Effective Tool Support for Architectural Knowledge Sharing

Abstract. Knowledge management plays an important role in the software architecting process. Recently, this role has become more apparent by a paradigm shift that views a software architecture as the set of architectural design decisions it embodies. This shift has sparked the discussion in both research and practice on how to best facilitate sharing of so-called architectural knowledge, and how tools can best be employed. In order to design successful tool support for architectural knowledge sharing it is important to take into account what software architecting really entails. To this end, in this paper we define the main characteristics of architecting, based on observations in a large software development organization, and state-of-the-art literature in software architecture. Based on the defined characteristics, we determine how best practices known from knowledge management could be used to improve architectural knowledge sharing. This results in the definition of a set of desired properties of architectural knowledge sharing tools. To improve the status quo of architectural knowledge sharing tools, we present the design of an architectural knowledge sharing platform.

Expertise in Business Process Management

As organizations attempt to become more business process-oriented, existing role descriptions are revised and entire new business process-related roles emerge. A lot of attention is often being paid to the technological aspect of Business Process Management (BPM), but relatively little work has been done concerning the people factor of BPM and the specification of BPM expertise in particular. This study tries to close this gap by proposing a comprehensive BPM expertise model, which consolidates existing theories and related work. This model describes the key attributes characterizing “BPM expertise” and outlines their structure, dynamics, and interrelationships. Understanding BPM expertise is a predecessor to being able to develop and apply it effectively. This is the cornerstone of human capital and talent management in BPM