Knowledge Centers. Benefits of a Competence Center
The CROC Competence Center was established in early 2003. Today there are 4 joint Solution Centers with global ICT manufacturers, 5 innovation centers for certain classes of solutions and over 10 technology laboratories.
Laboratories are technological platforms for getting acquainted with the most effective infrastructure solutions and latest trends IT market. As part of the Competence Center, CROC experts develop, test, optimize, and support solutions based on products from foreign and domestic manufacturers, as well as open source solutions.
The competence center offers customers optimal and reasonable solutions to specific problems, taking into account the specifics of the industry and the characteristics of the organization. CROC's experts have the ability to reproduce the software and hardware infrastructure of a particular organization in order to simulate various scenarios for its optimization and development. This allows customers to minimize the cost of deploying computing power and creating their own pilot zones for testing new technologies.
CROC Solution Centers
In 2012, CROC opened Russia's first solution center based on Hewlett Packard Enterprise software technologies, thanks to which CROC helps build a bridge between business and IT. The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Solution Center is a showcase for a wide range of products that automate the work of the IT department, from performance monitoring of business applications to management life cycle information, data center infrastructure, cloud services.
The Robotics Center, opened at CROC in the summer of 2013, offers solutions based on unmanned aircraft used for aerial photography, video surveillance, sounding the earth's surface, surveying territories and scanning the air using specialized sensors.
In the center information security customers can get acquainted with the products of leading world and Russian developers to protect against all modern threats. These are situational security centers, protection against DDoS attacks, countering fraud and leaks important information, network security, spam, virus protection and more.
The stands deployed solutions from Siemens, Thermoflow, Engineering Consultants Group, OSIsoft and other manufacturers. They allow you to manage production, optimize energy consumption, monitor the condition of equipment and prevent emergencies. Representatives of energy and manufacturing companies, heavy industry, metallurgy and petrochemical industries can model their infrastructure and find out the real effect of technologies of interest, taking into account the specific characteristics of their enterprises.
CROC specialists offer to test business applications from the world's leading vendors: solutions for supply chain optimization, management transport logistics and demand, banking analytics, collection and analysis of large data arrays (Big Data), etc. Here, customers can personally get acquainted with Oracle, SAP, Jive products, as well as open source solutions (Talend, Hadoop technology stack).
The laboratory contains solutions that allow you to establish effective management IT infrastructure and personnel involved in the provision and support of IT services. Visitors are available software products for the organization of Service Desk, IT monitoring, asset management and inventory of the company's IT infrastructure. The list of vendors whose developments are presented in the laboratory includes HP, BMC, Omninet, Symantec, SevOne, etc.
The laboratory deployed equipment for automation, security and service systems. It includes a Rittal secure room, two uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), an energy-saving experimental area and other equipment on which solutions are pre-commissioned before implementation at the customer's site. CROC provides an opportunity to inspect the systems that support the life support of an office building: diesel generator set, control room, switchboard, supply and exhaust ventilation, refrigeration and pumping stations, air conditioning systems, central heating point and so on.
Human knowledge and skills are the most demanded and scarce resources at the same time. After all, it takes decades to grow a specialist. Many industries now require multidisciplinary approaches, and large projects are often carried out by more than one organization. All the more understandable is the value of the company's own experience and useful lessons learned in joint projects. Collect and accumulate all this knowledge can be in the center of competence of the enterprise.
What is a competence center
The modern economy is characterized by processes that require the optimization of the use of knowledge - a specific resource of production and a source of innovation. Therefore, knowledge management as a special type of management is increasingly interested in company leaders.
Knowledge created during projects is often lost when the team is disbanded, employees move on to other tasks, or are fired. Sometimes it happens that time and money are again spent on "reinventing the wheel", which has been in the organization for a long time, only they forgot about it. To solve these problems, it is necessary to systematically collect the most important knowledge firms, organize their exchange among specialists, ensure their reuse in new projects. Thus many Western companies reduce production costs, increase its efficiency and retain key workers.
Creating a center for the collection and dissemination of knowledge is one of the challenges faced by the organization, where they decided to identify and describe such a resource as knowledge. A competence center is a special structural unit of an enterprise that controls one or more areas of activity that are important for the company, accumulates relevant knowledge and looks for ways to get the most out of it.
This idea is not new, and to one degree or another it is embodied by departments of scientific and technical information, archives, standardization and quality groups, etc. In the current conditions, we are talking rather, about the integration of processes, knowledge, experts, about quick access to these resources and about effective IT communications, which is important both for the company's management and for specialists, customers, partners. And here it is not the information itself that matters, but the connection of people who create knowledge, the joint result of their activities. Knowledge centers are somewhat similar to libraries, but their peculiarity is that knowledge here is embodied mainly in people, and not in documents or computer systems. Therefore, one of the main functions of the competence center is to provide specialists with communication with each other and provide access to the necessary information.
What type of competence center does a company need
The most famous are four types of competence centers designed to improve processes in a company whose branches can be scattered around the world (today such work is impossible without the use of IT). The essence of the activity of the center of each of these types is determined by the main function.
Accumulation of excellence
The main task of this division is to collect, formalize and distribute best practices in the enterprise and its branches. The center's specialists define and describe common processes, draw up technical recommendations and standards for their use, and develop change management programs in the integration process. These can be effective methods of sales, working with clients, providing consulting services, product development processes, project management, the use of information and other technologies.
