The Knowldege Management System

“The CEO's role in raising a company's corporate IQ is to establish an atmosphere that promotes knowledge sharing and collaboration, to prioritize the areas in which knowledge sharing is most valuable, to provide the digital tools that make knowledge sharing possible, and to reward people for contributing to a full flow of information.”Bill Gates

Knowledge management (KM) system is a phrase that is used to describe the creation of knowledge repositories, improvement of knowledge access and sharing as well as communication through collaboration, enhancing the knowledge environment and managing knowledge as an asset for an organization. Knowledge is something that comes from information processed by using data. It includes experience, values, insights, and contextual information and helps in evaluation and incorporation of new experiences and creation of new knowledge. Knowledge originates from, and is applied by knowledge workers who are involved in a particular job or task. People use their knowledge in making decisions as well as many other actions. In the last few years, many organizations realize they own a vast amount of knowledge and that this knowledge needs to be managed in order to be useful. In organizations, it becomes embedded in documents and repositories, in organizational routines, in processes, practices, and norms. One of the challenges of establishing a KM system is in categorizing knowledge.(1)

Most effective KM systems use a knowledge repository (database) accessed via the corporate intranet where experts are queried, answers are sent to the initiator of the query and stored in a database for future access. The process works like this:

Find Experts Electronically and Using Expert Location Systems

· Expert Location Systems (ELSs): are interactive computerized systems that help employees find and connect with colleagues with expertise required for specific problems---in order to solve specific, critical business problems in seconds.
· ELS process:
o Step 1: Employee submits a question into ELS
o Step 2: System searches database for answer. If not found searches previous documents and communications for an “expert”
o Step 3: Colleague either answers or passes to another colleague who does
o Step 4: Answer is reviewed and stored in the database
· Social Network Analysis (SNA): is a process of mapping a group’s contacts (whether personal or professional) to identify who knows whom and who works with whom. [2]

The following list illustrates communication techniques, applications and modes of invovement:

Synchronous Technique (ST)
• Meeting room • Discussion • Forum
Same Time, Same Place

Asynchronous Technique (AT)
• Bulletin Board System • Notice Board • Agent Based
Different Time, Same Place

Distributed Synchronous Collaboration (DSC)
• Video conferencing
• Tele-conferencing • Chatting
Same Time, Different Place

Distributed Asynchronous Collaboration (DAC)
• E-mail • Short Messaging System • Voice mail • Fax machine • Agent Based
Different Time, Different Place
[3]

Traditional knowledge dissemination is effective, but it is also time consuming. Knowledge Management software uses various strategies to allow users access to the vast store of knowledge available in most companies. This link lists 38 different vendors of KM software http://elibrary.line56.com/olist/Knowledge-Management.html

There are many Knowledge Management products and vendors. The following terms will prove helpful in evaluating options:

· Knoware: technology tools that support knowledge management
o Software Development Companies and Enterprise Information Systems Vendors
o Collaborative Computing Tools
o Knowledge Servers: contains the main knowledge management software, including the knowledge repository, and provides access to other knowledge, information, and data.
o Knowledge Repository: a (server) central location for searching and accessing information from many sources, such as the Internet, corporate intranets, databases, and file systems, thereby enabling the efficient distribution of time-sensitive information.
o Enterprise Knowledge Portals (EKP):
o Electronic Document management (EDM): focus on the document in electronic form as the collaborative focus of work.
o Content Management Systems (CMS): produces dynamic versions of documents, and automatically maintains the “current” set for use at the enterprise level.
o Knowledge Harvesting Tools: Tools for capturing knowledge unobtrusively are helpful since they allow a knowledge contributor to be minimally involved in the knowledge-harvesting efforts.
o Search Engines: perform one of the essential functions of knowledge management----locating and retrieving necessary documents from vast collections accumulated in corporate repositories
o Knowledge Management Suites: complete knowledge management solutions out-of-the-box. They integrate the communications, collaboration, and storage technologies into a single convenient package.
· Consulting Firms
· Knowledge Management Application Service Providers (ASP):


The KM system is an integral part of an effective enterprise information system. It cannot be implemented as an add-on application. The KMS and its activities must be integrated into the firm’s business processes. The real challenge is to integrate data which resides in a variety of systems and formats into the knowledge management system.[4]

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[1]Rusli Abdullah, Mohd Hasan Selamat, Shamsul Sahibudin, Rose Alinda Alias. "A Framework For Knowledge Management System Implementation In Collaborative Environment For Higher Learning Institution." Journal of Knowledge Management Practice (March 2005).

[2] Turban, Leidner, Mclean and Wetherbe. Information Technology for Management . Danvers, Ma.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.

[3] Rusli Abdullah, Mohd Hasan Selamat, Shamsul Sahibudin, Rose Alinda Alias. "A Framework For Knowledge Management System Implementation In Collaborative Environment For Higher Learning Institution." Journal of Knowledge Management Practice (March 2005).


