This document provides an overview of knowledge management concepts and approaches. It begins by defining knowledge management and outlining its key processes. These include content gathering, document management, collaboration, and discovery. The document then discusses assessing the value of knowledge management from improving business process efficiency, empowering organizations with knowledge, and addressing loss of corporate memory. Finally, it presents a conceptual architecture for a knowledge management system, positioning relevant technologies to support knowledge sharing, retrieval, and classification across information sources and knowledge repositories.

1. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
. . . . From Concept to Reality
A Presentation by Tim Cope
Chief Information Officer
UNSW
5 May, 2003

2. Approach
Value
Concept Definition Assessment Opportunity/Threat
Framework Modelling
• How do we prioritise the
• What is this ? • How do we assess opportunities
the value
• How do we deal with
potential dis-continuities
(threats)
Focus of today’s 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
Source: Gartner Research
Engage individuals and communities,
to flatten organisational structures and
simplify communication paths

7. Knowledge Management Processes
Other
Other
Universities
Universities
Internet Research
Research
Content Groups
Groups
Gathering
Categories
Portal Discover
Auto-Notify
Language
Translation
Context/Use Publishing
Find
Version Control
Group Auto-Notify Records Management
Document
Memory Team Collaboration Management Security
Security Nortel
Format Conversion
Intranet Collaboration
Collaboration
Spaces
Spaces
Enrichment
Corporate
Metadata Discover
Databases
Work Groups
Work Groups

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.
Integration Preservation Transmission Application Creation
 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 ?
Integration Preservation Transmission Application Creation
Business Business Business Business Business
Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes
Catalogue & Store Publish Locate &
Retrieve
Discovery
• Meta-data standards • Netcasting • Neural Networks
• Semantic models • Portals • Visualisation
• Low barriers to access • Case-based Reasoning
• Rule-based Systems
• 24x7 Secure Storage • Information Request Brokers
• Data Warehouses • Search Engines
• Document Management • Content extraction
• Digital Archiving • Intelligent Agents
• Query Tools
• Collaboration Space

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

11. VALUE ASSESSMENT

12. Commercial Organisations and Knowledge Management
Exploring value of KM from 3 perspectives:
1. 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
2. A knowledge-empowered organisation
3. 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
Support  Increase Operational Effectiveness  Increase Rate of Innovation
Strategic  Shrink Delivery Times  Increase Competitive Positioning
Direction  Shrink Response Time
Enterprise  Ease Access to People  Increase Collaboration
Effectiveness  Increase Span of Experts  Increase Synergy
 Learning Organization  Learning Organization With an Attitude
n  Work Enrichment
ti o
isa
xim
e Ma
lu
Va
Job  Find Information More Quickly  Gain Insight
Effectiveness  Make Better Decisions Faster  Reuse Work and Ideas
 Create
Traditional Benefits Non-Traditional Benefits
Knowledge Sharing + Knowledge Share/Leverage

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
Current 1.99 1.98
Liabilities
Assets
3.58 Non Current
Liabilities
10.93
Non- 8.95 Visible
Current Shareholder
5.38
Assets Equity
Invisible
3.12 Equity • 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.
1. Improving the velocity of information
2. Increasing the impact of research (freedom of access)
3. 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
Impact of
KM
Area Indicator H M L
Research Grant Participation Index, 1993 to 2001 
participation
Grant Participation Index by faculty, 1999 to 2001 
Postgraduate supervision ratio by year, 1993 to 2002 
Postgraduate supervision ratio by faculty, 2000 to 2002 
Publications Weighted and unweighted publications, 1997 to 2001 
output
Unweighted publications by faculty, 1999 to 2001 
Weighted and unweighted publications by faculty, 2001 
Publications rate, 1997 to 2001 
Publications rate by faculty, 2000 to 2001 

18. So What’s 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?