KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Knowledge Management In The Organisation

• Emergence of the information economy, - in
which the major source of wealth and prosperity
is the production and distribution of information
and knowledge. Knowledge & information
sectors, e.g. finance, publishing.
• Knowledge-intensive technology is not only vital
to these information intense sectors but also
plays a major role in more traditional sectors such
as the automobile and mining industries.
• In an Information economy, knowledge and core
competencies are key organisational assets.
• Producing unique products or services or producing
them at a lower cost than your competitors is based
on superior knowledge of the production and
superior design.
• Knowing how to do things efficiently in ways that
other organisations cannot is a primary source of
profit.
• Some management theorists believe that these
knowledge assets are as important – if not more
important than physical and financial assets for
ensuring competitiveness and the survival of the firm.
• The process of systematically and actively
managing and leveraging the stores of knowledge
in an organisation is called knowledge
management.
• Information systems play a valuable role in
knowledge management, helping the
organisation to optimize its flow of information
and capture its knowledge base.
 Information Systems And Knowledge Management
• All the major types of information systems described
so far facilitate the flow of information and have
organisational knowledge embedded in them.
• However, office automation systems (OAS),
knowledge work system (KWS), group of
collaboration systems, and artificial intelligence
applications are especially useful for knowledge
management because they focus primarily on
supporting information and knowledge work and
on defining and capturing the organisation’s
knowledge based.
• Office Automation Systems (OAS) help disseminate
and coordinate the flow of information in the
organisation.
• Knowledge work systems (KWS) support activities of
highly skilled knowledge workers and professionals
as they create new knowledge and try to integrate it
into the firm.
• Group collaboration and support systems support
the creation and sharing of knowledge among
people working in groups.
• Artificial intelligence systems provide organisations
and managers with codified knowledge that can be
reused by others in the organisation. KWS
Share Distribute
knowledge knowledge

Office
Automation
Systems
Group •Word Processing
Collaboration •Desktop Publishing
Systems •Imaging
•Groupware •Electronic
•Intranet Calendars
•Desktop databases

Artificial
Knowledge Work
Intelligence
Systems
systems •CAD
•Expert systems
•Virtual reality
•Neural Nets
•Investment
•Fuzzy logic
•Genetic workstations
algorithms

Capture &
Create
Codify
knowledge
knowledge
 Knowledge Work And Productivity
• In information economies, organisational
productivity depends on increasing the
productivity of information and knowledge
workers. Consequently, companies have made
massive investments in information technology to
support Knowledge and Information work.
Office automation and professional work systems
have been the fastest-growing information
systems applications for over a decade.
• Although information technology has increased
productivity in manufacturing, the extent to
which computers have enhanced the productivity
of information workers is under debate
• Productivity changes among information workers
are difficult to measure because of the problems
of identifying suitable units of output for
information work.
• Introduction of information systems technology
doesn’t automatically guarantee productivity.
Desktop computers, email, and fax applications
can actually generate more drafts, memos,
spreadsheets, and messages – increasing
bureaucratic red tape and paperwork.
• Firms are most likely to produce high returns on
information technology investments if they
rethink their procedures, processes, and business
goals.
 Information And Knowledge Work Systems
• Information work is work that consists primarily
of creating or processing information.
– data workers, who primarily create new knowledge
and information;
– knowledge workers, who primarily create new
knowledge and information.
 