This type is considered the easiest to develop and run, although collecting and describing the most valuable knowledge for an enterprise and creating a convenient and simple infrastructure for their use is not an easy task. However, impressive examples are known when, based on the introduction of best practices, product development time was reduced by 30-40 times, and new factories were put into operation with the saved money that could be spent on “reinventing the wheel”. Companies that have achieved a well-functioning center of excellence reuse 60-65% of the accumulated intellectual resources in new projects.
Development of technological standards
The relevant department also collects knowledge, but the emphasis is on the technical component - the development software and choice of computer equipment. Specialists standardize processes on a single technological platform, link repositories for metadata exchange, develop best experience to use the chosen platform. However, in this model, there is no exchange of technological resources or expertise between projects.
Distributed service
The task of this unit is to optimize the use of resources by the teams involved in the project. This type of competence center is considered more complex than the previous two. The staff supports numerous knowledge management initiatives, including product training, technology benchmarking, metadata management, software evaluation. This model is one of the most used in Western companies.
Centralized service
This division manages the integration of processes and data, has its own budget and cost recovery methods. The Center accompanies many projects, ensures the development of resources, data quality, develops requirements and standards for information and technical subsystems, facilitating the exchange of knowledge in the enterprise and their reuse in new projects. In the future, the development of this type of competence center can be sold outside the organization.
When choosing this process integration model, it is recommended to carefully diagnose the organizational culture of the enterprise, evaluate existing policies and procedures. This model is also quite often used in Western companies.
Each of the listed centers performs its task, and the enterprise can evolve from task to task. For example, an organization decides to first create a center of excellence, and if successful, move to full control of processes across the firm, including branches and affiliated companies. Their main differences are in the degree of control over processes, in the level of investment and cost recovery. Each model requires personnel with special skills. Competence centers can employ from five to one hundred or more people, depending on how many centers exist at a given enterprise.
Competence centers can also be designed for special purposes. In the early 90s of the last century consulting company Ernst&Young has established three competence centers. The Business Innovation Center was supposed to accumulate new knowledge in the course of research. The Business Technology Center used existing knowledge to develop specific methods and related tools. The business knowledge center was required to accumulate internal and external knowledge and informational resources. The services of the latter eventually included a library, a call center for answering consultants' questions, and databases of consultants' professional skills. The managers of this center identified the knowledge and looked for key experts in business subject areas.
Basic Creation Steps
Goal, strategy, model selection
Each type of competence center has its advantages and disadvantages, so before deciding to create one, it is necessary to clearly articulate the goals and expectations for the work of this unit, and then develop a strategy. Sometimes a center of competence arises, as it were, spontaneously - on the basis of the entire previous work communities of practice, interest groups and other formal and informal structures as they develop.
One of the recommended approaches involves a top-down strategy led by an executive manager - the person who will "move" the project towards the goal. Although an integration strategy has many dimensions, it always focuses on people, processes and technology. This strategy should be reviewed regularly, in particular with regard to its relationship with the enterprise's business, financial policy, outsourcing strategy, partner support, choice of standards.
There is no single answer to the question of which model is optimal for an enterprise. Each type of center of excellence must meet its intended goals, support the chosen strategy, and allow for growth and renewal.
Possible difficulties
The following list of possible difficulties in the course of creating and operating a competence center will help determine how ready an enterprise is for solving this problem.
Lack of time. Many experts complain that they are overwhelmed with current work (routine or regular fire rush) and do not have enough time to collect or share knowledge.
Lack of resources. The staff of many competence centers notes that there are not enough resources for trainings, participation in conferences and IT implementation.
Lack of proper attention from managers. Competence center employees indicate that their managers' knowledge of the state of affairs in the center is limited. Managers are only concerned with achieving their operational goals.
internal competition. As a result of this situation (and it is almost inevitable), barriers arise in the exchange of knowledge between experts from various departments of the enterprise. Of course, there is a way out: you can organize many communities of practice, in which enthusiasts will work, introducing knowledge to others.
An aging workforce. The age of many key specialists at enterprises is approaching retirement age. The same applies to competence centers, where there may be very few young employees or not at all. Two main difficulties are seen here: a) the continuity of competencies is questionable, since the expert will retire in a year or two; b) lack of enthusiasm and new perspective, limited in the perception of fresh ideas.
Lack of training and development opportunities. In certain situations Scientific research- the only way to acquire new knowledge and master new technologies. However, insufficient resources for self-development limit the ability of competence centers to master new technologies.
Outdated knowledge. In some cases, the expertise collected by the competence center concerned a technology that was supposed to disappear in a few years. The center existed in order to accompany the old products purchased by the company's customers. Ultimately, this led to the degradation of the unit.
Benefits and Benefits
The center of competence reflects the requirements of the organization to itself, the standards of its work. This division collects key knowledge and does not allow the expertise to disperse to the people and groups of the project. Cost savings can be achieved by eliminating duplication of processes and functions, reusing knowledge, optimizing project execution, resource use, and management. This frees up experts' time for consultations, and the company can provide services to a much larger number of clients.
Western experts point out that enterprises close their libraries or reduce their activities to a minimum, and then hire third-party consultants for a lot of money. Naturally, the number of consulting firms is growing. Many companies are missing out on significant value because they themselves could sell their knowledge to others. Who will collect their own knowledge and expertise - unique strategic resources that distinguish this organization from others?
How to collect the best experience
The accumulation of best practices is one of the first steps towards the implementation of larger knowledge management programs. Most often, the concept of “best experience” is defined as the most effective way to do a specific job or achieve defined knowledge, however, it is concentrated in people, not in documents, so the easiest way to adopt this knowledge is something like this: “Learn from others and try to do it yourself ".
At the start of work, analyze the organizational culture of the enterprise and ways to motivate employees. The successes and difficulties of the proposed project are largely determined by the type of organizational culture and the established practice of teamwork.
Main functions
The competence center performs tasks related to the accumulation of knowledge and the exchange of knowledge in the area of business where the company has an advantage. The center can:
- reflect the current state of knowledge management of the organization (drawing up knowledge maps, corporate "yellow pages" indicating experts and their specializations, processing internal and external requests);
- convert hidden, individual knowledge of experts into formal documents accessible to most employees;
- constantly improve the quality of expertise and maintain a leading position in the market in this area;
- timely notice changes in technologies and global trends;
- coordinate the description of knowledge based on the results of projects, transform them into a suitable formal document (database, best practices, success stories, etc.);
- manage enterprise knowledge bases, catalog and index them;
- disseminate the knowledge collected by the center in other divisions of the company;
- provide effective communications between experts and specialists;
- create, use and protect the intellectual property of the enterprise;
- take care of the generational change, systematically train young employees, transfer experience from experts to newcomers.
Of course, every company has its own priorities. But despite the differences in experience, goals, areas of activity, companies are gradually coming to understand the value of intellectual assets. After all, practice shows that business without intelligence is possible, but short-lived.
Renowned consultant David Skyrme suggests such a framework for collecting best practices.
Determine the requirements of potential users. What exactly needs to be collected will be prompted by employees and customers. The enterprise may have units with low labor productivity, the work of which is difficult due to the lack of necessary knowledge among employees.
It is necessary to determine who will benefit most from this knowledge, how to ensure access to it and how best to apply it.
Find examples of the best experience. There are many methods for identifying best practice. You can, for example, analyze and determine who has the best performance in the company. Then you should evaluate which particular skills (methods, technologies, etc.) should be considered the best experience. This can be said by colleagues, partners, independent consultants. Don't limit yourself to finding the best experience within your own organization. Many useful things can be obtained from other enterprises in the industry or related to it.
Document the best experience. Description of best practices is usually stored in databases in standard form. Its format usually includes the following items:
- title - short title with annotation, author's surname, keywords;
- content - several sections describing the purpose of the method (technology), as well as its constituent processes, functions;
- application - where the method or technology should be used, what tasks are solved with their help;
- resources - what resources and skills are required to master this method (technology); necessary tools;
- evaluation - whether there are measurements of its effectiveness associated with this experience; description of implementations;
- lessons learned - difficulties in mastering this experience; what the specialist would do differently if he had to master this experience from the very beginning;
- useful links - literature, contacts, working documentation, videos, workshops related to this practice.
Rate the best experience. A practice can be considered best or good only when there are demonstrable results of its effectiveness. Feedback from colleagues or clients is needed to establish how fruitful this experience is.
Share and apply the best practices. While databases are one possible way to capture experience, many organizations practice direct transfer of experience from person to person. This is where value is added. Communities of practice, quality groups, training seminars, knowledge days, etc. also serve as other ways to transfer experience.
Develop a supporting infrastructure- usually part of a broader knowledge management strategy.
You will need a team that will handle this project, content management staff, technical means communications support.
- HR policy, Corporate culture
The goal of the NTI Competence Centers support program is to form a network of engineering and educational consortiums based on Russian universities and scientific organizations to create innovative solutions in the field of “end-to-end” technologies that provide global leadership to companies that use these technologies to produce products and services.
The NTI Competence Center is a structural subdivision created on the basis of a university or scientific organization that integrated development"end-to-end" technologies of NTI together with members of the consortium on the basis of an agreement on the formation of a consortium.
The centers are being created in partnership with Russian and foreign organizations(universities and leading scientific organizations, commercial partners) that participate in setting research objectives. The work of the NTI Central Committee is carried out in accordance with network principles: teamwork distributed workforce, including technology commercialization partners.
The role of the consortium:
- Development of research directions and educational activities. Formation of concrete research projects, approaches and deadlines for their implementation;
- Consolidated decisions on determining the directions of spending funds on individual projects and approaches, determining approaches to choosing partners and solution providers.
- Evaluation of the result. Participation in the internal monitoring of the activities of the centers, development of decisions on updating the program of the NTI Central Committee.
- Determination of approaches and principles for managing the results of intellectual activity as a result of the implementation of the NTI Central Committee program.
Tasks of NTI Competence Centers
Translating the results of fundamental science into engineering applications
Interdisciplinary research programs provide a "transposition" of fundamental scientific results and ideas through applied research and developments into specific technologies for the benefit of specific industrial partners.
Technological transfer through cooperation with industrial partners
NTI Competence Centers form a stable link between the academic sphere (universities, scientific organizations) and industrial partners (industrial organizations, high-tech service companies, IT leaders, medical institutions in terms of biomedical areas, etc., government customers).
