Knowledge Management Notes

8/10/2019 Knowledge Management Notes

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KNOWLEDGE

(F.A. Uriarte, Jr. ASEAN Foundation) + other sources

The ability to manage knowledge is crucial in today s knowledge economy. Thecreation and diffusion of knowledge have become increasingly important factorsin competitiveness. More and more, knowledge is being thought of as a valuablecommodity that is embedded in products (especially high-technology products)and embedded in the tacit knowledge of highly mobile employees. Whileknowledge is increasingly being viewed as a commodity or intellectual asset,

there are some paradoxical characteristics of knowledge that are radicallydifferent from other valuable commodities. These knowledge characteristicsinclude the following: Using knowledge does not consume it. Transferring knowledge does not result in losing it. Knowledge is abundant, but the ability to use it is scarce. Much of an organization s valuable knowledge walks out the door at the end

of the day.The advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web, has made unlimited sources ofknowledge available to us all. Pundits are heralding the dawn of the KnowledgeAge supplanting the Industrial Era. Forty-fi ve years ago, nearly half of allworkers in industrialized countries were making or helping to make things . Bythe year 2000, only 20 percent of workers were devoted to industrial work therest was knowledge work ( Drucker 1994 ; Barth 2000 ). Davenport (2005, p. 5)says about knowledge workers that at a minimum, they comprise a quarter ofthe U.S. workforce, and at a maximum about half. Labor-intensivemanufacturing with a large pool of relatively cheap, relatively homogenous laborand hierarchical management has given way to knowledge-based organizations.There are fewer people who need to do more work.Organizational hierarchies are being put aside as knowledge work calls for more

collaboration. A firm only gains sustainable advances from what it collectivelyknows, how efficiently it uses what it knows, and how quickly it acquires and

uses new knowledge ( Davenport and Prusak 1998 ). An organization in theKnowledge Age is one that learns, remembers, and acts based on the bestavailable information, knowledge, and know-how.All of these developments have created a strong need for a deliberate andsystematic approach to cultivating and sharing a company s knowledge base one populated with valid and valuable lessons learned and best practices. Inother words, in order to be successful in today s challenging organizationalenvironment, companies need to learn from their past errors and not reinventthe wheel.Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as the new strategic imperative of

organizations. The most established paradigm is that knowledge is power.Therefore, one has to hoard it, keep it to oneself to maintain an advantage. The

common attitude of most people is to hold on to onesknowledge since it is whatmakes him or her an asset to the organization. Today, knowledge is stillconsidered power an enormous power in fact but the understanding haschanged considerably, particularly from the perspective of organizations. Thenew paradigm is that within the organization knowledge must be shared in orderfor it to grow. It has been shown that the organization that shares knowledge

among its management and staff grows stronger and becomes more


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competitive. This is the core of knowledge management the sharing ofknowledge.

Understanding Knowledge

In order to comprehend knowledge management, it is necessary to firstunderstand the concept of knowledge. What is knowledge? How is it differentfrom information? And how is information different from mere data? We beginwith data. What is data? Data is a number or word or letter without any context.

For example, numbers like 5 or 100, without any context, are mere data.Without reference to either space or time, these numbers or data aremeaningless points in space and time. The key phrase here is out ofcontext.And since it is out of context then it has no meaningful relation to anything else.A mere collection of data is not information. This means that if there is norelation between the pieces of data, then it is not information. What makes acollection of data information is the understanding of the relationships betweenthe pieces of data or between the collection of data and other information. Inother words, what is essential in making data or a collection of data informationis the context, that is, the relation between the pieces of data.Let us take an example. If we are given numbers like 1 and 7, they do not meanmuch. We may relate to the number 1 as being less than 2 and greater than 0,while 7 is a number greater than 6 but less than 8. At this level ofunderstanding, these numbers are mere data. However, if we associate 7 withthe number of days in a week, then we create context. With context, these databecome information. And the information given by that context is that there are7 days in 1 week. We have established a relationship between the two pieces ofdata 1 and 7. We have associated the number 1 with week and the number 7with days. We have placed the data within a context thus producing information.When information is further processed, it has the potential for becoming

knowledge. Information is further processed when one finds a pattern relation

existing among data and information. And when one is able to realize andunderstand the patterns and their implications, then this collection of data andinformation becomes knowledge. But unlike mere information that is contextdependent, knowledge has the tendency to create its own context. In otherwords, the patterns representing knowledge have a tendency to be self-contextualizing. These patterns which represent knowledge have a characteristicof being complete a feature that mere information does not contain. Thesepatterns are dynamic. They are constantly changing. But when these patternsare fully understood, there is a high level of predictability and reliability as tohow the patterns will change or evolve over time.

Types of Knowledge

In the modern economy, the knowledge that it is able to harness is theorganizations competitive advantage. This competitive advantage is realizedthrough the full utilization of information and data coupled with the harnessingof peoples skills and ideas as well as their commitments and motivations. In thecorporate context, knowledge is the product of organization and systematicreasoning applied to data and information. It is the outcome of learning that

provides the organizations only sustainable competitive advantage. As suchknowledge is an essential asset that has become more important than land,

labor or capital in todays economy.


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In general, there are two types of knowledge: tacit knowledge and explicitknowledge. Tacit knowledge is that stored in the brain of a person. Explicit

knowledge is that contained in documents or other forms of storage other than

the human brain. Explicit knowledge may therefore be stored or imbedded infacilities, products, processes, services and systems. Both types of knowledgecan be produced as a result of interactions or innovations. They can be theoutcome of relationships or alliances. They permeate the daily functioning oforganizations and contribute to the attainment of their objectives. Both tacit andexplicit knowledge enable organizations to respond to novel situations and

emerging challenges.

Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge is personal. It is stored in the heads of people. It isaccumulated through study and experience. It is developed through the processof interaction with other people. Tacit knowledge grows through the practice oftrial and error and the experience of success and failure. Tacit knowledge,therefore, is context-specific. It is difficult to formalize, record, or articulate. Itincludes subjective insights, intuitions and conjectures. As intuitive knowledge, itis difficult to communicate and articulate. Since tacit knowledge is highlyindividualized, the degree and facility by which it can be shared depends to agreat extent on the ability and willingness of the person possessing it to conveyit to others.The sharing of tacit knowledge is a great challenge to many organizations. Tacitknowledge can be shared and communicated through various activities andmechanisms. Activities include conversations, workshops, on-the-job trainingand the like. Mechanisms include, among others, the use of informationtechnology tools such as email, groupware, instant messaging and relatedtechnologies.

In managing tacit knowledge, the very first hurdle to most organizations is

identifying the tacit knowledge that is useful to the organization. Once relevanttacit knowledge is identified, it becomes extremely valuable to the organizationpossessing it because it is a unique asset that is difficult for other organizationsto replicate. This very characteristic of being unique and hard to replicate is whatmakes tacit knowledge a basis of the organizations competitive advantage.Accordingly, it is essential for an organization to discover, propagate and utilizethe tacit knowledge of its employees in order to optimize the use of its ownintellectual capital.In any organization, tacit knowledge is the essential prerequisite for makinggood decisions. A new executive not yet familiar with the organization will find itdifficult to make good decisions since he or she has yet to acquire

tacit knowledge about the workings of the organization. Tacit knowledge istherefore crucial to getting things done and creating value for the organization.This is the essence of the learning organization. Management and employeesneed to learn and internalize relevant knowledge through experience and action.And they need to generate new knowledge through personal and groupinteractions within the organization.

