Special Supplement to November/December 2001

Best Practices in Enterprise Knowledge Management

Sponsored by

Andy Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Overture Article: Shifting Toward NormalcyI'm paraphrasing someone badly, but writing about knowledge is like danc-ing about architecture. It really can't be done to anybody's satisfaction . . .

Michael Richtberg, Citrix Systems . . . . 3 Using a Portal to Speed Information and Application DeliveryIn today's fast-paced global marketplace, the ability to give workersready access to the applications and information they need for sounddecision-making has become imperative for businesses striving to beproductive, agile and profitable . . .

Kirstie Chadwick, DigitalOwl . . . . . . . 6 Making Premium Information Resources CountInformation is the lifeblood of business. Yet, many of today's knowledgeworkers are bombarded with a variety of new information sources, bothinternal and external . . .

Rita Gupta, Sun Microsystems . . . . . . 8 Capturing, Understanding and Leveraging KnowledgeCapital in the Internet Age

The growing ubiquity and sophistication of the Internet, together with anincreasingly mobile workforce, has made effective knowledge manage-ment a critical component of any business strategy . . .

Geoff Moore, TOWER Software . . . . . 10 Managing Business Information—Content in ContextMost Document Management systems overlook a critical informationretrieval concept by relying upon document content as the primarysearch mechanism . . .

Steve Pappas, KGain . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Enterprise-Wide ModelingThe study of knowledge and its application to human endeavor goesback thousands of years to our first inquiry of “why . . .”

Eugene Sayan, Softheon . . . . . . . . . 12 It is All About Knowing Your Customer...If you are like many other businesses, you have spent millions of dollars . . .so, what overall business value has your organization gained . . .?

James Conlan,BCI Knowledge Group. . . . . . . . . . . 13 Improving Business Processes

At this point in the evolution of knowledge management, it is clear thatthe creation of knowledge transfer systems is of primary importance. . .

David Morgenstern, Symtrax . . . . . . 14 Managing Report Content and DistributionEnterprise report reformatting and electronic distribution responds tocustom customer requirements and reduces costs. . .

Scott Potter, Quiver . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Building an Enterprise TaxonomyToday’s enterprise contains hundreds of thousands of documents located in distributed content stores across various departments andglobal offices . . .

be any significant positive effect. In fact, anIDC report states flatly that $7.5 billion willbe wasted by the Fortune 1000 this year.

Back To Basics“The first thing you have to do to be

effective with customers is to first be ableto communicate with yourself,” says BobKruger, CEO of Citrix Systems. “I thinkback to John Wooden (UCLA Bruins’coach, and the winningest basketball coachin NCAA history). He believed in ‘learningthe basics,’ and his teams did this betterthan anyone else. Companies need to focuson their communications basics before theycan effectively deliver the kind of informa-tion necessary to keep customers happy,and coming back time after time.”

So is that knowledge management?“We have the technology and services thatunderpin knowledge management, and wehave the software that facilitates knowl-edge management, so I guess you can saywe’re in that space,” says Kruger, “but welook at it as improving the way companiesdo things so they can see a return on theirinvestment.”

Or, in other words, getting back to thecomfort zone where ROI, cost-savings andmetrics still mean something.

Controlling the FlowKirstie Chadwick is CEO of Digital

Owl, a company that manages the licens-ing, personalization and delivery of premi-um content.

“People spend 25% of their time lookingfor stuff. They make important business deci-sions based upon that information and a lot ofthe time it goes completely unvalidated. Youdon’t know where it came from, whether it’saccurate or how old it is. It’s easy to see therisk involved in failing to manage that contentdelivery,” says Chadwick.

But doesn’t all this strict managementof content prevent the happy accidents, theserendipity, the discovery that leads sooften to innovation? Can’t you clamp thepipeline a little too hard?

“Well, there’s ‘wanna know’ and thenthere’s ‘gotta know,’” explains Chadwick.“For instance, typically there’s a stratificationin the information you need. There’s externalstuff, such as stock reports that might beused, and internal stuff such as contract formsand details” that are more or less mandatory.Who knows what the ideal ratio of “wanna-to-gotta” is in any given situation?

The trick is to control the flow to a man-ageable, understandable amount. The risk inmissing something is always a possibility—“There’s no magic bullet,” she admits—but thecosts associated with NOT trying can be great.

So, what does it say about the currentstate of KM that these two, sharp solutionsproviders, one who encourages a high levelof openness in the exchange and access ofinformation and the other who advises acertain level of control, both consider them-selves part of the underpinnings of knowledgemanagement? Because they’re both right.

I think it underscores the interdepend-ence of those two concepts: “knowledge”and “management.” That a Niagara Falls ofinformation without a way to filter itthrough our little brains is just as bad as noinformation at all.

And that, at the end of the day, thesurest way to solve a problem is to give aperson the time, the space, the latitude andthe resources to figure it out. There’s nobetter management strategy than that. ❚

Andy Moore has often been a well-known presence in the emer-gence of new technologies, from independent telecommunicationsthrough networking and information management. Most recently,Moore has been pleased to witness first-hand the decade’s most signifi-cant business and organizational revolution:the drive to leverage organi-zational knowledge assets (documents, records, information and objectrepositories) and the expertise and skill of the organizations’knowledgeworkers in order to create true learning organizations.He can be reachedat andym@mint.net and welcomes feedback and conversation.

Special Supplement to

Shifting TowardNormalcyGetting back to basics in a changing world

I’m paraphrasing someone badly, butwriting about knowledge is like dancingabout architecture. It really can’t be doneto anybody’s satisfaction. “Knowledge” isone of those indefinable conditions. Likepornography or art, I can’t tell you what itis, but I know it when I see it.

And “knowledge management” is evenfurther out of reach, since it tries to control,disseminate and manipulate a totally shape-less, placeless, mass-free, amorphous puffof smoke. Knowledge either is or it isn’t,and there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it.

