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SUSTAINABILITY

 
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Knowledge Management: safeguarding and growing knowledge

Knowledge management is a key element of the company's intangible assets that enables the effective use of the knowledge existing inside the company and the professional development of the people involved.
In fact knowledge management has a dual objective:

  • to systematise the explicit knowledge present and widespread in organisations in order to facilitate its more effective re-use:
  • to elicit the tacit knowledge of people in such a was as it ensure that it becomes an asset that can be shared within the company.

Knowledge management initiatives are based on the development of Communities of Practice, the use of the tools of collaboration and portals and, in with a view to creating a system, through the integration with professional models and management and development processes.
The Communities of Practice (CoP) are an opportunity for participants to share their knowledge and experience on a particular topic, subject or process out of his own interest and in support of the organisation of provenance. The Eni system of Knowledge Management is made up of 53 active communities of practice; the members of the communities have risen from 1,827 to 2,624, an overall increase of 44%.
In addition to the development initiatives carried out in the different business areas of Eni, in  2010, as part of a series of initiatives aimed at reinforcing cross-sector knowledge, the Project Management Department organised a special workshop "Creating value through Project Management" attended by more than 350 Project Managers and experts.

With the aim of supporting and enhancing expertise and strategic know how, Eni has also introduced in its professional system the figure of knowledge owner (KO), which means being in the front line in the innovation, development and sharing of the knowledge essential for the attainment of the company's objectives. Their know how is characterised by the long lead-time for  acquisition of the kind of knowledge that is difficult to find on the labour market.
To date there are 179 Eni KOs, of which 10% are women, with an average age of 51. More than two thirds of cases come from the line.



  • Exploration&ProductionExploration&Production
  • Gas&PowerGas&Power
  • Refining&MarketingRefining&Marketing
  • HSEHSE
  • PetrochemicalsPetrochemicals
  • SAIPEMSAIPEM

During 2010 the governance of KM was reinforced and new CoPs were launched in the areas Safety, Environment & Social Investment, Value & Risks Management, and an initial phase was begun to involve members of the Agip KCO community. Through the CoPs the results of R&D projects were publicised and valorised inside the company with the formal involvement of the Knowledge Owners.
The application of the innovative Knowledge Network Analysis methodology to professional areas at headquarters and the assets engaged in Production Check (PROD) activities.
The Knowledge Network Analysis makes it possible to draw a map of the professional networks with a view to:

  • monitoring the exchange of knowledge;
  • identifying new CoPs and enlarging those already existing;
  • identifying the key-players in technical areas;
  • identifying high potential juniors and recruiting them into the CoPs;
  • identifying the opinion leaders ;
  • monitoring the contribution of the main stakeholders of the KMS.

In 2010 the KNA was applied to a productive district, as part of a wider Asset Integrity project, in collaboration with Production and Organisation. In particular, the contribution of the KNA was a response to the objective of "enhancing the know-how resource asset" through the mapping of an informal network of the around 1,400 people involved. To this end an online survey was conducted among all the staff in the district, which made it possible to identify the network of day-to-day cooperation and the problem-solving network.
The analysis consequently made it possible to:

  • identify opinion leaders and emerging resources, with a view to including them in the CoPs, to further enhance their competences while also increasing the involvement of the entire district in KM activities;
  • identify potential areas for improvement, with regard to a better integration of certain company functions;
  • measure the involvement of different age bands of the staff of the district in day-to-day cooperation and problem-solving activities;
  • measure the involvement of  subjects outside the district (other eni companies and contract staff).

In 2010 G&P gave a big push to the sharing and enhancement of its knowledge by putting online the KM portal, available to all intranet users and aimed at facilitating the sharing of critical knowledge of the G&P business. By offering unique and structured access to information, documentation and links of interest to the business it was possible to integrate fragmentary and dispersed knowledge, involve team members spread out across the territory, facilitate the more rapid training of young resources and the creation of informal networks and parallel channels of learning, ensuring greater agility in the decision making process.
The CoP IDEA (Informative Data-base Energy Authorities Acts) were launched, aimed at the whole of the G&P sector with a view to diffusing the analysis of the regulatory framework and the possible impact of the business (around 400 contributors), and InGas (Intelligence Gas Supply) that analyses and publicises documents regarding gas supplies, correlated markets and their evolution with reference to the geo-political situation (around 50 members).

