Information

Management & Strategic

Decision Taking
Module 7:
Knowledge Management Systems

1
What is a Balanced Scorecard
 Concept of Knowledge

• Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as the new

strategic essential of organizations.
• The knowledge own to it self to maintain an advantage.
• Knowledge for employees is an asset for organization.
• New Paradigm
• Knowledge must be shared within employees in order for it
to grow.
• Knowledge shared among employees and it s management
grows stronger makes the organization to be comer more
competitive.
 Understanding Knowledge

• In order to understand knowledge management you to

understand the concept of knowledge.

• What is knowledge?

• How it different from information.

• How information different from data

 Understanding Knowledge

• Data:
– Is number or word or letter
without any context For
example, numbers like 5 or
100, without any context,
are plain data.
– A plain collection of data is
not information
– Data must have relation in
order to be come
information.

• Information:
– Is data converted into
meanful meaning
 Knowledge Management

• Explicit Knowledge
– Data, documents, and things written down or stored in
computers
• Employee handbook

• Tacit Knowledge
– The “how-to” knowledge in workers’ minds
– Most important information

• Successful knowledge management

– Rewards sharing
– Makes better use of knowledge
Knowledge Management Techniques
 Types of Knowledge
• There are two types of knowledge:
– Tacit knowledge
• 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 in
facilities, products, processes, services and systems.
 Tacit knowledge

• Tacit knowledge is personal. It is stored in the heads of people.

• It is accumulated through study and experience.
• It is developed through the process of interaction with other people.
• Tacit knowledge grows through the practice of trial and error and the experience of
success and failure.
• The sharing of tacit knowledge is a great challenge to many organizations.
• Tacit knowledge can be shared and communicated through various activities and
mechanisms.
• Activities include conversations, workshops, on-the-job training and the like.
• Mechanisms include, among others, the use of information technology tools such as
email, groupware, instant messaging and related technologies.
 Explicit Knowledge

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

websites, emails and the like.

• It is knowledge that can be gladly made available to others and

transmitted or shared in the form of systematic and formal languages.

• Explicit knowledge consist of 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 the
like.
 What is KM: Defining Knowledge Management
• knowledge management is the conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit
knowledge and sharing it within the organization.

• Putting it more technically and accurately, knowledge management is the process

through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge
based assets.
• Another Definition of KM
Defined in other manner, it becomes apparent that knowledge
management is concerned with the process of identifying, acquiring,
distributing and maintaining knowledge that is essential to the
organization.
 Aspects of Knowledge Management

• There are two main aspects of knowledge Management:

– Information Management
– People Management

1. Information Management
– The practice of information management developed was an important corporate resource, managed to
improve the company’s competitiveness.
– SDLC steps –info Analysis- info planning..
– KMDLC- knowledge Analysis- knowledge planning.

2. People Management
– Basically, this involves the management of tacit knowledge that resides inside the heads of people.

– In order to effectively manage the people that possess the desired tacit knowledge, it is essential to take
into consideration their cultural and social values, attitudes and aspirations, and likes and dislikes.

– If this can be done successfully, it can lead to the creation of new knowledge that otherwise cannot be
accomplished by information management alone.
• KM can enhance the impact of other initiatives of the organization such as
total quality management, business process re-engineering, and
organizational learning.

• Pillars of Knowledge Management

– In order to more fully define and understand knowledge management, it is useful to
consider knowledge management as having four pillars:

1. Management and organization

2. Infrastructure

3. People and culture

4. Content management systems

 How and what technology to
Why do we have to manage knowledge? manage knowledge?
 Elements of Knowledge Management:
The 4 Elements of KM
• A complete knowledge management system must contain four
elements.
– These are:
1. knowledge creation and capture.

2. knowledge sharing and enrichment,

3. information storage and retrieval.

4. knowledge dissemination.
 1. 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

organization since the very interaction among people generates
knowledge.

– One of the primary aims of knowledge management is to capture the

knowledge that is produced during such interactions.
 2. Knowledge Sharing and Enrichment

• This element is probably the most crucial among the four.

• It is during the process of sharing that knowledge is usually refined and

enriched.

• Knowledge can be shared by the organization with its employees.

(e.g., through memos and instructions) and sharing of knowledge can occur
between employees of the organization (e.g., through group discussions and
internal meetings) as well as with people outside of the organization
(e.g., through attending seminars and workshops).
 3. Information Storage and Retrieval

• The organization should ensure that acquired or shared

knowledge is readily accessible to others.

• This can be done by storing information in a centralized location with

sufficient provisions for easy retrieval.
– Report
– Statistical data on economics
 4. Knowledge Dissemination

• Unless knowledge is effectively disseminated, the development impact of

knowledge will remain limited.

– For knowledge dissemination to be effective it will require the transformation

of highly individualized tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge that can be
more widely shared.

– Publications, presentations, websites and libraries are the most

obvious forms of dissemination of knowledge.
 Knowledge Management Tools:

• Tools for knowledge Management solutions.

• There are a great variety of knowledge management tools available in the

market comprising many different features that are suitable for a number
of different applications.

• Some of the typical tools that are used in knowledge management

solutions will be discussed here.

• These include:
– document management system
– enterprise portal
– Knowledge map and skills management
– information database and lessons learned system
– collaboration tool
– communities of practice.
 Document Management

• Documents are the most common repository of information

and knowledge in any organization.

– Documents are produced for almost everything:

a project proposal, a contract or agreement, a technical report, a
scientific paper, and others.
 Enterprise Portal

• Portals can be defined as single points of access that provide

easy and timely access to knowledge.

• Portals are important tools for knowledge management since

they make it easier to share knowledge in an organization.

• through this portal, users can contribute information to the

corporate pool of knowledge, access information, and
collaborate with other experts and their peers.
 Knowledge Map and Skills Management

• Knowledge management tools deal not only with documents

but, also, with information about living experts who provide
advice and share their expertise with colleagues.

• In an organization where people are the most important

assets, managing their skills, capabilities, interests and
experience is critical.

• A skills management system is a web-based tool that supports

this in a distributed way, spreading the workload over the
whole organization.
 Information Database and Lessons Learned

• In each organization people learn everyday and improve their

work constantly based on the experiences gained.

• The Lessons Learned knowledge base forms the memory of

the company.

• At the same time the Lessons Learned system supports the

process of capturing and diffusing the knowledge.
 Collaboration Tool

• collaboration is one of the most important aspects of knowledge

management tools.

• Collaboration resembles a large meeting room in which colleagues work

together, even over long distances or at different times of day.

• They share opinions, calendars and projects.

• A collaborative environment enables people to work in secure online

workspaces, in which they use e-mail, Internet web browser and desktop
applications in order to share knowledge, build closer organizational
relationships and streamline work processes.
 Communities of Practice

• Communities of practice are described extensively in the

previous chapter as an excellent means to share knowledge
among people who have common interest.

• The fact that communities of practice can be viewed as an

important enabler for the sharing and enrichment of
knowledge as well as a useful tool for the implementation of a
knowledge management system lends credence to the claim
of many knowledge management practitioners regarding its
great importance.
 Implementation of KM

• Knowledge management is based on the fundamental

concept that one of the most valuable assets of an
organization is the experience and expertise that reside in the
heads of its officers, managers and employees.

• A knowledge management system in an organization may

generally involve five different stages:
– Stage 1: Supporter and learn
– Stage 2: Develop strategy
– Stage 3: Design and launch KM plan
– Stage 4: Expand and support plan
– Stage 5: Institutionalize knowledge management
 Supporter and learn

• The first stage in the development of a knowledge

management system comprises the following elements:

– Introducing knowledge management

– Identifying the KM team and focal points

– Learning about the experiences of other organizations

– Identifying Supporter of knowledge management

– Promoting wide-ranging support to the KM Plan.

Artificial Intelligence and Business
Watson
Components of an Expert System

31
 EXPERT
Knowledge Engineer

In this case, doctors are the

experts in the medical fields
Knowledge Base

Experts pass on the

information for knowledge
engineers in order to build
the knowledge base.

Information in the knowledge base is used

by the inference engine to make a decision
 illion
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 Innovative and Emerging Technologies

• Self-Service Portals
– Enhance existing Public
Information Display
Kiosks to provide:
– Patient Self-Service
Portals
– Employee Self-
Service Portals
– Securely make available
these Portals on the
Internet
 Innovative and Emerging Technologies

• RFID and RTLS

– Radio-frequency
identification
and (RFID) and
Real-time
location systems
(RTLS) can
operate across
the hospital
WLAN to offer
state-of-the-art
tracking systems
 Understand HCI & Ergonomics

Effectiveness Satisfaction

Usability

Efficiency