MIS 2000 Chapter 15 Knowledge Management

1. MIS 2000 Chapter 15 Knowledge Management

2. Outline • Knowledge • Explicit and Tacit Knowledge • Knowledge Management Activities • Computer-Aided Design/Manufacturing System • Expert System • Case-Based Reasoning System • Groupware Systems • Virtual Reality System MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

3. What is Knowledge? • Data: words, numbers, pictures… • $55 million • Information: Data given meaning by detail and context • $55 million were the annual expenses in our company in 2009. • Knowledge: Linked information, causal relationships, procedures… • Salaries paid to new employees hired in in 2009 (cause) increased our expenses for $5 mill. to reach $55 million (effect). • Knowledge is also the procedure of calculating annual expenses MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

4. Types of Knowledge • Explicit Knowledge • Documented knowledge (e.g., work manuals showing how to do tasks). Represented in computer files, databases, expert systems, organizational processes, etc. Also in employees’ memory. • Tacit Knowledge • Accumulated experience that has not been formally documented; hard to speak up (e.g., problem solving by experts in any area). MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

5. Knowledge Workers • Knowledge workers • People who create new knowledge for organization by designing products/services, analyzing market, organization, etc. (engineers, R+D, various analysts…) • Also, people who use intensely professional knowledge in their work • Business managers are usually information workers – using reports (information) to make decisions MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

6. Knowledge Management • Knowledge Management: • A set of activities developed in an organization to create, gather, store, maintain, share and distribute the firm’s knowledge • Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO): • Senior executive in charge of knowledge management program • http://www.skyrme.com/insights/27cko.htm • Also called Chief Learning Officer (runs corporate study center), • Patent Manager, etc. MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

7. Knowledge Management and ISes MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

8. Systems Supporting Knowledge Creation • Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) • CAD: Engineering (drawing) products http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design • CAM: Designing manufacturing tools, processes, programming machines • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_manufacturing • Virtual Reality • Interactive software creates simulations of real world objects • User learns by “sensing” – training tool MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

9. Capturing Knowledge: Expert System • Software that codifies the expertise of humans in specific areas of knowledge in the form of if-then rules • Used in account auditing, medical diagnosing, troubleshooting of machinery, Medical underwriting system (Blue Cross Blue Shield), CLUES (Loan underwriting) Knowledge Base If-then rules representing knowledge Inference Engine Building decision trees out of rules in K-Base; getting user input User Interface More... MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management

10. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) • Case-Based Reasoning (CBR): IS that represents knowledge as a database of cases – descriptions of problems with solutions. • Think of lawyers’ work! • Procedure of using CBR system: • User describes problem in keywords • System searches case base for similar problems • System finds closest fitting case = solution • User modifies case with new details and stores it back in case base Knowledge Management MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management 10

11. Sharing Knowledge • Suitable for exchange of tacit knowledge, as opposed to other systems • Collaboration Systems/Groupware • communication (private email, chat, blogs) • document sharing (file repositories, wikis) • group authoring of documents • workflow (document routing) • spatially distributed groups MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management