That’s why there’s been a shift in theway we approach “knowledge manage-ment.” People tend to seek out that whichthey understand in concrete terms.Abstractions like “knowledge” need notapply. Nowadays, the focus slides from theslippery to the places where we can gettraction. Places like “Customer RelationshipManagement...” now there’s a parade I canget behind. And “Intellectual PropertyManagement...” it’s not very far from “Ithink, therefore I am” to “I thunk, thereforeit’s mine.”

So it’s no surprise that—with a fewnotable exceptions—the articles we pub-lish in these Best Practices White Papersare trending away from the theoretical, andmore toward the familiar territory of thethree “Ts”—tools, technology and techsheets. The market seems to be seekingcomfort zones in which to interact with itstechnology vendors. The economy andsubsequent technology spending patternshas contributed to this. A queasy uncer-tainty about the political climate has con-tributed to this. And, unfortunately, thesimple fact that many of the initiatives thatare underway are not ... quite ... satisfying... has definitely contributed to this.

A study by the Gartner Group quotedelsewhere in this white paper states thatwith all the spending on IT and customerretention software solutions, there has yet to

November/December 2001S2

By Andy Moore, Editorial Director, KMWorld Specialty Publishing

Andy Moore is an editorby profession andtemperament,havingheld senior editorial andpublishing positions formore than two decades.As a publication editor,Moore most recentlywas editor-in-chief andco-publisher ofKMWorld (formerlyImagingWorld)Magazine.Moore nowacts as a contract

editorial consultant and conference designer.AsKMWorld's Specialty Publishing Editorial Director,Mooreacts as chair for the current series of "Best Practices WhitePapers," overseeing editorial content,conducting marketresearch and writing the opening essays for each of thewhite papers in the series.

Andy Moore

Editor

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S3

say “yes,” although out of 10 people, therewould probably be 10 different answers!

Let’s try to bring a definition of portalinto perspective, and then look at how CitrixSystems, Inc. is bringing server-basedapplications together with personalizedinformation.

Merrill Lynch defined the enterpriseinformation portal (EIP) as “a single gatewayto personalized information needed to makeinformed business decisions.” This type ofportal is usually internal-facing, and intended

to increase employee productivity by reduc-ing the effort required to find and obtain cru-cial information. The business driver behindEIPs is that speeding the access to up-to-date,accurate, pertinent information will increaseemployee productivity.

In the short time since the crafting ofthat definition, portals have grown toencompass web sites, intranets, knowledge

management systems, document manage-ment systems and ERP applications, amongothers. Popular web sites such as Yahoo!,Excite and more specialized content siteshave all referred to themselves as portals.IT departments seeking to provide central-ized access to corporate information via aWeb browser have referred to intranets asportals. And knowledge management andERP software vendors have similarly calledthe web interfaces to their products portals(for example, mySAP.com).

The widely varied uses of the wordhave muddied its meaning, but for organi-zations seeking a solution for informationoverload and integrated access, it seemsthat Merrill Lynch said it best. Let’s lookagain at that definition: a single gateway topersonalized information needed to makeinformed business decisions—in detail.◆ A single gateway—this implies that

users can go to one location, typicallyaccessed through a web browser, for allthe content they require to do their jobs.

◆ Personalized information—content ispresented in a manner that suits the indi-vidual’s role within the organization andreflects personal preferences. Both theorganization and the user can controlwhich information is made available andhow it is displayed.

◆ Informed business decisions—employ-ees make decisions every day, but not all ofthem are informed. When pertinent data ishard to find, or takes too long to locate, itwon’t be available when a decision isweighed. Making the best decisionsrequires current, relevant information.The Merrill Lynch definition addresses

only the portal’s ability to integrate and pres-ent information. Citrix believes that in theirfullest manifestation, portals aggregate, per-sonalize and serve both applications andinformation. In this model, portals canreplace the desktop by providing a virtualworkplace that exhibits the ease, conven-ience and ubiquity of browser-based access.

Making the Portal Productive

To provide maximum productivity, aportal must offer a full complement ofinformation and application resources.Workers need fast, reliable access to busi-ness applications for planning, decision-making and execution. Typically, theseapplications represent a major invest-ment—and often a competitive advan-tage—that the corporation wants to contin-ue to use when moving to a Web-basedsystem. From the standpoint of productiv-ity, application access through the portal isneeded so users are not forced to switch

Using a Portal to SpeedInformation andApplication Delivery

Defining the Portal

In today’s fast-paced global marketplace,the ability to give workers ready access tothe applications and information they needfor sound decision-making has becomeimperative for businesses striving to beproductive, agile and profitable. It becomeseven more important as mobile knowledgeworkers dominate key positions in organi-zations. These employees depend on imme-diate access to the shared knowledge of the

organization from distributed and remotelocations.

The popularity of Web-based comput-ing, combined with the need to expediteinformation access, has spurred adoption ofenterprise portals. The last few years haveseen a great deal of swirl over the definitionof a portal. Most people, when askedwhether they know what a portal is would

“Most people, when asked whether they

know what a portal is would say 'yes,'

although out of 10 people, there would

probably be 10 different answers!”

By Michael Richtberg, Director, Product Management, Portal Products, Citrix Systems, Inc.

back and forth between the browser and thedesktop to do their work.

These business drivers make a com-pelling case for including existing andupcoming applications in a portal imple-mentation, but few current applicationswere developed specifically for web-baseddelivery. Although it is possible to use exist-ing applications by reengineering them forweb publication using HTML, scripting,Java and other proprietary means, thisapproach is time-consuming and expensive,and may delay portal implementation.

The challenges: How can interactiveapplications be web-enabled for inclusion inenterprise portals without requiring reengi-neering that can significantly delay and/ordilute ROI from the portal implementation?

And how can these applications be moreefficiently managed, deployed and support-ed to realize the cost benefits of a portal?

The most compelling answer involvesthe use of server-based computing, a keyenabling technology for portal implementa-tions. Server-based computing centralizesapplications on a server and deploys themto users who access them on a client device.

