1.1 Knowledge Management Tools1.1 Knowledge Management Tools The following table outlines the various technological KM tools that are used in many organizations, today:TOOL DEFINITION USES BENEFITSIntranet Computer network that links together specific individuals, either within anorganization or including close allies, suppliers, and customers.- Gather knowledge by providing a repository for individuals to deposit information.- Distributeknowledge by providing easy access for employees and other allies to avast wealth of varied knowledge,- Allows telecommuters and employees in remote locations to access company network. - Permits administrations to limit entry to keepinformation open only to those who need it.- Provides knowledge from a variety of sources- Displays a large amount of knowledge at once.Data WarehousingA repository of knowledge capturing explicit, codified information in varying content levels, allowing employees to interpret data, as necessary. Data warehouses must contain the following three featuresto be effective KM tools:- Organizes information into different categories and content levels for easy retrieval.- Distributes knowledge.- Captures information from a variety of sources.- Allows for large volumes of information to be stored in one location.- Allows categorization of information by similar themes and contexts.- Contributes to maintenance of sharedTOOL DEFINITION USES BENEFITS1. The ability to store and retrieve large volumes of text.2. An index of documents for retrieval.3. A query tool with a broad range of selection options.Data warehouses are excellent for storing large amounts of knowledge, butemployees must conceptualize the knowledge prior to using it.intelligence and organizational memory.Decision Support SoftwareSoftware applications that gather expertise from leading practitioners and form this knowledge into rules for guiding individual and group decisions.- Organize knowledge into coherent,useful applications.- Distills existing information into the most useful themes and guidelines.- Makes rules for decision-making processes available to employees.- Provides individuals with an action plan for use of knowledge.- Acts as a dynamic, evolving, firm-wide experience base.- Allows an employee to contribute details of their experiences in a particular situation.Groupware The term refers to any software application that - Gathering knowledge- Distributing - Allows employees to holdsimultaneousTOOL DEFINITION USES BENEFITSfacilitates individual’s collaborative idea sharing in a free-flowing manner.information to those who need it.discussions from remote locations, connecting widely dispersed individuals.- Allows an individual to create knowledge and conceptualize information.- Acts as an organic tool for KM.Yellow Pages A computerized “talent roster” of skills housed on a system of networked databases.- Organizes and refinesknowledge into practical categories.- Alerts managers to skill deficits or areas that the company maybe lacking storage of knowledge.- Allows an employee to identify individuals with specific skills quickly.- Allows immediate meansof finding the correct individual for a specific task.- Allows circumvention of distance and organizational structure.- Provides basis for long-term planning of human asset acquisition and development policy.Network MappingCreates graphical and quantitative representations of informal knowledge networks from simple inputs; reveals the structures behind the organizational chart, the informal groupings that maybe not emerge from the viewing a formal structure.- Captures information flow, interactions, organizational players, communities of knowledge, and organizational failures.- Identifies communication breakdowns.- Determines the key intellectual assets.Table – Knowledge Management