The Public Sector Information Management Assessment Model supports continuous development

The importance of knowledge management has been widely recognised in the public sector and there are many benefits to development. However, there is no one right way to implement it, and in practice, knowledge management is, in many respects, a difficult concept. We participated in a research project led by Nordic Healthcare Group Oy (NHG), which created an overview of the current state of knowledge management and development needs and developed an evaluation model for knowledge management. The evaluation model also opens up more specific aspects of knowledge management.

In addition to developing an evaluation model, the project examined the situation of the provinces in the planning and development of knowledge management and identified a number of measures for national and regional actors to pursue. Knowledge management was considered as part of the preparation of the 2018 and 2019 provincial and social reforms, where development has played a key role.

The developed knowledge management assessment model is widely applicable to public organisations and supports the continuous development of knowledge management. The evaluation model can be used to improve understanding of knowledge management and to develop organisational knowledge management practices. The model was tested with representatives from two hospital districts, the Provincial Federation, one city and the TE administration.

The partners of the project were the University of Tampere and the University of Helsinki. The project was carried out as part of the Government’s research activities. The evaluation model and recommendations for the development of knowledge management have been compiled in the final report of the project.