[4] Turban, Leidner, Mclean and Wetherbe. Information Technology for Management . Danvers, Ma.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.

Partner Relationship Management - PRM

The need to maintain good relationships with business partners transcends time and space. Communication should flow between organizations and partners, suppliers and consumers. Until recent history, communication would involve mail, telephone, fax and other less efficient methods. Partner Relationship Management (PRM) is a business strategy that recognizes the need to develop long-term relationships by providing technology based tools that are beneficial to all parties. PRM is built on the principles of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. PRM/CRM solutions (http://www.blueroads.com/webcasts/FOLEADMGMT/br_lead_mgmt_player.html) are web-based software applications that support the critical business processes of order management, supply chain management, customer support, payment and delivery services or various administrative tasks.

PRM facilitates partner relationships through:

Partner programs
*sales strategies support via distribution channel management
*retailer and partner support
*cross sales and loyalty programs

Sales Management & Controlling
*web shops (B2B/B2C)
*multilingual product catalog
*flexible stock keeping, continuously updated price lists and inventory
*cross product promotions, co-branded substores
*quick and easy configuration of country-specific requirements (language, currency, taxes)

Marketing and PR tools
*customer specific marketing strategies, easy and convenient implementation of promotions and ad campaigns
*targeted on-line marketing, detailed customer profile, co-branded substores, online survey combined with lottery
*easy and fast implementation of PR-promotions
*newsletter, press release sending

Order & Supply Chain Management
*electronic data interchange between shop engine and supply chain partners to achieve smooth *data flows between order and delivery
*flexible integration of business partners, (e.g. fulfillment and payment providers, distributors)
individual order process per fulfillment partner[1]

PRM companies seem to agree that PRM is about aligning the goals of disparate companies and making this so financially attractive to partners in the form of leads and other incentives that they never want to leave your company’s sphere of influence.

Kevin McKelvey, ChannelWave’s Senior Alliance Manager, explained that since the beginning of buying and selling, vendors have recruited vast networks of partners. But, he said, as the sheer volume of partners and complexity of the business world have accelerated, a business is now left aching for something like PRM.“There are layers of complexity with their partner channels. In addition, there are layers of complexity within those relationships,” he said. “The tremendous volume of business being driven through channels is itself a driver.”[2]

Another aspect of PRM is Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). The core concepts of CRM are evident in SRM and PRM. The following link to Oracle’s Peoplesoft will illustrate their relationship management software which includes PRM, CRM and SRM functions. http://www.oracle.com/pls/ebn/swf_viewer.load?p_shows_id=5317101&p_referred=0&p_width=800&p_height=600

Collaborative Commerce

Collaborative commerce refers to non-selling/buying transaction between organizations. An example is a company collaborating electronically with a vendor designing a product or part. Retailer-suppliers like Wal-Mart collaborate with major suppliers to design production, perform inventory planning and forcast demand. Product design and manufacturing are often performed on web-based collaborative interorganizational information systems (IOS) which document product changes and requirements all along the supply chain.

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[1] http://www.channel-star.com/solutions/prm-crm

[2]http://saleslobby.com/OnlineMagazine/0900/channelmanagement_jkrist.asp

Business Process Management

The Role of Business Process Management
Have you heard the saying that “you can’t see the forest for the trees?” That is the case in many businesses today. The reality is that increasingly complex products, services and highly automated business operations have come to intervene between the human and the physical task. As a result, operators are separated from the processes they control.
Business leaders today are conditioned to see organizations in terms of its business functions such as Sales, Marketing and Finance. Many executives have specialized knowledge and tend to focus on a narrow field of expertise. Specialization often leads to tunnel vision. Managers have insufficient knowledge about what is happening in other areas of expertise and in the system as a whole. The more removed decision-makers are from front-line activities the greater is the potential danger to the system.

Business Process Management (BPM) represents a way to build structural integrity for the organization. If business functions are dots, then business structure is the connection between the dots. BPM leads to an understanding of the purpose behind business activities by recognizing processes from beginning to end through an analysis of the structure of the organization.

The mechanics of an organization refers to formal processes (operational tempo, time pressures, production quotas, incentive systems, schedules, etc.), procedures (performance standards, objectives, documentation, instructions about procedures, etc.) and oversight within the organization (organizational self-study, risk management, and the establishment and use of safety programs). Each organization should develop business mechanics appropriate to its anticipated outcome. If its business mechanics is misaligned with anticipated outcome, the business system is dysfunctional; for example claiming customer service as priority and demanding outrageous termination fees when customers are dissatisfied with the product or service.

Business Process Management is critical because business mechanics is impartial, just like railroad cars are impartial. The way you lay the tracks is the path the train will follow. Consequently, organizations will grow if BPM aligns the business mechanics with anticipated outcome. On the other hand, organizations will implode when the reality of their anticipated outcome is not aligned with business processes. The key to success of any organization lies in the design, maintenance and execution of its business processes. BPM is one way to ensure success in the implementation of its strategy!