Collaborative Knowledge Management: Theory and practice of a successful commercial application (slides)

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Collaborative Knowledge Work:

Theory and Practice of a Successful Theory and Practice of a Successful Commercial Application Commercial Application

Thomas Gruber

CTO, Intraspect Software

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How well do organizations think?

❚ ❚ Does knowledge walk Does knowledge walk out the door when

out the door when someone leaves?

someone leaves?

❚ ❚ How long does it take to How long does it take to find the right person for find the right person for

the task?

How long does it take for new people to come up to speed?

How do organizations

communicate and coordinate their activities?

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

How do organizations maintain relationships as employees

change?

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Some Important Ideas

❚ ❚ Knowledge Capture and Reuse Knowledge Capture and Reuse

❚ ❚ Corporate Memory Corporate Memory

❚ ❚ Organizational Learning Organizational Learning

❚ ❚ Virtual Communities Virtual Communities

❚ ❚ B2B Collaboration across Value Chains B2B Collaboration across Value Chains

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Some Business Realities

❚ ❚ Rampant workforce turnover Rampant workforce turnover

– – need for organizational memory need for organizational memory

❚ ❚ Scarcity of talent Scarcity of talent

– – need to find and leverage experts need to find and leverage experts

❚ ❚ Pressure for fix-fee services Pressure for fix-fee services

– – need to capture and reuse best practices need to capture and reuse best practices

❚ ❚ Need for Speed: Outsource and Partner Need for Speed: Outsource and Partner or Die

or Die

– – need for B2B need for B2B knowledge communities knowledge communities

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A Success Story for Collaboration and KM

❚ ❚ Intraspect was designed and built for Intraspect was designed and built for collaborative knowledge management.

collaborative knowledge management.

❚ ❚ It actually works. It actually works.

– – People use it. People use it.

❚ ❚ It is a commercial success. It is a commercial success.

– – They pay for it. They pay for it.

❚ ❚ It is bringing new capabilities to It is bringing new capabilities to mainstream business areas:

mainstream business areas:

– – CRM, BI, PSA, HR, Supply Chain CRM, BI, PSA, HR, Supply Chain

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Some Intraspect Customers

Other Vertical Markets Web & System Integrators Marketing Services

Telecom

High Tech

Financial Services

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OK, ENOUGH MARKETING!

WHAT DOES IT DO AND HOW WHAT DOES IT DO AND HOW

DOES IT WORK?

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The Challenge:

❚ ❚ How can technology foster How can technology foster organizational intelligence?

organizational intelligence?

How to create an environment where How to create an environment where

– people naturally build on each other’s work – people naturally build on each other’s work

– – a corporate memory is created and maintained a corporate memory is created and maintained

– virtual communities emerge and thrive – virtual communities emerge and thrive

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Existing Technical Approaches Don’t Solve the Problem

Portals

Portals Point-to-point Email Point-to-point Email

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The Solution:

Memory Mediated Collaboration

❚ ❚ Shared Online Environment Shared Online Environment

– Integrate All Information Sources

❚ ❚ Many-On-Many Collaboration Many-On-Many Collaboration

– – Not Just Teams and Rooms Not Just Teams and Rooms

❚ ❚ Community Knowledge Base Community Knowledge Base

– – Build on Previous Work Build on Previous Work

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keep informed keep informed

disseminate disseminate Intraspect

Group Memory

How It Works:

The Intraspect Group Memory

discover discover

contribute contribute

discuss discuss

share share

re-use!

Email

Email Files Files Web Web Notes Notes Reports Reports

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Collaborative Knowledge Work in Professional Services

Interact with Interact with Customers Customers

Generate Generate Proposals Proposals

Find Find Experts Experts

Source Source and Hire and Hire

Ramp New Ramp New Consultants Consultants Collaborate on

Collaborate on Engagement Engagement Track

Track Issues Issues

Manage Manage Deliverables Deliverables

Capture & Distribute Capture & Distribute

Best Practices

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Content Managers Management Engagement Teams Outsource Partners Customer Teams

Professional Services Professional Services

Applications Applications

Customer and Customer and Partner Extranets Partner Extranets Collaborative Portal

Collaborative Portal Services

Services

Enterprise Deployment on a

Federation of Intraspect servers

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Product Functionality

❚ ❚ Collection, Linking, Organization Collection, Linking, Organization

❚ ❚ Discussion and Commenting Discussion and Commenting

❚ ❚ Document Management & Sharing Document Management & Sharing

❚ ❚ Full-text & Metadata Search Full-text & Metadata Search

❚ ❚ Universal Subscription Universal Subscription

❚ ❚ Distribution over web and email Distribution over web and email

❚ ❚ Access Control & Security Access Control & Security

❚ ❚ Customization and Personalization Customization and Personalization

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Example: Workspaces for

Collaborative Engagements

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Information is always In Context

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Quickly find email Quickly find email

addresses with addresses with LDAP integration LDAP integration

Unique Unique customized customized

e-mail e-mail address address

Contribute directly to workspace from e-mail, browser or desktop

Full text

search of

attachments

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WebDAV allows WebDAV allows

Intraspect Intraspect presentation as presentation as

web folders.

