Knowledge Management Systems
Introduction:
Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) is a useful tool to re-engineer the use and efficiency of information systems in organisations.
However, prior to its implementation, the organisational knowledge limitations must be identified, a KMS solution(s) designed and then consideration of a way forward supported by IT - Moteleb and Woodman (2009). Otherwise, the organisation may end up with an under utilised system or one that is later abandoned due to the lack of belief in the need for KMS.
For the purpose of this article, Albion Fabric Limited (AFL), a fictitious fabric company will be explored by The Eagles group.
Challenge:
Inadequate or non-existent staff training is a current problem facing Albion Fabric Limited (AFL) as an organization. This is due to limited resources in terms of time, staff and finance. Staff are thus ill-equipped to deal effectively with clients or suppliers. Very little knowledge, if any is captured, retained and transferred to other staff. Significant knowledge is also lost during staff turnover.
Resolution:
MacSweeney (2002) suggests that the focus of a knowledge strategy can either be inward or outward. Irrespective of the focus, the strategy should not be Information Technology (IT) driven though IT can support a strategy. He further purports that to have a successful KM strategy; the business community has to be involved from the inception and sponsorship from business executives in essential.
The use of KMS can be introduced to AFL to enable the organization to process information, store and manage knowledge thereby helping to stay afloat and in some cases gain and maintain a competitive advantage - Turban et al (2006)
To this end, the focus should be inwards in AFL and management should look at providing online training for both existing and new staff. This would mitigate against knowledge loss due to staff turnover. Training will help bring the new staff to speed on the processes of the organization and suppliers, which the staff will need to interact with.
Online training is also available to existing staff in areas that require skills update, relevant to their roles. It can also be utilized by the organization to cross train other employees in the areas their colleagues are working in to fill any skills gap should any employee be absent due to sickness or leave.
Knowledge based system can also be an essential tool for staff at Albion. Knowledge captured from experts such as design technologists or designers can be stored in a knowledge based system. This can be implemented utilizing the company’s portal or intranet. A simple search facility can be implemented within the portal that links to repositories such as Microsoft Word and Excel, stored in a file structure such as Windows Explorer. The user logs onto the portal and types in word or title of a document or process and the document is made available to them on the portal.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) made available on the company’s intranet is another solution that may be cost effective and enable Albion staff to save time on finding out about topics that may be vital to the success particular meetings with clients
Outcome:
Employees are more confident in their competence to carry out work effectively and efficiently in their use of scarce resources by the use of knowledge supported by information systems.
The intranet becomes a part of the organizations process. Buyers and garment technologists are educated within Albion about with the use of the internet.
Time is saved trying to locate relevant information and bringing staff up to speed with the organizational processes.
This improves staff morale, which results in a decrease in staff turnover
Reference:
Laudon, K., Laudon, J. (2006). Management Information Systems: Manging the Digital Firm (10th Edition) p434
MacSweeney G., (2002). The Knowledge Management Payback. Insurance and Technology May 6, 2002
Turban E., Leidner D., McLean E, Wetherbe J.,. (2006). Information Technology for Management: Transforming organizations in the Digital Economy (5th Edition) p366
Moteleb A., Woodman M. (2009) “Uncovering a KMSD Approach from Practice”, Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management (eJKM),
Saturday 4 April 2009
KMS in the Organization
Building Knowledge Management (KM) Systems in Organizations
“KM is more of a strategy supported by Information Technology (IT) that can show a quantifiable and sometimes substantial return on investment” (MacSweeney, 2002). Knowledge needs to be at the fingertips of people within an organization i.e. readily available and accessible. Ease of use and availability to internal users is also very important. In addition, the company culture needs to reflect knowledge use either by IT or collaboration.
The use of communities of practice (CoP) may be adopted within a company to enable ‘tacit’ knowledge becoming ‘explicit’. This can be in the form of people meeting weekly to discuss issues common to the organisations goals and objectives. For the CoP to be effective, a Chief Knowledge officer should be appointed to ensure knowledge is captured, stored and disseminated appropriately within the organisation. In addition, staff may be more encouraged and willing to participate in knowledge sharing, if an incentive scheme is in place. For example, a reward scheme of flexible working hours for participants of CoPs or free lunches during meetings.
