Smart KM technology the focus of Knowledge Value Network workshop

A Knowledge Value Network (KVN) workshop, held online on 26 May, encouraged IOC staff from different departments to learn and exchange information about ongoing, technology-driven projects presented by experts from Microsoft and Paris 2024. In focus: Microsoft’s new knowledge management technologies resulting from “Project Cortex” to support knowledge capture, sharing and discovery; and the new Paris 2024 venue information system, which adds considerable value relative to conventional document management approaches.

SharePoint Syntex and Viva Topics at a glance

Brenda Nemastil, Global Specialist for Knowledge and Insights at Microsoft, kicked off the session by presenting two new products, SharePoint Syntex and Viva Topics. Both have been developed within the scope of “Project Cortex”, which uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to locate and curate content across teams and systems, recognising content types, extracting important information, and automatically organising content into shared topics like projects, products, processes and customers. Cortex then creates a knowledge network based on relationships among topics, content and people.

Whereas SharePoint Syntax provides for the understanding, processing and compliance of content and strengthens the metadata foundation, Viva Topics is an employee experience platform and described as “a system of experiences that helps organisations create a thriving culture with engaged employees and inspiring leaders”. It offers a platform for communications (announcements, new, events); company resources (employee portals and apps); insights (analytics, nudges, surveys, feedback, sentiment); growth and development (learning, coaching, recruiting, on-boarding, talent development, etc.); wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional, financial); communities (diversity, inclusion, interest groups, team cohesion); and knowledge (people and experts, documents and content, projects). In the knowledge area, Viva Topics helps to turn content into usable knowledge by using AI to identify, process and organise it. The platform also enables employees to share and refine knowledge through curated topic pages, automatically generated and updated by AI. Relevant topic cards are then created in the apps which people use every day. A demo of this new system raised great interest and gave rise to a number of follow-up questions among the workshop participants.

Brenda Nemastil summed it up as follows: “There is a lot to understand about the content in your organisation. The biggest thing is considering the number of different shares that you might have or the number of different content sources you rely on, and really thinking about creating a structured knowledge solution in your organisation. That is the intention of both SharePoint Syntex and Viva Topics.”

Innovative approach by Paris 2024

The second part of the compact, virtual session was dedicated to a new venue information system (VIS) which is currently being developed by Paris 2024. The OCOG’s TEC, IKL and data experts, Jérémie Guy, Kevin Martel and Timour Malik, shared some interesting details of this innovative solution, which is being built to serve in both the planning and delivery stages of venue operations for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It centralises information for the various FAs and provides for “a single source of truth”, managing the integrity of updates across all FAs.

“The new system we are developing provides for enhanced efficiency across all levels. It empowers the FAs by increasing their autonomy and it facilitates decision-making based on reliable data,” explains Jérémie Guy, Head of IKL and Planning at Paris 2024. “In addition, we hope that this innovative solution is a valuable legacy for the IOC, the IPC and future OCOGs.”

From a technical point of view, the new venue information system will centralise and integrate different tools for different areas, such as budgeting, incident management and geographical information, to name just a few.

Background

The purpose of the Knowledge Value Network, launched in 2015, is to regularly bring together people from various IOC departments to share their knowledge and ideas, with a view to achieving better collaboration and greater efficiency in projects. Since its creation, there have been around a dozen workshops on various topics, such as information mapping for the Olympic Channel in 2015, an exchange on problem-solving best practices with UEFA and other IFs in 2017, and sessions with sports business experts.

Interested in participating in one of the next Knowledge Value Network workshops? Don’t hesitate to contact IKL@olympic.org.