Enterprise Knowledge Management.docx

Enterprise Knowledge Management.docx

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EnterpriseKnowledgeManagement

EnterpriseKnowledgeManagement

Enterprisesfaceincreasinglycompetitiveenvironment.Ascompaniesdownsizetoadapttotheseenvironmentstheymaybeabletocutcosts.Butunlesstheyhavecapturedtheknowledgeoftheiremployees,downsizingcanresultinalossofcriticalinformation.Similarly,astheemployeeturnoverrateescalatesintoday’soverheatedjobmarket,organizationsarelikelytoloseaccesstolargequantitiesofcriticalknowledge.Andascompaniesexpandinternationally,geographicbarrierscanaffectknowledgeexchangeandpreventeasyaccesstoinformation.Theseandotherforcesarepushingenterprisestoexplorebettermethodsforknowledgemanagement.

Canwecreateasystemthatwillcapturecompany-wideknowledgeandmakeitwidelyavailabletoallitsmembers?

Increasingly,organizationslargeandsmallalikeareattemptingtoanswerthisquestionwithknowledgemanagementsystems.Thebusinessworldisbecomingsoconcernedaboutknowledgemanagementthat,accordingtoonereport,over40percentoftheFortune1000nowhaveachiefknowledgeofficer（CKO）,asenior-levelexecutiveresponsibleforcreationaninfrastructureandculturalenvironmentforknowledgesharing.

1.WhatIsKnowledgeManagement?

Enterpriseknowledgemanagemententailsformallymanagingknowledgeresourcesinordertofacilitateaccessandreuseofknowledge,typicallybyusingadvancedinformationtechnology.KMisformalinthatknowledgeisclassifiedandcategorizedaccordingtoaprespecified（butevolving）ontologyintostructuredandsemistructureddataandknowledgebases.TheoverridingpurposeofenterpriseKMistomakeknowledgeaccessibleandreusabletotheenterprise.

Knowledgeresourcesvaryforparticularindustriesandapplications,buttheygenerallyincludemanuals,letters,summariesofresponsestoclients,news,customerinformation,competitorintelligence,andknowledgederivedfromworkprocesses.AwiderangeoftechnologiesarebeingusedtoimplementKMsystem:

e-mail;databasesanddatawarehouses;groupsupportsystems;browsersandsearchengines;intranetsandinternets;expertandknowledge-basedsystems;andintelligentagents.

Inartificialintelligence,knowledgebasesaregeneratedforconsumptionbyso-calledexpertandknowledge-basedsystems,wherecomputersuseruleinferencetoansweruserquestions.Althoughknowledgeacquisitionforcomputerinferencingisstillimportant,mostrecentKMdevelopmentsmakeknowledgeavailablefordirecthumanconsumptionordevelopsoftwarethatprocessesthatknowledge.

Historically,KMhasbeenaimedatasinglegroup—managers—throughwhathasbeengenerallyreferredtoasanexecutiveinformationsystem.AnEIScontainsaportfoliooftoolssuchasdrill-downaccesstodatabases,newssourcealerts,andotherinformation—allaimedatsupportingmanagerialdecisionmaking.Morerecently,however,KMsystemsareincreasinglydesignedforentireorganizations.Ifexecutivesneedaccesstoinformationandknowledge,theiremployeesarealsolikelytohaveaninterestinandneedforthatinformation.Inaddition,KMtechnologyisideallysuitedfornonmanagementgroups—suchascustomersupport,wherecustomerservicerequestsandtheirsolutionscanbecodifiedandenteredintoadatabaseavailabletoallcustomerservicerepresentatives.

2.ImplementingKM

Asorganizationsstoreanincreasingamountofinformationandknowledgeindataandknowledgewarehousesandindataandknowledgebases,theyareattemptiontomanagethatknowledgeinmoreefficientways.Historically,organizationalknowledgehasbeenstoredonpaperandinpeople’sminds.Unfortunately,paperhaslimitedaccessibilityandisdifficulttoupdate.Andwhenpeopleleave,theytakemostoftheirknowledgewiththem,soreuseisnotalwaysfeasible.Thus,firmshavemovedtodataandknowledgewarehousesandtodataandknowledgebasestoimproveaccessibility,updatability,andarchievabilityofdataandknowledge.

2.1Datawarehouses

Inmanycompanies,oneofthefirstKMtoolsisadatawarehouse.Adatawarehouseactsascentralstoragearea—awarehouse—foranorganization’stransactiondata.Datawarehousesdifferfromtraditionaltransactiondatabasesinthattheyaredesignedtosupportdecisionmakingratherthansimplyefficientlycapturingtransactiondata.Typically,datawarehousescontainmultipleyearsoftransactiondatabasesstoredinthesamedatabase.Datawarehousesarenotupdatedonatransaction-by-transactionbasis.Instead,theentiredatabaseisupdatedperiodically.

Thesizeofdatawarehousescanbesubstantial.ChaseManhattanBankhasa560-Gbytedatawarehouse,forexample,andMasterCardOnlineisa1.2-Tbytedatabaseavailabletomembercompaniesforafee.Withallthedataaccessibleinoneplace,relationshipsbetweendataelementscanbemoreeffectivelyexplored.Userscanbrowsethedataorestablishqueries,thoughthistypeofanalysisgenerallyresultsonlyinknowledgeforparticularindividuals.Analternativeapproachistouseaprocesscalledknowledgediscoverytodeterminewhetherthereisadditionalknowledgehiddeninthedata.

