Premier 100: Managing knowledge at Wachovia

Kathleen Melymuka   Today’s Top Stories    or  Other Project Management Stories  

Six Support Issues That Keep Execs Awake at Night The Power of Pen New Fujitsu High-End Itanium-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Industry-Leading System Management for Linux and Windows Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts

February 26, 2003 (Computerworld) -- SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., is the fourth-largest bank in the U.S., employing more than 100,000 people at thousands of branch offices.
Four years ago, it was a traditional company with silos of people, processes, content and technology. Employees' talents and information weren't universally accessible; best practices weren't shared across business units; information was difficult to find; the corporate intranet was a hodgepodge of more than 1,200 Web sites; and information-sharing wasn't a cultural value.
That's when the financial services company began to systematically build an increasingly sophisticated knowledge management process.
Thomas J. Kitrick, director of enterprise knowledge management at the bank, told an audience at the Computerworld Premier 100 conference here that the project has changed the way Wachovia works.
Today, employees are networked with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for knowledge-sharing. The business units publish processes and information to benefit workers inside and outside their departments. And the intranet provides the tools to publish and retrieve information.
Getting from there to here has been a three-phase journey that started with the "Knowledge Desktop," an application that allowed call center employees to enter and access information in a departmental repository. That application was enabled by a document management system from Documentum Inc., collaboration tools from eRoom Technology Inc. (which has since been acquired by Documentum) and a search engine modeled after that of Yahoo Inc.
Two prerequisites to the success of Phase 1 were the building of a detailed corporate taxonomy so information could be named and indexed in very specific ways and a cultural shift around the need to share information, Kitrick said.
Phase 2 broadened the project in 2002 to include 20,000 users on the divisional level in "Knowledge Resource Centers." Each departmental resource center included a knowledge resource group that met monthly to refine and re-engineer processes for publishing and retrieving information to ensure that employees were cooperating and that the repository was living and growing.
Finally came Phase 3, the "Knowledge Exchange," which has extended the system throughout the corporation. "When you go across groups that don't have much in common, there's less reason to share," Kitrick said. So at this level, the notion of reusability was introduced.
All large documents are broken up into chunks or objects that can be reused by others, he said. For example, the boilerplate fine print at the end of a legal document is an object that the legal department has entered into the repository for use on documents throughout the corporation. If the boilerplate wording changes, the legal department is responsible for changing the object in the repository so every employee will instantly have access to the new version. Leaders of the departmental knowledge resource centers meet quarterly to refine processes.
A huge challenge throughout the development has been what to do about the 1,200 pre-existing intranet sites, Kitrick said. Rather than kill them, the team decided to bring them into the process. Important business information contained on the sites is sent through a validation process and then added to the Documentum repository. Other content -- such as the corporate volleyball schedule -- is relegated to a separate Microsoft CMS repository with a very different look and feel from that of the highly validated business-content areas.
"You know immediately which area you're in," Kitrick said.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based Documentum has helped Wachovia tackle other organizational challenges, including questions about how long to keep a document and what to do when it's no longer useful; concerns about document version control, which is especially important when multiple people collaborate on a document; issues of workflow, which involves the routing of documents through the system for appropriate approvals; the tracking of who wrote, edited and approved a document; and the need for security.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Today's US college business professors, hopefully, aren't all like the one who is teaching a Florida university's business major. Maybe..." Read more... "For the first time in 30 years, there were no public offerings from a venture backed company. Look for more..." Read more... Read more Management posts or See all Blogs

Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner HP eyes move of support facilities out of Colorado Springs Microsoft trumpets security additions in upcoming IE8 More top stories...

How much is too much? Upgrade your notebook without going over the line French ruling on counterfeit goods could have far-reaching effects for eBay Apple cuts price of high-end SSD MacBook Air by $500