Explicit knowledge

Explicit knowledge is codified. It is stored in documents, databases, websites,

emails and the like. It is knowledge that can be readily made available to others


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and transmitted or shared in the form of systematic and formal languages.Explicit knowledge comprises anything that can be codified, documented and

archived. These include knowledge assets such as reports, memos, business

plans, drawings, patents, trademarks, customer lists, methodologies, and thelike. They represent an accumulation of the organizations experience kept in aform that can readily be accessed by interested parties and replicated if desired.In many organizations these knowledge assets are stored with the help ofcomputers and information technology.Explicit knowledge is not completely separate from tacit knowledge. On the other

hand, the two are mutually complementary. Without tacit knowledge it will bedifficult, if not impossible, to understand explicit knowledge. For example, aperson without technical, mathematical or scientific knowledge (tacit knowledge)will have great difficulty understanding a highly complex mathematicalformulation or chemical process flow diagram, although it may be readilyavailable from the organizations library or databases (explicit knowledge).And unless we try to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, we cannotreflect upon it, study and discuss it, and share it within the organization sinceit will remain hidden and inaccessible inside the head of the person that has it.

Interaction between types of knowledge

Personal knowledge can become organizational knowledge through the dynamicinteraction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. This interactionbetween the two types of knowledge brings about what is called the four modesof knowledge conversion (Nonaka 1996). The process of knowledge creation isbased on a double spiral movement between tacit and explicit knowledge. Thefour modes of knowledge conversion: socialization (from individual tacitknowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge toexplicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic

explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit

knowledge).

Socialization is a process of creating common tacit knowledge through sharedexperiences. In socialization, a field of interaction is built where individuals shareexperiences and space at the same time. Through this process commonunarticulated beliefs and embodied skills are created and developed.In socialization, the tacit knowledge of one person is shared and transmitted toanother person and it becomes part of the other persons tacit knowledge.Externalization is a process of articulating tacit knowledge into such explicitknowledge as concepts and/or diagrams. The process often uses metaphors,analogies, and/or sketches. This mode is triggered by a dialogue intended to

create concepts from tacit knowledge. A good example of externalization is theprocess of creating a new product concept or developing a new productionprocess. Here the tacit knowledge in the brains of experts are articulated andexpressed as concepts or drawings, thus becoming explicit knowledge that canbe further studied and refined.Combination is a process of assembling new and existing explicitknowledge into a systemic knowledge. For example a researcher can assemblean array of previously existing explicit knowledge in order to prepare a new set

of specifications for a prototype of a new product. Or an engineer can combineavailable drawings and design specifications to produce a new process design or


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equipment. What commonly occurs is the combination of a newly createdconcept with existing knowledge to produce something tangible (e.g., a new

product model). Internalization is a process of embodying explicit knowledge

into tacit knowledge or an individuals know-how or operational knowledge. Anexcellent example of this is learning by doing or using. Explicit knowledge thatis available as text, sound, or video facilitates the internalization process. Theuse of operating manuals for various machines or equipment is a quintessentialexample of explicit knowledge that is used for internalization. The instructionsare learned and become part of the persons tacit knowledge .

The Knowledge Challenge

Knowledge is one of the most important assets of any organization.Unfortunately, very few are able to harness this asset in a meaningful way. Evenfewer are organizations that are able to optimize the use of this important asset.In this context, it is helpful to identify two kinds of knowledge: core knowledgeand enabling knowledge.

In any organization, certain areas of knowledge are more important than others.The kind of knowledge that is critical to the attainment of the organizations goaland the fulfillment of its strategy is called core knowledge. Because coreknowledge is critical to the organization, the management of core knowledge

must be kept within the organization. It must be developed and nurtured insidethe organization.Core knowledge alone cannot fully support an organization and

make it competitive. There is need for knowledge that can maintain theeffectiveness of the organization. Such knowledge is known as enablingknowledge. Whencombined with the core knowledge, such enabling knowledgeleads to the development of new products, processes and services. By its verynature, the management of enabling knowledge can be outsourced. The coreand enabling knowledge in organizations are more than a pure competitiveadvantage. This organizational knowledge makes possible focused and collective

action. But as important as organizational knowledge is organizational memory.A great deal of the knowledge of the organization is created and stored atindividual level. They are in the heads of people and groups of people who workin the organization the employees, managers and top executives.

Definitions of Knowledge

The body of truth, information, and principles acquired by mankind.Interpreted information that can be used. -www.iteawww.org/TAA/Glossary.htm

Knowledge is defined as the remembering of previously learned material. Thismay involve the recall of a wide range of material, from specific facts to

complete theories, but all that is required is the bringing to mind of theappropriate information. Knowledge represents the lowest level of learning

outcomes in the cognitive domain. -www.edu.uleth.ca/courses/ed3604/conmc/glsry/glsry.html
http://www.iteawww.org/TAA/Glossary.htmhttp://www.iteawww.org/TAA/Glossary.htmhttp://www.edu.uleth.ca/courses/ed3604/conmc/glsry/glsry.htmlhttp://www.edu.uleth.ca/courses/ed3604/conmc/glsry/glsry.htmlhttp://www.edu.uleth.ca/courses/ed3604/conmc/glsry/glsry.htmlhttp://www.iteawww.org/TAA/Glossary.htm


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An organized body of factual or procedural information necessary to function in aposition, including consideration of the amount, breadth (various types

required), and depth (extent of both comprehensive and detailed understanding

of a specific subject) needed. However, it is not expected that any oneincumbent must possess all knowledge listed on the specification in order to bereallocated from one level to another. The range of knowledge to be expectedwould include a substantial range of knowledge and necessarily depends on thescope of responsibility and duties of the individual position. -www.michigan.gov/mdcs/0,1607,7-147-6879_9325-18616--,00.html

Organized body of information. The acquaintance with facts, truths or principlesas from study or investigation or the familiarity with a partaker subject, branchof learning, etc. -www.seattlecentral.org/library/101/textbook/glossary.html

The sum of the information and experience the teacher has acquired or learnedand is able to recall or use. -

www.wmich.edu/evalctr/ess/glossary/glos-e-l.htm

Information evaluated and organized in the human mind so that it can be usedpurposefully.-www.aslib.co.uk/info/glossary.html

The final goal of the understanding in combining intuitions and concepts. If theyare pure, the knowledge will be transcendental; if they are impure, the

knowledge will be empirical.-www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1/KSPglos.html

Knowledge is information associated with rules which allow inferences to bedrawn automatically so that the information can be employed for useful

purposes.-www.seanet.com/~daveg/glossary.htm

Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study.The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.

-www.jfcom.mil/about/glossary.htm

The information context; understanding the significance of information.-Justified belief that increases an entitys capacity for effective action(Nonaka);the highest degree of the speculative faculties, which consists in the perceptionof the truth of affirmative or negative propositions (Locke).-www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is213/s99/Projects/P9/web_site/ glossary.htm

Information plus semantic meaning.
http://www.michigan.gov/mdcs/0,1607,7-147-6879_9325-18616--,00.htmlhttp://www.seattlecentral.org/library/101/textbook/glossary.htmlhttp://www.seattlecentral.org/library/101/textbook/glossary.htmlhttp://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/ess/glossary/glos-e-l.htmhttp://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/ess/glossary/glos-e-l.htmhttp://www.aslib.co.uk/info/glossary.htmlhttp://www.aslib.co.uk/info/glossary.htmlhttp://www.aslib.co.uk/info/glossary.htmlhttp://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1/KSPglos.htmlhttp://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1/KSPglos.htmlhttp://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1/KSPglos.htmlhttp://www.seanet.com/~daveg/glossary.htmhttp://www.seanet.com/~daveg/glossary.htmhttp://www.seanet.com/~daveg/glossary.htmhttp://www.jfcom.mil/about/glossary.htmhttp://www.jfcom.mil/about/glossary.htmhttp://www.jfcom.mil/about/glossary.htmhttp://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is213/s99/Projects/P9/web_site/%20glossary.htmhttp://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is213/s99/Projects/P9/web_site/%20glossary.htmhttp://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is213/s99/Projects/P9/web_site/%20glossary.htmhttp://www.jfcom.mil/about/glossary.htmhttp://www.seanet.com/~daveg/glossary.htmhttp://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1/KSPglos.htmlhttp://www.aslib.co.uk/info/glossary.htmlhttp://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/ess/glossary/glos-e-l.htmhttp://www.seattlecentral.org/library/101/textbook/glossary.htmlhttp://www.michigan.gov/mdcs/0,1607,7-147-6879_9325-18616--,00.html


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What Is Knowledge Management?

