BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 1 of 11

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information

Reading Notes:

Obtaining Information Relevant to the Business

In today’s business environment, companies need to know their knowledge

resources and competencies and how to use this information effectively to gain or

sustain competitive advantage. Examples of business knowledge and information

relates to data on how the business performs, responses by customers, statistics and

financial indicators.

Data can offer managers a wealth of information but can also overwhelm them with

conflicting outcomes that can hinder or limit their decision making capabilities.

Too often business owners don’t realise the power behind identifying their most

desirable customers and targeting sales and marketing efforts to draw those

customers to them. Responsibility for a business owner is to make the business

work for them and their employees that will provide the best possible return on

investment. Review staff and customer feedback and business performance data to

help you identify factors that may hinder performance objectives and track progress

against performance objectives.

Staff reviews help employees know how they have been doing and what further

development or training they need to do to improve. Enabling a process to receive

responses from customers provides a company the opportunity to address issues or

customers may have with their products or services. Decisions made from negative

feedback can be widespread if it relates to a product deficiency and possible lawsuit.

Managers can make decisions based on feedback to determine if a product is

discontinued or a new product is manufactured.

Without information, you sometimes can’t act at all. In most organisations,

information is piecemeal. It’s on a ‘need to know’ basis only and the assumptions

about ‘who needs to know what’ rarely get questioned and usually run along the

lines of the hierarchy. In this environment, information becomes a control and

access to it becomes part of the organisation’s structure that shape activity and

behaviour. The result being that people who are tasked to ‘get it done’ rarely know

everything they need to know to recognise and interpret early signs of change or

trouble.

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 2 of 11

It is important to identify, define and analyse business problems and issues before

they escalate to major incidents that can cost your company valuable time and loss in

revenue. Ensuring you have the right indicators to monitor performance and issues

ensures you have the ability to respond quickly before a problem or issue worsens.

Companies that recognise information is the most important tool to performance

institute an open book management style. Here employees understand financial

information and the opportunity to see the real financial implications of everything

the company does, including the effect on the whole business of their own

department and job role. Essentially, employees in this environment are more

comfortable to take the ‘right action’ if they have the whole picture.

How do you know what information is the right information you require to make a

decision? It depends on how the decision impacts the overall vision of the business

and its ability to meet its objectives. If a business is looking to grow by acquiring

new businesses, then the information right for this decision is whether the potential

business fits into the overall vision of a company. What do you know about its

people, systems and resources in order to integrate its operations effectively and

smoothly with our own.

How would you fund the acquisition and what do you need in terms of

documentation and information to successfully conduct a due diligence on whether

your decision is feasible?

To ensure credibility and relevancy of your information, you can improve the

validity of the data by gathering information from a range of sources relevant to

your business, market and of importance to key stakeholders. Understanding the

big picture helps provide the context of where a company operates and a wide range

of sources enable managers to make informed decisions to help minimise potentially

risky situations.

Having a checklist to evaluate the credibility of your sources is one way of managing

this process. Think about how reliable you need the information to be in relation to

the situation or environment you operate. Consider the medium with which you are

working and their experience and credentials of the area they represent, for example,

peer-reviewed printed journals are usually considered a reliable source because

many professional reviewers were involved to ensure accuracy of evidence. Well-

known, accepted business models used to produce the information and references to

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 3 of 11

real case studies help provide a certain level of assurance and confidence in the

source material.

Researching the author and their expertise in the subject, knowing when the data

was published and understanding who has the most to gain from producing the

information will also help provide credibility. Collecting survey data for instance

from large numbers of customers can help companies identify market and buying

trends.

With the continuing emergence of new technologies increasing accessibility and

speed of information from all parts of the globe, what is applicable to a retail

business operating in London may be different for a retail business operating in the

Sydney market in terms of political policies, market, social and cultural norms. In

every situation it is important to test information for reliability and validity and

reject information that may be contradictory or ambiguous in nature.

In this global example, most employees involved in working across organisational

boundaries nationally and culturally will learn to appreciate the cultural differences

across the organisation and how information can be misunderstood if it’s not taken

in its wider context.