In the server-based computing model,application processing, administration,support and deployment are based entirelyon a central server (often a “farm” ofservers). Users see and work with theapplication interface, sending keystrokesand mouse movements over the network tothe server, and receiving screen updates,files and other data. Because processingtakes place on the server, any devicebecomes, in effect, a thin client. Only min-imal data travels across the network, result-ing in greatly improved application per-formance and security.

This architecture enables applicationaccess on virtually any device, includingwireless and handheld communicationdevices and information appliances, run-

ning on a wide array of platforms. Deviceand platform flexibility help to fulfill thepromise of Web computing as the idealmodel for today’s mobile workers, who canmove seamlessly from one device to anoth-er and receive a consistent, personalizedinformation set, including applications.

Fast Web-enablement of ApplicationsDelivers Immediate ROI

Returning to the earlier question of howto adapt interactive applications for portal-based access, there is a way to quicklylaunch a portal—and quickly begin reapingthe benefits—by Web-enabling existingWindows, UNIX and Java applicationswithout rewrites. With this approach, appli-cations are not converted to HTML oranother language; rather, they are deliveredin their original form with full functionalityintact. In addition, the user interface remainsthe same, so there is no need for user retrain-ing on the application. Organizations canalso tailor the applications each userreceives for additional security.

Citrix NFuse works with CitrixMetaFrame to deliver existing, interactive,server-based applications over the Web.

While MetaFrame provides server-sidecommand and control of applications,NFuse instantly “webifies” those applica-tions, helping to create a central, online vir-tual workplace that promotes user efficien-cy and leverages a company’s investmentin proprietary and off-the-shelf appli-cations.

However, NFuse requires a Web “shell”in which to operate—such as a corporateintranet site—or a portal. NFuse enablesusers to access their MetaFrame applica-tions without leaving the portal workspace.This powerful combination allows users towork with all the applications and informa-tion they need to do their jobs in the mostefficient manner. The personalization capa-bilities of a portal also ensure that usershave access to only the applications andcontent they are authorized to see.

One member of the Citrix family of por-tal products is XPS. The XPS portal plat-form accesses information from back-endsystems, delivers it through a personalizedinterface and allows users to interact withthe data—from anywhere at any time. Theimmediate availability of meaningful infor-mation, presented the way users need to seeit, results in smarter and faster decision-making, and ultimately a more responsiveand competitive organization.

XPS can adapt to an organization’sexisting business processes without forcingchanges to the business model, and willcontinue to adapt over time as processesand partnerships evolve. The product’sopen, XML-based architecture allows foradditional functionality to be snapped-in asneeded. XPS’s scalability ensures the por-tal will be able to accommodate a growinguser/information base while providingsecure and reliable access.

By integrating information from dis-parate back-end systems and automatingbusiness processes, XPS allows an organi-zation to leverage its existing technologyinvestments. It's a way for an organizationto focus on its core competency while

S4 Special Supplement to November/December 2001

"Device and platform flexibility help

fulfill the promise of Web computing as the

ideal model for today's mobile workers."

"To provide maximum productivity,

a portal must offer a full complement

of information and application resources."

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S5

increasing collaboration with vital partners,customers and suppliers.

These portals solutions also can bescaled for the large enterprise, or for small-er organizations or departments. Thereshould be flexibility, full feature sets andfunctionality, and the ability to scalequickly as the organization grows.

In short, these Web-enablement tech-nologies allow companies to immediatelybegin receiving both tangible and intangi-ble returns on their portal implementation.Customers can:◆ Continue to use the business applica-

tions they have already spent money toacquire/develop since critical businesssolutions can be deployed on the web;

◆ Instantly integrate and publish virtuallyany application into the portal interfacewhile retaining full application interac-tivity and eliminating time-consuming,costly application rewrites;

◆ Avoid user re-training on existing appli-cations because the user interface staysthe same;

◆ Personalize the delivery of applicationsand content to individuals or groupsbased on login identity and/or organiza-tional roles; and

◆ Provide a single point of access to infor-mation, enabling users to be more pro-ductive and contribute to overall corpo-rate effectiveness ❚

Citrix Systems, Inc. provides application serving software and

services that extend the virtual workplace everywhere by providing

secure, reliable access to applications and information, and a consis-

tent user experience, on any device or network connection.Citrix solu-

tions enable organizations of all types to deliver business applications

to users with greater manageability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

The company’s products, including Citrix MetaFrame, Citrix NFuse,

Citrix Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), and Citrix portal

applications, have been adopted by more than 100,000 organizations,

including 99 of the Fortune 100.Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale,FL,

Citrix markets its solutions worldwide through value-added resellers,

system integrators, consulting firms and OEM licensees.Citrix is traded

on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol CTXS and is part of the

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Citrix, ICA, MetaFrame, MetaFrame XP, XPS, and NFuseare registered trademarks or trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. inthe US and other countries. Java is a trademark of SunMicrosystems, Inc. Macintosh is a registered trademark ofApple Computer, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark ofMicrosoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of the OpenGroup. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are theproperty of their respective owners.

For more information, please visit the Citrix Web site at

http://www.citrix.com.

Citrix NFuse software enables instant personalized delivery of existing Windows, UNIX and Java applications to be integrated andpublished into a Web environment for access on any device running a standard browser.

Citrix Benefits in Review

The Citrix suite includes server-based computing products,such as MetaFrame, that help organizations gain efficiency andimprove productivity. Users gain tangible cost benefits by:

◆ Reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through single-point management. Citrix MetaFrame application serversoftware centralizes application administration, support anddeployment, enabling IT staff to implement rollouts andupgrades and conduct troubleshooting and training from theserver farm rather than having to visit each desktop.

◆ Speeding up ROI on new applications Users can access newapplications and upgrades as soon as they are installed on theserver.

◆ Permitting the most diverse set of client platforms to ben-efit from the portal. Citrix Independent ComputingArchitecture (ICA) technology, which provides the architec-ture underlying the Citrix application serving environment,supports Windows , Macintosh, UNIX and web operating plat-forms. This allows users to continue using their currentdevices, or choose inexpensive thin devices.

