Valuing Knowledge Management Impact on Engineering Design Activities

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) have been developed in Engineering Designactivities in order to improve the productivity of these activities. Nevertheless it is still verydifficult to identify the impact of such Systems on the Engineering Design Performance.In this paper our goal is to present why valuing Knowledge Management Impact onEngineering Design is today a challenge. In a first part we aim at presenting how and whyKnowledge Management has been introduced in Engineering Design Activities. By a reviewof the literature from a span of disciplines we will next focus on the different ways to valuethe impact of Knowledge Management Systems on firm activities. At least we will propose amethod to monitor the impact of Knowledge Management Systems on Engineering DesignActivities.Knowledge Management, research organisations, quality management

Linking design and manufacturing domains via web-based and enterprise integration technologies

The manufacturing industry faces many challenges such as reducing time-to-market and cutting costs. In order to meet these increasing demands, effective methods are need to support the early product development stages by bridging the gap of communicating early design ideas and the evaluation of manufacturing performance. This paper introduces methods of linking design and manufacturing domains using disparate technologies. The combined technologies include knowledge management supporting for product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, aggregate process planning systems, workflow management and data exchange formats. A case study has been used to demonstrate the use of these technologies, illustrated by adding manufacturing knowledge to generate alternative early process plan which are in turn used by an ERP system to obtain and optimise a rough-cut capacity plan

Developing Performance-Centered Systems for Higher Education

The experience in developing performance-centered systems for higher education has improved significantly, and practitioners have made considerable progress in elaborating a methodology. This paper discusses the convergence of thinking among various disciplines in analysis and design methodologies, and describes the key elements of the new-emerged performance support engineering development methodology. These are important for designing web-based systems, information systems, and knowledge management systems in higher education.performance-centered systems, web-besd systems, information systems, knowledge management systems, methodology, higher education

Mediating between AI and highly specialized users

We report part of the design experience gained in X-Media, a system for knowledge management and sharing. Consolidated techniques of interaction design (scenario-based design) had to be revisited to capture the richness and complexity of intelligent interactive systems. We show that the design of intelligent systems requires methodologies (faceted scenarios) that support the investigation of intelligent features and usability factors simultaneously. Interaction designers become mediators between intelligent technology and users, and have to facilitate reciprocal understanding

Towards a Design Theory for Process-Based Knowledge Management Systems

In today’s knowledge economy, organizations need to effectively manage their knowledge to support an increasing number of knowledge intensive business processes. Such knowledgeintensive business processes could be more effectively supported by Process-based knowledge management (PKM) systems that integrate knowledge management services with process management systems. However, currently there are minimal design guidelines for developing such PKM systems. In this research-in-progress paper, we highlight this research problem, and propose a preliminary framework that can be extended to serve as a design theory for developing process-based knowledge management systems. Specifically, we identify kernel theories governing the design and development of PKM systems, and propose a design process for developing PKM systems. We also identify future research opportunities for further extending the framework and its evaluation

Information, knowledge and the context of interaction

Representing knowledge as information content alone is insufficient in providing us with an understanding of the world around us. A combination of context as well as reasoning of the information content is fundamental to representing knowledge, within information –based systems. The field of knowledge representation and knowledge management has thus far been concerned with providing structures and theories that can lead to some form of qualified intelligent reasoning, and contextualised information. By drawing upon previous research and applying and extending concepts of Semiotics and Symbiosis from the interaction design school of thought, this paper presents a conceptual framework for establishing the interplay between knowledge and users of knowledge via information systems constructs. Subsequently, by drawing upon notions of interfaces to knowledge, a conceptual framework which describes the relationship between the semiotic, symbiotic and interface to knowledge presented, along with a discussion of contemporary issues common to the field of knowledge management is developed

Knowledge Management Applied To Business Process Reengineering

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of knowledge management (KM) as a critical factor for the business process reengineering (BPR) success. It supports the theory that the knowledge management can supply the dynamic necessary to stimulate successful reengineering and minimize the failure rate and its sources. Implementing KM strategy in reengineering projects will lead to better outcomes, building the support for long-term success into the design of business systems and processes