The Lessons Learned knowledge base forms the memory of the
company. At the same time the Lessons Learned system supports the
process of capturing and diffusing the knowledge. Lessons Learned systems
are very important in organizations where mistakes can be very costly and
avoiding them in the future provides significant savings. These systems
are also extremely useful in organizations where best practices need to be
repeated and disseminated as much as possible. This is true, for example,
among technology consultancy companies that are project-based or among
development banks that provide funds for projects since during the execution
of the projects many lessons are learned. Apart from a supporting system,
the processes that define what knowledge has to be captured and when
knowledge has to be diffused are critical factors for the success of a Lessons
Learned system. Experience has shown that a properly functioning Lessons
Learned system can provide many of the required functionalities to turn a
company into a learning organization.