Training leaders in the development of new technologies through the implementation of educational programs
NTI Competence Centers create and implement educational programs engineering profile. For students of these programs, it is obligatory in the research activities of the NTI Central Committee in the form of direct work on projects in teams with representatives of industrial partners.
State support for NTI Competence Centers
State support of the NTI Central Committee is implemented in accordance with the Government Decree Russian Federation dated October 16, 2017 No. 1251 "On approval of the Rules for the provision of subsidies from the federal budget for the provision of state support for the centers of the National Technology Initiative based on educational organizations higher education and scientific organizations and the Regulations on the competitive selection for the provision of grants for state support of the centers of the National Technology Initiative on the basis of educational institutions of higher education and scientific organizations” (hereinafter referred to as Resolution No. 1251).
Grant recipients are selected on a competitive basis. In accordance with Decree No. 1251, RVC JSC is vested with the functions of a competitive selection operator. RVC JSC also provides support and monitoring of the activities of the NTI Competence Centers.
In 2017-2020, the federal budget provides for the support of the NTI Central Committee in the amount of 7,800 million rubles, including 2,000 million rubles in 2017, 2,400 million rubles in 2018, and 1,800 million rubles in 2019 , in 2020 - 1,600 million rubles.
List of "end-to-end" technologies for the implementation of the National Technology Initiative:
1. "Technologies for storing and analyzing big data";
2. " Artificial intelligence»;
3. "Technologies of distributed registries";
4. "Quantum technologies";
5. "Technologies for creating new and portable energy sources";
6. New production technologies technet";
7. “Wireless communication technologies and the Internet of Things”;
8. "Technologies for controlling the properties of biological objects";
9. "Neurotechnologies, virtual and augmented reality technologies";
10. "Technologies of components of robotics and mechatronics";
11. Sensory technologies;
12. "Technologies of machine learning and cognitive technologies";
13. "Technologies for the transportation of electricity and distributed intelligent energy systems";
14. "Technologies of Quantum Communication".
Information about the competitive selection
1. held in 2017. 6 NTI Central Committees were selected:
| № | End-to-End Technology | Name of the Center | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Artificial intelligence | MIPT | Center of the National Technology Initiative in the direction of "Artificial Intelligence" |
| 2. | quantum technology | Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov | Center for Quantum Technologies |
| 3. | Technology for creating new and portable energy sources | IPCP RAS | Competence Center for New and Mobile Energy Technologies |
| 4. | New manufacturing technologies | SPbPU | Center of the National Technology Initiative "New Production Technologies" on the basis of the Institute of Advanced Production Technologies |
| 5. | Managing properties of biological objects | IBCh RAS | Center for Biological Object Properties Control Technologies |
| 6. | Neurotechnologies, technologies of virtual and augmented reality | FEFU | NTI Center for Neurotechnologies, Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies |
2. held in 2018
| № | End-to-End Technology | Competition winner | Name of the Center |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7. | Big data storage and analysis technologies | Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov | Big Data Storage and Analysis Technology Center |
| 8. | Technologies of robotics and mechatronics components | Innopolis University | Technology Center for Robotics and Mechatronics Components |
| 9. | Sensor technology | MIET | Center NTI MIET "Sensors" |
| 10. | Distributed ledger technologies | St. Petersburg State University | Center for Distributed Registry Technology, St. Petersburg State University |
| 11. | Quantum Communication Technologies | MISiS | Center for Quantum Communications NTI |
| 12. | Technologies for Electricity Transportation and Distributed Smart Energy Systems | MPEI | Center for Electricity Transportation Technology and Distributed Smart Energy Systems |
| 13. | Wireless and Internet of Things technologies | Skoltech | Competence Center (Wireless Communication Technologies and Internet of Things) |
| 14. | Machine learning technologies and cognitive technologies | ITMO | National Center for Cognitive Research |
It is reasonable to carry out activities for the accumulation and systematization of competence within the framework of a separate organizational structure- a competence center responsible for the preparation and support of automation solutions, as well as for the provision of related consulting services. The main goal of such centers is to deepen and expand the competence and the results of practical activities directly related to it in the field of automation.
Competence centers are divided according to their purpose into innovation centers and industry competence centers. The activities of the former are aimed at promoting the solutions of specific manufacturers, and the latter are aimed at carrying out work or providing automation services in a specific industry (industries). This separation significantly affects the results of work, functions and organizational structure of the centers.
The complexity of technologies and automation solutions offered the largest suppliers, were the reason for their promotion to the market through the creation and development of innovation centers. Many integrator companies open innovation centers based on their own production facilities and based on their financial capabilities. This is done based on the synergistic effect of advertising and production activities. Firstly, the manufacturing company begins to recommend the integrator company as a proven source of competence on a specific national market. Secondly, on the basis of our own innovation center, you can work out various configurations of solutions, which allows you to conduct practical training of your own personnel and reduce the risks associated with lack of experience. industrial operation new technologies or products.
Industry competence centers are a kind of response to the requirement of a growing and more complex business: it is necessary to navigate the problems of a rapidly changing and more complex office and shop production and be able to automate it, accumulate and systematize competence in increasingly complex technologies and automation tools, and also have a training and reproduction school frames. The centers of industry competence are divided according to the type of legal relations with the customer into internal and external. Domestic focused on providing services inside big company or a group of companies (holding). In this case, it is advisable to talk about a specific division, possibly in the form of an affiliated legal entity that performs the functions of an industry competence center, whose customer is all other divisions of the company or holding.