2.2Knowledgewarehouses

Ratherthanthekindofquantitativedatatypicalofdatawarehouses,knowledgewarehousesareaimedmoreatqualitativedata.KMsystemsgenerateknowledgefromawiderangeofdatabasesincludingLotusNotesdatabases,datawarehouses,workprocesses,newsarticles,externaldatabases,Webpages（bothinternalandexternal）,andpeople.Thus,knowledgewarehousesarelikelytobevirtualwarehouseswheretheknowledgeisdispersedacrossanumberofservers.

Insomecases,aWebbrowsercanbeusedasaninterfacetoarelationaldatabase.Forexample,FordResearchandDevelopmentusesabrowsableOracledatabase.Thedatabasecontainsmanualsanddesignurles,specifications,andrequirements.Anotherfrequentlyusedcorporateapplicationisahumanresourceknowledgebaseaboutemployeecapabilitiesandskills.Employeeinformationcanincludeeducation,specialties,previousexperience,andotherdescriptors.

Historically,LotusNoteshasprovidedoneoftheprimarytoolsforstoringqualitativeanddocument-basedinformationandforfacilitatingvirtualgroups.WiththerecentexplosionoftheInternet,however,low-costWeb-basedsolutionswithinintranetenvironmentshavebecomethefocusofKM.

2.3Dataandknowledgebases

Knowledgecancomefromtop-downactivity,workprocesses,newsreports,andawiderangeofothersources.Knowledgetypicallycapturedtomeettop-downrequirementsincludesmanuals,directories,andnewsletters.Knowledgebasescapturinginformationgeneratedfromworkprocessesarelikelytoincludeworkingpapers,proposals,andothersimilardocuments.Inaddition,knowledgebasescanbedesignedtoprovidecontinuityandhistoryinactivitieslikecustomersupport.

Lessonslearned.Lessons-learneddatabasescanbeusedtosupportoperationsorgenerateinformationaboutbusinessingeneral.Forexample,theNationalSecurityAgency（NSA）LessonsLearnedknowledgebasecontainsthreetypesoflessons:

informational,successful,andproblem.AninformationallessonmightdescribehowanNSAemployeecouldbemovedtotemporarydutiesincasesofemergencies.Successfullessonscapturepositiveresponsestocrisis.Problemlessonsprovideexamplesofthingsthatwentwrongandpotentialwaystosolvetheproblems.

Similarly,FordMotorCo.haswhatthecompanycallsTGRW-thingsgoneright/wrong-files.TGRcapturesinformationabouteventsthatfacilitatetaskaccomplishment,whileTGWcapturesinformationabouteventsthatstandinthewayoftaskaccomplishment.（Generally,TGRareeasiertogatherthanTGW,particularlyiftheknowledgeisarchived,asfewemployeesareanxioustobeassociatedwiththingsthatwentwrong.）TGRWknowledgebasesarecriticalinestablishingrecordsofeventsthatneedtobeaddressedandmonitoredbyprojectmanagement.

Bestpractices.Best-practicesknowledgebasescaptureknowledgeofthebestprocesses.Typically,best-practicesknowledgebasesaregeneratedusingbenchmarkingactivitiesdesignedtosolicitthemoreeffectiveandefficientwayofdoingthings.Afteranorganizationhasknowledgeofbestpractices,theycanbeincorporated.

Forexample,GeneralMotorsHughesElectronicssupportsa“bestprocessreengineeringdatabase.”Associatedwitheachentryisabriefdescriptionandacontact.Typically,entriesarechangesinprocessesmadethroughouttheorganizationthathaveledtoimprovedprocesses.Makingthemavailableinasingledatabaseincreasesthechancethattheywillbeseenandadoptedelsewhereintheorganization.

Consultingfirmshavebeenamongthefirsttodevelopbest-practicesdatabasestosupporttheirconsultants.PriceWaterhousewasamongthefirstwithKnowledgeview,whichisaLotusNotesbest-practicesdatabasethatallowsmultipleviews—byindustry,process,performancemeasure,andenabler（technology,forexample）;Itisbasedonanontologyembeddedinabusinessmodelthatfocusesonprocessesthatleadtocreationofvalue（forexample,“ProduceProductsandServices”）andsupportprocessareas（forexample,“DevelopandMaintainSystemsandTechnology”）.

Newsreportsprovideameansofformallyintegratingexternalinformationintoanenterprise.Forexample,theprofessionalservicesfirm,KPMG,teamedwithStoryStreetPartnerstoprovideprefiltered,presorted,andpresearcheddataonissuesandcompaniesofinteresttoKPMGemployees.

3.GeneratingKnowledgefromData:

knowledgeDiscovery

Knowledgediscoveryisanewandrapidlyevolvingdisciplinethatusestoolsfromartificialintelligence,mathematics,andstatisticstoteaseknowledgeoutofdatawarehouses.GregoryPiatetsky-Shapi