Information and Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management and “Knowledge Harvesting”
“Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers.” (Davenport & Prusak 1998)
Knowledge Management (KM) is therefore the process of extracting knowledge, in a directly useful form, from an organisation’s information assets. Knowledge Management recognises three main types of knowledge:
- Structured information: Knowledge that is explicit and codified into documents and databases is the most visible form of information, but its usefulness depends on the quality of its metadata including conditions of use and guidance notes.
- Embedded knowledge: The knowledge lodged into working practices and procedures developed over time for reasons of efficiency, security and safety. Sometimes difficult to identify, it can easily become obsolete.
- Human knowledge: The tacit knowledge of individuals who may identify patterns in a situation not obvious to others. Much codified knowledge starts in this form and an audit identifies “best performing” and “highly knowledgeable” individuals, so that mechanisms can be devised to utilise their expertise.
Knowledge management can be applied to:
- Best practices
- “Lessons learned”
- Product development knowledge
- Customer knowledge
- Human resource management knowledge
- Methods-based knowledge
Knowledge Management technologies include:
- ECM systems
- Workflow and BPM
- Intranet
- EDRM
- Collaborative working tools (e.g. e-Room, Share Point)
Cornwell consultants are renowned for their knowledge management expertise and our consultancy services include knowledge assets reviews, developing collaborative ways of working in the modern knowledge environment and knowledge harvesting or helping an organisation to identify its “embedded” and “tacit” knowledge assets to make them more explicit within the organisation.
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