When the center of industry competence “decides” to become external, that is, it goes into free economic navigation, its structure, depending on the complexity of the tasks being solved, becomes more or less similar to the structure of a traditional industry research institute that is capable of conducting large-scale industry projects. In this case, it is appropriate to speak of an independent legal entity, the role of the customer of which is the enterprises of one or several interconnected industries, and the work performed is characterized by large scale and high complexity.
Classification of problem areas
The whole set of problems of internal centers of competence, which are directly involved in large-scale automation of enterprises, can be divided into three categories: socio-political, organizational and technological. In each category, problem situations are distinguished, to one degree or another characteristic of most major projects on automation.
Socio-political problems are associated with the inadequacy of the result of the work of the center of competence to the tasks facing the center and the total cost of automating the enterprise in the eyes of the employees of the enterprise itself. Socio-political problems are the most difficult to overcome for two reasons: they are massive and difficult to manage technological and administrative methods. The feeling of “meaninglessness” of the activities undertaken by specific performers and users in an automated enterprise is a powerful factor in internal resistance to change.
Organizational problems are problems associated with the inefficiency of interaction within the center of competence as an organizational structure designed to solve the problems of development, implementation and support. Organizational inefficiency, as a rule, manifests itself in the fact that the decision organizational issues, for example, the coordination of draft decisions, the issuance of permits (sanctions), etc. considerable time is wasted.
Technological problems are caused by the inefficiency of the applied work technologies and are manifested in the delay in the implementation of typical tasks.
Socio-political problems
At the stage when the foundations for the functioning of the center of competence are being formed, as a rule, we are not talking about the concentration and systematization of industry competence, which could be useful and, therefore, in demand by the user of the center's services. In fact, it should be said that after the creation of the competence center is often self-limited by the functions of the development and implementation center specific solutions on automation, which does not allow him to give an adequate answer to the question about the place of implemented automation solutions in the client's business and the reasons for their use. In such a situation, all that the center of competence can do is formally refer to the contract on the basis of which the development or implementation is being carried out, or to the decision of the management if the contract was not expected. After that, the client of the center will be asked to refer to the documentation, which will not give anything to a particular employee of the automated enterprise, since it is written in a language that is incomprehensible to him and does not contain industry specifics (or its quantity is clearly not enough). This state of affairs cannot suit the client of the center, because he needs to clearly understand whether the changes associated with automation are justified and the difficulties caused by them.
Due to the aforementioned self-limitation, the performance results and the structure of the center of competence do not reflect and, by design, should not reflect the tasks of fully integrating the implemented solution into the IT environment of an automated enterprise. This situation forces the competence center to “know nothing” about the needs of other enterprise information systems. This is wrong from the point of view of common engineering sense, which says that "an automated enterprise is one, therefore, everything must be integrated." The lack of full-fledged intersystem integration significantly devalues the value of large industrial solutions in the eyes of employees, since it is obvious to them, practitioners, that the introduction of new “piecewise” solutions will only add problems, and not eliminate them.
To become truly in demand, a competence center must offer solutions that increase the efficiency of an automated business. Practical benefits are needed, such as simplifying the work of individual employees, reducing data loss, reducing wasted time and organizational costs - that is, a benefit that can be measured.
We must never forget that the automation of the company's work is aimed at reducing the number of labor per unit of product (service). Understanding this dependency by employees of the user company generates fear for their workplace, because it is obvious that with a significant increase in the efficiency of the company, even the growth of the market will not always be able to compensate for the decrease in the need for personnel. This circumstance imposes certain obligations on the center of competence, consisting in the fact that the key employees of the client, on whose loyalty the fate of the implemented solution depends, must be completely sure that as a result of automation, the need for their services will remain or grow.
Organizational problems
As a rule, there is considerable complexity in the interaction of the competence center with the client departments responsible for coordinating automation work or their methodological management. In the center of competence, interaction with authoritative representatives of the client is often not built. Therefore, the customer's approval of the contractor's proposals takes too long and painfully, and the customer formulates his decisions indistinctly or inconsistently in relation to the previous ones.
In holding structures, if the customer is the management company, and the automation object is manufacturing enterprises, the poor interaction of the center of competence directly with authoritative employees of manufacturing companies - automation objects leads to the fact that the management company receives a stream of "extra" work that diverts the resources of the center, and , among other things, threatening the benefits of a centralized solution. “Extra” work is understood as private “wishes” of end users from manufacturing enterprises, breaking the harmony of a centralized solution, which are “friendly” forwarded to management company and launched from there in the form of "priority requirements from the customer."
The organizational structure of the center also causes unjustified difficulties, when it does not reflect the tasks of accumulating, systematizing and alienating competence, as well as the reproduction of personnel. As a rule, the organizational structure of the competence center gives an idea of the architecture of the solution being developed and implemented by it, but not of how complex analysis the needs of the user company, as well as the accumulation and systematization of industry competence. The underdevelopment of the "institution" of accumulation and systematization of industry experience, as well as the reproduction of qualified personnel is the reason for the low controllability of the competence center, delaying the implementation of projects and the low quality of their results.
