Knowledge Management Program
Ministry of Health
Bahrain

The Problem

The data was available in different systems and reporting such data as useful information was lacking. Specially, the clinical and financial Information systems relating to the health care sector. The decision making was based on either old information or manually collected information which was not accurate. The Knowledge management awareness in the ministry was minimal. Actually, no priority was given to such systems as the responsibilities were not well defined. Executive management making based on accurate and timely manner was lacking. It was evident that development of the Knowledge management concept was required and this resulted in the formation of the Knowledge Management group in the Health Information Director which is responsible for the development of such projects.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
KM unit has accomplished several achievements that connect Ministry of Health (MoH) employees and customers to information and knowledge.
Examples of the key benefits of the KM achievements was the increase in the work efficiency, improve accountability and mitigating risk by making informed decisions and resolve issues faster, supported with an access to integrated, updated, accurate information across MoH. That was achieved by introducing the Business Intelligence technology and Dashboard facility to several critical areas in the Ministry.
Second example, several information behaviors and tools were developed to strengthen the organization value that values a knowledge and information sharing philosophy. That was achieved by the creation of the Intranet web pages, and gives each department in the ministry the ability to share their news, events, information, documents, and forms across MoH. The security and data confidentiality was taken into consideration. Moreover, KM starts to promote the use of the groups meeting areas on the Intranet as well as the ministerial discussions forums.
In addition to the previous functionality, KM has implemented several other functionalities through the intranet such as Document Management System, Content Management System, Search Engine, and e-Forms, which was a great assistance to improve the overall performance, and integrated easier accesses to the knowledge base.
Third, deliver better and more cost effective constituent services and responsive to the public as well as increasing the work efficiency and productivity. That was achieved by developing more than 16 eServices which replaced the traditional means of accessing some of the MoH services. The 16 eServices can be accessed through different channels such as MoH website, mobile and national e-Government kiosk. Moreover, providing MoH employees and customers through MoH website with online information, searchable databases, text messaging services, foreign languages and disability access. Furthermore, a public outreach based on the variety of features such as e-mail or blogs that will help citizens and resident to contact MoH officials.
The mentioned electronic services on both Intranet and internet improve transparency and outward sharing of information as well as improving the working relations within MoH employees and the trust of the public in MoH provided services. That was measured by monitoring the increase of the number of hits to the published online services.
Fourth, to ease the accessibility of an international researches and studies, KM has given MoH staff the ability to access an online Medical Library through the Intranet; the online Library contains more than 12 databases that enable them to access thousands of International Medical documents and journals.
Fifth, with the cooperation of College of Health Science. KM unit implement an online Learning Management system, which assist the instructor to manage and deliver an online content to the Health students.
The sixth example was the development of a repository to store the full Metadata for all the Health Application within MoH. This achievement was a first step toward a comprehensive Data Dictionary to all electronic applications within MoH.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The initial idea of creating the Knowledge Management Group came up by the Management of the Health Information Directorate. This required change management in the Directorate and the Structure of the Directorate had to be changed. As it was difficult to hire staff to work in this group, Staff were moved from other existing positions and trained to take their new responsibilities. Though there were resistance from some management and staff within the Directorate, in the initial stages however this was managed. Currently we developed a proposal for the creation of a section under the same name and awaiting approval.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The strategy for the introduction of the unit was:
• Create a unit with minimal resources required
• Realignment of staff
• Train and coach staff to their new functions
• Get the buy in by major stake holders inside and outside the directorate

The main objectives of the KM were identified by combining the MoH requirements and the recent international research and best practices in this field. Accordingly, the management adopted (Riege and Lindsay, 2006) theory of the KM objectives in Public Sector, which can be summarized as:
• Maximize efficiencies across all public services by connecting silos of information across different levels of government and across borders.
• Develop new or consolidate outdated systems to improve overall performance and capitalize on a broader, more integrated and easier accessible knowledge base.
• Improve accountability and mitigating risk by making informed decisions and resolve issues faster, supported by access to integrated, transparent information across all organizational boundaries.
• Deliver better and more cost effective constituent services such as enhancing partnerships with and responsiveness to the public.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
• Developed the Ministry of health Internet site and managed its content
• Developed Ministry of Health Intranet site which contains most the Directorates/Departments in the ministry of health and managed content
• Introduce the Shared Space Collaboration tools and online Discussions forms to the employees
• Introduce the Document Management System and the basic work flow functionality to the employees
• Utilization of the Online Forms.
• Developed Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards for the main indicators for MoH executives and Staff.
• Introduce the concept of self generation for the reporting through the implementation of BI analytical tools to the concern personal in selected critical areas in MoH.
• Introduce the online Library to all MoH staff
• Introduce the Online Learning System in the College of Health Science
• The development of eServices that can accessed through MoH website
• Introduce various communication channels between the public and MoH officials.
• Introduce more channels to access the e-Services such as Mobile and Kiosk
• Develop the first version of the MoH applications Data Dictionary.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
• Resistance of staff to the change. This was managed through presentation, training and on the job coaching
• Availability of staff, realignment of staff to the newly formed Knowledge group and the cancellation of redundant and obsolete working practices based on old systems/technology. I.e. Stop old concept of data bases and move to rational database program development.
• The need for specialized IT infrastructure and solutions for knowledge and information which will required and financial resources, that was overcome by redirection of non-priority projects budget to key KM projects.
• The lack of collaboration from some of the internal and external parties to accomplish some of the major projects, which was overcome by getting the buy in of an influence and powerful stack holder.
• The unavailability of an updated web security and privacy standards and policies that was overcome by creating a clear standards and policies which was QA and audited by specialized team.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
As mentioned above, as this was new concept at a time it was recognized, that government approval for new projects and approvals of extra workforce would take time, It was decided to redirect both existing management power and financial resources to the newly formed group. Even the head of the Group was created as a coordinator without initially any promotion but new responsibility and rewarding system was used for out comes not only for the manager of the group but all members. Currently we are in process of finalizing the formation of the section.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Since the start of this initiative in 2006, the KM group has expanded its services to all the departments in MoH, it has disseminated information through the internet to all. Many projects since were supported by the ministry such as the Office automation project, the Groupware project, the Internet and intranet enhancement project (twice) the BI Enhancement projects. Also, the ministry has approved the new organizational structure for the creation of the Knowledge Management Section.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
• Facilitated batter decision making
• Managed data in an organized matter through pre-defined fields of the Health Data dictionary
• Disseminated information with ease
• Improved electronics interaction of staff to share ideas and documents etc
• Improve the work efficiency and productivity
• Information transparency
• Adaptations of new trends in Knowledge management like the BI and the Balance score cards
• The need for Change Management programs to encourage the adoption of changes from the e-Services projects.
• The need to emphasis on marketing the new KM project deliverables to the employees as well as the public.
• Ensure the support of the internal and external stockholders to the KM initiatives.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Ministry of Health
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Manal Ali
Title:   Head, Knowledge Management Section  
Telephone/ Fax:   (+973) 17 284837 Ext. 4837
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   mahmed@health.gov.bh  
Address:   Ministry of Health-Salmaniya hospital Complex
Postal Code:  
City:   Manama
State/Province:  
Country:   Bahrain

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