Rapid knowledge transfer among workers

• US 7,809,671 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2007
• Issued: 10/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Nebolsky, Charles, Swaminathan, Kishore
• Primary Examiner(s): HOLMES, MICHAEL B
• Application Number:
  US11/986,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20080215683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• Field of Search: 706/60
• US Class Current: 706/60
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A knowledge transfer system is described for transferring knowledge from expert workers at a client location to apprentice workers at an outsourcing location. The knowledge transfer system includes a memory system configured to store a Knowledge Transfer Plan that defines knowledge and tasks that need to be transferred from the expert workers to the apprentice workers and program code and associated data defining role-specific portals for individual expert workers and apprentice workers. The program code is configured to access the memory system for storage and retrieval of data associated with the role-specific portals. The knowledge transfer system further includes program code which defines one or more collaboration systems for two-way communication between individual expert workers and individual apprentice workers and a multi-media knowledge repository which is configured to store work objects created by the expert workers and the apprentice workers during the knowledge transfer process. The knowledge transfer system further includes portal page creation code which is responsive to predetermined Knowledge Transfer Plan data for configuring the program code and the associated data defining role-specific portals and monitoring and tracking code which monitors progress of individual apprentice workers in fulfilling assigned tasks.

Claims

1. A knowledge transfer system for transferring knowledge, the knowledge transfer system comprising:

a wizard system including a plurality of web pages to receive information about knowledge and tasks to be transferred from expert workers at a first location to apprentice workers at a second location;

a memory system to store the knowledge and tasks;

an engagement site including a plurality of web pages to be accessed by respective expert workers and respective apprentice workers during the transferring of knowledge; and

collaboration tools for communication between individual expert workers and individual apprentice workers during the transferring of knowledge.

2. The knowledge transfer system of claim 1 where the engagement site comprises:

portal page program code defining role-specific portals accessible by the individual expert workers and the individual apprentice workers.

3. The knowledge transfer system of claim 2 wherein the portal page program code is configured to access the memory system for storage and retrieval of data associated with the role-specific portals.

4. The knowledge transfer system of claim 2 further comprising:

a portal page creation process to map the information about the knowledge and tasks to be transferred to the engagement site.

5. The knowledge transfer system of claim 4 wherein the portal page creation process is configured to create the plurality of web pages including at least one web page for each respective expert worker and at least one web page for each respective apprentice worker.

6. The knowledge transfer system of claim 5 further comprising collaboration tools and a document repository wherein the portal page creation process is configured to create necessary linkages between the plurality of web pages and the collaboration tools and the document repository.

7. The knowledge transfer system of claim 5 wherein the portal page creation process comprises computer readable code operable in conjunction with a processor of a server.

8. The knowledge transfer system of claim 2 wherein the engagement site further comprises application home pages accessible by individual expert workers and individual apprentice workers for transfer of knowledge transfer about a particular application.

9. The knowledge transfer system of claim 2 wherein the engagement site further comprises user home pages for individuals including at least one user home page for each individual expert worker and at least one user home page for each individual apprentice worker, the user home pages providing information about applications and knowledge transfer for the individuals.

10. The knowledge transfer system of claim 1 wherein the collaboration tools comprise one or more of:

a discussion thread system,

an instant messaging system,

an electronic mail message system,

an audio or video messaging system,

a moving screen capture recording system, and

a desktop capture and annotation system.

11. The knowledge transfer system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of web pages of the wizard system comprises forms including text input blocks to receive user defined application and user information.

12. The knowledge transfer system of claim 1 wherein the wizard system is configured to respond to the user defined application and user information with additional queries tailored to prompt a user to provide additional necessary information about the knowledge and tasks to be transferred.

13. The knowledge transfer system of claim 1 further comprising a proficiency evaluation wizard system to evaluate proficiency of an individual apprentice worker to who knowledge was transferred.