When the competence center is, in fact, the center for the development, implementation and support of an automation solution, while the responsibility for implementation falls within the scope of an implementation project that is carried out outside the center's activities, duplication of functions arises. This leads to considerable costs for the transfer of competence, the implemented system and implementation tools through the "extra" node - the implementation project.
Another source of organizational problems is deficiencies in functional and regular project management. This is confirmed by the situation when the composition of the divisions of the competence center seeks to accurately reproduce the structure of the functional modules of the information system being developed and implemented. Proper project "bureaucracy" is a very important aspect in the activities of centers of competence, and ignoring it introduces unjustified difficulties into the activities of the center.
Technological problems
It happens that the founders of the competence center save on the process of regular testing of the information system on the basis of a specially dedicated unit. Testing in this case is carried out in two stages: component-by-component testing by analysts - developers of design specifications and integration testing by a temporary team, possibly with the involvement of specialists from the user company. The harm caused by such "savings" to the quality of the system being developed, as well as the difficulties associated with its further implementation and operation, is difficult to monetize. It is also bad that the harm itself does not appear immediately and not inside the center, but at the automation facility, during acceptance testing and trial operation.
Another technological problem is the absence or insufficient development of the direction responsible for technical architecture and information security as part of the competence center. The lack of attention to the creation of a corresponding subdivision balanced in terms of equipment creates the prerequisites for the emergence of difficulties in the construction of technical architectures and information security systems, as well as problems in the course of their operation.
The most powerful source technological problems, the impact of which is difficult to overestimate, is the lack of the ability fixed in the organizational structure of the center to conduct analysis at the level of end-to-end processes on the scale of the entire automation object and the implemented solution. This happens when the structure analytical department repeats the modular structure of the system being finalized and implemented, instead of matching the structure of the processes of the customer's subject area.
Last on our list is the lack of integrated automation activities of the centre. This problem does not become urgent immediately and depends heavily on the size and complexity of the centre's functions. It becomes critical in the event of a significant complication of the functions of the center due to the consolidation of responsibility for many projects, for which, as a rule, centers of competence are created.
Helpful and efficient
The following key patterns exist in the automation expert community: the larger the size of the business and its speed, the greater the complexity of its automation and, consequently, the requirements for the competence required for automation increase significantly, which, in turn, entails a strong dependence of the automated business on high level of competence.
As already noted, the law of specialization forces one to localize the process of accumulation and systematization of competence in one organizational structure - the center of competence. At the same time, the costs of creating a separate organizational structure in the form of a center of competence are a burden on the automated business.
Two key questions arise. First, which enterprises and under what conditions would it make sense to burden themselves with the creation of a center of competence? Secondly, how to make interaction with the center of competence more useful and effective?
The recommendations for the first question are as follows. If a large company, on the one hand, has sufficient free resources to create a technical base for a competence center and, on the other hand, has an acute internal need for competent personnel and, most importantly, for a system for their training and reproduction, then the need for a competence center is already ripe. How important it is for the management of such a company to think about the problem of creating a center of competence - the question is not entirely correct, since the degree of importance of this issue is purely individual.
As for the second question, the competence center will bring the greatest benefit in large centralized projects on the scale of large holdings, provided that its technical and technological bases are well developed, there is a school for training and reproduction of personnel, and, most importantly, the center has industry specialization. The greatest efficiency of interaction between an enterprise and a competence center can be achieved if their relationship is built on the basis of an agreement that defines the structure of interconnected services with certain quality parameters. This level of formalization of relations makes it possible to increase the transparency of the work and its results and will create the prerequisites for making the right decisions. management decisions on both sides - the customer (enterprise) and the contractor (competence center).
Alexander Prozorov - program manager for the development of an integrated system for ensuring settlements and relationships with the company's customers " Information Technology communications",[email protected]
Internal industry competence centers
The key to the successful operation of the internal competence center is its demand among users (clients, customers), which is based on a high level of competence in industry issues that are important to users.
The work on the creation of an internal center of competence is of a design-systematic nature: at the first stage, it is project-based, and at the second, after the launch of the prototype center, it is systematic (development and enlargement of the center by the forces of its management). On the first, design stage the role of the head of the center should be the project manager, acting on the basis of the charter of the project and the concept of the center. At the second stage, the leadership role can be transferred to the nomenklatura employee of the second or third level, acting on the basis of the job description.
The internal competence center is the core practical work for the automation of the company's production processes: it implements relevant projects, and non-core work can be subcontracted. The results of activities should be divided into two parts: internal and external. External results include project activities in the interests of clients, to internal ones - intellectual assets (directly competence, various documentation, business process models, applied and utility software, proven solutions, etc.) reused as part of external results.
From the point of view of the output of its activities, the center may seem identical to an external integrator company. But the interests of the integrator company are to increase the number of customers, including those in various industries, while the internal center of competence has a fixed set of customers and their production processes are obviously predetermined. Such an "inextricable" connection with the client requires much more High Quality services provided.
Quality controllers should be maximally involved (approached) in manufacturing process center, as well as to carry out industry censorship of design and other output documentation.
In the internal center of competence, a system of training and reproduction of personnel well versed in the problems of clients should be established. For example, a mentoring school has been organized, where mentors (key employees) will be recruited from people who directly worked at the client’s production facilities, and as young professionals, graduates of industry universities or young professionals who have not yet been “spoiled” by some not quite reliable work technologies.
We present another article for owners and managers (not hr), which reveals another aspect of personnel assessment. We will stop there:
- what are competencies?