 Distributing Knowledge: Office Automation
Systems
• Most data work and a great deal of knowledge
work takes place in offices.
• The office has three basic functions:
– Managing and coordinating the work of data and
knowledge workers
– Connecting the work of local information workers with
all levels and functions of the whole organisations
– Connecting the organisation to the external world,
including customers, suppliers, government regulators
and external auditors
• The major activities of Office workers include the
following:
– Managing documents, including document creation,
storage, retrieval, and dissemination
– Scheduling, for both individuals and groups
– Communicating, including initiating, receiving, and
managing voice, digital and document-based
communications for both individuals and groups
– Managing data, such as on employees, customers, and
vendors records
• Office automation systems can be defined as any
application of information technology that intends to
increase productivity of information workers in the
office.
• Today professional knowledge and information work
remains highly document-centered.
• However, digital image processing – words and
documents - is also at the core of today’s systems, as
are high speed digital communication services.
• Because office work involves many people jointly
engaged in projects, contemporary office automation
systems have powerful group assistance tools like
networked digital calendars.
• An ideal contemporary office automation system
would involve a seamless network of digital machines
linking professionals, clerical and managerial work
groups and running a variety of types of software.
• While word processing and desktop publishing
address the creation and presentation of
documents, they only exacerbate the existing
paper avalanche problem.
• Workflow problems arising from paper handling
are enormous.
• Document imaging systems are systems that
convent documents and images into digital form
so that they can be stored and accessed by the
computer. Such systems store, retrieve and
manipulate a digitized image of a document,
allowing the document itself to be discarded.
• The system must contain
– a scanner that converts the document image into a bit-
mapped image, storing that image as graphic.
– an index server to contain the indexes that will allow
users to identify and retrieve the document when needed
– retrieval equipment, primarily workstations capable of
handling graphics, although printers are usually included.
• To achieve the large productivity gains promised by
imaging technology, organisations must redesign
their workflow.
• Once a document has been stored electronically,
workflow management can change the traditional
methods of working with documents
 Creating Knowledge: Knowledge Work Systems
• Knowledge work is that portion of information work that
creates new knowledge and information.
– creating new products or
– find ways to improve existing ones.
• Knowledge workers perform three key roles that are
critical to the organisation and to managers who work
within the organisation:
– Keeping the organisation up-to-date in knowledge as it develops
in the external world – in technology, science, social thought,
and the arts
– Serving as internal consultants on the areas of their knowledge,
the changes taking place, and the opportunities
– Acting as agents evaluating, initiating and promoting change
projects
• Knowledge workers and data workers have
somewhat different information systems support
needs. Most knowledge workers rely upon office
automation systems such as word processors,
voice-mail, and calendaring systems, but they also
require more specialized knowledge work
systems.
• Knowledge work systems are specifically designed
to promote the creation of new knowledge and
ensure that new knowledge and technical
expertise are properly integrated into the
business.
 Requirements of Knowledge Work Systems
• First, knowledge work systems must give knowledge workers the
specialized tools they need, such as
– powerful graphics,
– analytical tools and
– communications and document management tools.
• These systems require great computing power in order to handle
rapidly the sophisticated graphics or complex calculations
necessary to such knowledge workers as
– scientific researchers,
– product designers, and
– financial analysts.
• Because knowledge workers are so focused on the knowledge in
the external world, these systems must also give the knowledge
worker quick and easy access to external databases.
• A user-friendly interface is very important to a
knowledge worker’s system.
• Knowledge workstations are often designed and
optimized for the specific tasks to be performed
so that a design engineer will require different
workstations than does a lawyer.
– Design engineers need graphics with enough power to
handle three dimensional computer-aided design
(CAD) systems.
– On the other hand, financial analysts are more
interested in having access to a myriad of external
databases so that they can access massive amounts of
financial data very quickly.
 Examples of Knowledge Work Systems
• Major knowledge work applications include
– computer-aided design (CAD) systems,
– virtual reality systems for simulation and modelling, and
– financial work stations.
• Computer-aided design (CAD) automates the creation
and revision of designs, using computers and
sophisticated graphics software.
• Using a CAD,
– designs can easily be tested and changed on the computer.
– there is the ability to provide design specifications for tooling
– and the manufacturing process also saves a great deal of time
and money while producing a manufacturing process with far
fewer problems.
• Virtual reality systems have visualization,
rendering, and simulation capabilities that go far
beyond those of conventional CAD systems.
• They use interactive graphics software to create
computer-generated simulations that are so close
to reality that users believe they are participating
in real-world situations.
• Virtual reality is interactivity in such a way that
the user actually feels immersed in the world that
computers create.
• To enter the virtual world, the user
– dons special clothing,
– headgear, and
– equipment,
depending upon the application.
• The clothing contains sensors that record the user’s
movements and immediately transmit that information
back to the computer.
• For instance, to walk through a virtual reality simulation
of a house, you will need garb that monitors that
movement of your feet, hands, and head. You would
also need goggles that contain video screens and
sometimes audio attachments and feeling gloves so
that you can be immersed in the computer feedback.
• Virtual reality is just starting to provide benefits in
– educational,
– scientific, and
– business work.
• Matsushita Electric Works in Japan has created an
application it calls virtual kitchen.
• Matsushita Electric Works in Japan has put virtual
reality to work in its departmental stores. The
stores sell kitchen appliances and cabinets.
• To promote products Matsushita has created an
application it calls virtual kitchen.

• At General Electric’s Research and development

centre in Schenectady, New York, GE scientists are
working with a group of surgeons from Boston’s
Brigham and women’s hospital to develop a
virtual reality system to be used in surgery.
• One of their stated goals is to be able to
superimpose a 3-D image of the patient onto the
patient and then to operate on the image and the
patient at the same time. The surgeon’s action on
the large virtual image would be duplicated by
computer-controlled instruments on the patient.