◆ Supporting application deployment via any connection,with minimal bandwidth demands. The advent of wirelesscommunication devices that incorporate Web browsers willundoubtedly generate user demand for mobile portal access.Citrix ICA enables application access over wireless networksas well as more traditional wired LANs and WANs with verylow bandwidth requirements.

time instead of using information sourcesthat are licensed to the corporation.

According to the Outsell study, end-users are turning to the Internet for two mainreasons: (1) difficulty in locating premiuminformation sources within their portals orintranets; and (2) clumsy management ofthe interfaces (passwords, search tools, etc.)that are specific to each of these resources.

A critical business concern is that end-users verify information they find on theInternet only 18% of the time. This impliesthat they may be making business deci-sions based on information that is not nec-essarily reliable or valid. Also, informationfound on the Internet is, on average, at leastthree months old, and is often stale com-pared to premium information sources.

Premium information providers havevalid, timely and reliable information, butare dependent on their corporate clients’intranets or portals for presenting theirinformation interfaces effectively toknowledge workers.

For more than 20 years, premium infor-mation providers, such as Dialog, Lexis-Nexis and Factiva, have been invaluablesources of quality business information tocorporate knowledge workers. Today,these information sources are an integralpart of most knowledge management ini-tiatives. However, from the perspective ofthe corporate market, the architecture ofthese vendors’ platforms is beginning tocause significant pain with its limited abil-ity for flexible licensing arrangements,such as global department, pay-per-use,time-based or per-user licensing. Theseinformation sources often require knowl-edge workers to use custom interfaces tofind information, and are limited in theirability to control information outside oftheir closed platforms.

In recent years, a new generation of infor-mation “syndicators,” such as ScreamingMedia, NewsEdge and Yellowbrix, haveentered the market. These vendors providesophisticated filtering of information andenable “real-time” population of intranetsand portals with relevant news articles.However, even these vendors are limited intheir ability to deliver premium businessinformation, such as research reports, indus-

try journals and financial data due to copy-right and control issues.

Information buyers in the corporatemarket realize that these external informa-tion dynamics could have a negative impacton critical business decisions. Corporateinformation users are hampered by the limi-tations of licensing and access interfacesavailable from premium informationproviders. Conversely, information providersare hindered by a dependency on the archi-tecture of the clients’ corporate portals orintranets for their information resources tobe properly presented to users.

Requirements for Better LicensingControls and Usage Reporting

To pay owed royalties to authors andpublishers, external information providersrequire detailed data on how end-users useand share content within their peer groups.For external information providers, arecent successful case states that freelanceauthors are owed royalties for each use oftheir works in corporate environments andon Internet sites (Tasini vs. The New YorkTimes). As a result, this need is becomingmore critical than ever.

Today, most external informationproviders control end-user access with apassword or IP-address. Managing pass-words from many different informationsources is a significant challenge for theinformation professional and other knowl-edge workers who do not want to have alist of logins and passwords to remember.

To complicate matters further, IPaddress control implies that the end-userneeds to be inside the corporate firewall toaccess information. Many informationproviders address their inability to trackusage across sites by requiring enterprisesto purchase full site licenses for every facil-ity. This causes significant frustration onthe part of the corporations, which want topay only for what is needed and used, with

Special Supplement to

Making Premium Information Resources Count

Information is the lifeblood of business.In addition to being critical for businesssurvival, information constantly needs toflow to the right individual at the righttime. Yet, many of today’s knowledgeworkers experience information overloadas they are bombarded with a variety ofnew information sources, both internal andexternal. This overload results in usersspending a significant amount of timegathering and filtering information—timethat should be spent analyzing and makingcritical decisions with the information.

According to an August 2001 report byForrester, “the pursuit of external informa-tion ties up 14% of the typical knowledgeworker’s week; internal information isresponsible for another 11%.” This findingis consistent with other available marketresearch, and indicates that management ofexternal information sources is extremelyimportant in any knowledge managementinitiative. The overall cost to an organiza-tion related to employees finding current,trusted external information is enormous interms of time spent and resources used.

To date, knowledge management initia-tives have focused on deploying internalcontent management, document manage-ment, collaboration and enterprise infor-mation portals. The overall vision is to har-ness the flow of internal informationsources and efficiently deploy them to thedesktop of individuals within an organiza-tion. However, seamless integration of pre-mium external information and controlleddistribution of highly confidential internalinformation has not been adequatelyaddressed yet—and is becoming a top pri-ority at many corporations.

Business Information Sources:A Key Concern for Corporations

The deluge of “free” business informa-tion on the Internet has created a new set ofissues for information-intensive compa-nies. According to Outsell, a research firmspecializing in information use within cor-porate and knowledge environments, cor-porate end-users now utilize the Internetfor their information needs 70% of the

November/December 2001S6

By Kirstie Chadwick, President and CEO, DigitalOwl

Kirstie Chadwick, CEO andPresident of DigitalOwl, co-founded the company withRobin Phelps in 1999. Prior toDigitalOwl, Kirstie was co-founder and managingpartner of Vantage360, a start-up consulting firm. In hermore than 15 years ofexperience in the high-techindustry, she has been theDirector of Strategic NewBusiness Development atMentor Graphics and theDirector of Sales at Wind River

Systems and ISR Global Telecom. Kirstie was a softwareengineer for a total of seven years at Lockheed Martin and SunMicrosystems before moving into business development.Kirstie graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. degree inComputer Science from the University of Central Florida.

Kirstie Chadwick

President and CEO,DigitalOwl

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S7

no dependencies on site locations. Once anend-user is logged in, it is difficult to pre-vent access to specific content items, as itis usually an “all-or-nothing” accessmethodology. Corporate clients are nowasking their premium information providersfor highly flexible licensing and accessmethods to their information. To maintainand expand the relationship and businesswith their corporate clients, informationproviders will need to address thisrequirement quickly.

Corporations also need detailed usage-tracking feedback in order to understand

what information sources are most usefulto their knowledge workers. In addition tobetter management of external informationsources, usage control and reporting is crit-ical for highly confidential internal infor-mation such as legal documents, patentworks, research and development initia-tives and company merger data. Theseusage metrics are a key component to col-laboration initiatives, as information pass-along and recommendation data is directlytied to determining which informationresources are the most appropriate for mak-ing critical business decisions.

Addition of Highly ConfidentialInternal Information

Content management vendors havefocused extensively on managing internalinformation such as e-mail, web site contentand document repositories. Access controllists (ACLs) are traditionally used to controlunauthorized access to specific informationitems. However, ACL mechanisms only pre-vent access at the server repository level,and cannot adequately track usage andaccess to the degree that external informa-tion sources require. In addition, ACLs arenot sufficient for tracking the use of highlyconfidential information, such as dataabout a merger or acquisition, research anddevelopment efforts or patent work. This isbecause ACLs cannot control informationonce it arrives on a user’s desktop or ispassed along to other individuals.

Corporations need assurance that bothinternal and external information sourcesare seamlessly available as part of knowl-edge management initiatives, while provid-ing content controls and tracking that arerequired for premium and highly confiden-tial information sources.

An ideal knowledge management infra-structure should seamlessly combine stan-dard internal information sources, newsfeeds, externally licensed premium busi-ness information and highly confidentialbusiness data into a single flow.

Corporations should be able to proac-tively present and deliver personalized, rele-vant information to end-users while minimiz-ing the dependencies on access control list(ACL) mechanisms, IP addresses or pass-word controls. Corporations need to leveragesecure, desktop-based content managementprocesses to present and deliver informationneeded by end-users, while ensuring con-trolled distribution within the organization.Adding this capability benefits both the cor-poration and the sources of these valuableinformation resources.

DigitalOwl enables corporations tosecurely integrate highly valuable and con-fidential information sources within largercorporate knowledge management and con-tent collaboration initiatives.

The result is that knowledge workers andtheir communities of peers have personal-ized access to relevant sources of informa-tion, both external and internal, while ensur-ing the integrity and control of theseinformation sources within users’ spheres ofinfluence as well as on their desktops andwireless devices. They will spend less timesearching for premium information from dis-parate sources, and more time efficiently uti-lizing these premium information resourcesfor their decision-making needs. ❚

For more information, please visit the DigitalOwl web site atwww.digitalowl.com

Integrating, Managing and Tracking Disparate Information Resources

DigitalOwl’s KineticEdge™ can either be implemented as a standaloneinformation management solution, or can be integrated with informationportals, corporate intranets or other knowledge management initiatives.

KineticEdge delivers personalized premium external information andconfidential internal information proactively to end-users’ desktops andPDA devices, while ensuring control of these sources at the desktop level.

KineticEdge ties personalized content collections made up of a variety ofsources to functional groups of users, departments, project teams, or otheruser group assignments.

KineticEdge allows corporations to monitor and control the desktopusage of the content within their organization. Some examples of contentusage monitoring provided include:

◆ Circle-of-influence—who recommends information to whom

◆ Relevancy feedback from end-users via content item reviews

◆ Number of people using an item and what sections they are using

◆ Usage within functional groups of users or departments

◆ Frequency and length of time specific items are accessed

To cope with the rising tide of informa-tion, the IT industry has begun to developsolutions that help capture, analyze andleverage explicit as well as tacit knowl-edge. Because there is no single, silver-bul-let solution that encompasses every knowl-edge management requirement, corporationsrequire a best-of-class approach that inte-grates multiple solutions and is scalable,extensible, and available 24x7x365.

Sun’s Knowledge Management StrategySun’s knowledge management strategy

combines best-of-breed solutions alongwith an infrastructure comprised of servers,an operating system, middleware (such asweb servers, directory servers and applica-tion servers) and technologies such as Javaand XML.

Since knowledge flows from manysources both within and outside a company,an open system architecture is imperativefor building an effective knowledge man-agement infrastructure. An open systemarchitecture is essential for two reasons:

Extensibility. Open platforms providethe widest selection of knowledge manage-ment solutions and the most seamless inte-gration paths.

Scalability. Open platforms have becomethe environments of choice for Internets,intranets, and extranets because they arehighly available and can scale horizontallyand vertically to meet enterprise needs.

Financial Services: A Case StudyLeading organizations around the globe

use Open Text and Sun solutions to helpsolve key business challenges. For example,a large European financial service organi-zation runs Open Text’s Livelink on the Sunplatform to help enhance its CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) solution.

To optimize its asset management andinvestment consultancy services, the organi-zation wanted a software solution to supportfinancial processes from a customer-centric

perspective. The combination of the Solarisplatform and Livelink resulted in a fasterinformation retrieval process, enablingthe bank’s financial consultants to more effi-ciently define the best investment strategyfor individual investors. In addition, thecompatibility of the Solaris platform andLivelink enabled this organization to imple-ment its CRM solution in only 12 weeks.

Sun hardware is built from the groundup around open standards. It is also knownfor its extensibility and scalability as wellas high reliability and performance. Sun’sSolaris 8 operating environment forms thecore of this infrastructure. Solaris 8 offersclustering and kernel-based multi-thread-ing for scalability, and features such asdynamic re-configuration, hot patching andalternate pathing for availability.

Layered on top of that, Sun provides anarray of industry-leading middleware appli-cations through its iPlanet offerings. Theseinclude the industry leading iPlanet DirectoryServer, the iPlanet Web Server, and for easydevelopment, deployment and managementof large-scale knowledge management appli-cations, the iPlanet Application Server.