In the light of the positive outcomes achieved by the first two CoPs, other development projects are under study. During 2010 three seminars held by knowledge owners were organized, with a total participation of 200 resources, focused on the dissemination and transfer of knowledge related to technical and commercial issues of the gas business.
In 2010 at Enipower a KM system was introduced for the area, based on five communities of practice: Mechanical (38 members), Electric (39 members), Instrumental (21 members), Exercise (73 members) and HSEQ (18 members), that operate in an integrated manner.
This activity involved a project group comprising representatives from the CoPs and company management from the functions involved and fro HR, with the support of the ECU/KM and Eni/ICT areas.
Alongside the creation and launch of the system a change management plan was drawn up, including communication activities (updates on the myeni site and the organisation of an internal competition to find a slogan and image to represent the system), and the involvement, motivation and training of all the resources affected.

In 2010 22 CoPs were active, with a total of around 750 users. The process of consolidating and diffusing the KM activities already launched continued, and new areas of application identified.
A new portal was built that integrates all of the Division's KM activities, information and initiatives. The portal includes four sections that describe the KM experiences of the functions:

  • Industrial and Primary Logistics, with a description of the Sophia Project and the subdivision into the three areas of CoPs merging -  Technical , Technological and of Management;
  • Commercial Retail Italy, with the KM Project Agorà for the communication and spreading of best practices to the commercial area and the new station managers' portal which is the main tool for direct communication with the 4,500 service station managers;
  • Technological Research & Development, with the creation of cross-platform Communities of Practice;
  • Technical Development and Projects, divided by "Development Projects", "Process Technology" and "Project Implementation", and the reference for each of these for activities, structures, project portfolios and competence projects.

A number of training workshops were also organised to enhance professionalism, specialised competences and the strategic know-how of Knowledge Owners. During 2010 a meeting was also organised to discuss issues of HR competences concerning: planning processes, hiring controls and labour costs, participation bonuses and remuneration policies, which involved 27 people from the central HR structure and the territorial personnel areas.

The Knowledge Management HSE management system, in the sense of the combination of operational procedures and organisational solutions and technologies that make it possible to acquire, validate, consolidate and spread an awareness of HSE issues, a support mechanism for business processes which is aimed at improving reliability and efficiency through the management, development and diffusion of the knowledge assets of the professional HSE Area.
The Professional HSE Area is made up of people with specific competences who carry out their work within the HSE sector. Within this context specialised know-how is managed and developed along with the promotion of the process for the professional development of the people involved.
The tool that Eni uses for the management and development of HSE know-how is the so-called Professional HSE Area Model, which is used to enhance the resources dedicated to HSE issues, with special reference to their knowledge and expertise.
Through the involvement of the members of the Professional Area, the continuous monitoring of the composition and knowledge assets of the HSE Area the Model makes it possible to increasingly effectively orientate training on the basis of of the relevant needs of the HSE Area.
One of the main tools used for the diffusion of the HSE culture is the HSE Portal, which, by providing an articulated picture of information relating to HSE, contributes to staff training and professional development.
Moreover, with the creation of a Comnunity of Pratice for HSE issues, involving members who share similar experience and knowledge and work on processes in comparable activities, it is possible to pursue knowledge sharing and problem solving objectives concerning operational aspects, optimising the synergies between different areas of Eni's business.
Finally, a summary of the principal Knowledge Management tools is to be found in the HSE training activities that are conducted by so-called HSE Knowledge Owners, making it possible to enhance the specialised competences and il Knowledge sharing in strategic areas of interest to Eni.

The commitment to Knowledge Management activities, launched by Polimeri Europa in 2008, remained constant also in 2010. For Polimeri Europa, KM provides support for business processes in order to improve reliability and efficiency through the management, development, diffusion and use of the company's knowledge assets.In particular, during the year, visibility was given to the portal through specific communication initiatives, including a message from the Knowledge Area Coordinator form the Technical Area published on the occasion of the creation of the CoP Reliability.

Another communication initiative has seen the sending to portal users of a questionnaire designed to measure the level of appreciation of Sophia and gather useful suggestions for its improvement. The results of the survey were subsequently made public through an interview with the Chief Knowledge Officer posted on the web site.
The dissemination and use of the portal has been expanded through the creation of new CoPs that were added to those already existing, in order to cover other Knowledge areas.
In particular, the creation of the Plant Reliability CoP and the Elastomers, Polyethylene and Styrene CoP in the technology area, a total of 8 active CoPs with 550 authorised users.
Finally, to encourage greater integration between different parts of the company and a greater exchange of knowledge and experience, the portal has been made accessible without limits to all authorised users.

During 2010 five seminars were organised involving a total of 236 people and focused on the transfer and diffusion of knowledge, both in technical-specialised areas, and for cross-platform issues such as sustainability.
Thanks to these seminars, open to everyone in the company, it was possible to take a closer look and the main operational activities and the specific geographical contexts related to specific projects underway or in development. In the coming years the organisation of such initiatives will continue with the view to ensuring a broader and more marked involvement of knowledge owners.




Last updated on 13/09/11