For business and commercial customers, you must keep in mind that a person (not a

business) makes the buying decision. How they decide is different for organisations

and is influenced by additional factors, depending on the nature of the organisation,

for example, when you understand the demographics of the organisation, its

industry, product line, size of business etc., it enables you to build a profile of how

best to approach and communicate with that customer or market.

One of the most underutilised methods of acquiring knowledge and information is

the inability of businesses to utilise formal and informal networks to access

corporate knowledge and learn from experiences and memory of existing staff and

past relationships with former customers. Typically, this information is not held in

formal systems but should be reviewed appropriately for relevancy.

Collecting data in-house is the least expensive way of building knowledge and can

be conducted by simple observation of current customers. Asking your customers

and staff a few well-placed questions to get the information that can’t be observed

and documenting your findings will help define your target market. Gather this data

on a monthly basis during seasonally different months of the year to help place the

data in its wider context.

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 4 of 11

Analysing Information and Knowledge

By adopting the S.M.A.R.T. technique to achieve goals, companies can ensure

objectives are met based on data analysis that is clear, relevant and consistent with

the decisions made. When goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and

time bound, data can be managed and applied to see whether the goals were met,

not met and where they fell short. Action plans can then be developed to help

address these shortfalls.

With increasing storage capability and technical advances, masses of historical data

and input of new data from wider sources can help companies identify patterns and

emerging trends based on what has happened, why it happened and what could

happen to a business under different scenarios.

Once data is collected, businesses can analyse the information statistically and

interpret where appropriate, where and how they fared in the past against

previously agreed goals. Data will also enable them to build models to forecast

future results. Quantitative measurements of outcomes based on decisions made

help businesses understand their current positions, where they need to make

changes, and what they need to do to ensure the vision, the only certainty in

business remains the primary focus.

Businesses can use data to create models of scenarios where they can test theories

and strategies. By undertaking sensitivity analysis on any proposed options,

businesses can see the impact on their bottom line if they made changes for example

to the price of a product or service, how they marketed to their customers and where

they could expand into new markets. Models help minimise the potential risk of

their decision.

Sensitivity analysis commonly referred to as the ‘what-if- tool is an effective forecast

model based on calculating various scenarios of what ifs. Businesses can forecast the

effects on its bottom line when sales for example are increased or decreased.

Measurable scenarios based on specific numbers can provide good estimates of what

their bottom line could be if x% of units were sold than forecasted.

Understanding the assumptions behind the strategies and tasks enable a business to

review its position and revise its approach based on new assumptions. Ensuring

documentation reflects a logical approach to the evaluation of the evidence and

conclusions drawn helps a company to monitor and evaluate quickly how they

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 5 of 11

went, how the evidence and conclusions were drawn and where they could make

the changes in order to remain on track.

The ability of a company to respond quickly to changes in market forces because

management can refer back to comprehensive documentation on the impacted area,

ensures competitiveness and its ability to perform effectively in today’s environment

of change.

Inadequate, out-dated systems not able to capture, manage, process and report

current data can result in poor or wrong decisions made by the business. Businesses

today recognise that the ability to meet information processing objectives relies in

their ability to adjust their management information systems to provide the

information they need to make informed decisions.

There are countless examples of poor decision-making resulting in financial losses

by companies. One example is a large multi-location department store in the United

States that generally lost market share to its main competitor when it lacked the

foresight to create a modern supply chain management to support an increase in

customers. Even more significant is the fact that its competitor had openly declared

in public that it would wage a price war policy specifically against the department

store based on their data telling them their competitor’s systems were inadequate to

cope with this pricing strategy.

To ensure the successful delivery of your products and services, take decisions on

business issues identified and agreed to by relevant stakeholders as relevant to

meeting the overall vision and goals of the business. This ensures a high-quality,

coherent system based on collaborative and inclusive input by stakeholders to help

meet your objectives. Engaging stakeholders with relevant, diverse experience,

knowledge and opinions delivers strong outcomes that generally, extends beyond

what can be achieved in isolation.

A stakeholder engagement model seeks to

 Create a coherent approach to what needs to be taken

 Establish planned and informed policies, programs and services

 Facilitate effective collaboration and knowledge sharing, and

 Communicate the businesses’ commitment to and principles of stakeholder

engagement to its stakeholders.

