The Volta River Authority (VRA) has launched a knowledge management portal to foster knowledge sharing, learning and collaboration within the organisation to enhance its operations.

The new portal would give VRA staff access to electronic resources and virtual classrooms as well as knowledge on standards, best practices and lessons learned by communities of practice within the organization.

Mr Richard Badger, the Deputy Chief Executive (Engineering and Operations) at the ceremony said: “With this launch a new chapter in the history of the authority is open where staff would be encouraged to share, collaborate, and learn before, during and after projects,”.

This could increase VRA’s efficiency and productivity by reducing knowledge gaps, repetition of mistakes (with their attendant ripple effects), and the impact of knowledge loss through retirement or turnover of the authority’s experts and consultants, he said.

The portal also has other relevant tools such as a telephone directory and an “expert locator” – a database through which staff can search experts by specialty, experience or expertise; seek their advice and elicit peer assistance when faced with a problem or a task.

“The new source of productivity is knowledge and not more labour, land or financial capital. It is the intangible intellectual assets that must be managed and used properly and efficiently,” Engineer (Ing) Badger explained.

Ing. Kirk Koffi, Chief Executive Officer of VRA, said that among other benefits, the initiative would foster constant learning and help VRA tap more knowledge and experience from its retirees so that employees need not scratch their heads when they encounter problems that may have occurred in the past.

Mr. Kweku Andoh Awortwi, a former Chief Executive of VRA noted that knowledge is what rules today’s world; the most valuable companies in the world being those that manage, package and share information such as Google, Yahoo, Apple and Uber.

He said it was “well in order” that VRA had realised the need to manage, package and share its data in order to remain “competitive, relevant and vital” to the economy.

The former Chief Executive said the initiative was informed by inefficient archiving and management of information as well as the separate and redundant generation of information, in the past, by VRA’s various professional groups such as engineers, doctors and lawyers.