Knowlede Management with SMW and SharePoint

Knowledge Management with
Semantic MediaWiki and SharePoint
Michael Erdmann

February 7, 2014
Karlsruhe, Germany

About DIQA GmbH
DIQA is an independent software vendor of knowledge
management tools for ECM portals.
Our vision:
We provide our customers with services and products that turn their
ECM portals into smart portals by introducing semantic web
technologies. Smart portals let end-users better find, organize,
process, control and govern unstructured content.
Founded:
Team:
Location:

May 2012
3 employees
Germany, Karlsruhe


© 2014 DIQA Projektmanagement GmbH | www.diqa-pm.com | Slide 2

Agenda

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Goals of KM
Use Case1: Semantic MediaWiki
The notion of Information Architecture
Use Case 2: SharePoint
Metadata/Taxonomies in SharePoint
Comparison
Conclusion



Knowledge Work
• Knowledge workers are workers whose main
capital is knowledge, i.e. who "think for a
living", e.g. software engineers, doctors,
architects, engineers, scientists.
• They conduct "non-routine" problem solving
that requires a combination of convergent,
divergent, and creative thinking.
• Other work processes can also contain
knowledge work, e.g.
• Risk assessment when selling an insurance policy
• Purchasing a complex electronic device



Goals of KM
• Ensure effectively use of knowledge
• Share and reuse knowledge
• Make knowledge of individuals available
for the organization
• Ensure availability of knowledge over time
and independent of location
• Embed knowledge in work processes
“Make the right knowledge available, when it is
needed, where it is needed to whoever needs it.”


The KM Cycle
Socialization consists of sharing knowledge
through social interactions, e.g. master
and apprentice.
The process of externalization gives a
visible form to tacit knowledge. It can
be defined as "a quintessential
knowledge creation process in that
tacit knowledge becomes explicit,
taking the shapes of metaphors,
analogies, concepts, hypotheses, or
models“.
Combination is the process of
recombining/re-organizing discrete
pieces of explicit knowledge into a
new form.
Internalization, occurs through diffusing
and embedding newly acquired and
consolidated knowledge into own
mental model, "learning by doing".


Agenda

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Goals of KM
Comparison
Conclusion



What is Semantic Media Wiki (SMW)?
It’s a content management system for
• Richly formatted hypertext documents
• Structured data

It’s based on the “Wiki Way”:
• User-governed
• Collaborative
• Easy to use



Semantic MediaWiki: Data model
Think of SMW data in a graphical way
(knowledge graph):
3,515,473
has population

has capital
Germany

Berlin

has chancellor

has mayor

Angela Merkel


Klaus Wowereit


Why is Semantic MediaWiki good for KM?

• Can handle text, images and data
(structured, semi-structured and unstructured
content)
• Collaborative platform

• Everyone can contribute, page history, authorship,
…

• Automatic sharing of wiki pages

• Web- based, one-data store, accessible from
anywhere

• Templates and forms define structure
• Knowledge graph

• Automatic lists via queries
• Reuse of knowledge in different contexts
• Faceted search enables interactive navigation



Use Case: SMW for Engineering SME
• What knowledge is contained in the wiki?
• Administrative
• Technical
• test protocols (aligned with the test database)
• Sales
• Products
• Quality Management handbook
• Processes, how-to’s

• Who uses it?
• 5-6 knowledge providers
• Essentially all employees use the wiki (consumes
knowledge)
• Staff from the production line shares one account


SMW Demo



Use Case: SMW for Engineering SME
• Why does the company use SMW?
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Right mix of structure and freedom
Right mix of data and free-form text
No license costs
Active developer community
Easy (setup and )administration

• Particularities

• Documents
• No documents are shared via the wiki, due to privacy
concerns.
• Documents are stored on a file share with
appropriate user management (ActiveDirecory).
• Links to documents in the wiki
• Champion
• CEO is a strong proponent and agent for Knowledge
Management with SMW



Agenda

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Goals of KM
Comparison
Conclusion



Information Architecture
• Information architecture is the structural
design of shared information environments
(e.g. websites, intranets, online communities,
content management system), a blueprint
upon which all other aspects are built – form,
function, metaphor, navigation and interface,
interaction, and visual design
• including
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Data model or concept of information
Users model and user roles
Activities and workflows
Policies and governance guidelines



Information Architecture Methodology

https://www.earley.com/



Translating Concepts into Design Elements

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Start with content
Develop the taxonomy
Create metadata fields
Assemble into content types
Align personas with use cases
Create site map based on use cases
Develop wireframes from site maps
Create document libraries and navigation
based on site maps and wireframes



Agenda

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Goals of KM
Comparison
Conclusion



Microsoft SharePoint
What is it?



