NIELIT Knowledge Management System

Concepts by Shri Sourav Sen, AE, NIELIT,Agartala Doeity, MCIT, Govt.of India [email protected] [email protected] +91-9856229952

Abstract:
Knowledge learned in a project should carry forward to subsequent project. Documents, experiences, concepts and practices created earlier can be reused if proper management is in place. Knowledge management is the process of making right information available quickly and easily for people in right time to use productively. knowledge management is the process that focuses on the acquisition, arrangement, storage, retrieval, and use of intellectual information of any organization to produce and share knowledge.

key words:
Knowledge management system , knowledge sharing and distributing system, intellectual asset management sytem.

Introduction:
Since the establishment of NIELIT, Agartala we have documented various project proposals, various SRS documents, and various case studies. We have drafted lots of tender documents, project appraisal reports, technical and financial papers, Expression of Interest (EOI), MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) etc. But Sir, if one fine morning any one ask ourselves exactly how many papers we have documented, digitized properly, we will fail to answer. Not only that, if five year down the line again we required to prepare a DPR (Detail Project Report) for such a project that we already executed then is it possible for us to prepare the same overnight if the previous DPR copy is not with us for our ready reference ? Till the date we dont have any central and secure depository to store information, project report, case studies etc. for quick reference; may be all of our laborious jobs is presently spread among various project team's hard drives, individuals laptops or any other format of individual custody and hard to track. One fine morning if any of our academician or resource personal leave the organization then with his/her departure all the intellectual innovative ideas and reports will be moved from our organization for ever. Not only that some time we have the document but the main architecture and brain behind it is not tracked resulting unavailability of that particular master mind in urgency and necessity. Therefore we need a centralized system to manage our corporate knowledge that we have prepared after a deep and elaborate study. The countless documents that is producing every day at our institute may have some important role to play in the coming days. Among these documents some of them may be very less important to preserve but few of them may be some world class document/technical writing which may become the intellectual property and asset of the institute.

About Knowledge management:

Which asset in our life grows when shared with others? Yes, it is knowledge. Knowledge is the only asset in our life which never shrinks if you distribute it among others. Knowledge is the full utilization of information and data, coupled with the potential of people's skills, competencies, ideas, intuitions, commitments and motivations. Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizations as processes or practices. Knowledge management may also include new knowledge creation, or it may solely focus on knowledge sharing, storage, and refinement. From our childhood we are hearing a word-Knowledge is power; but how? Knowledge is power only if its recorded. Knowledge is power when it is utilized in appropriate time and appropriate place. Knowledge Management System (KM System) basically refers to a system for managing knowledge in organizations for supporting creation, capture, storage and dissemination of valuable information and intellectual properties

Proposed architecture of NIELIT KM:

APPLICATION & SERVICE LAYER
KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES ACCESS BUSINESS LOGIC

KM SERVICES

SEARCH BROWSE DOWNLOAD/UPLOAD READ/WRITE UPDATE/MODIFICATION

(INFRASTRUCTRUAL BUSINESS SERVICE SUPPPORT & CONSULTANCY)

DEVELOPMENT LAYER

Developing and value addition to knowledge

DATA ANNEXATION LAYER

Document filtering mechanism

Bulk capturing & annexation of knowledge resources

PHYSICAL LAYER

Database file Software Source code

Individual experience

DPR, survey

Seminar, reports

FIG: FOUR LAYER ARCHITECTURE OF NIELIT KMS

Process involved in Proposed NIELIT KMS:

The four layer KMS involved various process which include 1. 2. 3. 4. Knowledge annexation & capture Developing and value addition to knowledge Knowledge organization and structuring Share and distributing of knowledge service

One of the unique selling points of Proposed KMS is intellectual property protection mechanism associated with it. Every document/project report/contribution composed or compiled by an individual will be attributed as below Attribute Title Information ID Date Version ID Author Custodian Description Key words Description Title of the information object Alphanumeric identifier (reference designator) Date of the latest version, revision, or change (YYYY-MM-DD) Alphanumeric identifier of the version, revision, or change Information preparer(s) Organization or individual responsible for maintaining the information content Description/Abstract of the information content Terms used to catalogue and index the information content

Brief about the process involved:

Process
Knowledge annexation & capture

Description
It involves uploading, submit of bulk document, file etc and storing in a depository.

Developing and value addition to knowledge

Modifying and standardization of file format, attribute generation to document like document ID, Version ID, key words etc. so that searching of file become easy and hassle free. Categorizing of various knowledge component and their taxonomies, data dictionary creation. Preparing user interface for knowledge sharing, distribution, access and services. Also includes user authentication and security.

