A knowledge engineering approach to knowledge management

Knowledge management facilitates the capture, storage, and dissemination of knowledge using information technology. Methods for managing knowledge have become an important issue in the past few decades, and the KM community has developed a wide range of technologies and applications for both academic research and practical applications. In this paper, we propose a knowledge engineering approach (KMKE) to knowledge management. First, a knowledge modeling approach is used to organize and express various types of knowledge in a unified knowledge representation. Second, a verification mechanism is used to verify knowledge models based on the formal semantics of the knowledge representation. Third, knowledge models are classified and stored in a hierarchical ontology system. Fourth, a knowledge query language is designed to enhance the dissemination of knowledge. Finally, a knowledge update process is applied to modify the knowledge storage with respect to users’ needs. A knowledge management system for computer repair is used as an illustrative example.     

Agent based approach for organization and personal knowledge modelling: knowledge management perspective

The paper tries to bridge gap between knowledge management and artificial intelligence approaches proposing agent-based framework for modelling organization and personal knowledge. The perspective of knowledge management is chosen to develop two conceptual models—one describes the intelligent enterprise memory, another models an intelligent organization’s knowledge management system. The concept of an agent-based environment of the knowledge worker for personal and organizational knowledge management support is introduced.     

An agent-based approach to knowledge management in distributed design

The collaboration process among individuals with heterogeneous skills in a distributed virtual environment represents a crucial element of the extended enterprise. In order to achieve global optima in design, there is an increasing need for design teams to establish and maintain cooperative work through effective communication, co-location, coordination and collaboration at the knowledge level. Because of the distributed nature of users and information resources involved in the design process, the need for appropriate knowledge management tools is imperative. This paper proposes an agent-based architecture to support multi-disciplinary design teams that cooperate in a distributed design environment (DDE). Using ontologies and multi-agent systems (MAS), the proposed framework aims to optimise design process operation and management by supporting the dialogue among distributed design actors. Received: February 2005/Accepted: January 2006     

Autonomic-computing approach to secure knowledge management: a game-theoretic analysis

The explosion of knowledge management systems (KMS) and the need for their wide accessibility and availability has created an urgent need for reassessing the security practices and policies in organizations. Security of these assets is a day-to-day job placing a tremendous cognitive load on information-technology (IT) professionals, which can make it almost impossible to manage the security aspects of KMS. Autonomic-computing systems are well suited to manage KMS, as they use high-level system objectives provided by administrators as the basis for managing the security of KMS. The authors model the self-protection and self-healing configuration attributes in autonomic systems through game-theoretic models. The proposed modeling approach progressively moves from a manual intervention-oriented security setup to an autonomic security setup. This allows the authors to compare and contrast the different approaches and provide insights on their applicability to different security environments. The authors find that moving to a partial autonomic system with self-healing mechanisms can provide a stable environment for securing enterprise knowledge assets and can reduce hacking. It is beneficial to implement an autonomic system when manual investigation costs are higher and/or when the volume of malicious traffic is very low. An autonomic approach is especially attractive when it is difficult to impose penalties on malicious users. Autonomic systems can be effective in securing organizational knowledge assets and in reducing the potential damage from malicious users.     

Evaluating knowledge management failure factors using intuitionistic fuzzy FMEA approach

The twenty-first century organizations are characterized by an emphasis on knowledge and information. Today’s organizations also require the acquisition, management, and exploitation of knowledge and information in order to improve their own performance. In the current economy, the foundations of organizational competitiveness have turned former tangible and intangible resources into knowledge and the focus of information systems has also changed from information management to knowledge management. Besides, the most important step in the implementation of knowledge management is to examine the significant factors in this regard and to identify the causes of failure. Therefore, the present study evaluated knowledge management failure factors in an intuitionistic fuzzy environment as a case study in Khuzestan Oil and Gas Company. For this purpose, a series of failure factors affecting knowledge management in organizations were identified based on a review of the related literature and similar studies. Then, 16 failure factors in the implementation of knowledge management in the given organization were determined on the basis of interviews with company experts. According to the specified factors as well as the integration of multiple criteria decision-making techniques in an intuitionistic fuzzy environment, knowledge management failure factors in Khuzestan Oil and Gas Company were investigated. The results indicated that lack of management commitment and leadership was the most important factor affecting the failure of knowledge management in the given company.     

The role of knowledge modelling techniques in software development: a general approach based on a knowledge management tool

The aim of the paper is to discuss the use of knowledge models to formulate general applications. First, the paper presents the recent evolution of the software field where increasing attention is paid to conceptual modelling. Then, the current state of knowledge modelling techniques is described where increased reliability is available through the modern knowledge-acquisition techniques and supporting tools. The knowledge structure manager (KSM) tool is described next. First, the concept of knowledge area is introduced as a building block where methods to perform a collection of tasks are included together with the bodies of knowledge providing the basic methods to perform the basic tasks. Then, the CONCEL language to define vocabularies of domains and the LINK language for methods formulation are introduced. Finally, the object-oriented implementation of a knowledge area is described and a general methodology for application design and maintenance supported by KSM is proposed. To illustrate the concepts and methods, an example of system for intelligent traffic management in a road network is described. This example is followed by a proposal of generalization for reuse of the resulting architecture. Finally, some concluding comments are made regarding the feasibility of using the knowledge modelling tools and methods for general application design.     