SharePoint vs. ECM



Microsoft SharePoint



SharePoint Basics
SharePoint content is organized in the following way
(indentation represent “contains” relationship)
• Web application
• Site Collection
• Web Site
• Page
• Text,
• Image
• Web part
• List
• Item
• Library
• Document
• Web site


Web Site Collection: Company Intranet



SharePoint Basics
• Web application
• Site Collection
• Web Site
• Page
• Text,
• Image
• Web part
• List
• Item
• Library
• Document
• Web site

Web Sites come in many
flavors / templates. They
define menus,
functionality and page
structures, e.g.
• MySite
• Projects
• DiscussionBoard
• SearchCenter
• PeopleSearch


Web Site: Department Homepage



Web Site: A Project Site



Web Site: Discussion Board



SharePoint Basics
• Web application
• Site Collection
• Web Site
• Page
• Text,
• Image
• Web part
• List
• Item
• Library
• Document
• Web site

Three diff. kinds of pages:
• Web Part page (a
number of predefined
layouts)
• Wiki page (has "edit"button, can contain
Web Parts)
• System page (cannot
be edited via browser)


SharePoint Basics
• Web application
• Site Collection
• Web Site
• Page
• Text,
• Image
• Web part
• List
• Item
• Library
• Document
• Web site

Widget on pages,
allowing for server-side
processing
• Vizualizations of
dynamic content
• Views on lists
• User Input
• SearchBox
• Many more


SharePoint Basics
• Web application
• Site Collection
• Web Site
• Page
• Text,
• Image
• Web part
• List
• Item
• Library
• Document
• Web site

Lists are a key feature of
SharePoint. They enable
teams to gather, track,
and share information.
• Structured
• Content types
• Column definitions
• MetaData
• Views


List … of Tasks



SharePoint Basics
• Web application
• Site Collection
• Web Site
• Page
• Text,
• Image
• Web part
• List
• Item
• Library
• Document
• Web site

Libraries are special lists
that can also hold
documents (Word, Excel,
PDF, …).
• DMS features
• Check-in/check-out
• View and edit files
either in the browser or
in Office
• Versioning


Library for Digital Assets



SharePoint Basics
• Although sites are separated, they can
share information
• E.g. Search Sites

• Every user can have his/her own Site
• MySite



Web Site: MySite



Web Site: People Directory



Search Site



Search Site (for People)



Agenda

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Goals of KM
Comparison
Conclusion



Findability
• Any KM(-like) system strives to create views of
information in the context of work processes
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content/document management applications
search tools
workflow applications
customer relationship management systems
…

• Requires, a common language in which to:
• Describe
• Communicate
• Translate information between applications and
between user audiences

 terminology, taxonomy, ontology, metadata


Taxonomy in SharePoint
• TermStore
• Hierarchy of terms (with synonyms)

• Managed Metadata columns used for:
Content enrichment
Workflow s
Managing information lifecycle
Sorting, filtering and grouping documents
and/or list items
• Faceted search
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DIQA’s extensions to SharePoint
DIQA products for SharePoint
• GRASP – Graphs for SharePoint

• GRASP-SemanticWeb
• SPARQL-WebPart
• BCD-Connector for SPARQL-Endpoints
• GRASP-TermManager
• SKOS import/export
• Poly hierarchies
• Relations between Terms

• SemanticSearch WebParts

• Suggest terms in the SearchBox WebPart
• Display term tree in Refiner WebPart
• Find documents for related tems



Web Part Page with SPARQL WebPart



TermBrowser with Polyhierarchy



Search Page with TermTreeRefiner
and MatchingTerms Web Parts



Challenge: Content Classification
• People love the power that comes from
metadata, but not if they actually have to
touch the metadata. We want the assets
found, reports built, and processes
automated, but only if we don’t have to
be the individuals actually making it
possible.



Content Classification
• Auto-Tagging
• Keyword/term based
• IE
• Context-based
• Posted to which site or library
• Created in which workflow
• Uploaded by which user/role



Agenda

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Goals of KM
Comparison
Conclusions



Comparison of SMW and SharePoint
Both support explicit metadata
SMW much more agile
open source vs. closed source
Community development vs. proprietary
Completely open vs. elaborate user rights
management
• Wiki markup vs. MS Office integration
• Essentially free vs. substantial investment
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Conclusions
• There are no off-the-shelf KM systems
• Every client is different
• Platforms like SMW or SharePoint are good
starting points

• Knowledge Management is a challenge
nonetheless
• IT infrastructure is only one dimension
• Organizational culture is even more important

• Think big, start small!
• A little semantics can go a long way.
• Metadata creation should be easy, seamless,
automatic


Thank you!
Questions, Discussion, …?

erdmann@diqa-pm.com
+49 721 609 517 24

www.diqa-pm.com

DIQA Projektmanagement GmbH
Pfinztalstr. 90
76227 Karlsruhe
Germany
Handelsregister:
Amtsgericht Mannheim HRB 715454
USt-IdNr: DE283037270
Geschäftsführer:
Dr. Michael Erdmann, Dipl.-Wirtsch.Inf. Daniel Hansch

Knowlede Management with SMW and SharePoint

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