IT-Based Knowledge Management Systems to Support the Design of Product Development Processes - Information Technology and Product Development - page 58

3.6.5 System Design

To design the system, a combination of a knowledge management development life
cycle and the common KADS approach (Schreiber) was used. Table 3.1 summarizes
the steps taken to design the system.

Table 3.1 A summary of the IT-based KMS for DOE

Company strategy and context
for DOE

The company's strategy is to identify a method of
producing high-quality products with a narrow range of
deviation from the required specification. Explicit
knowledge is available to allow the production of the
component to a specific point in the range, however, a
more accurate specification is needed. The KMS should
help capture explicit and tacit knowledge and employ that
to develop better development processes.

Data collection To collect data about the current development processes

several interviews were conducted with key engineers.
The developer also studied existing documents and
reports.

Design and scope of the IT
system

The scope of the IT system is to support engineers in
generating new experimental data, and thereby improving
existing processes. Both tacit and explicit knowledge is to
be addressed. Tacit knowledge will be recorded using
videos and pictures and documented where possible.
Explicit knowledge will be automatically imported from
existing documents and data files. The IT-based system
will support externalization, combination, and
internalization stages of knowledge creation.

Earlier, we identified several issues related to knowledge management that any
IT-based system should address. Below we explain how these issues were addressed
by the current KMS:

•

First, it was noted that KMS should be integrated into current work practices.
Further, the role of embedding KMS into organizational routines to encour-
age knowledge use was also highlighted. There is a concern however that this
may lead to static approaches with over-reliance on the system and not encour-
aging individuals to “think outside the box” (Darroch, 2005). To address this
issue the KMS will be tied closely with the daily tasks of the R&D engi-
neer/operator/technician. They will be able to search for knowledge associated
with these tasks. This will be used as a reference for employees wishing to
conduct their daily work. This, in turn, would result in the knowledge being
embedded into their organizational routines. The system will only act as a guide-
line and a remedy for known issues and further experiments will be required in
the event the prescribed remedies do not satisfy the user's requirements.