Knowledge Management

KM Platform Software

We partner with a number of companies that provide knowledge management software from sophisticated search and discovery tools to platforms that offer integrated search, social networks features (blogs, wikis, discussions, etc.), portals, and applications like alerts. We provide a variety of professional services that can be used to supplement or provide a semantic foundation for these software packages. Our services include developing taxonomies and categorization rules, researching the various formal and informal communities within the organization, and designing expertise location applications that are integrated into the KM platform.

Expertise Location

We have also had experience designing and developing expertise location applications. Some of an expertise location application is simply a traditional search of documents that describe expertise, but there are special requirements as well. One is the issue of describing knowledge with a focus on how-to knowledge rather than simply subject matter expertise. A second issue is how to handle the fact that experts in a given area tend to categorize at a lower, more specific level than non-experts so a search application needs to accommodate that difference and map from specific to general levels of description.

Foundation for KM - Collaboration, Communities of Practice, Innovation

A knowledge architecture approach also creates the foundation for a variety of KM initiatives and programs. The lack of a well articulated knowledge architecture is one reason that many of these initiatives fail to deliver as promised. We work with consultants with experience in these type of KM programs and integrate our expertise with knowledge architecture to build highly successful programs.