Bonjour SIKM Leaders!

I am a Knowledge Manager at NATO HQ in Brussels Belgium and I would
like to get your thoughts on the following problem.

NATO HQ is in the process of totally revamping their network
infrastructure and their information environment and we have come to
a point on deciding what applications and processes will reside on
the two HQ networks (unclassified and classified) and how information
flows through the HQs and beyond.

I was wondering if you had any words of wisdom or could share any
lessons learnt on how to effectively work in a split network
environment. NATO is a multinational government ogranization but I
assume corporations have similar issues.

Issues include:
-How do you avoid duplication of information on both networks?
-How do you keep info in synch?
-How do you seamlessly raise info from high to low and vice versa
when required?
-How do you deal with an operation or exercise that has
approximately 50% unclass info and 50% classified info but that are
dealing with the same problems or issues?
-How to avoid over or under classification of info to make
it "fit" on the most convenient network?

Obviously it is easiest to keep all information at the higher level
(classified) network so that all information can be stored and used
there but then what do you do when you want to invite in partners
(that are not connected to the classified network) to
participate/collaborate or when the leadership goes on travel and
they need to get critical unclass/restricted information quickly over
the internet?

Oh, I forgot to mention that the two networks must not connect for
security reasons.

Thanks,

Tom Condon
Information & Knowledge Management Officer
NATO Headquarters, Brussels Belgium
Office: +32 2 707 9851
Mobile: +32 4 725 23400
condon.thomas@...

I have tried to provide some response to this question:
-How do you avoid duplication of information on both networks?
This is never easy but a few suggestions may be having clear processes
for what can be stored where. Is there a clear set of guidance as to
what is allowed in classified sites and what can then be promoted from
unclassified to classified sites. This is really just an administrative
/ governance approach that could assist in making sure the right content
is where it is meant to be
The second possibility is to use content rationalization tools to
identify duplicate content across the environments. There are tools
available that can be run against an environment and then against a
second environment and identify where there is duplication of content.
This is obviously not stopping content being loaded in the first place
but they can help in rationalizing what is there afterwards

-How do you keep info in synch?
Given the environments there are often times when you do need to
maintain duplicate content. Keeping this in synch is never easy. If
using metadata against documents you could identify a metadata tag to
highlight the fact that there is a duplicate document which might assist
a little (very manual and prone to errors, but probably as effective as
anything else).

-How do you seamlessly raise info from high to low and vice versa
when required?
Would have thought this has to be through defined workflows and
governance which are initiated when content needs to be raised from one
network to the other. Obviously there is no right or wrong answer, but
you might consider where the key overlaps are and concentrate on these.
Maybe create a templates section in the authorized section which can
then be used to take content out of down to the unauthorized section,
with feedback loops available for the improvements identified.

-How do you deal with an operation or exercise that has
approximately 50% unclass info and 50% classified info but that are
dealing with the same problems or issues?
Again think this is governance. Make sure there is a clear definition of
what classified means. Make sure that there s a clear definition as to
when to promote content to the classified network. Make sure there is a
way to identify templates that are classified and can be taken down and
used in the unclassified area.

-How to avoid over or under classification of info to make it "fit"
on the most convenient network?
This has to be a governance issue. Maybe with some support from things
like workflow.


Mike Gardner
EDS CIO EKM Team - EDS Taxonomist & Content Rationalization Leader
Telephone: +44 (0)1332 663964 (Home Office)
Mobile: +44 (0)7790 492991
Work from home, Derby, UK
micheal.gardner@...

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