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• Identifying the network of people to be analyzed (e.g., team, workgroup, department)
• Clarifying objectives and formulating hypotheses and questions
• Developing the survey methodology and designing the questionnaire
• Surveying the individuals in the network to identify the relationships and knowledge
fl ows between them
• Use a software mapping tool to visually map out the network
• Analyzing the map and the problems and opportunities highlighted using interviews
and/or workshops
• Designing and implementing actions to bring about desired changes
• Mapping the network again after a suitable period of time

In order for SNA maps to be meaningful, it is important to know what information
you need to gather in order to build a relevant picture of your group or network. Good
survey design and questionnaire design are therefore key considerations. Questions
will be typically based on factors such as:
• Who knows who and how well?
• How well do people know each other ’ s knowledge and skills?
• Who or what gives people information about xyz ?
• What resources do people use to fi nd information/feedback/ideas/advice about xyz ?
• What resources do people use to share information about xyz ?
While there are quite a number of different SNA tools, there is a need for a user-
friendly end-to-end solution that can be applied in a variety of business settings ( Dalkir
and Jenkins 2004 ). Existing tools have little support, tend to be proprietary, have little
track record, and tend to be heavily weighted toward the statistical analysis of data
once it has been gathered with little support for the initial data collection activities.

Community Yellow Pages
Communities are all about connections between people and these connections are
often used to develop corporate yellow pages or an expertise location system. While
initially community-based, such expertise locators can eventually be integrated to
form a corporate-wide yellow pages. Lamont (2003) emphasizes their contribution to
organizational learning initiatives such as facilitating mentoring programs, identifying
knowledge gaps, and providing both performance support and follow-up to formal
training activities. Figures 5.4 and 5.5 illustrate a typical application for a large, dis-
tributed European publishing company.