Fostering continuous innovation in design with an integrated knowledge management approach

In the global competition, companies are propelled by an immense pressure to innovate. The trend to produce more new knowledge-intensive products or services and the rapid progress of information technologies arouse huge interest on knowledge management for innovation. However the strategy of knowledge management is not widely adopted for innovation in industries due to a lack of an effective approach of their integration. This study aims to help the designers to innovate more efficiently based on an integrated approach of knowledge management. Based on this integrated approach, a prototype of distributed knowledge management system for innovation is developed. An industrial application is presented and its initial results indicate the applicability of the approach and the prototype in practice.     

Mediative fuzzy logic: a new approach for contradictory knowledge management

In this paper we are proposing a novel fuzzy method that can handle imperfect knowledge in a broader way than Intuitionistic (in the sense of Atanassov) fuzzy logic does (IFL). This fuzzy method can manage non- contradictory, doubtful, and contradictory information provided by experts, providing a mediated solution, so we called it Mediative Fuzzy Logic (MFL). We are comparing results of MFL, with IFL and traditional Fuzzy logic (FL).     

Choosing knowledge management strategies by using a combined ANP and DEMATEL approach

Numerous companies are expecting their knowledge management (KM) to be performed effectively in order to leverage and transform the knowledge into competitive advantages. However, here raises a critical issue of how companies can better evaluate and select a favorable KM strategy prior to a successful KM implementation. The KM strategy selection is a kind of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, which requires considering a large number of complex factors as multiple evaluation criteria. A robust MCDM method should consider the interactions among criteria. The analytic network process (ANP) is a relatively new MCDM method which can deal with all kinds of interactions systematically. Moreover, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) not only can convert the relations between cause and effect of criteria into a visual structural model, but also can be used as a way to handle the inner dependences within a set of criteria. Hence, this paper proposes an effective solution based on a combined ANP and DEMATEL approach to help companies that need to evaluate and select KM strategies. Additionally, an empirical study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method.     

Revealing performance heterogeneity through knowledge management maturity evaluation: A capability-based approach

The dynamic capabilities view (DCV) focuses on renewal of firms’ strategic knowledge resources so as to sustain competitive advantage within turbulent markets. Within the context of the DCV, the focus of knowledge management (KM) is to develop the KMC through deploying knowledge governance mechanisms that are conducive to facilitating knowledge processes so as to produce superior business performance over time. The essence of KM performance evaluation is to assess how well the KMC is configured with knowledge governance mechanisms and processes that enable a firm to achieve superior performance through matching its knowledge base with market needs. However, little research has been undertaken to evaluate KM performance from the DCV perspective. This study employed a survey study design and adopted hypothesis-testing approaches to develop a capability-based KM evaluation framework (CKMEF) that upholds the basic assertions of the DCV. Under the governance of the framework, a KM index (KMI) and a KM maturity model (KMMM) were derived not only to indicate the extent to which a firm’s KM implementations fulfill its strategic objectives, and to identify the evolutionary phase of its KMC, but also to bench-mark the KMC in the research population. The research design ensured that the evaluation framework and instruments have statistical significance and good generalizabilty to be applied in the research population, namely construction firms operating in the dynamic Hong Kong construction market. The study demonstrated the feasibility of quantitatively evaluating the development of the KMC and revealing the performance heterogeneity associated with the development.     

Development of user-satisfaction-based knowledge management performance measurement system with evidential reasoning approach

Confronting fierce global competition, organizations have implemented knowledge management to enhance competitive advantages. With increasing investments in resources for knowledge management implementation in many organizations, measuring knowledge management performance has become an important agenda among researchers and practitioners. However, the current knowledge management performance measurement methods cannot truly report the results of organizations’ knowledge management efforts. To address this problem, there is a need of a better approach for measuring knowledge management performance in organizations. This paper presents the authors’ recent research in using a K-user satisfaction based approach and evidential reasoning methodology to develop a user-satisfaction-based knowledge management performance measurement system for organizations to identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as enhance continuous learning. A case study in applying the developed system and methodology in primary school education has been conducted to demonstrate its effectiveness.     

An agent-based approach for integrating user profile into a knowledge management process

This paper presents an approach based on a user agent to permit a number of users connected to distant machines to access different information sources in order to satisfy their requests. This user agent permits the simplification of the information search from distributed sources by making them transparent to the users. The agent considers the specific needs of each user during the search and responds with reference to their profile. It also permits the processing of one or more information requests by one or more users, as well as concurrent responses to each of them. Moreover, the agent provides its users with a measure of interaction, in order to enhance the quality and quantity of the results obtained. As a result, the agent is endowed with the ability to filter and refine the search, thus improving its service to the users.     

Better knowledge management through knowledge engineering

The authors believe that current knowledge management practice significantly under-utilizes knowledge engineering technology, despite recent efforts to promote its use. They focus on two knowledge engineering processes: using knowledge acquisition processes to capture structured knowledge systematically; and using knowledge representation technology to store the knowledge, preserving important relationships that are far richer than those possible in conventional databases. To demonstrate the usefulness of these processes, we present a case study in which the drilling optimization group of a large oil and gas service company uses knowledge engineering practices to support the three facets of the knowledge management task: knowledge capture; knowledge storage; and knowledge deployment.     

Emergent standard of knowledge management: Hybrid peer-to-peer knowledge management

Knowledge has been a critical resource for supporting business strategies. The major obstacle to classical knowledge management approach is that knowledge workers hesitate to release their own control and give up sharing autonomy. The peer-to-peer architecture facilitates achieving autonomy and self-organized management. However, there are still some problems, such as computational efficiency, organizational memory accumulation. This study proposes a hybrid peer-to-peer architecture to consider the tradeoff between centralized and decentralized knowledge management. The proposed architecture preserves the autonomy of knowledge workers as well as allows the accumulation of organizational memory. It also encourages workers to issue on-line discussions to add knowledge annotations. Under this architecture, a scenario of collaborative product design is described.     

Enterprise knowledge management

Many enterprises downsize to adapt to more competitive environments, but unless they have captured the knowledge of their employees, downsizing can result in a loss of critical information. Similarly, as employees leave, organizations are likely to lose access to large quantities of critical knowledge. As companies expand internationally, geographic barriers can affect knowledge exchange and prevent easy access to information. These and other forces are pushing enterprises to explore better methods for knowledge management. Enterprise knowledge management entails formally managing knowledge resources, typically by using advanced information technology. KM is formal in that knowledge is classified and categorized according to a prespecified, but evolving, ontology into structured and semistructured data and knowledge bases. The overriding purpose of enterprise KM is to make knowledge accessible and reusable to the enterprise. The business world is becoming so concerned about knowledge management that, according to one report, over 40 percent of the Fortune 1000 now have a chief knowledge officer, a senior-level executive responsible for creating an infrastructure and cultural environment for knowledge sharing. This article surveys some components of this young field     

Ontology-based knowledge management

The Web's very popularity is making it more difficult to find, present, and maintain the data that users with a wide range of tasks and computer skills need. Existing document management systems use keyword matching as a search method, combined with information retrieval rather than query answering. In addition, these systems offer limited information-sharing facilities, and they do not support different views on documents or information maintenance. To address these weaknesses, a European consortium formed the On-to-Knowledge Project to build an ontology-based tool suite that efficiently processes the many heterogeneous, distributed, and semistructured documents typically found in intranets and on the Web. The consortium's approach integrates Semantic Web search technology, document exchange via transformation operators, automated information extraction, and systematic support for information maintenance and user-specific views. The paper considers how On-to-Knowledge's tools exploit the power of ontologies to provide automated support for acquiring, maintaining, and accessing weakly structured information sources.     

The reuse of knowledge: a user-centred approach

The motivation for the work reported in this paper is the belief that not only is it beneficial to reuse knowledge but it is essential if we wish to build knowledge-based systems (KBS) that meet the needs of users. The focus of most KBS research is on complex modelling at the knowledge level which requires a knowledge engineer to act as the intermediary between the expert and the system. The type of reuse primarily considered is the reuse of ontologies or problem-solving methods so that improvements can be made in system quality and development time. However, there is little focus on the needs of users to access the knowledge in a variety of ways according to the individual's decision style or situation. The system described in this paper seeks to support the user in a number of different activities including knowledge acquisition, inferencing, maintenance, tutoring, critiquing, “what-if” analysis, explanation and modelling. The ability to ask different types of questions and to explore the knowledge in alternative ways is a different type of knowledge reuse. The knowledge acquisition and representation technique used as the foundation is known as ripple-down rules (RDR). To support the exploration activities, RDR have been combined with formal concept analysis which automatically generates an abstraction hierarchy from the low-level RDR assertions. The paper suggests that rapid and incremental KA together with retrospective modelling can be used to provide the user with a system that they can own, build and explore without the difficulties associated with capturing and validating the conceptual models of experts via the mediation of a knowledge engineer.     

Capabilities,processes, and performance of knowledge management: A structural approach

The purpose of this study is to examine structural relationships among the capabilities, processes, and performance of knowledge management, and suggest strategic directions for the successful implementation of knowledge management. To serve this purpose, the authors conducted an extensive survey of 68 knowledge management‐adopting Korean firms in diverse industries and collected 215 questionnaires. Analyzing hypothesized structural relationships with the data collected, they found that there exists statistically significant relationships among knowledge management capabilities, processes, and performance. The empirical results of this study also support the well‐known strategic hypothesis of the balanced scorecard (BSC). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 21–41, 2007.