A Pull Approach to Knowledge Management - Using IS as a knowledge indicator to help people know when to look for knowledge reuse

Abstract

This paper studies the problem of knowledge management and particularly from the perspective of a small & medium enterprises (SME) under the new industrial constraints ». We propose and argue our original approach to knowledge management which really consider some specific needs of SME. This approach starts with knowledge needs of current projects (i.e. pulled by customer demand). We propose a tool that uses the context of knowledge, and particularly the information system (IS), to help people know (by notifying them) when to look for knowledge to reuse without having to previously formalize it. 1. Introduction Management of knowledge is becoming an increasingly important concern of the enterprise [O'Le 98], [McC 98]. However, current solutions in this area do not seem to be convincing to SME [Die 98], [Bart 97], because they do not consider their specific needs [Mah 98-2]; [Mah 97]. Working in close cooperation with KSB Annecy, an SME employing 250 people, we found it necessary to pr..