14. A method for transferring knowledge among workers, the method comprising:

developing a plan of information identifying individual workers and tasks about which knowledge is to be transferred;

based at least in part on the plan, creating role-specific portals for the individual- workers to participate in the transfer of the knowledge; and

storing in a repository accessible through the role-specific portals data defining the role specific portals and providing access to collaboration tools by the individual workers for the transfer of the knowledge.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein developing the plan comprises:

presenting to a transition administrator on-line forms arranged to receive information about applications to be transferred and workers having the knowledge and workers to receive the knowledge; and

storing in the repository data entered by the transition administrator using the on-line forms, the data defining in part the plan.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein presenting the on-line forms comprises:

opening an initial web page on a web browser of the transition administrator, the web page including prompts and data entry fields;

in response to data in the data entry fields of the web page, opening subsequent pages on the web browser; and

on the subsequent pages, providing prompts specific to an application or a user defined by the data received at the initial web page.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing in the repository data related to tracking and monitoring the progress of the knowledge transfer among workers.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

storing in the repository information about completion of knowledge transfer.

19. A portal page creation process for a system for transferring job-related knowledge from a plurality of expert workers to a plurality of apprentice workers located remotely from the expert workers, the process comprising:

a knowledge transfer wizard process, including

a process for receiving data from a user accessing forms on one or more web pages,

a process for organizing the received data according to workers and applications to be transferred, and

a process for storing the organized data in a database;

a repository creation server side process to operate on data stored in the database and store data in a repository specific to the transfer of knowledge, including

an application creation process to create pages holding web parts to display information about the applications to be transferred,

a user creation process to create pages for users including respective expert workers and respective apprentice workers, and

a task creation process to create tasks to be accomplished during the transfer of knowledge.

20. The portal page creation process of claim 19 further comprising:

an engagement site creation process including

a process for creating a home page for each application to be transferred, the home page providing access to information about the each application, and

a process for creating an engagement home page for managing the transfer of knowledge.

21. A method which uses a processor operating in conjunction with a display device to initiate an engagement to transfer knowledge from first workers to second workers, the method comprising:

presenting one or more on-line forms to a user involved in the engagement;

receiving, from the user entering information in the on-line forms, information about the knowledge transfer;

based on the received information, retrieving stored knowledge templates pertinent to the engagement;

based on the retrieved knowledge templates, providing additional on-line forms to the user to prompt the user to provide additional information about the engagement;

based on the retrieved knowledge templates and the provided additional information, providing additional online forms to the user to prompt the user to provide additional information about the engagement; and

using the user-provided information, creating a set of web pages accessible by respective first workers and respective second workers for conducting the transfer of the knowledge.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

based on information received from the user and the retrieved knowledge templates, establishing a set of tasks to be completed for conducting the transfer of the knowledge.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

based on the retrieved knowledge templates and the provided additional information, identifying a set of applications to be transitioned from a first worker to a second worker,

and wherein creating the set of web pages comprises creating a respective web page for each application to be transitioned, the respective web page being accessible by the respective first workers and the respective second workers during the transfer of the knowledge.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein retrieving stored knowledge templates comprises retrieving checklists of typical tasks that need to be accomplished by knowledge transfer engagements.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein retrieving stored knowledge templates further comprises retrieving standard time frames for the completion of each task.

26. An application home page running in conjunction with a browser program on a processor to produce a visual display on a display device, the application home page to be provided to a user of a knowledge transfer system for transferring knowledge from expert workers to apprentice workers, the knowledge including a particular application associated with the application home page, the application home page comprising:

a navigation links area including clickable links to navigate the browser program to another area on the application home page or to information stored in a repository containing information about the knowledge to be transferred;

a tasks area including a list of tasks to be completed for transfer of the knowledge; and

a milestones area including a list of milestones associated with the particular application.

27. The application home page of claim 26 wherein the tasks area comprises for each particular task a group of clickable links to respective web pages providing additional information about the particular task.

28. The application home page of claim 27 wherein the tasks area comprises summary information for each particular task.

29. The application home page of claim 27 wherein the summary information comprises a task title, a user to whom the task is assigned and task status.

30. The application home page of claim 27 wherein the milestones area comprises, for each particular milestone, a title, a begin date, an end date and a clickable link to a web page providing additional information about the particular milestone.

31. The application home page of claim 27 further comprising an issues area including clickable links to web pages with information about problems or topics needing discussion among users involved in the transfer of the knowledge.

32. The application home page of claim 27 further comprising a news area with clickable links to web pages with information about collaboration materials for use by users involved in the transfer of the knowledge.