An example of CoP in an organisation is the Acquisition Community Connection (ACC) of the US Department of Defence (DoD) and administered by Defence Acquisition University (DAU). The Acquisition Technology and Logistic staff are encouraged to share knowledge using CoP, which implements lessons learnt as part of their practice within the CoP. Under this culture of knowledge sharing, the CoP website harbours KM resources such as ‘Acquisition encyclopaedia’, ‘Ask a professor’ etc. Ask a professor serves as a Frequently Asked Questions database, which has a vast number of questions answered as briefly as possible. These questions vary from logistical questions to policy issues. The acquisition encyclopaedia, known as ‘ACQuipedia, a customized Wiki’, provides knowledge access i.e. an encyclopedia to acquisition related topics.
Considering the form of CoP implemented in the DoD, MacSweeney’s (2002) proposes that staff in an organisation and its customers need to be educated with the use of the internet, where products and services are described online, as well as coverage type, liability, background process for rating etc. Applying this concept to AFL (organization for group coursework), the use of the internet for buyers, garment technologists and customers may prove to be a beneficial KM strategy in the organization (MacSweeney, 2002).
Role of IT in Supporting Knowledge Management (KM)
Case Study by Laudon and Laudon (2006) where IT supports KM
Content Management Systems as an IT support for KM: Southern Company is an organization that generates electricity for over 4 million people in the United States of America.
The introduction of documentum system (IT content management system) cut down search time for essential documents and processes to 10 minutes from 2 hours and also increased the success in locating current content to 90% from 50%.
The IT supported knowledge management system also provided better resource availability to Southern Company in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Compared against other organizations, Southern Company were able to copy to disk, critical drawings/plans and other information allowing field based workers using laptops to access information needed, enabling quicker restoration of energy to their users.
Southern Company’s energy restoration to their users was accomplished in one day and twenty hours compared to their competitor’s restoration time that averaged three days and five hours.
The above benefits show how efficient and effective an organization can be if KM is supported by IT. It also demonstrates Southern Company’s competitive advantage of being able to deliver faster than their competitors.
Problems Faced by Southern Company:
Document intensive i.e. piles of documents to go through before identification/locating of required document(s)
Fragmented information in legacy system i.e. multiple legacy systems holding different forms of information
Manual processes: so many paper based forms to fill and manual processes to follow.
Ideal situation:
Reduced paper based documentation
Consolidated information in one accessible system
Automated processes
Results:
Cost reduction: Saving are made in the long-run on man hours regarding searching for information, designs, processes etc.
Reduced processing time: Time to process information, forms and business processes (e.g. energy restoration) is reduced.
Competitive advantage gained through cost and time reduction, increased staff morale, better customer service perception, etc
References:
Laudon, K., Laudon, J. (2006). Management Information Systems: Manging the Digital Firm (10th Edition) p434
MacSweeney G., (2002). The Knowledge Management Payback. Insurance and Technology May 6, 2002
Defense Acquisition University: [accessed on 02/04/2009] https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=170879&lang=en-US
“KM is more of a strategy supported by Information Technology (IT) that can show a quantifiable and sometimes substantial return on investment” (MacSweeney, 2002). Knowledge needs to be at the fingertips of people within an organization i.e. readily available and accessible. Ease of use and availability to internal users is also very important. In addition, the company culture needs to reflect knowledge use either by IT or collaboration.
The use of communities of practice (CoP) may be adopted within a company to enable ‘tacit’ knowledge becoming ‘explicit’. This can be in the form of people meeting weekly to discuss issues common to the organisations goals and objectives. For the CoP to be effective, a Chief Knowledge officer should be appointed to ensure knowledge is captured, stored and disseminated appropriately within the organisation. In addition, staff may be more encouraged and willing to participate in knowledge sharing, if an incentive scheme is in place. For example, a reward scheme of flexible working hours for participants of CoPs or free lunches during meetings.
An example of CoP in an organisation is the Acquisition Community Connection (ACC) of the US Department of Defence (DoD) and administered by Defence Acquisition University (DAU). The Acquisition Technology and Logistic staff are encouraged to share knowledge using CoP, which implements lessons learnt as part of their practice within the CoP. Under this culture of knowledge sharing, the CoP website harbours KM resources such as ‘Acquisition encyclopaedia’, ‘Ask a professor’ etc. Ask a professor serves as a Frequently Asked Questions database, which has a vast number of questions answered as briefly as possible. These questions vary from logistical questions to policy issues. The acquisition encyclopaedia, known as ‘ACQuipedia, a customized Wiki’, provides knowledge access i.e. an encyclopedia to acquisition related topics.
Considering the form of CoP implemented in the DoD, MacSweeney’s (2002) proposes that staff in an organisation and its customers need to be educated with the use of the internet, where products and services are described online, as well as coverage type, liability, background process for rating etc. Applying this concept to AFL (organization for group coursework), the use of the internet for buyers, garment technologists and customers may prove to be a beneficial KM strategy in the organization (MacSweeney, 2002).
Role of IT in Supporting Knowledge Management (KM)
Case Study by Laudon and Laudon (2006) where IT supports KM
Content Management Systems as an IT support for KM: Southern Company is an organization that generates electricity for over 4 million people in the United States of America.
The introduction of documentum system (IT content management system) cut down search time for essential documents and processes to 10 minutes from 2 hours and also increased the success in locating current content to 90% from 50%.
The IT supported knowledge management system also provided better resource availability to Southern Company in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Compared against other organizations, Southern Company were able to copy to disk, critical drawings/plans and other information allowing field based workers using laptops to access information needed, enabling quicker restoration of energy to their users.
Southern Company’s energy restoration to their users was accomplished in one day and twenty hours compared to their competitor’s restoration time that averaged three days and five hours.
The above benefits show how efficient and effective an organization can be if KM is supported by IT. It also demonstrates Southern Company’s competitive advantage of being able to deliver faster than their competitors.
Problems Faced by Southern Company:
Document intensive i.e. piles of documents to go through before identification/locating of required document(s)
Fragmented information in legacy system i.e. multiple legacy systems holding different forms of information
Manual processes: so many paper based forms to fill and manual processes to follow.
Ideal situation:
Reduced paper based documentation
Consolidated information in one accessible system
Automated processes
Results:
Cost reduction: Saving are made in the long-run on man hours regarding searching for information, designs, processes etc.
Reduced processing time: Time to process information, forms and business processes (e.g. energy restoration) is reduced.
Competitive advantage gained through cost and time reduction, increased staff morale, better customer service perception, etc
References:
Laudon, K., Laudon, J. (2006). Management Information Systems: Manging the Digital Firm (10th Edition) p434
MacSweeney G., (2002). The Knowledge Management Payback. Insurance and Technology May 6, 2002
Defense Acquisition University: [accessed on 02/04/2009] https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=170879&lang=en-US
Web 2.0
What is Web 2.0?
The most referenced definition of Web 2.0 is as by Tim O’Riley. In 2005, during a brainstorming session between MediaLive International and O’Riley, the term ‘Web 2.0’ was coined, in which, O’Riley described Web 2.0 network as a platform with a certain rule that the users add value to a web 2.0 application or service; in that, the more people that uses them, the better it becomes. An examples of a Web 2.0 application is a blog or a wiki (Wikipedia), social networking tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
Web 1.0 differs from Web 2.0
While Web 1.0 imparts knowledge to a passive audience by populating a web page or site with static information (e.g. online dictionary or encyclopaedia), Web 2.0 seeks to impart knowledge via a dynamic means, in that the audience is invited to comment on the existing content or indeed add their view to the page(s) (Oberhelman, 2007). As O’Riley (2005) suggests, Web 2.0 uses the web as a platform and the users add value to it.
However, another simple but interesting viewpoint from Oberhelman (2007) is the librarians perspective, where one cannot readily verify the authority of the writer in the Web 2.0 world. Whereas originality and authority can be proven by assessing the work of an author in comparison to other authors of similar articles and or books, the new wave of technology has made it such that any author can be an authority by pressing the edit button to add their information to a blog or wiki, by way or an article or a comment.
Web 2.0 in an Organization
Enterprise 2.0 is the use of Web 2.0 technology in an organization. Moira Levy (2009) likens this to the intranet being the ‘internet adopted within an organization’. Levy (2009) argues that two dimensions of Web 2.0 needs to be satisfied in order to achieve its implementation in an organization; (a) Technology adoption to include implementing a service oriented architecture (SOA) adopting Web 2.0 applications such as wikis and (b) the user orientation to include user adoption of the technology by the organization.
An example of a Web 2.0 application within an organization utilized for knowledge management is given by Oberhelman (2007), in what he calls “wikipediazation of the internet”. Here, peered reviewed articles are the collaborative efforts of a number of contributors. He cited the example of Public Library of Science (PLoS) One International Journal for Scientists. Scientists from various disciplines contribute to peer review and publish their work.
However, to address the growing concerns of librarians as described by Oberhelman (2007) regarding the authority on publications, PLoS One operate their knowledge management supported by Web 2.0, subjecting articles to rigorous peer reviews by experts and practising researchers. They also operate open access, where authors or original work have copyrights but anyone is allowed to reuse, modify or distribute the work as long as the author and source is cited. This facilitates the fast publications of journals, easy access to knowledge of scientist on pioneering issues worldwide and community based dialogue on articles among other benefits. (PLoS One, Unknown).
A further example is where the Department of Defence (DoD) utilises a customised Web 2.0 concept of a Wiki for their acquisition encyclopaedia called ‘Aquipedia’. Aquipedia is said to expand communication through mass collaboration within the organisation via their Community of Practice (CoP). It also provides a common area of knowledge for acquisition information. This encourages knowledge sharing, using Web 2.0 technology.
References:
Defense Acquisition University: [accessed on 02/04/2009] https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=170879&lang=en-US
Levy M., (2009). WEB 2.0 Implications on Knowledge Management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 13(1), pp120-134
Oberhelman D., (2007). Coming to Terms with Web 2.0. Reference Reviews, 21 (7) pp. 5-6
O’Riley T., (2005). Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software accessed online at:http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
PLoS One (unknown) accessed online at: http://www.plosone.org/static/information.action
The most referenced definition of Web 2.0 is as by Tim O’Riley. In 2005, during a brainstorming session between MediaLive International and O’Riley, the term ‘Web 2.0’ was coined, in which, O’Riley described Web 2.0 network as a platform with a certain rule that the users add value to a web 2.0 application or service; in that, the more people that uses them, the better it becomes. An examples of a Web 2.0 application is a blog or a wiki (Wikipedia), social networking tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
Web 1.0 differs from Web 2.0
While Web 1.0 imparts knowledge to a passive audience by populating a web page or site with static information (e.g. online dictionary or encyclopaedia), Web 2.0 seeks to impart knowledge via a dynamic means, in that the audience is invited to comment on the existing content or indeed add their view to the page(s) (Oberhelman, 2007). As O’Riley (2005) suggests, Web 2.0 uses the web as a platform and the users add value to it.
However, another simple but interesting viewpoint from Oberhelman (2007) is the librarians perspective, where one cannot readily verify the authority of the writer in the Web 2.0 world. Whereas originality and authority can be proven by assessing the work of an author in comparison to other authors of similar articles and or books, the new wave of technology has made it such that any author can be an authority by pressing the edit button to add their information to a blog or wiki, by way or an article or a comment.
Web 2.0 in an Organization
Enterprise 2.0 is the use of Web 2.0 technology in an organization. Moira Levy (2009) likens this to the intranet being the ‘internet adopted within an organization’. Levy (2009) argues that two dimensions of Web 2.0 needs to be satisfied in order to achieve its implementation in an organization; (a) Technology adoption to include implementing a service oriented architecture (SOA) adopting Web 2.0 applications such as wikis and (b) the user orientation to include user adoption of the technology by the organization.
An example of a Web 2.0 application within an organization utilized for knowledge management is given by Oberhelman (2007), in what he calls “wikipediazation of the internet”. Here, peered reviewed articles are the collaborative efforts of a number of contributors. He cited the example of Public Library of Science (PLoS) One International Journal for Scientists. Scientists from various disciplines contribute to peer review and publish their work.
However, to address the growing concerns of librarians as described by Oberhelman (2007) regarding the authority on publications, PLoS One operate their knowledge management supported by Web 2.0, subjecting articles to rigorous peer reviews by experts and practising researchers. They also operate open access, where authors or original work have copyrights but anyone is allowed to reuse, modify or distribute the work as long as the author and source is cited. This facilitates the fast publications of journals, easy access to knowledge of scientist on pioneering issues worldwide and community based dialogue on articles among other benefits. (PLoS One, Unknown).
A further example is where the Department of Defence (DoD) utilises a customised Web 2.0 concept of a Wiki for their acquisition encyclopaedia called ‘Aquipedia’. Aquipedia is said to expand communication through mass collaboration within the organisation via their Community of Practice (CoP). It also provides a common area of knowledge for acquisition information. This encourages knowledge sharing, using Web 2.0 technology.
References:
Defense Acquisition University: [accessed on 02/04/2009] https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=170879&lang=en-US
Levy M., (2009). WEB 2.0 Implications on Knowledge Management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 13(1), pp120-134
Oberhelman D., (2007). Coming to Terms with Web 2.0. Reference Reviews, 21 (7) pp. 5-6
O’Riley T., (2005). Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software accessed online at:http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
PLoS One (unknown) accessed online at: http://www.plosone.org/static/information.action
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