1. Chapter 15 Knowledge Sharing Systems:
Systems that Organize and Distribute Knowledge
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

2. Chapter Objectives
To explain how knowledge sharing systems help users share their knowledge, both tacit and explicit:
For tacit knowledge – systems utilized by communities of practice, particularly those that meet virtually
For explicit knowledge - knowledge repositories
To present the different types of knowledge repositories
To demonstrate how sharing systems serve to organize and distribute organizational and individual knowledge
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

3. Corporate Memory
Corporate Memory (also known as an organizational memory) is made up of the aggregate intellectual assets of an organization.
It is the combination of both explicit and tacit knowledge.
The loss of Corporate Memory often results from a lack of appropriate technologies for the organization and exchange of documents.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

4. What are Knowledge Sharing Systems
Systems that enable members of an organization to acquire tacit and explicit knowledge from each other.
WWW is the main medium for knowledge sharing
Knowledge markets that must attract a critical volume of knowledge seekers and knowledge owners in order to be effective as just other businesses do.

5. Knowledge Sharing ... Knowledge owners Knowledge seekers should also
want to share their knowledge with a controllable and trusted group,
decide when to share and the conditions for sharing, and
seek a fair exchange, or reward, for sharing their knowledge.
Knowledge seekers should also
not be aware of all the possibilities for sharing, thus the knowledge repository will typically help them through searching and ranking, and
want to decide on the conditions for knowledge acquisition

6. KS system ...
Frequently mentioned system is document management system.
Has repository as its core module that affords multiple access points.
The document management system essentially stores information.
The repository can be centralized or it can be distributed.
Builds upon the repository by adding support to the classification and organization of information,
Unifies storage and retrieval of documents over a platform-independent system.

7. Case Knowledge sharing system -- Ernst & Young Org.
Its knowledge sharing systems
Has a collection of 22 standardized computer-mediated tools
Its KM infrastructure, KnowledgeWeb (KWeb), is home to more than 4,600 databases and Web sites that provide employees with access to internal and external resources including business, knowledge, intelligence, global news, and information.
strong sociotechnical support system to help people effectively engage with these tools in practice.
Has Knowledge centres in 10 countries supported by over 400 staff support employees.

8. Requirements for the Success of a Knowledge Sharing System
Collection and systematic organization of information from various sources.
Minimization of up-front knowledge engineering.
Exploiting user feedback for maintenance and evolution.
Integration into existing environment.
Active presentation of relevant information.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

9. Barriers to the use of Knowledge Sharing Systems
Many organizations, specifically science and engineering-oriented firms, are characterized by a culture known as the ‘not-invented-here syndrome’.
Organizations suffering from this syndrome tend to essentially reward employees for ‘inventing’ new solutions, rather than re-using solutions developed within and outside the organization.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

10. Specific Types of Knowledge Sharing Systems
Knowledge sharing systems are classified according to their attributes
1.  Incident report databases
2.  Alert systems
3.  Best practices databases
4.  Lessons-learned systems
5. Expertise locator systems
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

11. Types of Knowledge Repositories
Sharing
System
Originates from experiences?
Describes a complete process?
Describes failures?
Describes successes?
Orientation
Incident Reports
Yes No
Organization
Alerts
Industry
Lessons Learned System
Best Practices Databases
Possibly
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

12. Lesson Learned Process
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

13. Purpose of LLS - to Support Organizational Processes
Collect the lessons:
Passive, Reactive, After-Action Collection, Proactive Collection, Active Collection, Interactive Collection
Verify the lessons
Store the Lesson
Disseminate the Lesson:
Passive dissemination, Active casting, Broadcasting, Active dissemination, Proactive dissemination, Reactive dissemination
Apply the Lesson:
Browsable, Executable, Outcome reuse
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

14. Expertise-Locator Knowledge Sharing Systems
Goal: to catalog knowledge competencies, including information not typically captured by human resources systems, in a way that could later be queried across the organization to help locate intellectual capital.
Significant challenge in the development of ELS, knowledge repositories, and digital libraries, deals with the accurate development of knowledge taxonomies.
Taxonomies, also called classification or categorization schemes, are considered to be knowledge organization systems that serve to group objects together based on a particular characteristic.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

15. Characteristics of Expertise-Locator Systems
ELS Name
CONNEX (HP)
KSMS (NSA)
SPuD (Microsoft)
Purpose of the system
To share knowledge, for consulting and to search for experts
To staff projects and match positions with skills
To compile the knowledge and competency of each employee
Self-Assessment
Yes
Yes, supervisors also participate in data gathering
No, supervisors rate employee's performance
Participation
Only those who are willing to share
Whole personnel
Whole personnel in the IT group
Knowledge Taxonomy
US Library of Congress
INSPEC Index
Own
Department of Labor (O*NET)
Levels of Competencies No
Data Maintenance
User (nagging)
User and Supervisor
Supervisor
Company Culture
Sharing, Open
Technology, Expertise
Technology, Open
Platform
HP-9000 Unix
Sybase
Verity
OS/2, VMS, and Programming Bourne shell.
SQL
MS Access
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

16. Case Study - SAGE
The purpose of Searchable Answer Generating Environment (SAGE) is to create a searchable repository of university experts in the State of Florida.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

17. SAGE Architecture
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

18. Technologies to Implement SAGE
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

19. Case Study – Expert Seeker
Expert Seeker is an organizational expertise-locator KMS used to locate experts at NASA.
The main difference between Expert Seeker and SAGE is that the former searches for expertise at NASA (KSC and GSFC), while the latter is on the Web and seeks expertise at various universities.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

20. Expert Seeker Architecture
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

21. KM Systems to Share Tacit Knowledge
To create a cultural environment that encourages the sharing of knowledge, some organizations are creating knowledge communities.
A community of practice is an organic and self-organized group of individuals who are dispersed geographically or organizationally but communicate regularly to discuss issues of mutual.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

22. Conclusions In this chapter you learned:
What are knowledge sharing systems
Design considerations for knowledge sharing systems
Specific types of such systems: lessons learned systems, knowledge repositories, and expertise locator systems
Case studies of ELS:
SAGE Expert Finder, to locate experts in Florida.
Expert Seeker, to identify experts at NASA.
Communities of practice are important to share tacit knowledge.
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall

23. Chapter 15 Knowledge Sharing Systems:
Systems that Organize and Distribute Knowledge
Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall