KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

1
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
. . . . From Concept to Reality
A Presentation by Tim Cope Chief Information
Officer UNSW 5 May, 2003
2
Approach
Concept Definition
Value Assessment Framework
Opportunity/Threat Modelling

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

• What is this ?

• How do we assess the value

Focus of todays presentation
3
CONCEPT DEFINITION
4
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

5
So What Is Knowledge Management?
A proposition that responsiveness and innovation
can be improved through the leveraging of
collective wisdom and experience ..this
proposition is supported by

• New processes specific to the management of
  knowledge
• Organisational structures that create
  accountability for KM
• Applications that support KM processes
• Enabling technologies

It requires an integrated approach to
identifying, managing, and (most importantly)
sharing the information assets of the enterprise
6
Information Management Versus Knowledge Management
Develop a culture of trust, autonomy,
collaboration, and innovation
How IP will managed and leveraged.
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
7
Knowledge Management Processes
8
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.
Creation
Preservation
Integration
Transmission
Application

• 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
9
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 ?
Preservation
Integration
Transmission
Application
Creation
Business Processes
Business Processes
Business Processes
Business Processes
Business Processes
Catalogue Store
Publish
Locate Retrieve
Discovery

• Netcasting
• Portals
• Low barriers to access

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

• Meta-data standards
• Semantic models

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

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

10
A Conceptual Architecture is Required to Position
Technologies Relevant to KM and Provide a Context
For Selection
Knowledge Portal
Interface
Knowledge Management services
Discovery Services
Collaboration Services
Taxonomy
Knowledge map
Information and process management
Knowledge Repository
Infrastructure
E-mail, file servers, Internet / intranet
services
Information and Knowledge Sources
WP
Email
World Wide Web
Corporate Databases
People
Collaboration Services Discovery
services Knowledge Map Knowledge Repository
supports knowledge sharing helps users to
retrieve and analyse the information in the
corporate memory provides a corporate schema for
knowledge classifications provides the
information management functions for captured
knowledge
11
VALUE ASSESSMENT
12
Commercial Organisations and Knowledge Management
Exploring value of KM from 3 perspectives

• 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
• A knowledge-empowered organisation
• A way of addressing concerns over the loss of
  corporate memory arising from the increasing
  mobility of labour

If we only knew half of what we know, we would
be twice as profitable
Carla Fiorini, CEO Hewlett Packard Corp
13
Commercial Organisations Investing in KM Are
Expecting a Return
14
But are also interested in preserving Invisible
Equity
This illustration was developed using data taken
from the CWO Balance Sheet of 31 March 2001
Assets Finance
Current Liabilities Non Current Liabilities Visi
ble Shareholder Equity Invisible Equity
1.99
1.98
Current Assets Non- Current Assets
3.58
8.95
10.93
5.38
3.12

• The Invisible Balance Sheet
• Management Value-Add

Market Value 14.05 Billion
15
Universities and Knowledge Management
Similar drivers towards business performance, but
the real value lies in enhanced research outcomes.

• Improving the velocity of information
• Increasing the impact of research (freedom of
  access)
• Long-term curatorship

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.
16
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

17
For a university, the benefits Are Expressed
through Indicators of Research Performance
18
So Whats 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

19
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
. . . . From Concept to Reality
The End Thank You
QUESTIONS?