Sun is also pioneering efforts in key tech-nologies such as Java and XML that repre-sent the backbone of knowledge manage-ment applications. Java technology providesa unified, open technology platform thatscales from embedded device to desktop, settop and enterprise server. Scalability andproductivity is critical for knowledge man-agement applications which, like most enter-prisewide systems, must be built quickly andbe deployable over a wide range of targetplatforms. The Java technology frameworksfor enterprises include the Java 2 Platform,Enterprise Edition (J2EE ), Micro Edition(J2ME), Enterprise JavaBeans architectureand JavaServer Pages framework.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) isa standardized, platform-neutral methodfor representing data that is transmittedbetween computers. The power of XMLlies in its ability to separate content fromformat, thereby allowing content to be eas-ily reused and republished to differentmedia. Using XML, companies can moreeasily ensure the flow of information, mak-ing it easier for them to engage in collabo-ration and information exchanges. Thewhole XML effort was started by JonBosak of Sun Microsystems. Currently,Sun is integrating XML technologies intoits core Java platform and developing tech-nology to make it easier for developers towrite web services components by marry-ing Java technology and XML.

Sun has established close relationshipswith leading knowledge management software vendors such as Autonomy,Documentum, Knowledge ManagementSoftware, Open Text and Smartlogik. Sun

Special Supplement to

Capturing, Understandingand Leveraging KnowledgeCapital in the Internet Age

The growing ubiquity and sophisticationof the Internet, together with an increas-ingly mobile workforce, has made effec-tive knowledge management a criticalcomponent of any business strategy. Tosuccessfully manage and leverage knowl-edge and expertise across global bound-aries, corporations need to implementknowledge management strategies thatenable them to capture, manipulate, anddeploy the information residing in theirenvironments. Analyst research confirmsindustry recognition of this requirement:IDC estimates that the knowledge manage-ment software market will grow from $1.4billion in 1999 to $5.4 billion in 2004.

The Growth of Explicit and Emergenceof Tacit Knowledge

The Internet has ignited an explosion ofexplicit knowledge within enterprises,comprised of structured and unstructureddata. Structured data is information foundin databases and legacy systems; unstruc-tured data is information found in text doc-uments, e-mails, HTML pages and the like.Historically, corporations have invested insystems that leverage structured data withintheir enterprise databases, but have notmade similar investments in their unstruc-tured information assets. Consequently,knowledge located on disparate reposito-ries such as file servers, web servers andapplication databases has remained untappedand underutilized.

A similar growth in tacit knowledge isoccurring with the Internet providingknowledge workers access to a broaderrange of information and ideas that fueltheir creativity and intellectual develop-ment. Tacit knowledge is not easy to cap-ture or express; it is composed of intuition,ideas, unanalyzed experiences, skills andhabits. Although valuable to corporations,tacit knowledge is often lost when knowl-edge workers leave the enterprise.

November/December 2001S8

By Rita Gupta, Market Segment Manager, Sun Microsystems

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S9

also offers the iPlanet Portal Server and itsassociated products as a complete solution formanaging knowledge assets.

Directory Publishing: A Case StudyYell.com’s mission is to place the

world’s Yellow Pages online to enable any-one, anywhere to search the Yellow Pages tofind what they need quickly and effectively.Yell.com needed a search engine and serverplatform powerful enough to manage themassive traffic and data volumes generated,including the ability to:◆ Cope with 100 million page impressions

per month.◆ Manage peaks of up to 100 simultaneous

searches per second and a base load of 50searches per second with no appreciableloss in the quality and speed of the service.

◆ Be 99.95% reliable.Yell.com tested search engines and

servers from top worldwide vendors usinga main query index consisting of two mil-lion records. Results had to be ranked bythe number of paid advertising features.Yell.com selected Smartlogik on Sunbecause this combination delivered consis-tently fast response times handling up to 20queries per second within 550 millisec-onds. Most importantly, the tests validatedthat Smartlogic scales on Sun while main-taining high performance levels.

Knowledge Management FrameworkTo help enterprises explore knowledge

management, the Sun Educational Servicesgroup (SES) developed the knowledgemanagement framework. This frameworkreinforces the concept that successfulknowledge management initiatives mustaddress specific business issues and answerthe basic question, “Who needs to knowwhat and how will they acquire it?” Theknowledge management framework con-tains four elements: business drivers behindthe need ("why"), content ("what"), people("who"), and the approach ("how").

“Why?” Knowledge management can bevery expensive and time consuming; there-fore, these solutions have to align with anorganization’s overall goals and objectives.

“What?” Content needs to be identified,captured and categorized for easy reuse andadaptation.

“Who?” Knowledge management mustidentify and develop expertise within theorganization.

“How?” Technology has been an inno-vating force in emerging approaches toknowledge management: “repositories,”“communities of practice,” and “continu-ous learning.”

Repositories focus on creating a libraryof explicit, well-documented knowledge

using document/content management tools toindex, track revisions and channel workflow.

Communities of practice emphasizeconnecting rather than collecting, dialoguenot just monologue, and tapping intodynamic, tacit knowledge rather than static,explicit knowledge.

Continuous learning enables individu-als to acquire knowledge. Learning Manag-ement Systems enable continuous learningby providing assessments, training, eLearningand expert interactions.

Putting the knowledge managementframework to work in its own organization,SES conducted an extensive, internal“knowledge audit” to see how informationflowed within the worldwide organization.

Surveys were conducted and three majorrecommendations were made: 1) improvecommunications training, 2) target websitecontent to worldwide audiences, and 3)ensure "vision" is understood and appliedworldwide. A year after making improve-ments, the survey was re-conducted. Results:a 25% improvement over the prior year’s sur-vey results

Internally At SunSun regularly coordinates meetings

between Sun and customer executives, pro-viding invaluable customer insight. Thesemeetings require extensive coordination inplanning, preparing and disseminating infor-mation across geographies and divisions.

To address these needs, Sun imple-mented communities of practice using soft-ware from Intraspect. Members in thesecommunities rely on shared documents,threaded discussions, expert directories andinformation links to collaborate and developmeeting content across diverse geographicaland divisional groups. Sun also developeda multimedia tool to disseminate webcastsof customer interviews and written tran-scripts on a secure website to allow users tosee and hear customers express their thoughtsand sentiments.