An informal survey conducted by the author identifi ed over a hundred published

defi nitions of knowledge management and of these, at least seventy-two couldbe considered to be very good! Carla O Dell has gathered over sixty defi nitions

and has developed a preliminary classifi cation scheme for the defi nitions on herKM blog (see http://blog.simslearningconnections.com/?p=279) and what thisindicates is that KM is a multidisciplinary field of studythat covers a lot ofground. This should not be surprising as applying knowledge to work is integralto most business activities.However,the field of KM does suffer from the Three Blind Men and an Elephantsyndrome. In fact, there are likely more than three distinct perspectives on KM,and each leads to a different extrapolation and a different definition.Here are a few sample defi nitions of knowledge management from the businessperspective:

Strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value,leverage, and share an organizations intellectual assets to enhance its

performance and competitiveness. It is based on two critical activities:

(1) capture and documentation of individual explicit and tacit knowledge, and(2) its dissemination within the organization. (The Business Dictionary,http://www.businessdictionary.com/defi nition/knowledge-management.html)

Knowledge management is a collaborative and integrated approach to thecreation, capture, organization, access, and use of an enterprise s intellectual

assets. ( Grey 1996)

Knowledge management is the process by which we manage human centeredassets . . . the function of knowledge management is to guard and growknowledge owned by individuals, and where possible, transfer the asset into a

form where it can be more readily shared by other employees in the company.( Brooking 1999 , 154)

Further definitions come from the intellectual or knowledge asset perspective:Knowledge management consists of leveraging intellectual assets to enhance

organizational performance. ( Stankosky 2008 )

Knowledge management develops systems and processes to acquire and shareintellectual assets. It increases the generation of useful, actionable, andmeaningful information, and seeks to increase both individual and team learning.In addition, it can maximize the value of an organization s intellectual baseacross diverse functions and disparate locations. Knowledge managementmaintains that successful businesses are a collection not of products but ofdistinctive knowledge bases. This intellectual capital is the key that will give thecompany a competitive advantage with its targeted customers. Knowledge

management seeks to accumulate intellectual capital that will create unique corecompetencies and lead to superior results. ( Rigby 2009 )

A definition from the cognitive science or knowledge science perspective:

Knowledge the insights, understandings, and practical know-how that we allpossess is the fundamental resource that allows us to function intelligently.Over time, considerable knowledge is also transformed to other manifestations
http://www.businessdictionary/http://www.businessdictionary/http://www.businessdictionary/


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such as books, technology, practices, and traditions within organizations ofall kinds and in society in general. These transformations result in cumulated

[sic] expertise and, when used appropriately, increased effectiveness.

Knowledge isone, if not THE, principal factor that makes personal, organizational, and societalintelligent behavior possible. ( Wiig 1993 )

Two diametrically opposed schools of thought arise from the library andinformation science perspective: the fi rst sees very little distinction between

information management and knowledge management, as shown by these twodefinitions:

KM is predominantly seen as information management by another name(semantic drift). ( Davenport and Cronin 2000 , 1)Knowledge management is one of those concepts that librarians take time toassimilate, only to reflect ultimately on why other communities try to colonizeour domains. ( Hobohm 2004 , 7)

The second school of thought, however, does make a distinction between themanagement of information resources and the management of knowledgeresources.

Knowledge management is understanding the organization s information flows and implementing organizational learning practices which make explicit keyaspects of its knowledge base. . . .

It is about enhancing the use of organizational knowledge through soundpractices of information management and organizational learning. ( Broadbent1997 , 8 9)

The process-technology perspective provides some sample definitions, as well:Knowledge management is the concept under which information is turned intoactionable knowledge and made available effortlessly in a usable form to thepeople who can apply it. (Patel and Harty, 1998)

Leveraging collective wisdom to increase responsiveness and innovation. (CarlFrappaolo,DelphiGroup,Boston,http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949)

A systematic approach to manage the use of information in order to provide acontinuous flow of knowledge to the right people at the right time enabling effi

cient and effective decision making in their everyday business. (Steve Ward,NorthropGrumman,http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949)

A knowledge management system is a virtual repository for relevant informationthat is critical to tasks performed daily by organizational knowledge workers.(What is KM? http://www.knowledgeshop.com)

The tools, techniques, and strategies to retain, analyze, organize, improve, andshare business expertise. ( Groff and Jones 2003 , 2)
http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=949


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A capability to create, enhance, and share intellectual capital across theorganization . . . a shorthand covering all the things that must be put into place,

for example, processes, systems, culture, and roles to build and enhance this

capability. ( Lank 1997 )

The creation and subsequent management of an environment that encouragesknowledge to be created, shared, learnt [ sic ], enhanced, organized and utilizedfor the benefi t of the organization and its customers. ( Abell and Oxbrow 2001 )

Wiig (1993, 2002) also emphasizes that, given the importance of knowledge invirtually all areas of daily and commercial life, two knowledge-related aspectsare vital for viability and success at any level. These are knowledge assets thatmust be applied, nurtured, presser organizations; and knowledge-related

processes to create, build, compile, organize, transform, transfer, pool, apply,and safeguard knowledge. These knowledge-related aspects must be carefullyand explicitly managed in all affected areas.

Historically, knowledge has always been managed, at least implicitly. However,effective and active knowledge management requires new perspectives andtechniques and touches on almost all facets of an organization. We need todevelop a new discipline and prepare a cadre of knowledge professionals with ablend of expertise that we have not previously seen. This is our challenge! (Wiig,in Grey 1996 )

Knowledge management is a surprising mix of strategies, tools, and techniques some of which are nothing new under the sun: storytelling, peer-to-peermentoring, and learning from mistakes, for example, all have precedents ineducation, training, and artifi cial intelligence practices. Knowledge managementmakes use of a mixture of techniques from knowledge-based system design,

such as structured knowledge acquisition strategies from subject matter experts

( McGraw and Harrison-Briggs 1989 ) and educational technology (e.g., task andjob analysis to design and develop task support systems; Gery 1991 ).This makes it both easy and difficult to define what KM is. At one extreme, KMencompasses everything to do with knowledge. At the other extreme, KM isnarrowly defined as an information technology system that dispensesorganizational knowhow.KM is in fact both of these and much more. One of the few areas of consensusin the fi eld is that KM is a highly multidisciplinary fi eld.

Multidisciplinary Nature of KM

Knowledge management draws upon a vast number of diverse fields such as: Organizational science Cognitive science Linguistics and computational linguistics Information technologies such as knowledge-based systems, document andinformationmanagement, electronic performance support systems, and databasetechnologies

Information and library science Technical writing and journalism

Anthropology and sociology


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Education and training Storytelling and communication studies

Collaborative technologies such as Computer-Supported Collaborative Work

(CSCW) and groupware as well as intranets, extranets, portals, and other webtechnologiesThe above is by no means an exhaustive list but serves to show the extremelyvaried roots that KM grew out of and continues to be based upon today.