- types of competencies;
- on the application of the competency-based approach in;
- stages of implementation of competencies;
- the benefits that a company that formulates competencies receives.
What is a competency?
Clear criteria are necessary for the introduction of a systemic assessment of personnel. Most methods come down to evaluating the effectiveness (results of labor) of an employee and recruiting him personal qualities. One of the leading ones is the competence approach.
Competence— an integral characteristic/criterion that describes the quality of human behavior in a particular activity. As a rule, this is some kind of ideal model of behavioral manifestations that allow him to achieve results, to be effective in this type of activity.
It is clear that human behavior in each situation is determined by many factors: internal attitudes and motivation, skills, understanding of technology, knowledge. And even genetic predisposition.
For example, a sales manager working in the marketB2B (large corporate sales), strong communication skills are important to communicate with various professionals and decision makers. And all this can be called "Negotiating":
- flexibility of behavior, the ability to consciously adapt to the style of the interlocutor;
- variability in offering alternatives;
- developed argumentation skills, etc.
Along with these qualities, the "seller" must have perseverance in achieving the goal, the ability to plan and control their activities, the ability to work under pressure. And this is another competence - "Result Orientation".
And thus, we can say that each activity can be described by a cloud of criteria - a competency model. Moreover, for each business, competencies will be unique, reflecting its specifics. That is why we recommend developing your own competencies.
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Behavioral indicators of competence
As discussed above in the Negotiating example, competencies are made up of simple components—specific items that describe the action. And these components are called behavioral indicators. It is on the basis of behavioral indicators that an assessment of personnel is built using or a structured interview.
But that's not all, levels of manifestation of competencies are necessary.
Competence development scale
In order to describe the quality of an employee's actions, set reference values and be able to compare the behavior shown with him, there is a scale for the development of competencies. These are levels that describe the quality of behavior. And the levels can be different. For example, 4 levels (intermediate values \u200b\u200bare also possible - "halves"):
- 0 - competence is not shown/absent;
- 1 - the level of basic development;
- 2 - the level of confident possession of competence in standard situations;
- 3 — skill level (standard, ability to broadcast).
Roughly speaking, the competence development scale can be represented as a “bad-good” thermometer. In accordance with this "thermometer", the employee is evaluated.
There are several options for describing competency levels. The examples below show the differences. It can be assumed that they were created for different methods estimates.
An example of a competency description: listing all behavioral indicators and levels with values for an employee's performance.
| Formulates a vision of the ultimate goal. Organizes others / forms a group of "followers". Effectively motivates people in team and individual work. Encourages colleagues and subordinates to put forward initiatives and independence. Delegates authority and responsibility, taking into account the individual characteristics of subordinates and their career aspirations. Pays attention and time to the development of subordinates. Expresses and defends his own position on the issues being resolved. Provides and requests feedback. | |||||||||||||||
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An example of a competency with an extended description of behavioral indicators at each level.
| score | Level | Description of behavioral indicators |
| 4 | Strategic | In addition to level 3: - Establishes such rules for the work of the group, under which it gives everyone the opportunity to express themselves, while remaining a leader - Ensures the adoption of a group decision that is focused not only on the "here and now", but also on the future |
| 3 | Skill level | In addition to level 2: - Motivates the group to achieve the goal, inspires, influences the mood of the group - Orients other group members to active work in the group - Proposes a decision that the group makes |
| 2 | Base | - Takes the initiative - Interacts with each team member based on individual personality traits - Aims the group to achieve the result, returns the group to the result - Organizes the work of the group, suggests methods and procedures for the work of the group - Takes responsibility for results - Facilitates conflict resolution |
| 1 | Limited | - Takes the initiative at the request of other members of the group, at the direction of the most active member of the group Shows initiative but fails to get the attention of participants - Organizes the work of individual team members - Finds it difficult to justify his opinion when trying to organize the work of the group |
| 0 | Level of incompetence | - Has a non-constructive influence on the team, interrupts, criticizes, devalues the position of others - Shows indifference to the results of group work – Withdraws from the organization of group work, acts only on instructions - Doesn't interact with group members - provokes conflicts in the group |
It is also customary to use the term " target”, which set the value of the manifestation of competence for a given target audience. For example, for a top-level manager, the “Strategic Thinking” competency should be shown at level “2”. While the value for the head of the unit, the target indicator will be "1.5".
Based on the assessment received, one can judge the potential of the employee, the need for development, suitability for this activity, etc.
Types of competencies
I must say that this is a conditional classification. Rather, it is a division to designate the "scope" of competencies. Indeed, in the course of his activity, a person uses many integrative qualities. For example, a manager holding a meeting "uses" several of his competencies at the same time - different types.
But still, sometimes you can find a division of competencies into clusters:
- managerial
- communicative
- corporate (value)
- professional (technical)
Managerial competencies
Managerial competencies describe the actions of managers in the process of making decisions and communicating with subordinates. Also, these are competencies that describe the quality of his behavior - often "Leadership".
Examples of managerial competencies:
- Strategic (or systems) thinking
- Planning (and organizing or controlling)
- Development of subordinates
- Motivation
- Leadership
Communication competencies
This is a description of the quality of behavior in the process of communication within the company and with external partners.
Examples of names of communicative competencies:
- Negotiation
- Interpersonal Understanding
- Influence
Depending on the accents, in the description of the competence, you can see the specifics of the activities of employees and the welcome styles of behavior (aggressiveness, assertiveness or partner position).
Corporate competencies
Value competencies are an important part of the competency model. They reflect the corporate philosophy - Values and standards of behavior that are welcome in the company. That is why some companies separately formulate corporate competencies.
Examples of corporate (value) competencies:
- Result orientation
- Customer focus (often, even internal)
- Teamwork
Professional (technical) competencies
Describe the knowledge, skills and behavior of any professional group of positions. For example, for the direction of IT or accountants.
Understand the feasibility of developing professional competencies- whether this group of people is sufficiently represented in the company, how often there are changes in their activities and technologies used by them.
Applying competencies - staff assessment
The most commonly used methods where competencies are used:
- assessment center is the most effective way in the course of a specially developed business game;
- assessment "180/360 ° feedback", where the assessment of the employee is given from all sides - subordinates, managers, colleagues, clients.
Development of competencies
The need to develop competencies is encountered by every company that regularly assesses personnel using a competency-based approach.
Admittedly, creating a competency model is a time-consuming (and often budget-intensive) undertaking. As a rule, internal specialists, pardon the pun, do not have sufficient competence to qualitative description competencies. The main mistakes can be called vagueness of wording, intersecting behavioral indicators (occurring in different competencies). And it takes a lot of time to do this.
Of course, you can use universal competencies. For example, many companies take the work of the Lominger company as a basis and slightly modify them for themselves. But, if the task is to qualitatively transfer the specifics of the business, one cannot do without formulating one's own model. And in this case, it is better to contact the providers.
Development of a competency model. Main steps
The main stages of the project for developing a competency model can be called:
- Definition of goals and objectives (for what we formulate and how we will apply), development methodology.
- Formation of the project group(s) with the involvement of the maximum possible number of participants. This will further reduce the resistance of employees. Groups can be completely different in direction and time of existence.
- Direct development of competencies.
- Focus group testing and evaluation procedures.
Formation of competencies. Methods
The most well-known methods for developing competencies are:
- Repertory grid method- the behavior of the most effective employees is analyzed, a list of behavioral indicators is compiled. It is carried out more often in the form of interviews with managers, as a result of which a table (grid) is formed with the names of employees and their indicators.
- Critical Incident Method is based on interviews with employees (and managers), during which they talk about critical situations, actions that led to success or, conversely, did not allow to resolve the situation.
- Direct attribute method- the fastest and easiest when key managers are presented with cards describing ready-made competencies. Managers are invited to choose from this set those that are most significant for the business.
Implementation of the competency model
The implementation of the competency model takes place according to the classics of change management. If we simplify the model, then the main areas of attention can be considered the following:
- It is necessary to create motivation for the use of competencies. Show employees that this will be a tool for their learning and an opportunity to develop in the company. And it will allow managers to make more informed decisions. And this can happen in the course of conducting pilot assessment procedures using the example of standard (not adapted to the company) competencies.
By the way, this is the option we offer to clients when the company does not have its own model - to start somewhere. Start process. To show at least at the level of one group or target audience that the assessment of personnel by competencies is “not scary, but useful.”
In this case, we implement, for example, Light-assessment, as a result of which participants receive recommendations for development.
- Maximum informing of employees and involvement in the process. And here, as mentioned above, it is necessary to work both before the development and after the formulation of competencies.
This can take place in the form of mailings with a description of the tasks of implementing the model, a description of all stages, a request for feedback etc. Of course, face-to-face working groups dedicated to development and translation can be considered the most working form.
Already during this preparatory period (which can be implemented even after the development of the model), feedback will be received, the most resistant employees or those on whom innovations can be relied upon will be identified.
- Once the competencies have been developed, it is necessary to conduct a first evaluation episode using them and show the effectiveness of the implementation. This solves the problem of "propaganda" of innovations and the removal of resistance from some of the doubters (the sixth stage of the change model according to Kotter).
- Implementation of changes on a regular basis, consolidation of the competency model at the level of regular management.
For example, one of the parts of the introduction of competencies in the "life of the company" may be their use by managers during regular feedback to subordinates. Operating with the terminology of the competency-based approach, referring to behavioral indicators of the corporate model forms the conceptual field in which employees live.
And this is not a complete list of areas of attention. For each company they are different. But all of them should be aimed at the formation of a positive attitude to the assessment of competencies. It is clear that the formation of an attitude is a long process. That's what we meant when talking about the possible duration of the project. So, the main areas of attention are motivation, information, involvement, propaganda.
competency model. Advantages
The main advantages of having a corporate competency model are:
- the criteria applied to employees reflect the specifics of the business, the activities of employees and the corporate culture of the company;
- competencies become for employees a kind of beacons that need to be guided by - they set the standards of behavior that allow them to be successful in this activity;
- a developing environment is being formed in the company (of course, during the regular assessment of personnel in terms of competencies);
- simplifies the decision-making process (in the field of career movement of employees);
- the costs of search, adaptation and development of personnel are significantly reduced;
- simplifies interaction with service providers in the field of personnel assessment and development.
"To have or not to have?"- that is the question. And every company decides. And we, the "Laboratory of Business Games" only help to effectively implement our plans: to develop and implement a corporate competency model, evaluate employees and propose a program for their development.