Since implementing these communitiesand multimedia tools, Sun has significantlyreduced e-mail traffic and the number of e-mailed documents, freeing up valuable e-mailserver space. More importantly, Sun is nowable to convey information in a more effec-tive, powerful manner to users, while short-ening the learning curve for new members.

Knowledge EngineeringSun is also focusing on knowledge

engineering. Sun’s Global KnowledgeEngineering group (GKE) provides scalablebusiness frameworks and technical plat-forms for delivering reusable, timelyknowledge worldwide. In alignment withSun’s Product Life Cycle managementprocess, GKE has developed the PKLC

(Product Knowledge Life Cycle) program toestablish common languages for managingthe capture and maintenance of knowledgeassets over the product lifecycle. This pro-gram consists of creating reusable modelsthat integrate technology, processes andknowledge workers to ensure that customerneeds are met. One such model, piloting atthe end of this year, focuses on improvingcommunication and collaboration betweenservices and product engineering groups todeliver product feedback to the productgroups as quickly as possible. (Keep an eyeout for future articles on this initiative.)

Sun’s Sales OrganizationSun’s Global Sales Organization (GSO)

wanted to shorten the learning curve of newsalespeople so they could devote more timeto generating sales. New salespeople werebombarded with information, spending20% to 40% of their time looking for infor-mation such as prices, configurations, prod-uct information, etc.

To speed time to information, GSOimplemented the MySales Portal solution toallow the capture, identification, accessibili-ty, distribution and categorization of informa-tion efficiently and effectively. To help salesfind the right information at the right place atthe right time, the MySales Portal uses soft-ware from various vendors including:◆ Documentum—document management◆ Interwoven—content management◆ Intraspect—communities of practice◆ Autonomy—search◆ Semio—taxonomy generation◆ iPlanet LDAP Directory Server—expert

identification◆ iPlanet Application Server

GSO measured its impact and discov-ered that in the first year alone, they saved$12 million in items such as paper savingsand lower website administration costs.More importantly, GSO calculated that theinvestment payback translates into recap-turing only 5% of the time spent on findinginformation: a system will pay for itself ifa first year sales rep saves 20 to 40 min-utes per week using the new system.Bottom line—substantial return oninvestment in a short period of time.

Leveraging Knowledge Capital TodayWith the growth of the Internet and an

increasingly mobile workforce, leveragingorganizational knowledge is not an option—it is an imperative to succeed in today’scompetitive landscape. Companies that havethe foresight to manage their knowledgecapital today with an open, scalable andextensible approach will have an advantagein the future, making it tougher for theircompetition to catch up. ❚

equally important document attributes:context and structure.

According to the Canadian Descriptionand Classification of Government RecordsWorking Group, “context and structure is asimportant and, in some respects even moreimportant than content. A record by itself is oflittle value. It is only when it is combined withother records to document (or provide evi-dence of) a given activity that it will assumevalue. As a result, records must be describedin sufficient detail to ensure that the relation-ships between records...other related recordsand...related business processes and activi-ties can be understood.” (“Approach to theDescription and Classification of GovernmentRecords,” www.imforumgi.gc.ca/new_docs)

Similarly, the Australia RecordsManagement Standard states that in order tobe meaningful “...the contextual linkagesof records must carry necessary informa-tion to correctly understand the transac-tions that created and used them. It shouldbe possible to identify a record within thecontext of broader business activities andfunctions. The links between records whichdocument a sequence of activities should bemaintained.” (“Australian Standard: RecordsManagement AS 4390.1-1996”, Part 3 pg. 6.)

Unfortunately, automatic classificationbased on content does not ensure that theseimportant contextual relationships are cap-tured and preserved.

In the common vernacular, to be taken“out of context” indicates an omission offacts or a “twisting” of the truth. Frequently,

business information provided without con-text will be used to make or justify businessdecisions. It logically follows that decisionsbased on incomplete information may resultin less than optimal business outcomes.

Capturing and recording context is not asimple task. Often “context” may only beapparent to the initial recipient. Capturingthis contextual information can be extremelydifficult. In order to preserve the context of adocument, it is necessary to preserve asso-ciated documents and to establish docu-ment relationships. In some instances, itmay be necessary to record additional con-textual metadata on the document profile.The additional effort required to annotatecontextual information will often be neg-lected by users.

Information management systems thatpreserve the contextual relationshipsbetween the otherwise unrelated informa-tion objects improve information retrieval.If context can be combined with contentduring the initial search then the result-setwill contain fewer irrelevant entries.

Significantly, once a single, relevant doc-ument is found, the user can (by navigatingcontextual relationships) immediately find allof the related documents with minimal effort.

The importance of context in informa-tion management is by no means a newphenomenon. Subject-based file-folders,for example, are fundamentally a means ofcontextually relating correspondence.Similar grouping mechanisms can be appliedto electronic documents to ensure that con-textually related items are easily retrievedas a single collection.

Evolution of Context RelationshipsThe nature of information (and of infor-

mation in documents specifically) is that asingle item will often be relevant in multiplecontexts (i.e., people other than the originalcreator will find value in the information).Further, while the information is usuallyprovided in a particular context, over timethe information may become useful in othercontexts. The capacity for information sys-tem to capture the initial context and supportadditional context relationships as theyevolve will greatly facilitate informationmanagement and retrieval of information.

The need to manage information in con-text appears to have been overlooked bymany of today’s document technology solu-tions. The over-reliance on content as a pri-mary management and information retrievaltechnique will result in information reposi-tories from which precise and reliable infor-mation cannot be extracted. The disciplineof records management provides a numberof fundamental information managementprinciples that can be effectively applied tothe management of digital information. ❚

Special Supplement to

Managing BusinessInformation—Content in Context

Most existing Document Managementsystems overlook a critical informationretrieval concept by relying upon documentcontent as the primary search mechanism.The discipline of Records Management andthe requisite management of documentcontext holds the key to precise and rele-vant retrieval.

