Case Studies in Knowledge Management

204 Bayer, Enparantza, Maier, Obermair, and Schmiedinger

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spaces of other DMCs participating in the Know-CoM community. Additional

support is delivered by FAQ databases that contain questions and answers

concerning KM in general and the Know-CoM solution in particular and by an

employee who is responsible for the introduction of the solution.

Finally, the communication of the predefined Know-CoM-specific KM goals, such
as the improvement of knowledge exchange or the systematic application of documented
knowledge and their extension by enterprise-specific KM goals, is important in order to
create transparency in the goals and benefits.

• Analysis of the specific requirements: Before the adaptation of the KM solution
  can occur, an analysis of the company-specific requirements has to take place. The
  analysis concerns the organizational structure, the development process, the work
  flows, and the existing knowledge structure. Within the organizational scope,
  especially the roles and the intra- as well as inter-organizational collaboration
  structure have to be analyzed in order to consider additional roles or deduce the
  need for the definition of knowledge spaces. The analysis of the dimension
  “process” comprises the matching of the core process with the development
  process of the enterprise concerned in order to consider variations and variants.
  The analysis of the work flows is necessary for the implementation of KM certified.
  Additionally, specifics concerning the technical infrastructure of the SME on
  which Know-CoM should be installed have to be taken into account.


• Adaptation of the KM solution: Based on the analysis of the specific requirements,
  the Know-CoM solution has to be adapted. During this phase, two different areas
  of customizing are relevant, on the one hand the technical customizing of the
  solution and on the other hand, the conceptual customizing of the knowledge
  structure, the core process, the roles, and the knowledge spaces.


• Introduction of the KM solution: The introduction step comprises the connection
  of the clients with the company server, the registration of the users, and the setup

Figure 6. The Know-CoM procedure model

analysis of

specific requirements

adaptation of

the KM solution

introduction of

the KM solution

evaluation

of the KM solution

2

5

4 3

creation

of awareness and

definition of KM goals

1