Information and Knowledge: Appunti di Sistemi

Chapter 14. Information and Knowledge for Business Decision Making

Knowledge Management is a process that allows organizations to generate value from their knowledge-based assets, so it

implies capturing and documenting what employees and other stakeholders know and developing systems that make it

easier to share and use the knowledge.

Organizations have begun to use information and communication technologies to help manage knowledge in order to

make better decisions, improve customer service and processes, increase innovation and intellectual capital. The

EXPLICIT

knowledge can be divided into two categories: (can be expressed easily and so it is easy to manage and store)

TACIT EXPERIENTAL

and (not easy to communicate as experience). The knowledge resources so can be divided in: (tacit

CONCEPTUAL

knowledge that can be shared through common experience or communication), (explicit knowledge like

SYSTEMIC ROUTINE KNOWLEDGE

symbols and so on), (explicit that has been packaged like database) and (tacit that is in

the organization’s practices).

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

The is a cycle in fact the creation of knowledge restart a cycle. It is made up of:

CREATION SOCIALIZATION

- = there are four processes by which knowledge is created and they are (sharing tacit

EXTERNALIZATION COMBINATION

knowledge through communication or experience), (tacit to explicit),

INTERNALIZATION

(combining externalized explicit knowledge to concepts, models or theories), (explicit to tacit

and internalized by individuals). Knowledge can be also purchased by hiring expertise or acquisitions.

CAPTURE

- = interviews, observing groups, focus groups, task analysis and so on.

CODIFY

- = converting tacit and explicit into a usable form. This conversion can happen through cognitive maps,

decisions tables and decision trees.

STORE and RETRIEVE

- = knowledge can be stored in a variety of ways.

TRANSFER and APPLY

- = to manage knowledge transfer you must consider the sources of knowledge and the

media used to transfer the knowledge.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES REPOSITORIES

have helped to manage it. Some of them are: (allow to easy

COMMUNICATION-BASED TOOLS EXECUTIVE INFORMATION

find and retrieve documents), (like social network),

SYSTEMS, DASHBOARDS EXPERT SYSTEM

and (experts guiding employees).

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS) are computer-based systems that help decision makers use data and models to solve

DATA-DRIVEN DSS

semi-structured or unstructured problems. The DSS divide into four categories: (retrieval and

MODEL-DRIVEN DSS

manipulation of data that is stored in an organization’s data stores), (provide access and

DOCUMENT-DRIVEN DSS

manipulation of analytical models), (managing and retrieving documents that helps in decision-

COMMUNICATION-DRIVEN DSS

making) and (facilitate collaboration and group-based decision-making through

communication, information sharing and collaboration).

GROUPWARE GROUP

is a network-based system that helps workgroups communicate and collaborate. They are:

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (facilitate group-based decision-making tasks with application for brainstorming, anonymous

SHARED WHITEBOARDS, VIDEO CONFERENCING, CHAT SYSTEMS, REMOTE PRESENTATION,

commenting and voting),

EMAIL, DISCUSSION DATABASES WORKFLOW DOCUMENT CO-

(threads online, asynchronous discussions and so on), and

EDITING (work on documents synchronously).

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE is a set of applications, technologies and processes for gathering, storing, analyzing and accessing

data to help users make better business decisions. Its goal is to help managers take good decisions. It is made up of two

sets of technologies that are: