KM tools available on the market today and to understand their role in the KM process

The scope of this section is to provide the reader with an overview of the types of KM tools available on the market today and to gain an understanding of what their role is in the KM process. This is the most important step, since there are literally thousands of options to choose from.

IT based tools fall into one of the following categories 

  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

Groupware Systems & KM 2.0

Groupware is a term that refers to technology designed to help people collaborate and includes a wide range of applications. Wikipedia defines three handy 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, information management systems, etc.

The best known groupware system is Lotus Notes.

Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, & KM 2.0

In recent years, the term web 2.0 has appeared to describe the increasingly popular tools that promote two way communication on the internet. These social tools include blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, commenting, shared workspaces, micro blogging and polling (Bebensee et al. 2010). They differ from traditional publishing 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 called enterprise 2.0 (Bebensee et al., 2010), and even more recently, the mapping of these 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 “facilitate the development of social capital through knowledge sharing, which in turn increases the potential to create intellectual capital.” The author defines social capital 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 to the extent that one might expect, representing a missed opportunity.

Limitations of KM 2.0: Enterprise & KM 2.0 systems can suffer from the same failure factors as other KMS (more on this in the sections below). A failure example is presented by Garcia-Perez & Ayres (2009), who outlined the failure of an enterprise wiki. The study found that time needed to access & contribute to the wiki as well as the achievement of critical mass (i.e. having an adequate ratio of contributors) were failure factors. Furthermore, the authors warn that just because when asked employees claim that they will share knowledge, that does not actually mean they will do so when the system is implemented.

The Intranet & Extranet

The intranet is essentially a small-scale version of the internet, operating with similar 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 internal networks with common internet applications that can allow them to communicate with different operating systems (Newell et al 2000).

Although it need not be, the intranet is usually linked to the internet, where broader searches are implemented. However, outsiders are excluded through security measures such as firewalls.

The Role of the Intranet

The intranet can be a very useful tool in the knowledge management process. It allows for the integration of multimedia communication and can act as a platform for groupware applications and publishing. It is intended to enhance collaboration, productivity, and socialization, but also to influence organizational culture and to act as a repository for embedded knowledge.

  news

  navigation

  key tools

  key information

  community and culture

  internal marketing

  collaboration

The Extranet

The extranet is an extension of the intranet to the firm's external 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 to organizational information and knowledge resources, and uses security protocols, such as authentification, to limit access. An extranet can enhance collaboration and information transfer with partners in the external network.

Warehousing Data: The Data Warehouse, Data Mining, and OLAP

Warehousing Data

Tanler (1997) identifies three stages in the design and implementation of the data warehouse. The first stage is largely concerned with identifying the critical success factors of the enterprise, so as to determine the focus of the systems applied to the warehouse. The next step is to identify the information needs of the decision makers. This involves the specification of current information lacks and the stages of the decision-making process (i.e. the time taken to analyze data and arrive at a decision). Finally, warehousing data should be implemented in a way that ensures that users understand the benefit early on. The size of the database and the complexity of the analytical requirements must be determined. Deployment issues, such as how users will receive the information, how routine decisions must be automated, and how users with varying technical skills can access the data, must be addressed.

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 analysis that can be then repeated for each market segment. This allows for quick comparison of data relationships from different areas (e.g. by location, time, etc.). This analysis can include customers, markets, products, and so 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 the organization (Theirauf 1999). It thus enhances understanding reactively, using summarization of data and information.

What is Data Mining?

This is another process used to try to create useable knowledge or information from data warehousing. Data mining, unlike statistical analysis, does not start with a preconceived hypothesis about the data, and the technique is more suited for heterogeneous databases and date sets (Bali et al 2009). Karahoca and Ponce (2009) describe data mining as "an important tool for the mission critical applications to minimize, filter, extract or transform large databases or datasets into summarized information and exploring hidden patterns in knowledge discovery (KD)." The knowledge discovery aspect is emphasized by Bali et al (2009), since the management of this new knowledge falls within the KM discipline.

Decision Support Systems

The role of these systems is to access and manipulate data. They usually work with a data warehouse, use an online analytical processing system (OLAP), and employ data mining techniques. The goal is to enhance decision-making and solve problems by working with the manager rather than replacing him.

Content Management Systems

Content management systems are very relevant to knowledge management (KM) since they are responsible for the creation, management, and distribution of content on the intranet, extranet, or a website.
A content management system may have the following functions:

• Provide templates for publishing: Making publishing easier and more consistent with existing structure/design.
• Tag content with metadata: I.e. Allowing the input of data that classifies content (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

Document Management Systems

Document management systems, as the name implies, are systems that aid in the publishing, storage, indexing, and retrieval of documents. Although such systems deal almost exclusively with explicit knowledge, the sheer volume of documents that an organization has to deal with makes them useful and in some cases even mandatory.
Usually, a document management system will include the following functions:

1.      Capturing:

2.      Classification using metadata

3.      Indexing

4.      Searching & retrieval

5.      Versioning

6.      Administration & security


BY ANSHU PANWAR