As a result of advances in telecommunication and the rapid tempo of current military operations, the US military has increasingly turned to means of sharing best practices, lessons learned, and experiences that do not require extensive vetting of information. One widely used tool is communities of practice (CoPs). Critical to assessing the impact of a CoP and shaping the effort of community leaders is the collection and analysis of metrics. Conducted over a two year period of time, this research has analyzed the Battle Command Knowledge System's (BCKS) communities of practice, known as professional forums. BCKS hosts over 60 professional forums, with a total membership exceeding 130,000. This paper will describe a systematic approach for analyzing CoP metrics. Armed with an understanding gained through a thorough analysis of metrics, CoP leaders can shape community behavior in a manner that improves human performance and ultimately organizational effectiveness.

There are three principle categories of metrics: System Measures, Output Measures, and Outcome Measures. Each of these provides unique insight into communities of practice. The ideal metrics tool would be able to measure the actual transfer of knowledge from "who knows" to "who needs to know" as well as provide an assessment of performance improvement as a result of the CoP effort. Instead, many of the metrics available are merely indicators pointing in the direction of an intended outcome or objective to be measured. Metrics must often be paired or combined in a manner that removes undue influence of variables or accounts for external factors. Simply studying raw metrics in isolation can lead to some very incorrect conclusions. However, when equipped with the increased understanding gained through a considered approach to metrics analysis, CoP leaders can modify their facilitation efforts in order to shape community behavior and enhance organizational performance.