Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KABUL1427
2009-06-07 06:06:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Kabul
Cable title:  

Knowledge Management Training and Evaluation Team

Tags:  AADP AMGT PGOV AF 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #1427/01 1580606
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070606Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9268
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 2045
RUEHFSI/FSINFATC WASHDC
UNCLAS KABUL 001427 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEASCA/EX
STATE FOR IRM/BPC/CST/LD
BANGKOK FOR RIMC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AADP AMGT PGOV AF
SUBJECT: Knowledge Management Training and Evaluation Team
visit to Kabul, June 1-5

SUMMARY
=======
UNCLAS KABUL 001427

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEASCA/EX
STATE FOR IRM/BPC/CST/LD
BANGKOK FOR RIMC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AADP AMGT PGOV AF
SUBJECT: Knowledge Management Training and Evaluation Team
visit to Kabul, June 1-5

SUMMARY
=======

1. A four-person team, experienced in the application of KM
methods, visited Kabul to train staff on classified and
unclassified tools currently accessible to them and to evaluate
how KM methods could be employed to meet the needs of the U.S.
Mission. Network issues aside (these will be addressed by a
technical team 10-14 June) the KM team found that, with
appropriate training, management attention, policy support and
on site KM expertise, currently available systems could meet
many of KabulQs needs. Nevertheless, the team learned that the
embassy also faces a growing number of issues that require
substantial external collaboration where new approaches will
have to be developed.

TRAINING
========


2. The team ran more than 25 one-hour training and awareness
briefings that mission staff were invited to attend on a
voluntary basis, These sessions covered Intellipedia,
Communities@State, SharePoint, Intelink/uGov email, and Net-
Centric Diplomacy. They also provided a forum for the
discussion of current workflows and where improvements could be
made through the application of IT. Staff were largely
unfamiliar with the full range of information sharing and
collaboration tools available to them. Perhaps more
importantly, use of these tools at post has been ad hoc and most
of the examples of good use were not institutionalized but
rather were reliant on the interest and enthusiasm of a single
individual or small group.


3. The team also provided a number of staff one-on-one training
at the usersQ desks in the front office, political, SIGAR, CLO
and DoJ. It is telling to note that most usersQ classified
browsers retained only the default bookmarks to Internet sites.
Many were unaware of the resources available to them through NCD
and Intellipedia or the current locations of the post SharePoint
sites and Communities@State sites. None had a clear
understanding of the level of visibility of these various
websites across the network or the degree to which information
is automatically synchronized, or not, across the networks. Due
to time constraints, the team was unable to do much more than
generate a modest awareness of some of the capabilities among

those trained. Users were encouraged to think about their daily
process and how these tools might be incorporated into their
work flow.

MEETINGS
========


4. The team briefed the Country Team on the overall goals of the
visit, the topology of the networks and domains available to the
post, and the main tools that would be briefed to staff. The
team also had individual meetings with the Deputy Ambassador and
Assistant Ambassador to discuss the policy and management
implications of the use of the new technology. The Special
Inspector General for the Reconstruction and Development
activity was also briefed on the KM effort and the impact it
could have on the audit, inspection, and investigative process.
USAID executive officers and USAID program staff were also
briefed and trained in two separate sessions. USAID is moving
forward with implementing a stand-alone version of the open-
source Drupal content management system on the Internet to
provide PRTs team workspace functionality. Personnel from the
following sections were trained POL, POLMIL, PRT, FAA, INL, MGT,
Rule of Law, DoJ, RAO, PAS, and Elections. The team also met
with the USMC liaison officer for 2nd MEB in Afghanistan. He
indicated the MEB would take StateQs direction on collaboration
methodology but absent clear guidance from State, the MEB would
deploy a solution of its choice.

ISSUES
======


5. The same KM issues that many enterprises are wrestling with
are even more prominent at mission Kabul, where the constraints
of the environment bring these issues into sharp relief. The
deficiencies of coordinating work by email, for example, is a
common problem that private sector institutions are currently
addressing by a variety of web-based approaches to information
sharing. In Kabul the need for improvements to pure email
processes is even more urgent while the infrastructure and
capabilities available to support the use of new systems is
inadequate.


