Jack Vinson has a good article on finding your experts using expert locator systems as part of your knowledge management strategy.
The Question. If you are going down the path of expertise locators, be sure to check with yourself about why you need such a thing in your organization. Are people having trouble finding people that must be working in the company? Are the local experts unwilling or unable to provide the right level of assistance? Are people spending too much time recreating solutions or answers that already exist? These are all symptoms: have you established an underlying reason for these observations or behaviors.
This is a good question and of the type so often never asked in an organisation. Why are we doing this must be asked before we begin on the how otherwise we can miss alternative options which may be better suited. It is even possible to find, as Jack’s piece suggests, the problem has already been solved. How often do you take a moment to ask why?