Case Studies in Knowledge Management

108 Bartczak and England

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Developing the AFKM Program

Randy Adkins worked tirelessly to educate himself on KM and to develop an
overarching strategic direction for the many existing elements of the AFKM program and
AFKM system. His initial efforts in developing the AFKM program were aimed primarily
at applying commercial KM processes and technologies to solve specific business
problems. In doing so, his focus was on identifying, capturing, and leveraging knowledge
and expertise within the organization. The ultimate goal of the AFKM program was to
design information system solutions so that AFMC users could share information and
knowledge and, at the same time, create a supportive, collaborative, and information- and
knowledge-sharing culture (HQ AFMC/DRI, 2001).

The AFKM “System”

Under Adkins’ direction, the Deskbook Team, deemed the AFKM System Devel-
opment Team 1999, continued to grow the Web-based system beyond its original three
components (Lessons Learned database, DoD Acquisition Deskbook, and Web-based
training). The AFKM System Development Team structure is shown in Appendix 2. By
mid 2000, the AFKM system was comprised of five basic components (Figure 4) — the
Lessons Learned database, the AFMC portion of the DoD Acquisition Deskbook, the
AFMC Virtual Schoolhouse (Web-based training), the AFMC Help Center module, and
a Community of Practice (CoP) collaboration workspace module.
The AFKM home page (Figure 5) described the functionality of the AFKM system
as follows:

Air Force Knowledge Management is the place to go to find out what you need and to
share what you know.... [It] applies commercial knowledge management concepts
and technologies to address AF business problems. It includes: collaborative
workspaces for communities of practice, high-value Internet links, Internet-based
learning technology to provide training via the Web, and a repository of lessons
learned, best practices, and other bits of usable knowledge. The objective is to make
our jobs easier and to enhance job performance by integrating organizational lessons
learned, community wisdom, training and collaborative technology to support current
and future projects. (AFKM Home Page, 2001)

The AFKM system was designed to be used as a portal. The main portal entry point
is the AFKM Hub (or AFKM home page) which includes access to Lessons Learned, DoD

AFKM Hub

Lessons Learned

AFMC Help Center

Virtual

Schoolhouse

Community of Practice

Workspaces

Deskbook

AFKM Hub

Lessons Learned

AFMC Help Center

Virtual

Schoolhouse

Community of Practice

Workspaces

Deskbook

Figure 4. AFKM system components