The multidisciplinary nature of KM represents a double-edged sword: on the one

hand, it is an advantage as almost anyone can find a familiar foundation uponwhich to base an understanding and even practice of KM. Someone with abackground in journalism, for example, can quickly adapt this skill set to captureknowledge from experts and reformulate this knowledge as organizationalstories to be stored in corporate memory. Someone coming from a moretechnical database background can easily extrapolate his or her skill set todesign and implement knowledge repositories that will serve as the corporatememory for that organization. However, the diversity of KM also results in somechallenges with respect to boundaries. Skeptics argue that KM is not and cannotbe said to be a separate discipline with a unique body of knowledge to drawupon. This attitude is typically represented by statements such as KMis just IM or KM is nonsensical it is just good business practices. It becomes veryimportant to be able to list and describe what attributes are necessary and inthemselves suffi cient to constitute knowledge management both as a disciplineand as a field of practice that can be distinguished from others.One of the major attributes lies in the fact that KM deals with knowledge as wellas information. Knowledge is a more subjective way of knowing, typically basedon experiential or individual values, perceptions, and experience.Consider the example of planning for an evening movie to distinguish betweendata, information, and knowledge.

Data Content that is directly observable or verifiable: a fact; for example, movie

listings giving the times and locations of all movies being shown today Idownload the listings.

InformationContent that represents analyzed data; for example, I can t leavebefore 5, so I will go to the 7 pm show at the cinema near my offi ce.Knowledge At that time of day, it will be impossible to fi nd parking. Iremember the last time I took the car, I was so frustrated and stressed becauseI thought I would miss the opening credits. I ll therefore take the commutertrain. But first, Ill check withAl. I usually love all the movies he hates, so I wantto make sure its worth seeing!

KM Disciplines (Interdisciplinary nature of KM)

Library and Information SciencesWeb TechnologiesDecision Support SystemsDocument and Information ManagementElectronic PerformanceSupport SystemsOrganizational ScienceCollaborative Technologies

Database TechnologiesHelp Desk Systems

Cognitive Science


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Technical WritingArtificial Intelligence

Elements of Knowledge Management

A complete knowledge management system must contain four elements. These

are: (a) knowledge creation and capture, (b) knowledge sharing andenrichment, (c) information storage and retrieval, and (d) knowledgedissemination.

Knowledge Creation and Capture

The first element of knowledge management is knowledge creation and capture.Knowledge is continually being created in any group, corporation or organizationsince the very interaction among people generates knowledge.

One of the primary aims of knowledge management is to capture the knowledgethat is produced during such interactions. As a consequence of the highlycompetitive nature of todays markets, there is increasing need withincorporations and organizations to create new knowledge, generate novel ideasand concepts, and to capture these knowledge, ideas and concepts. The verysurvival of a corporation sometimes depends largely on how much new andadvanced knowledge it can generate, capture and utilize in order to produce amore competitive or attractive product or service. For this reason, two factorshave become of utmost importance in determining competitiveness creativityand innovation. These two factors have become not only important, butessential, to the long-term viability of the corporation or organization. Unless an

organization is able to create new products, develop more efficientmanufacturing processes, or introduce improvements in design or function, it will

have great difficulty in competing in fast changing markets.The creation of new knowledge will not be possible without creativity andinnovation. These are the two most important traits or skills needed to make theorganization more productive and competitive. For this reason, creativity andinnovation require proper management. If managed effectively, these skills canbe harnessed to discover alternative approaches to doing things, faster way ofcompleting tasks, cheaper methods of producing outputs, and easier paths toaccomplishing desired results.Brainstorming is one of the most common methodologies used to bring outcreativity and innovation from individuals. Different individuals have different

levels of knowledge about some things as well as different ways of looking at thesame thing. The process of brainstorming makes possible the sharing of viewsand ideas and mental models commonly used by individuals.It is also through this process that such ideas, views and mental models can be

challenged and defended and further elaborated or modified. Throughbrainstorming it becomes possible to bring out the diversity of perspectives andmental sets that exits in the brains of the participants. By properly managingsuch brainstorming sessions, it is possible to produce a composite perspective on

a common problem. This composite perspective could lead to innovation andnew knowledge.

The process of creating new knowledge is the most difficult to manage. Oftencreativity and innovation flourish when there is a minimum of intervention from


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management. Nevertheless, for many organizations there is no option but to findways and means to manage this process since for some their survival as a viable

organization depends on how well they can manage this process. Once new

knowledge is created, it will be necessary to capture it so that it can be utilized.Knowledge can be captured in various ways. Knowledge from outside theorganization can be captured by accessing different sources such as publications,websites, emails and the Internet. Explicit knowledge from within and outside ofthe organization can be captured in various forms such as printed reports,record of meetings, copies of memos and the like. These documented outputs

are generally generated at various stages of operation of the organization. Onthe other hand, tacit knowledge can be created and captured during discussionsand meetings with office colleagues, stakeholders, institutional partners,consultants and experts. Seminars and workshops also provide excellent venuesfor creating and capturing tacit knowledge that may come from the speakers orthe participants.

Content managementA principal component of knowledge creation and capture is contentmanagement which involves the creation of an information database. In general,three essential decisions are involved in the process of populating theinformation database.The first decision is on how new information will be created, contributed andpublished. Information can be contributed in many ways. It can be submittedinto the database via a prescribed form or it can be contributed through webpage, email, shared public folders and shared network directories. Contentmanagement involves making a decision on acceptable means of adding contentinto the database.The second decision is on who will have the access or rights to subsequentlyupdate or delete information in the database. Users of a database are usually

provided multiple paths to facilitate access to information. On the other hand,

contributors to the database should not encounter too many barriers as todiscourage them from further contributing useful data or information. For thesereasons, the systems ability to distinguish those whohave rightful access fromthose who have not is an important component of content management.The third decision is on which information are worthy of inclusion in thedatabase. Information from documents, web pages and emails are generally notstructured in accordance to the requirements of the database. On the otherhand, information that is retrieved from the database is usually structured in acertain way. Content management requires that there be a means to determinewhich structured information from databases and unstructured information fromother sources are to be included in the system.

Submission and indexingThere are many ways by which knowledge or information can be gathered andsubmitted into the KM system. Information can be collected from existing datastorage systems within an organization, for example, from the hard disks ofcomputers belonging to the staff. Information can also be automatically capturedas they are created, for example, from structured reports being prepared by thestaff. Alternatively, authors can first write the reports and submit them when

complete. It is important that the process of submitting information orknowledge be designed in a way that it is as natural as possible. It must be

unobtrusive and as closely integrated as possible with the organizations day-to-


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day systems and processes. In this manner, the users will be more likely tosubmit their contributions and follow the set procedures.

To facilitate the subsequent retrieval of information, it is necessary to tag

content as data and information are added into the database or KM system. Thiscan be done by creating a web interface through which a user can submit adocument to the system. The user will then be asked to answer a series ofquestions about the document. Through the answers provided by the user, thedocument will be properly tagged or categorized, which will facilitate subsequentsearch and retrieval. This is achieved through what is termed XML indexing.

By indexing the organizations file system information and datacan be capturedand organized. Information can become searchable as a component of a centraldepository by generating a keyword index against the files. Compared to asystem where users have to submit or post new documents, this system ofindexing is easier to use and implement. However, this system suffers from twodisadvantages: first, this indexing method does not support the same level ofcategorization in comparison to a more active system; and second, this mayrequire the development of workflow processes such as an approval process tovalidate the information.

