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Knowledge Management System (KM System) refers to a (generally IT based) system for managing knowledge in

organizations for supporting creation, capture, storage and dissemination of information.

The idea of a KM system is to enable employees to have ready access to the organization's documented base of 

facts, sources of information, and solutions. For example a typical claim justifying the creation of a KM system might

run something like this: an engineer could know the metallurgical composition of an alloy that reduces sound in gear

systems. Sharing this information organization wide can lead to more effective engine design and it could also lead to

ideas for new or improved equipment.

A KM system could be any of the following:

Document based i.e. any technology that permits creation/management/sharing of formatted documents such as

Lotus Notes, web, distributed databases etc.

Purpose: a KMS will have an explicit Knowledge Management objective of some type such as collaboration, sharing

good practice or the like.

Context: One perspective on KMS would see knowledge is information that is meaningfully organized, accumulated

and embedded in a context of creation and application.

Processes: KMS are developed to support and enhance knowledge-intensive processes, tasks or projects of e.g.,

creation, construction, identification, capturing, acquisition, selection, valuation, organization, linking, structuring,

formalization, visualization, transfer, distribution, retention, maintenance, refinement, revision, evolution, accessing,

retrieval and last but not least the application of knowledge, also called the knowledge life cycle.

Instruments: KMS support KM instruments, e.g., the capture, creation and sharing of the codifiable aspects of 

experience, the creation of corporate knowledge directories, taxonomies or ontologies, expertise locators, skill

management systems, collaborative filtering and handling of interests used to connect people, the creation and

fostering of communities or knowledge networks.

y  Knowledge Management may be viewed in terms of:

o  People how do you increase the ability of an individual in the organisation to influence others with

their knowledge

o  Processes Its approach varies from organization to organization. There is no limit on the number of processes

o  Technology It needs to be chosen only after all the requirements of a knowledge management

initiative have been established.

Or

o  Culture The biggest enabler of successful knowledge-driven organizations is the establishment of a

knowledge-focused culture

o  Structure the business processes and organisational structures that facilitate knowledge sharing

o  Technology a crucial enabler rather than the solution.

Stages of Knowledge Management

Michael Koenig explained three stages of Knowledge Management:

1.) The first stage of KM all about use of IT (intranets) for knowledge sharing and coordination across the enterprise.

2.) The second stage added focus on human and cultural factors as essential in getting humans to implement KM.

3.) The third stage is the awareness of the importance of content- and, in particular, an awareness of the importance of 

the retrievability and therefore of the arrangement, description, and structure of that content.

Why we need knowledge management now 

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Why do we need to manage knowledge? Some of the specific business factors, including:

o  Marketplaces are increasingly competitive and the rate of innovation is rising.

o  Reductions in staffing create a need to replace informal knowledge with formal methods.

o  Competitive pressures reduce the size of the work force that holds valuable business knowledge.

o  The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has diminished.

o  Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of knowledge.

o  There is a need to manage increasing complexity as small operating companies are trans-national

sourcing operations.

o  Changes in strategic direction may result in the loss of knowledge in a specific area.

To these paraphrases observations we would add:

o  Most of our work is information based.

o  Organizations compete on the basis of knowledge.

o  Products and services are increasingly complex, endowing them with a significant information

component.

o  The need for life-long learning is an inescapable reality.

In brief, knowledge and information have become the medium in which business problems occur. As a result,

managing knowledge represents the primary opportunity for achieving substantial savings, significant improvements

in human performance, and competitive advantage.

What Is Knowledge Management Related To?

Knowledge management draws from a wide range of disciplines and technologies:

y  Cognitive science

y  Expert systems, artificial intelligence and knowledge base management systems (KBMS)

y  Computer-supported collaborative work (groupware)

y  Library and information science

y  Decision support systems

y  Relational and object databases

y  Simulation

y  electronic publishing technology, hypertext, and the World Wide Web; help-desk technology

y  performance support systems

The Value of Knowledge Management 

y  Foster innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas

y  Improve decision making

y  Improve customer service by streamlining response time

y  Boost revenues by getting products and services to market faster

y  Enhance employee retention rates by recognizing the value of employees' knowledge and rewarding them

for it

y Streamline operations and reduce costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessary processes

These technologies roughly correlate to four main stages of the KM life cycle:

1.  Knowledge is acquired or captured using intranets, extranets, groupware, web conferencing, and document

management systems.

2.  An organizational memory is formed by refining, organizing, and storing knowledge using structured

repositories such as data warehouses.

3.  Knowledge is distributed through education, training programs, automated knowledge based systems,

expert networks.

4.  Knowledge is Applied or leveraged for further learning and innovation via mining of the organizational

memory and the application of expert systems such as decision support systems.