Know-CoM 203Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtenAs described in the section, “Technical Environment,” die- and mold-making
companies are quite familiar with a number of IT tools, but their collaboration and
communication infrastructure is weak. Actually, much time is lost in communicating
details off-line, by sending printed drawings between customer and manufacturer. So the
possibility of sharing a CAD application in combination with discussion functionalities
and session protocols will bring an enormous time benefit for the participating compa-
nies.
Furthermore, a Web-based application needs no local client or sophisticated
configuration and can be accessed via Web browsers. As mentioned in the section,
“Technical Environment,” die- and mold- making companies normally do not have
powerful hardware and software systems in production areas, and also lack advanced
knowledge for the administration of sophisticated software. Thus, a Web-based appli-
cation has been chosen because it is easy to use.
As basis for this software system, the decision was taken to create an application
out of the box. This means the delivery of the Know-CoM system with a preconfigured
server. A company has to configure the network address and local (company-specific)
parameters, such as roles and shared-knowledge spaces, and so forth, to start working
with the software. The server does not influence other servers and there is no need for
advanced integration efforts.
Lotus Notes provides full support for existing layers of the architecture of a KMS
(see Maier, 2004, pp. 257–259). The Notes Web client allows full access to all existing
databases and solutions, included in the Know-CoM software. Concerning knowledge
services, Lotus Notes provides full-text retrieval for information and knowledge discov-
ery, push-and-pull functionalities in work flows, and a wide range of applications for
collaboration like Sametime, Quickplace, team calendars, online communication, and so
forth. As complete solution provider, Lotus comes with these last two areas: integration
services and infrastructure services. These services are part of the Lotus Notes database
philosophy, which is the basis for all applications on upper architectural levels.
The Know-CoM software prototype builds upon this Lotus Notes solution and
implements the services required in order to support the organizational KM instruments
laid out in the previous sections.
Rollout
Concerning the process-oriented introduction of knowledge management, the
literature provides several approaches. The phases of the process-oriented approaches
GPO-WM^1 (Heisig, 2002) and PROMOTE (Hinkelmann et al., 2002) build a basis for this
KM solution. Additionally, a “road map” for the introduction and customizing of standard
software (e.g., SAP) is considered for the amalgamation of the procedure model. Based on
these literature studies, we developed the procedure model depicted in Figure 6.
- Creation of awareness and definition of KM goals: The DMCs analyzed are
normally not aware of the potential benefits of knowledge management. Therefore,
one of the focuses of the introduction of KM is creation of awareness for the KM
initiative. The technical initiatives are rather concentrated in basic ICT infrastruc-
tures than in sophisticated KM functions. A preconfigured company server is
installed that ensures some basic functionality. Thus, in this stage the employees
can explore the cooperative shared-knowledge server and the public knowledge