Knowledge Sharing and EnrichmentThe second element of knowledge management is knowledge sharing andenrichment. This element is probably the most crucial among the four. It isduring the process of sharing that knowledge is usually refined and enriched.Knowledge can be shared by the organization with its employees (e.g., throughmemos and instructions) and sharing of knowledge can occur betweenemployees of the organization (e.g., through group discussions and internal

meetings) as well as with people outside of the organization (e.g., throughattending seminars and workshops). For example, an employee may share thecaptured knowledge on cleaner production technologies with other employees orgroups who are interested or concerned with the subject matter. As the groups

of employees discuss and debate the knowledge and give their own commentsand inputs, new insights are formed that add relevance to and enrich the originalknowledge that was shared. Furthermore, as the knowledge on cleanerproduction technologies is distributed by the organization to its staff, varioussector committees and thematic networks can provide a forum where new ideascan be exchanged, debated and made more relevant. Through this process ofdissemination, debate and discussion, the organizations knowledge oncleanerproduction technologies is enriched. Additionally, when staff members attend

outside seminars, workshops and meetings on cleaner production technologies,further knowledge sharing and enrichment take place.The competitive advantage of many organizations is generally determined by themagnitude of knowledge sharing that takes place within the organization. Butknowledge sharing does not automatically take place. It must be encouraged

and nurtured. In general, it is necessary to facilitate communication and nurturethe right culture within the organization in order for proper sharing of knowledgeto take place. A worker with specialized knowledge in one area might ask,If my

knowledge is a valuable resource that makes me an essential asset of thecompany, why should I share it and create a competition? On the other hand, a

worker confident of his or her expertise in one field might ask, Why should Iuse the knowledge of others when it might put to risk the quality of the workthat I am doing? Accordingly, a knowledge manager must take intoconsideration the natural tendency of human beings to hoard their own


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knowledge and regard that of others with suspicion when designing a knowledgemanagement system for any organization.

Knowledge sharing can be enhanced through the implementation of appropriate

technologies, operations and systems that stimulate collaboration, facilitate theprocess of sharing, and reward those individuals that share the most knowledgeas well as the individuals that actually utilize knowledge that have been shared.Organizations are generally able to make decisions with impact when knowledgeis efficiently shared. They are able to make and execute decisions rapidly whenindividuals throughout the organization can gain access to important strategic

ideas. Knowledge managers, therefore, must ensure that employees have directaccess to one another rather than requiring them to go through highermanagement whenever needed information or knowledge are required in theimplementation of certain projects or the design of certain products. In thismanner, the persons who have the right information or knowledge can readilyshare it with those who can use it to produce the greatest benefit for theorganization.

Communities of practiceCommunities of practice have been proven to be excellent means to shareknowledge among people who have a common interest. These comprise groupsof people who share knowledge, concerns or interest in a given area. As a resultof their continuing interaction with one another, generally through the use andapplication of information and communication technologies, the members of thecommunity enrich their knowledge and expertise in that particular area.Communities of practice provide their members with very powerful cooperativetools for further developing their expertise and abilities.These groups are an effective and flexible means to examine some knowledgeissues and gain further insights into specific knowledge domains. Communities ofpractice are not synonymous to teams or task forces that are formed for a

specific purpose for a certain period of time. Rather, they are peers that form

groups to learn from one another and improve their understanding of aparticular subject of common interest. What binds them is their common desireto improve their knowledge and their respective need to know what the otherknows. In other words, a community of practice is where members share workstories. During the process of story telling theexchange of tacit knowledgetakes place. This process is particularly important to new staff members sincethe sharing of knowledge tends to accelerate their movement from a meretangential contact to a fuller involvement with the older staff members.When an organization starts to manage its knowledge to attain competitiveadvantage, one key initiative would be to foster the formation of communities ofpractice around the core knowledge of the organization.

Although communities of practice generally grow spontaneously around personalrelationships, it is important that organizations create a condition conducive forsuch growth to occur. Once in existence, there will be need to manage suchcommunities of practice in order to optimize their contribution and help ensuretheir success. There will also be need to have the goals of the communities ofpractice aligned with the goals of the organization.Unless there is convergence of objectives, the outputs of the communities ofpractice would be of little use to the organization. In other words, the impact of

communities of practice would be severely limited if they lack strategic relevancefor the organization.


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Many progressive organizations rely on communities of practice to maintain theprofessional excellence of project teams regardless of where the members of the

team may be geographically located. Because communities of practice facilitate

knowledge sharing they are critical to overcoming the challenges involved in thecreation, sharing, dissemination and use of knowledge. An excellent example ofthis is the experience at the World Bank. Among the primary objectives of theWorld Bank is the reduction of poverty. It tries to attain this objective withmoney (e.g., through loans and grants to governments) and knowledge (e.g.,through relevant publications, training, workshops and the like). In this

connection, the World Bank uses communities of practice in various fields inorder to enhance its expertise in areas that are important to developingcountries, for example, in water resources development, environmentalprotection or energy supply and generation.Understood correctly, communities of practice are therefore not just web sites,databases and sets of best practices, although these constitute the means bywhich the members interact. Rather, a community of practice consists ofmembers exchanging knowledge, and in the process they build relationships anddevelop a sense of belonging and mutual commitment. To some extent, acommunity of practice also helps develop a homogeneous vision and commonapproach to solving problems, attaining a desired objective, or designing aproduct. The members of a community have their individual official and unofficialroles, they create reputations for themselves, and they acquire status andspheres of influence as they actively participate in interactions. The communitiesof practice may therefore be viewed as social entities in which views areventilated and shared and where conflicts and disagreements can sometimesappear but mechanisms are available to handle tensions when required.In many organizations, communities of practice are informal groupings that areseparate from but are not in conflict with the formal organizational structure orhierarchy. They act as parallel structures but do not interfere with the regular

responsibilities and accountabilities of staff members. They are groups in which

various areas of knowledge connect people. In all organizations, themanagement structure and hierarchy may change and projects start and willeventually end. Communities of practice however can continue indefinitely aslong as there are groups of people that are interested in sharing knowledge.Knowledge is the continuous element that binds the members of the communityof practice together. For this reason, communities of practice can provide thatunderlying layer of stability to many organizations.There is an old saying that it is the string and not the pearls that make anecklace. A good example may be cited in the case of an engineer in amanufacturing industry and a marketing professional in the same company. Thetwo may need to regularly exchange information about a specific product on

which they both are working with the engineer to produce it, and themarketing professional to sell it. They need to help one another in order to gaina broader view of the product and understand it better. The engineer needs tounderstand what kind of product would sell while the marketing professionalneeds to know what can be produced efficiently with the available facilities andmaterials. In a community of practice that addresses that particular product, thetwo will interact not so much because they have to but because they find theirinteraction useful. Through the community of practice, they exchange knowledge

that is useful in their own particular fields of practice.


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Incentive schemesIn order to encourage knowledge sharing, certain incentive schemes will have to

be provided. In many cases, a worker may feel threatened to introduce or share

knowledge into a system while another may feel reluctant to actively search outknowledge that others introduce. Many may also find the process of sharing andsearching as requiring considerable amount of time and effort. In practice, thefact that knowledge is available does not necessarily mean that others will use it.Nevertheless, the knowledge manager of any organization should create anoverall situation in which knowledge is shared and reused spontaneously. In

other words, the principle of knowledge sharing and reuse must permeatethrough the entire organization. This can be facilitated through the provision ofcertain incentives, financial or otherwise, to those actively sharing usefulknowledge and those frequently reusing knowledge that have been shared. Froma technological point of view, there are many ways of promoting knowledgesharing within the organization. The installation of an application such as LotusNotes is one example. This should of course be accompanied by the propertraining of the staff in the use of this application software.In addition to the provision of the necessary technological infrastructure,management techniques such as an annual personnel performance evaluationthat takes into consideration the staff members contribution to knowledgesharing can be of benefit in promoting the sharing and use of knowledge.Financial incentive schemes that reward active and positive participation in theorganizations knowledge management system have also been found useful inpromoting knowledge sharing.Some organizations are beginning to evaluate and reward personnel who shareand use knowledge. One example of this is IBM Lotus Development, whichassigns 25 per cent of the total performance evaluation of its customer supportemployees to knowledge sharing. Another example is Buckman Laboratories,which applauds the work of its top hundred knowledge sharers and honors them

with an annual conference at a resort. Similarly, ABB evaluates some managers

based not only on the impact of their decisions, but also on the information theyuse in the decision-making process.

