Knowledge Management Systems is a system created to manage knowledge in large organizations aimed at advancing information storage and dissemination. The basis of the Knowledge Management System is to enable employees of organizations to possess the ability to access documented facts about the organization and its information. This knowledge enables employees to share vital facts and important information between departments and outside the organization for efficiency in meeting goals.
The managerial implications of implementation of Knowledge Management Systems in organizations are that such managers are focused on raising their companies through the competitive edge of the business community. They are determined to develop staff who are innovative enough in facing the modern world business challenges. On top of this, they are committed to enhancing knowledge access to all staff which creates transparency and effective communication both horizontally and vertically.
Improved Knowledge Management Systems go hand in hand with the development of relevant infrastructure within the business. Among others, it includes the development of an expert system. This is a system that is aimed at reproducing the performance of human experts in a specific problem domain. Methods used to stimulate the performance of the expert involve the creation of knowledge base criteria to capture the expert knowledge. It also involves the gathering of relevant knowledge from the experts then analyzing it, which is also called knowledge engineering.
To make sure that the expert system performs, it is also advisable to put it in a normal real-world problem as a human being expert. This can be in the form of aid to human workers.
Knowledge base development is another prerequisite for developing a Knowledge Management System. This is an important technological infrastructure needed for enhancing KMS. It is a kind of database system for knowledge management. It enables organizations to retrieve knowledge and information in a predictable manner. There are two types of a knowledge base. A machine-readable knowledge base keeps knowledge in a computer awaiting automated deductive reasoning to be applied to it. On the other hand, a human-readable knowledge base allows people in organizations to retrieve and use knowledge and information for training purposes. They capture troubleshooting articles, user manuals, and others that help users to get solutions to current problems.
Information management software is another key infrastructure to the development of KMS. This involves the collection of information from a number of sources then channeling such information to one or more audiences. Such a management software system is compared to the traditional system, which was limited to paper files and file cycle management. Information management software is thus an electronic system designed for organizing, retrieving, maintaining, and disseminating information.
The document management system is a computer system for storing electronic documents.
It is viewed that the common difficulty in implementing Knowledge Management Systems is the inability to sustain the investment.
There are a number of advantages attained from Knowledge Management Systems in organizations. First, it looks forward to organizational gains in increased knowledge and utilization of information and its management within the administration of their organization. It allows employees to access information conveniently on directions to be taken within the organization.
Knowledge Management Systems helps organizations increase their communication among employees within the organization and to external business partners. The aim here is to sustain information flow and avoid communication crises within the organization, and also to keep its business partners updated on its endevours.
This knowledge helps organizations in managing innovations and in learning. In this case, new workers get to learn more about their responsibilities and the organization as a whole very quickly by accessing information through the installed information systems. In addition to this, information systems increase the leverage of expertise across all staff in the organization.
Knowledge Management programs in organizations lead to greater innovation and increased competitive advantage.