6. During the course of the visit it became clear that many

mission activities, particularly those related to reconstruction
and development, are done at an entirely unclassified level and
often with the direct participation of representatives of
external entities, including foreign governments and non-
governmental organizations. Since many of the key players in
these areas are ineligible for access to U.S. government
networks, interactions take place exclusively in face-to-face
meetings and through email exchanges, with all of the attendant
inefficiencies and lack of management visibility inherent in the
use of email.


7. Finally, while collaborative systems on the Internet can grow
and thrive based entirely on the efforts of a self-selected
group of volunteers who manage to learn the technology on their
own, for organizations to use these tools effectively resources
need to be devoted to training users, establishing policies, and
managing the sites. Lacking programmatic support, participation
will almost always remain limited and partial adoption is rarely
beneficial. Just like email, these systems are most useful only
when they are universal. The network effects of having everyone
use the technology are large, and the key to successful use of
new information-sharing tools. While the level of resources
required to achieve full adoption is not particularly high, it
is also not zero.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
===============================

8. The Mission to Afghanistan could derive substantial benefit
from better use of the KM tools available to it today on
internal networks. It could also benefit from more aggressive
use of Internet-based collaboration tools that could improve
interaction with external partners. Mission Management clearly
and forcefully supports the use of new technology to promote
information sharing and collaboration and is pragmatic about the
need to leverage this technology to maximize mission
performance, even if this requires breaking some institutional
rice bowls. Nevertheless, Front Office support and availability
of the tools are not enough to ensure success, as evidenced by
the fact that the Front Office itself is of necessity using
email to distribute Daily activity reports and Country Team
notes and agendas.


9. Local KM team needed. Several organizations within the
embassy community have recognized the need for KM professionals
in their staffs. Unless the embassy obtains resources in this
area, there is a strong possibility that KM will remain
disjointed at post and will lack overall management and
direction. We see an immediate need for support in this area as
KM efforts will otherwise proceed in an uncoordinated fashion.
Translating the AmbassadorQs strong support for modernized KM
across the mission into reality will require technical, policy,
and training capabilities that the post currently lacks. The IMO
has requested three contract positions for this function as part
of a total IT requirements request for Mission Afghanistan.


10. Systems for collaboration on the Internet need to be visible
and the information generated in them needs to flow to
government systems. Post has a clear and immediate requirement
for collaborative systems on the Internet to facilitate
interaction with outside entities. As mentioned earlier, USAID
and the DoD are already moving to create Internet-based systems
to satisfy this immediate need. We believe, however, that if
these systems are implemented without also including a way for
the information generated in them to enter government systems
easily and automatically, a major source of knowledge will be,
in effect, stovepiped and probably lost. While we applaud the
creation of Internet-based sharing systems to meet immediate
needs, we believe that any such system should be built to
include the function of easy and automatic sharing of the
information generated with internal USG systems. Prior to
visiting post the team determined that, with support of services
provided by other agencies, setting up such a flow is entirely
within the realm of current capabilities.


11. State-only systems are of limited utility. In missions like
Kabul and many, many others, where almost every issue of
substance has interagency interest and participation,
collaboration across agency boundaries has become the norm.
Systems that are fielded in such a way as to limit the ability
to include participants from other agencies are, as a result,
less useful than those that allow broad access. SharePoint, for
example, would be of more value if it could be easily accessed
by other agencies, regardless of their networks.


12. Training in KM tools and capabilities needs to begin in
Washington. Formal training on Intellipedia, Ugov, Communities
at State and SharePoint needs to be integrated into the yearlong

Area Studies course, the PRT and Afghan familiarization courses
and any other mandatory course for employees traveling to
Afghanistan.

POST COMMENT
============


13. Post appreciates the time, enthusiasm and dedication that
David McKee, John Janek, Kim Allred and Fred Hassani displayed
during their six days in Kabul. For both the Elections and PRT
teams there has been progress made on getting an easily
accessible collaborative site up and running for these two
important areas thanks to the KM team. The entire Mission
benefitted from their training. Now we require dedicated KM
resources here in Kabul to keep the momentum going and we look
forward to the Department's quick support in this area.