"The business problem that knowledge management is designed to solve is that knowledge acquired through
experience doesn't get reused because it isn't shared in a formal way. Whether it's how to avoid remaking
mistakes, to assure the reuse of proven best practices, or simply to capture what employees have learned about
suppliers, customers, or competitors," …
Knowledge management is a way of doing business. In reality, it's more a business practice than a product. The
products are what facilitate the practice of knowledge management"…
…"vertical knowledge-management applets in departmental areas such as the help desk."
"The system objectives that support the knowledge-management goal are knowledge gathering, organizing,
refining, and distributing. Each of those objectives has a host of enabling functions. Knowledge organizing, for
example, happens through searching, filtering, cataloging, and linking,"…
"Because of the downsizing cult's belief in the disposability of employees, many
knowledge workers have lost a sense of loyalty to the organizations they work for. But the knowledge-management
concept needs cooperation to work -employees have to trust their donations don't undermine their job security or,
more commonly, their job competitiveness.
For example, in shops where evaluation, promotion, or compensation is based on relative numbers, individuals sharing their knowledge reduce their chances of success, and those holding back have a relative advantage, which discourages cooperative behavior. Organizations about to go through another downsizing are never likely to measure group contributions more highly than individual ones-the individual stars get to keep their jobs,"…
…"important that the system be designed around financial incentives that support the knowledge-management
way of doing business."
" The rewards of knowledge management are all mid- to long-term."
…" the reward: … institutionalize important lessons and … self-perpetuating cycle of increased
competency."
… " examine your organization's incentive systems for kinds of behaviors and internal data storage and
distribution models."
.. " strategic changes … to be made " …
… " issues … financial compensation based on contribution of knowledge to the corporate information
store. … requires a shift in philosophy for most organizations … in how people work, but more importantly
in how they behave and interact with each other."
… " putting content into the knowledge base is the work of one or a handful of "librarians," but users can
suggest additions."
… " two-tier architecture makes it difficult to break out of the model."
" uses a multidimensional database model squeezed into a relational database. The stored information is
organized into what the interface calls "notebooks," "topics," and "subjects." "
… " topics might include "customers" and "products," "
… " users get information either by browsing the organized information, or by creating or using existing
structured reports, which are a great strength of the program. The reports tend to be delivered in matrix form, with
topics down one axis and subject companies or people down the other."
… " "briefing books," structured sets of different reports on a series of topics or subjects.
… " browser client as a wide deployment view-only option."
… " the librarian's set-up work revolves around form-building through a drag-and-drop screen-painting utility.
It's easy to use and effective. The program has no intrinsic search capability-Wincite recommends you use an
existing over-the-counter product, such as the free version of AltaVista's engine. "
… " no intrinsic security scheme for protecting specific subjects-access is controlled user by user."
While Wincite 5.0 can easily integrate external files (both documents and URLs) into its knowledge base, it doesn't
currently integrate with other applications such as groupware applications. With its focus on historic information, it
doesn't push information at users, assuming instead that they'll find what they need. Its greatest conceptual
strength is the multidimensional data design that lets a knowledge worker examine a slice of the information at any
angle, potentially leading to more insightful observations.
Intraspect 1.5
" Of the products tested, Intraspect Software Inc.'s offering is one of the best designed … creates a "group
memory" by storing information in maps customized to each end user and communicated through multiple
mechanisms:intranet, networked files, or E-mail. "
… " peer-to-peer model grants wide authority to contribute and inform. The benefit collect more useful
information. The cost: Because the system doesn't concentrate contribution authority, you may get a higher ratio of
marginal information."
" The user interface runs on a wide range of platforms."
" The native clients use standard Windows Explorer concepts excellently, " …
… " threaded discussions, … tracks a lot of metadata that preserves the context."
" Administration works from the standard client, " …
… " startup could be a significant manual process."
… " bundled search function is from Verity Inc.; it supports compound Boolean searches … has a saved-
search capability, " …
… " integrates with common desktop applications such as those in Microsoft Office or Lotus Notes."
… " if a file or URL is moved, it's not tracked by the system. Intraspect doesn't have an automated push
system, "
ChannelManager 2.0 (beta)
… " designed to gather information and content from internal and external sources and use push technology to
get it to the users who need it."
… " two major ideas."
(1) … " no one should have to be responsible for converting to HTML documents to be shared, " …
(2) … " all files to be shared, internal to the intranet or file system, or external over the Internet, should share
a common location description. In this case, each has a URL, even if they're on the file system.
" The goal of the product is not to store information in a central repository for record-keeping or archival recall, but
to turn available sources into channels and disseminate information in a timely basis " …
" People "own" content channels (&) save their content to a specific folder, which saves that to the Web,
automatically converting it into HTML readable form. "
… " administrator sets up users and groups and sets up channels.
… " product's security is separate from that of the operating system. "
… " a new channel, you base it on one of the bundled templates that are clever skeletal structures based on
common themes such as "human resources" or "competitors."
" People who have rights to publish channels can add information to them and give subscriptions to users. "
" Web Integration is a great strength, " …
in that you can "save to the Web" from "The user interface … very clean, though the hierarchy is limited to
three levels which could be a challenge for a few applications."
" On the server side, the system runs as a Windows NT service … doesn't hold the actual files and other data,
just the pointers to it, so it's designed to be conservative with storage space. "
" The administrator console is quite good, … The biggest challenge is in some of the nomenclature, which is
subtly different from some other products. "
… " strength of ChannelManager is its model for rapid proliferation of organized information and low cost of
ownership. "
BackWeb 4.0
… " main area of strength … "push" channels "
… " goal of the product is not to store information in a central repository for record-keeping or archival recall,
but to turn available sources into channels "
… "uses a hierarchical approach to delivery. …
administrators control the channels users can access. … limits the depth of what you should be trying to
achieve with knowledge management. "
KnowledgeX 1.0
… " not trying to manage facts alone, but to clarify the meaning of information by analyzing and presenting the
relationships between facts."
… "store a centralized repository of categorized information, then deliver it in forms that ease the work of
analysis. The program is most effective when its use is centralized to a few experts who can master its concepts,
then use its dissemination features to provide targeted, automated reports to a broader set of consumers. "
The applications for the product seem very specific:competitive intelligence and governmental intelligence
agencies. "
… " the underlying model is, unfortunately, alien to most businesses. The product is based on the idea that
knowledge is not the facts themselves, but an understanding of the patterns that connect them into systems. The
objects it's currently used to track are more often people or relationship definitions (such as "customer" or "peer" or
"board member") or places. "
… " traditional KnowledgeX customer is using it for a high-return, business-critical application, it hasn't
mattered that the process of getting information into the system is clunky and slow. "
… " communicates its results via reports, primarily networked diagrams that indicate relationships. "
… " extremely critical process of designing the categories and relationships "
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