institutional knowledge—bringing key information, data, and resources together through a single, intuitive interface that serves every stakeholder group. Readers learn why consolidating access to comprehensive institutional information improves clarity, efficiency, and service—helping people see the big picture, understand how their role fits, and quickly guide others (especially students) to the right support. The chapter also explains why moving information from implicit (locked in people’s heads or scattered across systems) to explicit (documented, discoverable, and connected) is so powerful, and how the SKM makes that shift practical. Along the way, it covers how to navigate the SKM, how the Universal Institutional Model is structured, how the SKM portal can integrate with back-end systems to streamline access, and how the community-shared resources section expands what an institution can learn and reuse—ultimately strengthening belonging, pride, and institutional effectiveness.

• Explain the advantages of providing a single interface for all stakeholders to comprehensive information about the institution.
• Discuss why it is advantageous to convert as much information as possible from implicit to explicit and explain how the Sentient Knowledge Map (SKM) helps achieve this.
• Efficiently navigate within the SKM.
• Explain the structure and major categories of the Universal Institutional Model.
• Use the portal functionality of the SKM to integrate it with back-end systems and explain the advantages of this.
• Explain the purpose of the community shared resources section of the SKM and give examples of its content

Chapter 4 focuses on a deceptively simple goal: making institutional information and support easy to find—fast. Because the Sentient Knowledge Map (SKM) can hold a richly detailed model of an institution plus a deep library of shared resources, the chapter shows how to avoid information overload by using practical navigation and filtering strategies. Readers learn multiple search approaches (including quick searches and multi-condition reports), how types and tags add powerful ways to locate and connect related resources, and how reverse lookup can reveal the right people, offices, and supports by starting from a need and working backward through relationships. The chapter also highlights why guided “random exploration” can be an effective learning method in a concept-mapped environment—and how SKM tools help users stay oriented while building real understanding.

• Use several search strategies to find needed information quickly and easily.
• Explain how types and tags provide additional mechanisms for finding information.
• Use types and tags to find related information within the Sentient Knowledge Map (SKM).
• Use the report functionality to find information that meets multiple conditions.
• Explain what reverse lookup is and the advantages of its use when looking for information.
• Use reverse lookup to find information.
• Explain why random exploration of the SKM can be an effective learning tool and how this is supported by concept mapping and SKM tools.
• Use navigation strategies within the SKM to prevent information overload.

Chapter 5 is about giving every stakeholder—not just senior leaders—a clear, shared understanding of how a college or university really works as an interconnected system. It shows readers how to analyze and communicate an institution’s culture and climate (including how employee and student demographics shape day-to-day realities), clarify institutional identity and reputation across multiple dimensions, and articulate the value the institution provides to different stakeholder groups. The chapter then moves from “who we are” to “what we produce” by explaining how credentials and degrees are named, classified, and assembled—linking courses, general education, liberal education, and honors pathways into a coherent model, and introducing practical approaches for tracking credential change over time. Finally, it tackles the money: where revenue comes from, how funds flow through the organization, and how accounts and expenses can be integrated into an institutional model so decisions are grounded in both mission and financial reality.

• Analyze the culture and climate of an institution and summarize it for others.
  • Describe employee and student demographics and how they affect the culture and climate.
• Analyze the nature and reputation of an institution.
  • Classify the institution in multiple dimensions.
  • Explain the factors that define the core character of an institution.
  • Identify points of pride and where an institution stands in the rankings.
• Explain how the institution provides value to a variety of stakeholders.
• List the types of documents that will aid stakeholders with understanding the nature and operations of an institution.
• Usefully integrate crucial documents into an institutional model.
• Explain how credentials are named, and the components required for a complete credential.
• Explain the interrelationships between courses within a credential, General Education (Gen. Ed.), Liberal Education, and Honor’s programs, at various degree levels.
• Explain the ways in which credentials are classified within the institutional model.
• Discuss all the factors needed to fully define a credential and its requirements.
• Usefully integrate credentials into an institutional model.
• Effectively implement a credential change management tracking process.
• Explain the sources of revenue, how money flows through the organization, and the types of expenses encountered by an institution.
• Usefully integrate accounts and funds into an institutional model.