This old laptop: Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap All it takes is a couple hours and about $125 to breathe new life into an old laptop. Here's how. Bill Gates moves on Is Microsoft's Golden Age over? What are Gates' most memorable quotes? Find out in Computerworld's complete coverage of the end of the Bill Gates era at Microsoft. Five things you should never tell your boss There are some things your CIO definitely doesn't want to hear. Also don't miss the flipside, Five things you should always tell your boss. Hands-On: Firefox 3 fixes what's broke and keeps what's right With its latest version, Mozilla's browser continues to raise the bar for what Web browsers should be. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland SecurityAsk a Premier 100 IT LeaderBlackBerry Legal BattleData Security BreachesElectronic VotingFirefoxH-1B VisasHP's Boardroom ScandalHandheld DevicesHurricane Katrina AftermathMicrosoft Legal IssuesMicrosoft's VistaOpen SourceRFID TechnologySCO's Linux FightSarbanes-Oxley ActSpamVoice Over IPWi-FiWindows Meta File VulnerabilityWindows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders2006 Salary Survey2007 Best Places to Work in IT2007 IT Forecast2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders40 Years of ComputerworldASPs, Take TwoBest Places to Work in IT 2003Best Places to Work in IT 2004Best Places to Work in IT 2005Best Places to Work in IT 2006Business Intelligence Home RunsBusiness Intelligence: Smarter BIBusiness Intelligence: The Future of BICRM Goes VerticalCRM: Sober CRMCareer Planning Guide 2005Careers: IT Profession 2010Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005Data Management: Mining for GemsData Management: Taming Data ChaosDevelopment: Hard-Workin' Web SitesDevelopment: New Tools New ChoicesDevelopment: The New World of Application DevelopmentDevelopment: The Web Services TsunamiDevelopment: Web Services HurdlesDisaster Recovery: Preparing for the WorstE-commerce Grows UpE-mail/Groupware: Big DecisionsFaces of Mobile ITForecast 2006Global MobileHardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple ChallengesHardware: On-Demand Un-HypedHardware: The Shape of Things to ComeHorizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge TechnologiesIT Management: Guide to Managing VendorsIT Management: Navigating Global ITIT Management: Recovery AheadIT Management: The Future of ITIT Management: The Resourceful Project ManagerInnovative Technology Awards 2004Management: Reinventing ITMicrosoft in TransitionMobile/Wireless Leaders and LaggardsMobile/Wireless: The Untethered WorkerMobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge CostsNetwork Management: Taking ControlNetworking: Turbulence Ahead!Networking: VoIP Goes MainstreamOperating Systems: In the Slow LaneOperating Systems: Linux Goes GlobalOperating Systems: Should You Nix Unix?Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's GuideOutsourcing: Outsourcing DangersPremier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in ClassPremier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in ClassROI: Do the Math!Salary Survey 2003Salary Survey 2004Salary Survey 2005Security Action PlanSecurity: Compliance HeadachesSecurity: Proactive SecuritySecurity: Risk and RewardSecurity: Tips From Security ProsSouped-up SecurityStorage: Battling ComplexityStorage: Cheap & Secure Data StoresStorage: Stretching Your Storage DollarsStorage: The Lean Storage MachineStorage: The New Rules of StorageStorage: The Ultimate Backup GuideSupply Chain: Missing LinksSupply Chain: RFID Reality CheckThe Business of SecurityWeb 2.0 SecurityWireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone See your link here

Mitigating Risk with Security Assessments Get this white paper now! (Source: BDNA) By gaining transparency into risk and security status with rapid, flexible security assessments, organizations can rapidly improve risk management. Assessments should deliver a risk-relevant view of the IT infrastructure, enabling you to track progress towards policy compliance targets. This white paper describes a new technology for conducting rapid, flexible assessments. Download this white paper  A Leader in Healthcare IT: Marshfield Clinic Case Study A Leader in Healthcare IT: Marshfield Clinic Case Study View this webcast now! Go to the webcast  Computerworld Technology Briefing: Meetings @ the Speed of Business Download this Technology Briefing now, compliments of Microsoft! (Source: Microsoft) For large organizations, Web conferencing gives a major boost to collaboration among far-flung offices. For smaller companies, experts say Web conferencing is no longer a luxury but a necessity for everything from webinars to customer presentations. But the real value lies in saving soft costs and in increases in productivity. Download this executive briefing  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Deploying Virtualized NetWare on Linux Whitepaper Toward More Flexible, Next-Generation Collaboration Solutions Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility View more whitepapers

• Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
• HP eyes move of support facilities out of Colorado Springs
• Microsoft trumpets security additions in upcoming IE8
• More top stories 

Computerworld Technology Briefing: Meetings @ the Speed of Business For large organizations, Web conferencing gives a major boost to collaboration among far-flung offices. For smaller companies, experts say Web conferencing is no longer a luxury but a necessity for everything from webinars to customer presentations. But the real value lies in saving soft costs and in increases in productivity. Download this briefing

Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs MessageLabs is offering a complimentary 30 day trial of its managed Anti-virus and Anti-spam security solutions. MessageLabs guarantees complete protection against all know and unknown email threats. By providing 24 hour support, your business can increase productivity and decrease risk. Register for a complimentary trial and receive a free datasheet. Download this white paper now!