This paper deals with Organisational Memory Systems (OMS) which are seen as a new kind of information systems. OMS result from the application of advanced database and network technologies to support Organisational Memory concepts and approaches. It is suggested to take Organisational Memory concepts as a vision for the future development of corporate Intranets

Lehner, Franz

Maier, Ronald

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AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)AMCIS 1998 Proceedings Americas Conference on Information Systems(AMCIS)December 1998Organisational Memory Systems Application ofAdvanced Database and Network Technologies inOrganisationsFranz LehnerUniversity of RegensburgRonald MaierUniversity of RegensburgFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis1998This material is brought to you by the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in AMCIS 1998 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationLehner, Franz and Maier, Ronald, "Organisational Memory Systems Application of Advanced Database and Network Technologies inOrganisations" (1998). AMCIS 1998 Proceedings. 202.http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis1998/202-604-Organisational Memory Systems /Knowledge Management SystemsOrganisational Learning /Organisational DevelopmentSoftware Engineering /Data EngineeringTechnologiesSystems MIS/EISMultimediaWorkflowGroup-wareIntranetDocument-ManagementAdvancedDatabaseTechn.etc.Figure 1.  Framework and Conditions forOrganizational Memory SystemsOrganisational Memory Systems Application of Advanced Database andNetwork Technologies in OrganisationsFranz LehnerRonald Maier Department of Business InformaticsUniversity of RegensburgAbstractThis paper deals with Organisational Memory Systems (OMS) which are seen as a new kind of informationsystems. OMS result from the application of advanced database and network technologies to supportOrganisational Memory concepts and approaches. It is suggested to take Organisational Memory conceptsas a vision for the future development of corporate Intranets.Motivation and ConceptOrganisational Memory (OM) is a concept well known from organisation science and learning theory. Many approacheshave been developed which claim to guide organisations to use their common or shared memory in a more efficient way. Existingapproaches focus on organisational issues and consider the OM as a resource which has to be managed like capital or labour.With the advent of advanced database technologies (e.g. data warehousing, OLAP, data mining, knowledge discovery and bases,distributed data base systems, multimedia and hypermedia data bases and management support systems, like executiveinformation systems or management information systems) and net technologies, especially the so-called “Intranet“- or “Web“-technologies, sound information technologies exist to support organisational processes of generating, institutionalising, retrievingand disseminating information. However, so far the OM approaches lack the integration of these technologies as means tosupport the respective processes.The topic has taken on an intense sense of immediacygiven the worldwide processes of restructuring in botheconomy and society. Relevant projects are already beingcarried out, especially in large corporations.  Environ-mental dynamics and the pressure of competition thatnecessitate the development or the activation of newcapabilities are paving the way for change.  Theseadaptations occur automatically only in the rarest of cases,but presuppose (learning) processes. Important goalsinclude elevating organizational efficiency and flexibilityand overcoming growth limits.  In times in whichquantitative growth (e.g. through an increase in turnover,elevation of market shares, or the development of newmarkets) is only limitedly possible and the retention of thestatus quo is already viewed as successful, concentratingon qualitative dimensions gains increasing importance.One could look at this as an expansion inwards, whereinnew or previously unused potential and strengths shouldbe developed.The authors believe that there are so far no “real“OMS-tools (Organisational Memory Systems) availableand there possibly never will be an OMS-tool whichcovers the respective organisational processes on its own.“OMS-tool“ stands for development tools or tool-sets,applications or application frameworks respectively. There are, however, technologies and even systems around which supportcertain aspects of the OM. The authors hypothesise that the integration of the tools and systems can play a crucial and beneficialrole in improving a company’s position in the competition with a clear focus on organisational learning projects. Thus in ourunderstanding an OM system is a system which realises parts of the OM (also called organisational knowledge base) with thehelp of information systems and/or supports tasks, functions and processes closely related to the use of the OM (see Figure 1).-605-Establishing info-sourcesIndividual LearningInformation SharingInstitution-alisationAction "Feed-back"Repack-agingExternal Comm.Internal Comm.Cultureaccess and analysis technologiesDSS/EIS/OLAP 0 ++ 0 0 + + + 0 0 0data mining 0 ++ 0 0 0 0 + 0 0 0data base interfaces and gateways + + 0 + 0 0 + + 00Intranet search tools 0 ++ 0 0 0 0 ++ + 0 0communication technologiesmassaging systems + 0 ++ + 0 0 0 ++ ++ +chat systems 0 0 + 0 0 0 0 0 0 +network news ++ + ++ + 0 + 0 ++ ++ +electronic publishing + + ++ + 0 0 0 ++ ++ 0video conferencing 0 0 + 0 0 0 0 + 0 +co-ordination and co-operation technologiesworkflow + 0 0 + ++ + 0 0 + -groupware + 0 ++ 0 0 + 0 0 + +security technologiefirewalls + 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ++virus protection + 0 + 0 0 0 0 0 + ++electronic commerce technologieselectronic payment systems 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ++ +0EDI + 0 0 0 0 0 0 ++ 0 0support systemson-line education and training 0 ++ 0 + + 0 0 0 00EPSS 0 ++ 0 0 ++ 0 0 0 0 0Analysis of Intranet Technologies Based on the OIP ModelFigure 2 shows the possible support of Intranet technologies for organisational information processes which are part of OMS.The columns contain the ten processes of the OIP model (organisational information processing) [cf. LeMa1998]. The rowscontain the different Intranet technologies. The matrix fields reflect the expected support of each technology for each process.As an example we expect that individual learning can be strongly supported by decision support systems (DSS), executiveinformation systems (EIS) and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) (++).Figure 3. The Support of Intranet-technologies for Organisational Information Processes (Legend: ++ strong support, + weak support, 0 undecided or no influence,- weak negative influence, -- strong negative influence)ConclusionOverall goal of our research work in the field of OM systems is to bring together the concept of OM and the technologiesmentioned above. The corresponding main research question is whether the organisational approaches of OM can provide atheoretical framework for the integration of these technologies to support organisational information sharing. Our research workis still in progress. A comprehensive description of the research approach and first results will be published in [Lehn1998]. Thispaper reflects selected results from this work. There are, however, too many tools around which claim to support organisationalprocesses of generating, institutionalising, retrieving and disseminating information. Therefore this paper concentrated on toolsconcerning “Intranet“- or “Web“-technologies. These tools are used as examples to show what support for OM systems can beexpected today and what criteria future tools will have to meet. Currently we are carrying out two studies in Germany toinvestigate OMS in innovative companies and to find out which tools and systems are offered for the development of OMS.References[Lehn1998] Lehner, F.: Organisational Memory Systems. A new Dimension of Information System and OrganisationDevelopment, Wiesbaden 1998 (in print).[LeMa98] Lehner, F., Maier, R., Klosa, O.: Organisational Memory Systems - Application of Advanced Database andNetwork Technologies in Organisations. Report No. 19, ISBN 3-932345-19-3, Institute for Business InformaticsIII, University of Regensburg, February 1998.

Organisational Memory Systems Application of Advanced Database and Network Technologies in Organisations

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Organisational Memory Systems Application of Advanced Database and Network Technologies in Organisations

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