Information Storage and Retrieval

The third element of knowledge management is information storage andretrieval. The organization should ensure that acquired or shared knowledge isreadily accessible to others. This can be done by storing information in acentralized location with sufficient provisions for easy retrieval.For example, reports, statistical data on economic, social and environmentalareas can be stored in databases while official documents, once approved,should be categorized and stored electronically in suitable file systems. The

documents and information in databases could then be retrieved through theInternet or the organizations intranet websites.There are four main options forstoring the information that are captured or shared.These are: (a) file system storage (local and network directories and folders);(b) databases; (c) e-mail; and (d) websites (intranet and external).In most organizations, the bulk of information is likely to be in relativelyunstructured formats. These can be in the form of typical business or officedocuments such as reports, memos, spreadsheets or emails. These documents

normally contain valuable information but they are not easily searched andfound. For a knowledge management system to be effective, it must provide for

search engines that can deal with such unstructured information. In most cases,


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however, some form of information structuring is necessary in order to facilitatesubsequent information retrieval and use.

Some information may require more than a storage format. For instance, Online

Analytical Processing (OLAP) systems convert data from Online TransactionProcessing (OLTP) into a format more suitable for aggregation and analysis.OLAP operates against this secondary data store rather than the productionsystem.Information organizationIn order to facilitate retrieval, a two-step process has to be implemented: first,

the information should be divided into manageable units; and second, each unitshould be categorized. Before the information is divided into smaller units, thereis need to determine the size, or granularity, of each meaningful unit. The finerthe subdivision or granularity of each unit the more tedious and time consumingthe cataloging effort will be. Let us take, for example, the case of cataloging abook describing how to build a particular machine. There are several questionsthat we need to ask. Shall we consider the entire book as one unit and catalogueit as such. Or, shall we consider as one unit one chapter of the book, or onesection or one paragraph of the book? The larger the unit the more difficult it isto find the exact information one is looking for. In some cases, the manner ofdividing into units presents itself as obvious. One example is an anthology ofshort essays by different authors. It is obvious that it can be divided into severalunits where one unit constitutes one short essay by each author. Some productsimplicitly assume levels of granularity. For instance, Index Server is based onindividual words. On the other hand, databases usually work with fields andrecords as units for searching and retrieval.After the information is divided into smaller units, the units must then becategorized by content type. In order to do this, it is necessary to create a list ofall the content types for the organization. This list may include classificationssuch as proposals, invoices, white papers, and correspondence. Each entry is

then tagged with content attributes, including metadata such as document title,

author, client, and approval status. These predefined categories and attributesconstitute the site vocabulary. Microsoft Site Server has facilities for managingcontent type and attributes.

Information retrievalOnce the repository of information is created and populated, the next step willbe to provide various means for users to have access to the information needed.This involves designing and providing information retrieval pathways. Thesepathways should be designed with the user community in mind and made asuser-friendly as possible. Since users have different levels of technical expertiseand have different purposes for accessing information, multiple access methodswill have to be provided. Each access method should be designed to meet a

specific user level. In this manner both casual and intensive users will beprovided access to the same body of information. Since different users requiredifferent views of the knowledge base, the ability to personalize these views willgreatly increase the ease of use.Personalization taps into user profiles to control what content is offered. Afterthe right to access of the user has been verified, personalization can apply theusers preferences for how and what to present on the page. For example, fromthe same information database, an engineer may be shown the technical

drawing and specifications of a new machine or product that has been enteredinto the system. On the other hand, a marketing specialist may see the

innovative features, the different models and price list of the new product.


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It is also possible for users to specify the language, font or layout they prefer.Portals, such as Microsofts Digital Dashboard, are capable of showingdata from

heterogeneous sources side by side and simplifying navigation by consolidating

views of data. By using integrated search tools, it is possible to reach acrossapplication boundaries to find information. For example, it is possible tointegrate human resources, finance, and time and accounting applications bycataloging their data into a single repository. This system can then allowsearches against database, file system, and web data in a single query. As aresult, a search page can be configured to query multiple repositories at the

same time.There is another form of information retrieval called pushtechnology. In thiscase information retrieval is initiated by the system rather than by a user. In thisform of information retrieval, the users subscribe to areas of interest. They thenreceive updates via e-mail delivery, personalized web pages and personalizedcorporate portals or home pages. For instance, Site Server provides for pushinginformation through Active Channels. The Digital Dashboard also offers pushcapabilities.The consolidation of information from diverse sources can be consolidated usingweb-based knowledge portals. These portals allow the user to reference,collaborate, and interact with information. These ubiquitous web browsers alloweasy access from any location. With these systems, intranets, extranets, andeven Internet knowledge management implementations are possible.

Knowledge DisseminationThe fourth element of knowledge management is knowledge dissemination.Unless knowledge is effectively disseminated, the development impact of

knowledge will remain limited. For knowledge dissemination to be effective it willrequire the transformation of highly individualized tacit knowledge into explicitknowledge that can be more widely shared. In an organization where there isfear of the management or hierarchy, the employee will have a tendency to keep

their knowledge to themselves and share it with others only cautiously. In casessuch as this, management must take the lead in creating an environment ofunderstanding, cooperation and learning. It should also encourage knowledgesharing, even if the positive results of doing so are not readily apparent. Suchresults can best be measured in the long term.Publications, presentations, websites and libraries are the most obvious forms ofdissemination of knowledge. Participation in external networks, establishingpartnerships with other organizations, and creation of knowledge centers are

also effective means to disseminate knowledge. The Asian Development Bank,for example, participates in over 300 networks with professional and otherorganizations throughout the world, which serve as forums for informationexchange and sharing. Through these networks, the Bank is able to disseminatebest practices and lessons learned, among many others.


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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

that IT based tools, for the most part, fall into one of the following categories(adapted from Gupta and Sharma 2005, in Bali et al 2009):

Groupware systems & KM 2.0 The intranet and extranet Data warehousing,data mining, & OLAP Decision Support Systems Content management systems

Document management systems Artificial intelligence tools

Simulation tools Semantic networks

I would like to remind the reader that KM is not a technological discipline; it ismore about managing people, culture, and organizational practices & structures.

Effective KM initiatives are therefore never technology driven, and one shouldnever seek a total KM "solution". In fact, I would caution against any systemthat lays claims to that title. Doing so implies that either the developers have noissue promising far more than they can deliver, or they have no idea what a KMtool can and cannot do. Neither is a good scenario.However, if IT is used right - as a supporting and enhancing mechanism forsound, existing KM practices - it can be a very valuable tool indeed.

Groupware is a term that refers to technology designed to help peoplecollaborate and includes a wide range of applications. Wikipedia defines threehandy categories for groupware:

Communication tools:Tools for sending messages and files, including

email, webpublishing, wikis, filesharing, etc. Conferencing tools:e.g. video/audio conferencing, chat, forums, etc. Collaborative management tools:Tools for managing group activities,

e.g. project management systems, workflow systems, informationmanagement systems, etc.

The best known groupware system is Lotus Notes.If designed and implemented properly, groupware systems are very useful when

it comes to supporting knowledge management (KM). They can greatly facilitateexplicit knowledge sharing through publishing and communication tools. Theycan support the knowledge creation process with collaborative managementtools - although this process is still very much about people interacting andexperimenting. Finally, they have some limited benefit to tacit knowledgetransfer by supporting socialization through tools like video conferencing and

informal communication. Expert finders are also beneficial for facilitating thelocation of tacit sources of knowledge (i.e. the right expert).

Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, & KM 2.0

In recent years, the term web 2.0 has appeared to describe the increasinglypopular tools that promote two way communication on the internet. These socialtools include blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, commenting, shared workspaces,
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micro blogging and polling (Bebensee et al. 2010). They differ from traditionalpublishing in that they put the knowledge sharing power in the hands of the

users themselves (Gurteen, 2012).