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 6 of 11

Ensure sufficient valid and reliable information/evidence is available to support a

decision. Why? For information to be reliable, it also needs to be valid, in that the

information is measureable according to what it needs to be measured. To enlist the

motivation and engagement of stakeholders, they need to believe the measurement

of evidence is accurate or they may become disengaged with the task.

Some ways to improve validity are:

 Make sure goals and objectives are clearly defined.

 Expectations are noted and documented

 Stakeholders are involved and supportive of how the information is assessed,

and

 Comparing the validity outcomes with other relevant data that may be

available

A risk management plan describes the potential risks to a business and an analysis of

the impact of each risk. It is a structured approach to manage uncertainty and

businesses should look to utilise risk management plans to determine acceptable

courses of action to minimise costly and stressful problems. A well-developed plan

includes risk strategies to help the business reduce the consequences if the risky

event occurs.

It’s just as important to put your business quantification into usable form and

distribute it where it can do the most good. This is achieved by organising the data,

possibly performing some calculations, and displaying it so that it makes sense and

helps you and your stakeholders understand what’s really going on in your

business. Companies that use an appropriate quantitative method to assist in this

decision making process knowing quantitative outcomes can be measured.

Financial quantification methods are usually uniform across companies taking the

form of known financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement or

cash flow statement. To quantify non-financial indicators, it is best to start with the

areas of your business that are most critical to its success. Typically, they are:

 Your employees

 Ability to produce units and level of current productivity

 How customers feel about your business

 Ability to generate sales and account manage clients

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 7 of 11

 Where you are placed, competitively, and

 Adequacy of your support services

It is important to establish credibility and boost your reputation by consulting

specialists and other relevant groups and individuals to support your business goals.

They can provide valuable experience and insight because they have been where

you want to be, and if used effectively, can help your business reach its goals

quicker.

Your staffing responsibilities are defined by your organisational strategy, your

systems development plan, your business plan, and your budget. Where people

make a difference in your business is in their productivity. You hired employees

based on their skills to meet their responsibilities and achieve their goals, its

important then to ensure decisions delegated and taken by stakeholders are within

the delegation and accountability of the department, group or employee responsible.

Business Decisions

Make decisions in accordance with organisational guidelines and procedures to

ensure your business is on track to make your vision a reality and achieve its

objectives. Because the company vision is the only certainty in a business

environment, reviewing your strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives may

change but a common purpose and vision ensures the overall objectives of the plan

move forward.

Whatever the response to market forces are from appropriate stakeholders, the

underlying actions and decisions made to ensure the survival of the business or

continued success, need to stay in line with the overall objectives, values and

standards of the company. This ensures consistency in message to all stakeholders,

a shared responsibility by employees and commitment to act in order for the

company to stay on track

Improvements in data performance will result in better, timely decisions which may

increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and attribute to increased revenues as a result

of fewer errors and less rework. Making data readily accessible to sales teams out on

the road will enable salespersons to develop and position customised solutions on-

site to their prospects. This reduces the decision making process of the prospect and

if the salesperson is successful, will bring in new revenue because relevant

information was delivered in a timely fashion.

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 8 of 11

Knowledge management, and faster technological mediums ensure decisions based

on credible information is made and taken in a timely manner

As a measure of shared responsibility, all departments and key stakeholders in the

organisation need the same information to work collaboratively and ensure

consistency and coherence in its response. How and when this information is

delivered illustrates to all those involved the importance of communicating

information in a cooperative manner.

Ensure advice and information needs are documented and are specific to location,

available in the correct format and time line to enable the effective exchange of

information. Identifying the best means of communication is part of the planning

and reviewing process.

Document information and update databases regularly to ensure decisions made in

the company reflect what is really going on in the market. Your ability to respond

quickly based on current information ensures you maintain competitive and take

advantage of opportunities that may be overlooked based on out of date data.

The design of a system or process has important implications for the accuracy,

transparency and accountability of the decision making process. Businesses who

invest in designing and testing systems will be wise to address and meet the

information requirements of those involved in the decision making process.

