook but enhances it with a new 'golden source' concept that ensures that knowledge offered up through AKSS is owned and managed by local organizations that are dedicated to keeping the content accurate and current. The golden source concept is embraced by knowledge management professionals from the OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense], the Services, Defense Agencies, and industry that make up a knowledge providers' network community, facilitated by DAU," said Hickok. He also noted that AKSS adds the whole new dimension of online knowledge communities.

Highlighting the importance of AKSS, Dave Brown, DAU lead for the Systems Engineering Community of Practice, said, "AKSS provides the expansion in capability required to assist the acquisition workforce to do a better job in less time. Deskbook has always been an excellent source of explicit knowledge for the acquisition workforce. However, most tasks require both explicit knowledge (things that can be recorded in documents) and implicit knowledge (how to do a particular task). Communities of practice complement Deskbook by adding implicit knowledge to AKSS in the form of the yellow pages of contacts, job aids, templates, and examples."

How can AKSS help you do your job?

AKSS is designed to ensure that the information it provides is the most up to date available. The new philosophy of directing users to the official source for references and documents assures them that they are accessing the most currently published version of policy documents and references.

AKSS provides a single entry point to AT&L resources. Its goal is to:

* Save time by providing direct access to policy, guidance, templates, training, and peer discussions for those in the acquisition workforce to use in their daily work.

* Increase productivity by guiding workers to the best practices and lessons learned within the DoD AT&L community and industry

* Improve worker effectiveness by finding and using proven practices and by sharing lessons learned across the AT&L workforce.