Knowledge organization and structuring

Share and distributing of knowledge service

Pre and Post KMS implementation scenario :

The knowledge base of the organization before the implementation of KMS is loosely coupled and looks like as below
MAY BE DESTROYED IN TIME, BULK AMOUNT OF DATA/FILES ARE NOT IN COMPRESSED FORMAT.LOGICAL GROUPING OF DATA IS NOT MAINTAINED RESULTING TOO MUCH TIME TO SEARCH.

DOCUMENTS

DATABASE

VARIOUS DATABASES ARE RESIDING INDIVIDUAL WORKSTATIONS WHICH MAY BE DESTROYED IF SYSTEM CRACHES.

RESOURCE PERSON NOT AVAILABLE FOR EVER.

REFERENCE LIBRARY
INDIVIDUAL TASK ARE SCATTERD IN INDIVIDUAL LAPTOPS, NO CENTRAL DIPOSITORY AVAILABLE FOR COMMON ACCESS AND FUTURE USE.

INDIVIDUAL MAY JOIN ANOTHER COMPANY RESULTING LOT OF PROBLEM TO EXECUTE A PARTICULAR PROJECT.

PROJECT LIBRARY

PROJECT DETAILS ALONG WITH SOURCE CODES MAY BE UNAVAILABLE ONCE THE PROJECT LEADER LEFT THE JOB.USER MANUALS TEST CASES ARE NOT AVAILABLE.

SURVEY REPORTS

PREVIOUS SURVEY REPORTS MAY BE UNAVAILABLE IN DUE TIME.

EXPERIMENTAL/ SCIENTIFIC DATA

EXPERIMENTAL DATAMAY BE DELETED ONCE THE PROJECT COMPLETED.

FIG: LOSELY COUPLED KNOWLEDGE COMPONENT

After a successful implementation of KM the organizational knowledge base and intellectual property storage will look as below. GENERAL PURPOSE KNOWLEDGE BASE FUNCTION/SERVICES SEARCH, BROWSE, UPDATE/MODIFICATION, UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD, READ/WRITE,
KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES STORAGE REFERENCE LIBRARY PROJECT LIBRARY DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTRUAL BUSINESS SERVICE & CONSULTANCY DATA WAREHOUSING FILE SERVER/DATABASE LEASE E-BUSINESS & E-LEARNING SOLUTIONS TRAINING

INTREGATED KNOWLEDGE BASE

GAGATEWAY TO KMS

FIG: ORGANIZED KMS

KM at a glance:
What are the outcomes of KMS? Sustainability in intellectual property management. Infrastructural service delivery point Quick access to right information in right time.

How KMS can help your organizations Business needs? What is KM? Knowledge management is essentially about getting the right knowledge to the right person at the right time New Project Execution Project Monitoring and Control Planning and decision making Training and personal /career development of employee

KM
Who can use KMS? Any employee of the office. How employee can access KMS? Through a simple user ID authentication any valid employee can access the KMS of the organization.

Who are the key stakeholders of KMS? Management Technicians/developers Administrators

What kind of intellectual resources employee can access through KMS? Case studies, reference manual, Rare video, Photograph, Speech, Important meeting minutes, MOU papers etc Reusable software code, SRS, Technical document ,DPR RFQ, Tender and EOI Documents Previous Project Implementation Experience etc.

What are the advantages of KMS? Sharing of valuable organizational information throughout organizational hierarchy. Can avoid re-inventing the wheel, reducing redundant work. May reduce training time for new employees Retention of Intellectual Property after the employee leaves if such knowledge can be codified. Time management It connects employees to each other, to knowledge assets, and to those with useful experience. These actions fast-track the rate of learning and minimize the risks of not knowing and repeating mistakes.

Questionaries regarding knowledge administration/ management

Please Put tick mark ( ) in the appropriate box. You can mark more than one box if required. Before answering please go through with the white paper entirely. 1. A. 2. A. 3. A. Have you heard the term knowledge management earlier ? Yes B. No Why a organization require a Knowledge management? Resource sharing B. Quick knowledge access C. To support future R&D work

D. reduce data theft.

How you are maintaining your intellectual work/papers/DPR etc ? Maintaining a Xerox copy B. mailing all the important documents to your e-mail ID file in CD/DVDs D. Copying all the documents in Pen Drive/ computer hard disk

C. Copying all the

4. A. 5. A.

Do you think that your intellectual works may help your organization in future? Yes B. No Are you ready to share your intellectual works , project management experience ,DPR etc. with others in your Organization ? Yes B. No

Please mention some strong points regarding your views 6. A. 7. 8. If KM is introduced in your office then how this will help your organizations deliverables? Better Customer Service B. Better understanding of user requirement C. Rapid project Development. D. Easy way to implement the project. KM is very important at your organization for the people who works in A. Technical wing B. Educational Wing C. E-governance wing D. Project Monitoring Wing. Do you think KM will help to protect your intellectual property? Justify your views.