Ensuring the system is easy to use, simple to install and can be supported and

maintained to meet the future needs of the company will instil confidence that the

systems in place were designed to best practices and can be updated to reflect

changes in conditions.

Sharing Information and the Accuracy of Data

Accuracy in data in the health industry can be a matter of personal life and death. In

most other industries, it can make a difference in whether a company survives,

thrives or is forced to close its doors. Businesses must ensure information gathered

is up-to-date, accurate, relevant and sufficient for the recipient to make an informed

decision.

Accuracy ensures decisions are a calculated risk and made based on the best

information available. An inaccurate database is essentially useless and in the

example of inaccurate pricing, can cause the business to lose money or overcharge its

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 9 of 11

customers and/or suppliers affecting how it is perceived in the market and loss of

reputation.

Businesses that develop communication plans and disseminate information relevant

to its departments need to ensure they reflect the overall goals and values of the

business. Examples of communication tools used to disseminate information could

be the company website. Here people can find information about the company,

what it does along with any public statements and documents the business considers

necessary to inform and update its stakeholders with the latest news. Information

considered confidential may be accessible to selected personnel on password

protected pages.

Other mediums such as print media could also be used to disseminate information.

Whatever the medium chosen, the key elements of an effective communication and

dissemination plan is to:

 Outline the goals of the proposed project

 Assign appropriate tasks to achieve the goals

 Confirm the profile characteristics of the ‘potential user’

 Identify all relevant sources of information

 Recognise the appropriate channel to deliver the message

 Determine how activities have been successful

 Show how access to information will be promoted

 Identify what marketing strategies will be implanted to make the public

aware, and

 Overcome potential obstacles that may affect how targeted users access this

information

A key point to remember is that many customers and non-stakeholders think some

information is just ‘none of your business'. There are facts that customers believe are

too personal, or that expose them to risks that they don’t want to take. Three proven

techniques will help overcome this objection to providing sensitive information,

show them that they’ll benefit, protect their privacy and depersonalise the

information for them.

While privacy and confidentiality can be addressed by including them in company

policy, regulations enforced by laws also exist to protect the rights of the consumer

and the market to discourage abuse of companies who hold this data from misusing

the information to exploit and harass the consumer.

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 10 of 11

The Privacy Act 1988 regulates the business community by outlining how they need

to protect and handle personal information collected about their employees and

customers. Included in the Act are National Privacy Principles or rules relating to

the collection, use and way personal information is disclosed and securely stored.

Privacy and confidentiality is important to the credibility and reputation of a

business and if the business is found negligent or careless in how it stores this data,

the Act can enforce fines and expose companies to breaches of contract. The Act and

a company’s own Code of Conduct ensure they apply confidentiality and privacy

when releasing any information or advice of the data they possess.

Good organisations review and update communication plans regularly to ensure

relevance and awareness by your stakeholders of where the business is currently at

and its future prospects. There are enormous advantages when communicating for

example, with existing customers if you have a good customer information database.

In the first place, you know your customers far better than you know your target

markets in general. In the second place, you already have ready-made channels to

reach them.

When you make a sale to a customer, there’s an interaction and opportunity to

gather information whenever you are in contact with them.

Technology focused on efficiency or quality of service enables businesses to improve

the flow of information, minimise errors and respond to its changing business

environment quickly.

In the health industry, most people believe technology will improve how

information is shared efficiently amongst different health practitioners. Here

technology can provide optimum efficiency and quality of care compared to the

current slow, manual process of sharing data.

How you store your intellectual property (IP) is a business decision not just a

technology decision. Corporate knowledge and data can be seen by some to be the

most important assets of any organisation, the ability to maintain corporate

knowledge and ensure security is imperative to preventing companies from major

disruption in operations or closing down altogether. How you communicate your

data is stored and used to your customers also provides them with confidence that it

will not be exploited and how much they choose to share with you to help improve

business processes.

Your IP rights can enable your business to grow. For example, it can:

BSBINM601 Manage Knowledge and Information – Additional Lecture Notes Last Updated: July 2016, Version No. 1

Page 11 of 11

 Be used to expand into new markets

 Form an essential part of your marketing or branding

 Provide a competitive edge

 Be sold or licensed to provide a new revenue stream