KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

. . . . From Concept to Reality

A Presentation by Tim Cope

Chief Information Officer

UNSW

5 May, 2003

Approach

Concept DefinitionConcept Definition Opportunity/Threat Modelling

Value Assessment Framework

• What is this ?• How do we prioritise the

opportunities

• How do we deal with potential dis-continuities (threats)

• How do we assess the value

Focus of today’s presentation

CONCEPT DEFINITION

Knowledge Management Is Not A New Concept!

• 1959 – Peter F. Drucker The knowledge worker

• 1966 – Michael Polyani Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

• 1989 - Karl Erik Sveiby The “Invisible Balance Sheet”

• 1991 - Skandia First corporate appointment of VP for IP

• 1995/6 First Business Conferences Building awareness of KM

• 1998 – World Bank Chooses KM as topic for annual world development report

So What Is Knowledge Management?

New processes specific to the management of knowledge

Organisational structures that create accountability for KM

Applications that support KM processes

Enabling technologies

A proposition that responsiveness and innovation can be improved through the leveraging of collective wisdom and experience

…..this proposition is supported by:

It requires an integrated approach to identifying, managing, and (most importantly) sharing the information assets of the enterprise

Information Management Versus Knowledge Management

Source: Gartner Research

How IP will managed and leveraged.

Develop a culture of trust, autonomy, collaboration, and innovation

Make KM part of the normal workflow and functions of the worker

How and why to use information and resources, and enable that knowledge to be more responsive and innovative

Engage individuals and communities, to flatten organisational structures and simplify communication paths

Knowledge Management Processes

Metadata Discover

Enrichment

LanguageTranslation

Internet

Intranet

CorporateDatabases

PortalCategories

Discover

Auto-Notify

ContentGathering

Context/Use

Group Memory

FindAuto-Notify

Team CollaborationSecurity Nortel

Publishing

DocumentManagement

Version ControlRecords Management

SecurityFormat Conversion

Other UniversitiesOther Universities

ResearchGroupsResearchGroups

Work GroupsWork Groups

CollaborationSpacesCollaborationSpaces

The Knowledge Value Chain

We must recognise that there is a value chain for “Knowledge” in just the same way that Michael Porter (1985) proposed that business functions be organised in terms of the value added to customers.

CreationCreationPreservationPreservationIntegrationIntegration TransmissionTransmission ApplicationApplication

Within the value chain, business processes and KM processes interweave and at the touch points, create the “Points of Confluence” that require integration of KM practices

It can be argued that part of the societal role of a university is to nurture and protect this value chain

Mapping to the Points of Confluence

Which KM processes are active at the points of confluence in the Knowledge Value Chain and what are we looking for ?

PreservationIntegration Transmission Application Creation

Catalogue & Store Publish

Discovery

Locate & Retrieve

• 24x7 Secure Storage• Data Warehouses• Document Management• Digital Archiving

• Netcasting• Portals• Low barriers to access

• Information Request Brokers• Search Engines• Content extraction• Intelligent Agents• Query Tools• Collaboration Space

• Neural Networks• Visualisation• Case-based Reasoning• Rule-based Systems

• Meta-data standards• Semantic models

Business Processes

Business Processes

Business Processes

Business Processes

Business Processes

A Conceptual Architecture is Required to Position Technologies Relevant to KM and Provide a Context For

Selection

Knowledge Portal

Discovery Services Collaboration Services

Knowledge map

Knowledge Repository

E-mail, file servers, Internet / intranet services

WP

Interface

Knowledge Management servicesTaxonomy

Information and process management Infrastructure

Information and Knowledge Sources

Email

World Wide Web People

CorporateDatabases

Collaboration Services

Discovery services

Knowledge Map

Knowledge Repository

supports knowledge sharing helps users to retrieve and analyse the information in the corporate memoryprovides a corporate schema for knowledge classificationsprovides the information management functions for captured knowledge

VALUE ASSESSMENT

Commercial Organisations and Knowledge Management

1. Improvement in operating efficiency of business processes which benefit from having access to superior information at the point of need e.g customer-facing and marketing processes, product development etc

2. A knowledge-empowered organisation

3. A way of addressing concerns over the loss of corporate memory arising from the increasing mobility of labour

Exploring value of KM from 3 perspectives:

“If we only knew half of what we know, we would be twice as profitable”

Carla Fiorini, CEO Hewlett Packard Corp

Find Information More Quickly

Make Better Decisions Faster

Gain Insight

Reuse Work and Ideas

Create

Ease Access to People

Increase Span of Experts

Learning Organization

Increase Collaboration

Increase Synergy

Learning Organization With an Attitude

Work Enrichment

Increase Operational Effectiveness

Shrink Delivery Times

Increase Rate of Innovation

Increase Competitive Positioning

Shrink Response Time

SupportStrategicDirection

Job Effectiveness

EnterpriseEffectiveness

Non-Traditional BenefitsKnowledge Share/Leverage

Traditional BenefitsKnowledge Sharing +

Value Maxim

isation

Commercial Organisations Investing in KM Are Expecting a Return

But are also interested in preserving “Invisible Equity”

1.99

8.95

1.98

3.58

5.38

3.12

Assets Finance

CurrentAssets

Non-CurrentAssets

CurrentLiabilities

Non CurrentLiabilities

VisibleShareholderEquity

InvisibleEquity

10.93

• The “Invisible Balance Sheet”• Management Value-Add

Market Value $14.05 Billion

This illustration was developed using data taken from the CWO Balance Sheet of 31 March 2001

Universities and Knowledge Management

1. Improving the velocity of information

2. Increasing the impact of research (freedom of access)

3. Long-term curatorship

Similar drivers towards business performance, but the real value lies in enhanced research outcomes.

The collaborative efforts of universities towards Knowledge Management are likely to provide an ‘accelerator’ effect for research in each participating institution.

This, dis-intermediation of the current publishing business model, is something that will need to be carefully considered.

Universities and Knowledge Management…….continued

Relevance to the core mission:

Protection of the Knowledge Value Chain can be directly related to the core mission of universities and the role they play in society.

Loosening of the traditional bonds between faculty, students and institution brought about by the impact of Information Technology, may require even greater emphasis on the management of knowledge

For a university, the benefits Are Expressed through Indicators of Research Performance

Impact of

KM

Area Indicator H M L

Grant Participation Index, 1993 to 2001

Grant Participation Index by faculty, 1999 to 2001

Postgraduate supervision ratio by year, 1993 to 2002

Research participation

Postgraduate supervision ratio by faculty, 2000 to 2002

Weighted and unweighted publications, 1997 to 2001

Unweighted publications by faculty, 1999 to 2001

Weighted and unweighted publications by faculty, 2001

Publications rate, 1997 to 2001

Publications output

Publications rate by faculty, 2000 to 2001

So What’s Next?

• Identification of high-value business processes – student-facing, marketing, library, teaching and research

• Systematic, and detailed analysis of the “Points of Confluence”

• Benefits modelling

• Formalisation of architectures within which key work practices technology decisions and standards will be made

• Prototypical approach to deployment, given some technology life-cycles

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

. . . . From Concept to Reality

The End – Thank You

QUESTIONS?