The web 2.0 tools that have been applied within organizations have been calledenterprise 2.0 (Bebensee et al., 2010), and even more recently, the mapping ofthese principles to KM has been dubbed KM 2.0 (Gurteen, 2012).It is fair to say that KM 2.0 is very much in its early stages. For this reason, I

will discuss it separately from the very general groupware subsections below.The value of KM 2.0:According to Cronk (2011, p. 84), web 2.0 tools facilitatethe development of social capital through knowledge sharing, which in turnincreases the potential to create intellectual capital. The author defines socialcapital as the total resources existing across social networks. Wright et al.(2010) find that the adoption of social media is not being championed by KM tothe extent that one might expect, representing a missed opportunity.Limitations of KM 2.0:Enterprise & KM 2.0 systems can suffer from the samefailure factors as other KMS (more on this in the sections below). A failureexample is presented by Garcia-Perez & Ayres (2009), who outlined the failureof an enterprise wiki. The study found that time needed to access & contribute tothe wiki as well as the achievement of critical mass (i.e. having an adequateratio of contributors) were failure factors. Furthermore, the authors warn that

just because when asked employees claim that they will share knowledge, thatdoes not actually mean they will do so when the system is implemented.

The intranet is essentially a small-scale version of the internet, operating withsimilar functionality, but existing solely within the firm. Like the internet, the

intranet uses network technologies such as Transmission Control

Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). It allows for the creation of internalnetworks with common internet applications that can allow them tocommunicate with different operating systems (Newell et al 2000).Although it need not be, the intranet is usually linked to the internet, wherebroader searches are implemented. However, outsiders are excluded throughsecurity measures such as firewalls.

The Role of the Intranet

The intranet can be a very useful tool in theknowledge managementprocess. Itallows for the integration of multimedia communication and can act as a

platform for groupware applications and publishing. It is intended to enhancecollaboration, productivity, and socialization, but also to influenceorganizationalcultureand to act as a repository forembedded knowledgeRobertson (2009) identifies seven key roles of the intranet homepage:

1. news2. navigation3. key tools4. key information

5. community and culture6. internal marketing

7. collaboration
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The focus is to provide a useful site that enhances work practices, communicateskey information, provides the right navigation tools, and helps define

organizational culture. Many factors have to be balanced to create the right

homepage, including quality of content, site design, site navigation, site &content maintenance and updates, and the application of tools that are directlyuseful to the business processes and networks. The objectives of the intranet willalso vary depending on the individual business, and may focus more on certainaspects than others.Perhaps the most important function of the intranet isknowledge sharingand

collaboration. The main functions supporting this are (Damsgaard & Scheepers1998 in Newt et al 2000):

Publishing:E,g, homepages, newsletters, documents, employeedirectories.

Searching:The intranet can integrate different search functions, e.g.through a search engine or using a system of categorization.

Transacting:Allows user to make transactions with other web/intranethomepages.

Interacting:Collaborative applications and other groupware, expertfinders, directories, etc.

Recording:It can be used as a storage medium for such elements asprocedures, best practices, and FAQs (embedded andexplicit knowledge).

Successful Intranet Implementation

Naturally, the implementation of the intranet must be done in line withorganizational needs, processes, and objectives, as outlined in the section onimplementation of knowledge management systems.One specific and key concern is the selection of the search engine. Google offersan option for on-site search, which you can read more abouthere.

In his article, "The Ten Best Intranets of 2011", Jakob Nielsen (2011) indicates

that the best intranets implemented solutions in the following areas: Knowledge sharing:This aspect is very similar to what I have discussed

so far on this site and includes the sharing of all manner of explicitknowledge, but also connecting people that require assistance to expertsthat can help them.

Innovation management:By incorporating tools that support therecording and management of new ideas.

Comments:This is an easy way to allow users to contribute with theirinsight. This type of loose, unstructured communication can provide somelimitedtacit knowledgetransfer and can encourage participation.

Ratings:An even quicker, albeit shallower, way for people to point to

good sources ofknowledge. Participation rewards:Point systems, badges, and other symbolic

rewards actually increase participation. Sometimes non-symbolic rewards(i.e. actual prizes) were used.

Customized collections:By allowing users to customize contentcollections, one can bypass the shortcoming of never being fully able topredict a user's knowledge and information needs.

The Extranet
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The extranet is an extension of the intranet to the firm'sexternal network,including partners, suppliers and so on. The term is sometimes used to refer to a

supplementary system working alongside the intranet or to a part of the intranet

that is made available to certain external users.The extranet provides a shared network with limited, controlled access toorganizational information and knowledge resources, and uses securityprotocols, such as authentification, to limit access. An extranet can enhancecollaboration and information transfer with partners in the external network.Security is a key concern, and a firm must protect its crucial knowledge and

information resources. This can be done using firewalls, use of encryption, andsimple or strong authentification. Simple authentification involves usernamesand passwords, while strong authentification makes use of digital certificates.The content of both intranets and extranets is usually managed with a contentmanagement system.

Warehousing data is based on the premise that the quality of a manager'sdecisions is based, at least in part,on the quality of his information. The goal ofstoring data in a centralized system is thus to have the means to provide themwith the right building blocks for sound information and knowledge. Datawarehouses contain information ranging from measurements of performance tocompetitive intelligence (Tanler 1997).Data mining tools and techniques can be used to search stored data for patternsthat might lead to new insights. Furthermore, the data warehouse is usually thedriver of data-driven decision support systems (DSS), discussed in the followingsubsection.Thierauf (1999) describes the process of warehousing data, extraction, anddistribution. First data extraction of operational production data takes place, andthis data is passed on to the warehouse database. A server hosts the datawarehouse and the DSS. This server then passes on the extracted data to the

warehouse database, which is employed by users to extract data through some

form of software.Theirauf's model for data warehousing is as follows:
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Warehousing Data: Design and Implementation

Tanler (1997) identifies three stages in the design and implementation of thedata warehouse. The first stage is largely concerned with identifying the criticalsuccess factors of the enterprise, so as to determine the focus of the systemsapplied to the warehouse. The next step is to identify the information needs ofthe decision makers. This involves the specification of current information lacks

and the stages of the decision-making process (i.e. the time taken to analyzedata and arrive at a decision). Finally, warehousing data should be implementedin a way that ensures that users understand the benefit early on. The size of thedatabase and the complexity of the analytical requirements must be determined.

Deployment issues, such as how users will receive the information, how routinedecisions must be automated, and how users with varying technical skills canaccess the data, must be addressed.According to Frank (2002), the success of the implementation of the datawarehouse depends on:1. Accurately specifying user information needs2. Implementing metadata: Metadata is essentially data about data. This isregarded as a particularly crucial step. Parankusham & Madupu (2006) outlinethe different roles of metadata as including: data characterization and indexing,

the facilitation or restriction of data access, and the determination of the sourceand currency of data. They further identify the lifecycle of metadata as:1. Collection: Identification and capture2. Maintenance: Updating of metadata to match changes in data architecture3. Deployment: Users access the relevant metadata, based on their needs.

To this, we can add the 5 criteria presented on the www.syntelinc.com website:3. Recognize that the job is probably harder than you expect: A large portionof the data in data warehouses is incorrect, missing, or input in such a way that

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it is not usable (e.g. historical databases that have not been updated to modernschemas).

4. Understand the data in your existing systems: Analyze existing databases.

Identify relationships between existing data systems so as to avoidinconsistencies when these are moved to the warehouse.5. Be sure to recognize equivalent entities: Identify equivalent entities inheterogeneous systems, which may appear under a different name.6. Emphasize early wins to build support throughout the organization7. Consider outsourcing your data warehouse development and

maintenance: Implementing a data warehouse can be a huge task that can oftenbe better handled by experts. Many data warehousing applications are suited foroutsourcing.If properly designed and implemented, the goal of warehousing data is todrastically reduce the time required in the decision making process. To do so, itemploys three tools, namely Online Analytical Processing System (OLAP), datamining, and data visualization (Parankusham & Madupu 2006).

OLAP

OLAP allows three functions to be carried out. Query and reporting: Ability to formulate queries without having to use

the database programming language. Multidimensional analysis: The ability to carry out analyses from multiple

perspectives. Tanler (1997) provides an example of a product analysisthat can be then repeated for each market segment. This allows for quickcomparison of data relationships from different areas (e.g. by location,time, etc.). This analysis can include customers, markets, products, andso on,

Statistical analysis: This function attempts to reduce the large quantities

of data into formulas that capture the answer to the query.

OLAP is basically responsible for telling the user what happened to theorganization (Theirauf 1999). It thus enhances understanding reactively, usingsummarization of data and information.

What is Data Mining?

This is another process used to try to create useable knowledge or informationfrom data warehousing. Data mining, unlike statistical analysis, does not startwith a preconceived hypothesis about the data, and the technique is more suitedfor heterogeneous databases and date sets (Bali et al 2009). Karahoca andPonce (2009) describe data mining as "an important tool for the mission critical

applications to minimize, filter, extract or transform large databases or datasetsinto summarized information and exploring hidden patterns inknowledgediscovery(KD)." The knowledge discovery aspect is emphasized by Bali et al(2009), since the management of this new knowledge falls within the KMdiscipline.It is beyond the scope of this site to offer an in-depth look at the data miningprocess. Instead, I will present a very brief overview, and point readers that areinterested in the technical aspects towards free sources of information.

Very briefly, data mining employs a wide range of tools and systems, includingsymbolic methods and statistical analysis. According to Botha et al (2008),

symbolic methods look for pattern primitives by using pattern description
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languages so as to find structure. Statistical methods on the other hand measureand plot important characteristics, which are then divided into classes and

clusters.

Data mining is a very complex process with different process models. One is theCRoss-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (or Crisp-DM). The processinvolves six steps (Maraban et al, in Karahoca & Ponce 2009):Business understanding -> data understanding -> data preparation -> modeling-> evaluation -> deploymentFor more on data mining see the book "Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery in

Real Life Applications", edited by Ponce & Karahoca (2009), available for freefrom intechopen.com where numerous other potentially relevant resources canalso be downloaded.

Data Visualization

This process involves representing data and information graphically so as tobetter communicate its content to the user. It is a way to make data patternsmore visible, more accessible, easier to compare, and easier to communicate.Data visualization includes graphical interfaces, tables, graphs, images, 3Dpresentations, animation, and so on (Turban & Aaronson in Parankusham &Madupu 2006).DSS are other tools used in conjunction with warehousing data. These arediscussed in the following subsection.Alan Frosthttp://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/data-warehousing.html#ixzz3ELME5Qnr

There are several kinds of such systems, however, in this subsection I will lookat only at data-driven decision support systems (from now on referred to solelyas decision support systems). The role of these systems is to access and

manipulate data. They usually work with adata warehouse, use an online

analytical processing system (OLAP), and employ data mining techniques. Thegoal is to enhance decision-making and solve problems by working with themanager rather than replacing him.A decision support system can be a valuable tool. However, in order to be ableto provide the information that each expert would find relevant, the user mustbe involved in the development and the post audit evaluation of the decisionsupport system (Liebowitz 1999). This involvement must span not just thecontent issues, but also the presentation and the organization of theinformation. This is necessary to ensure that the system fulfills the three criteriathat determine its success, namely compatibility, understandability, andeffectiveness (Rouse in Liebowitz 1999).

If these three criteria are met, decision support systems can be invaluable inexpanding the scope of information that each expert can handle. As a result,cognitive limitations become less important in determining the amount of sourcematerial that the expert can use.One advantage and limitation of the decision support system is that it is userdriven. This implies that the system answers queries what the expert inputs, butdoes not carry out further analysis on its own. It is therefore not a form ofartificial intelligence like other decision-making tools.

Knowledge management (KM) is involved in two ways here. Normally the areathat is emphasized is that decision support systems can enhance the manager's

knowledge throughknowledge discoveryand supply of relevant information.
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However, knowledge and KM activities are key components in how the manageruses the system, i.e. the direction of the analysis that he carries out, and the

knowledge that he is looking for. Kiku (2006) emphasizes that a decision support

system must be designed in light of KM. An effective decision support systemthus requires that the organization:

Investigates the decisions made within their firm Compares these decisions with KM activities Evaluates any current decision support system in light of this Modifies said system if necessary

Content management systems are very relevant to knowledge management(KM) since they are responsible for the creation, management, and distributionof content on the intranet, extranet, or a website. Content management is adiscipline in itself, so this section will be relatively brief, only outlining the basicconsiderations.A content management system may have the following functions:

Provide templates for publishing: Making publishing easier and moreconsistent with existing structure/design.

Tag content with metadata: I.e. Allowing the input of data that classifiescontent (e.g. keywords) so that it can be searched for and retrieved.

Make it easy to edit content Version control: Tracking changes to pages and, if necessary, allowing

previous versions to be accessed

Allow for collaborative work on content Integrated document management systems

Workflow management: Allowing for parallel content development Provide extensions and plug-ins for increased functionality Etc.

Content management systems come in different forms (and prices), and anorganization must carefully evaluate what it needs. Tanya Sahu (2007) presentssix general factors for consideration:

Technology:Including dynamic vs static publishing, high loadperformance, security issues, and search engine ranking factors (staticpages rank better).

Ease of use:Most users are non-technical. Therefore, it is important toassess the ease of use of the end user content editing interface, thetemplate-building interface, and the content approval system.

Total cost of ownership:I.e. the costs in the long run, includingmaintenance and applications.

Cross Platform Support and Scalability:Can it handle multipleoperating systems? Can it integrate with other server side technologies?

Web Presence Management:The system should allow for themanagement of different websites separately and securely so as tomanage multiple web presences (e.g. site on the intranet vs site on theextranet).

Solution deployment:How long will it take to move content onto thecontent management system and how hard will the process be?

James Robertson (2003) stresses that the processes that surround the contentmanagement system are of most value to the management of knowledge. Apart

from what has been already discussed, he emphasizes processes such as the


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restructuring and rewriting of content carried out by professional writerssupported by experts. This not only improves the accessibility and presentation,

but also points to content gaps.

As one can see, selection and implementation of a content management systemis something that requires careful consideration. As with all KM related ITsystems, the functionality must be weighed against organizational needs andprocesses as well as expected costs. If properly implemented, the contentmanagement system can be very beneficial to KM, by improving the qualityofexplicit knowledge,and providing limited support totacit knowledgetransfer by

identifying content authors (i.e. experts) and supporting collaborative projects.

Document management systems, as the name implies, are systems that aid inthe publishing, storage, indexing, and retrieval of documents. Although suchsystems deal almost exclusively withexplicit knowledge, the sheer volume ofdocuments that an organization has to deal with makes them useful and in somecases even mandatory. Often they are a part of content management systems.Usually, a document management system will include the following functions:1. Capturing:In order for paper documents to be useable by the documentmanagement system, they must be scanned in. For companies that need tocarry out this process and who have numerous paper documents this may betime consuming and expensive.2. Classification using metadata:Metadata (data about data) is used toidentify the document so that it can be retrieved later. It can include keywords,date, author, etc. The user is often asked to input this metadata or the systemmay extract it from the document. Optical character recognition may be used toidentify text on scanned images.3. Indexing:There are many different forms, and a good indexing system iscrucial. The index function will use metadata.

4. Searching & retrieval:The document management system's search

function is one of its most important elements. Search functions can be more orless sophisticated, allowing for searches by elements of the document'smetadata, or by searching the actual document for key words/phrases and usingsemantic analysis to determine relevance.5. Versioning:Storage and management of different versions of documents- useful for documents that require frequent updating. Allows authorized users toreturn to earlier versions.6. Administration & security:Any IT system needs to be regulated andpoliced. Users require different levels of authorization, with certain moresensitive functions/documents being available only to selecteduser

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