Contribute directly from Microsoft

Office 2000 or Windows Desktop

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Personalized information management space

Navigation Bar Navigation Bar Personal workspaces

Personal workspaces and client accounts and client accounts

User- User- controlled controlled command command

bar bar

Links to news and items of interest

Links to news and items of interest Tasks, events, etc. Tasks, events, etc.

Urgent

Notifications

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Search and you will find.

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Find important client information

Adds a Adds a project project workspace workspace with just with just one click one click

Review Review project project history history

Links to Links to live reports live reports

in other in other systems systems Templates

Templates to sort and to sort and

analyze

across

accounts

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Subscribe to stay informed of relevant activity

Notified on Notified on his Personal his Personal

Page Page

Notified Notified

by by

email

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Subscribe and be kept informed.

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Apply best practices to create a new project workspace

Select Select project project members;

members;

assign assign access access policies policies

Apply Apply existing existing methodology methodology

Replicate Replicate vital project vital project

statistics

w/ c-spaces

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Structured project spaces to run and manage the engagement

Use pre- Use pre- formatted formatted methodologies or methodologies or create new ones create new ones Quick project Quick project overview with overview with

searchable searchable metadata metadata

Project Project member member security security policies.

policies.

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Custom Searches combine metadata and full-text query

Search by Search by document type document type

and custom

attributes

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The Ontology of Context and Collaboration

❚ ❚ Context hierarchy with typed nodes Context hierarchy with typed nodes

– – allow multiple parents, no inheritance allow multiple parents, no inheritance

❚ ❚ Conversational relations Conversational relations

– – next-in-thread/in-reply-to next-in-thread/in-reply-to

– – context-sensitive annotation context-sensitive annotation

❚ ❚ Implicit metadata Implicit metadata

– – contributor, date, content type contributor, date, content type

❚ ❚ Explicit metadata Explicit metadata

– – titles and descriptions titles and descriptions

– – user-defined types and attributes user-defined types and attributes

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How it works: the principles

❚ ❚ Design for organizational intelligence. Design for organizational intelligence.

❚ ❚ Create a knowledge ecology. Create a knowledge ecology.

❚ ❚ Motivate by enlightened self-interest. Motivate by enlightened self-interest.

❚ ❚ Support existing work practice. Support existing work practice.

❚ ❚ Collaboration is king. Collaboration is king.

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1. People are part of the killer app!

What People do well What People do well

❚ ❚ Create lots of Create lots of

things to remember things to remember

❚ ❚ Make sense of data Make sense of data and information

and information

❚ ❚ Communicate to Communicate to solve problems solve problems

❚ ❚ What they are What they are motivated to do motivated to do

What Machines do well What Machines do well

❚ ❚ Remember lots of Remember lots of things

things

❚ ❚ Search large bodies Search large bodies of data and

of data and information information

❚ ❚ Deliver messages to Deliver messages to large audiences

large audiences

❚ ❚ What they are told What they are told to do

to do

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2. An Ecology of Knowledge Reuse

❚ ❚ Capture knowledge at its source Capture knowledge at its source

– – get it while it’s hot! get it while it’s hot!

❚ ❚ Capture knowledge in context Capture knowledge in context

– – don’t dump and try to sort it later don’t dump and try to sort it later

❚ ❚ Grow the corporate memory as a Grow the corporate memory as a product of people working on-line product of people working on-line

– – corporate memory emerges corporate memory emerges

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3. Enlightened self-interest

❚ ❚ Make it easier to re-use than to reinvent. Make it easier to re-use than to reinvent.

❚ ❚ Make it easier to work together, on-line. Make it easier to work together, on-line.

❚ ❚ Global benefit emerges from local action. Global benefit emerges from local action.

and… and…

❚ ❚ The more people use it, the more valuable The more people use it, the more valuable it is to everyone!

it is to everyone!

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Not a Field of Dreams

“If you build it, they will come.”

“If they use it, it will build itself.”

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4. Support existing work practice

❚ ❚ Reach out to existing toolsets Reach out to existing toolsets

– – email, web, desktop email, web, desktop

❚ ❚ Support existing business processes Support existing business processes

– – workflow and metadata for routine tasks workflow and metadata for routine tasks

❚ ❚ Don’t turn knowledge workers into Don’t turn knowledge workers into librarians!

librarians!

– – don’t expect IT staff to do it, either. don’t expect IT staff to do it, either.

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5. Collaboration is King!

❚ ❚ Knowledge management is driven by Knowledge management is driven by collaborative work.

collaborative work.

– – the source of knowledge creation the source of knowledge creation – – the context for knowledge reuse the context for knowledge reuse

– – the main reason to be working over the net the main reason to be working over the net