Track 2: KM Tools and Techniques

Session 2-6: Dashboards as a Knowledge Management Tool: The National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Experience

05/05/10

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Joseph Barbano

Data Warehouse/Dashboard Project Manager

National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Dept.of Agriculture

Michel Desbois

CIO and Deputy Administrator

National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Dept.of Agriculture

NIFA is an agency of the US Department of Agriculture with the unique mission “to advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities by supporting research, education, and extension programs in the Land-Grant University System and other partner organizations.” The NIFA grants portfolio finances some of the most important agricultural research programs in the nation, if not the entire world. Optimizing the management of that portfolio requires the ability to track the grants, the institutions, the funds and the scientists, and map them to the knowledge areas they are investigating. Outcomes and results must be linked to USDA goals and objectives, and the budgets must be managed within specific statutory requirements. The complexity of the mission is a classic knowledge management process involving people, processes and technology.  In this session, the presenters will demonstrate the Leadership Management Dashboards that play a key role in accomplishing the NIFA mission.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

 > How dashboards can be used to extract knowledge from a federal grants portfolio
 > How the effective visualization of data through dashboards assists the NIFA scientists
 > How to engage a federal user community for the adoption of an innovation
 >
How to provide a related service to academic partner institutions