Since the late 1990s, the widespreaduse of computer technology and the adventof electronic business have profoundlyaffected the way in which business infor-mation is created, disseminated and man-aged. Word processing, e-mail and e-com-merce technologies have resulted in thedeployment of document solutions includ-ing imaging, workflow, electronic docu-ment management, integrated documentmanagement and corporate portals—all tohelp users draft, disseminate and findinformation more efficiently.

While the uptake of these technologieshas been rapid, the value of these systemshas been significantly reduced by an over-reliance on content as the major (and inmost cases the only) document manage-ment attribute.

The use of content for indexing andretrieval is attractive, as it allows an organ-ization to manage information with mini-mal user intervention and with relativelysimple database schemas. There are, how-ever, inherent problems with the approach,problems that become particularly evidentas the volume of information increases.

Context vs. ContentWhile a content index will return indi-

vidual items that meet specific selectioncriteria, it precludes the system fromreturning groups of related documentsunless all documents meet the specifiedcontent criteria. Many of the itemsreturned may be irrelevant to the user.Further, and perhaps more significantly,many relevant items are not returned. Thecontent-focused approach ignores two

November/December 2001S10

"The value of systems has beensignificantly reduced

by an over-reliance on contentas the major document

management attribute."

By Geoff Moore, Global Marketing Manager, TOWER Software

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S11

Knowledge is Like a Diamond

The beauty of a diamond is a function ofthe combined factors of Color, Clarity, Cutand Carat weight. These four factors are acombination of natural and human processes.These processes result in a diamond that cancapture and reflect light, attracting ourattention and sparking the imagination.

Similarly, the truth of knowledge is afunction of these combined factors: thepoint of view (POV) of the KM team(Color); the target knowledge domain(potential for Clarity); the descriptive andprescriptive power derived from the KMprocess (Cut); and the length of timedevoted to acquiring relevant data pointsand information, and pre-processing them(Carat weight). These processes result inknowledge that can capture and reflecttruth, attracting our attention and sparkinginnovation.

A Difference

Whereas diamonds are primarily theresult of natural processes, knowledge isprimarily the result of human processes:

Diamonds: The Color, Clarity and Caratweight of a diamond are inherentcharacteristics, or the overall quality thatresults from a long series of naturalprocesses. The Cut of a diamond is given bythe hands of a human being and, whenperformed precisely, can reveal thediamond’s inherent ability to capture andreflect light.

Knowledge: The “Color,” “Caratweight” and “Cut” of knowledge aresynthetic characteristics, or the overallquality that results from a long series ofhuman processes. The “Clarity” of aknowledge domain is given by its essentialnature and context and, when perceivedprecisely, can reveal the knowledgedomain’s inherent ability to capture andreflect truth.

Relation to Value

Truth is to knowledge as beauty is todiamonds, but what of value? The overallvalue of a diamond is determined by all fourfactors; but arguably, the most important, toincrease the inherent value of a diamond, isthe human process (Cut), which reveals thediamond’s ability to reflect light. Similarly,the overall value of a knowledge domain isdetermined by all four factors; but arguably,the most important, to increase the inherentvalue of a knowledge domain, are the humanprocesses—the dominant POV (Color), depthand breadth of preparation (Carat weight),and execution (Cut), which reveal the domain’sability to reflect truth.

Human versus Inherent Constraints

A diamond cutter can take an inherentlysuperior diamond, in the rough, and lessenits value with errors made during the Cut.Similarly, we can understand how a teamof people can take an inherently superiorknowledge domain, and lessen its valuewith errors made with the Color of theirPOV, while assembling its Carat weight, orduring the Cut.

Conversely, a superior diamond cuttercan make a flawless Cut; but, if thediamond’s Color, Clarity and Carat weightare inferior (potential to reflect light), thediamond cutter will be unable to increasethe diamond’s inherent beauty and value.Similarly, a superior team of people canColor, Carat weight, and Cut a knowledgedomain flawlessly; but, if the domain’sClarity is inferior (potential to reflect truth),the KM team will be unable to increase itsinherent truth and value.

Recommendation

Emphasize enterprise-wide modeling,whether at high or low levels of abstractionand with or without techniques likemetaphor. It will enhance effective andefficient communication, vital to survivaland sustained profitable growth. The bestmodels, however, are those that provide anintegrative framework for vertical andhorizontal communication, during theentire lifecycle of an enterprise activity—from concept to cut. ❚

KGain enables its customers to achieve their goals more rapidlyand with less error through “fast and light” Enterprise Engineeringconsulting engagements and self-service digital content. We makeextensive use of metaphor and analogy to create and transfer ourenterprise-enabling Diamonds of Knowledge™. For example, ananalogy to musical composition is used in V2T2: General BusinessModel and Methodology, when applying V2T2 to EnterpriseRelationship Management.Please visit us at www.kgain.com and theV2T2 Knowledge Diamond™ at www.v2t2.com

Copyright © 2001 KGain. All Rights Reserved.

Enterprise-WideModeling

Introduction

The study of knowledge and its ap-plication to human endeavor goes backthousands of years to our first inquiry of“why.” The modern enterprise, a learningorganization, does well to study bothclassical and contemporary sources. Youwill uncover gems, enabling you to see thepast and the present more clearly—andseize the future.

Knowledge is the domain of epis-temology, a branch of philosophy, andfocuses on the nature, sources and limits ofhuman knowledge. There are severaltheories of knowledge spanning manyauthors and multiple texts. Of interest to theenterprise is the “correspondence” theory ofknowledge, which holds that the truth of aproposition is related to its correspondencein reality. In other words, the truth of ourobservations about the world is directlyrelated to our ability to model the world.

One technique can catalyze enterprise-wide modeling by its ability to establish aresonant correspondence between differentbut complementary knowledge domains—metaphor. Metaphors and, by extension,analogies are powerful techniques. Byrelating disparate domains that resonate,they encourage insights about targetdomains to emerge, enabling the enterpriseto magnify, calibrate, and articulate its focus.

Analogies can be used at both high andlow levels of abstraction in service to theenterprise. At higher levels, analogies can beapplied to enterprise objectives such as theformulation of its vision, philosophy andculture. At lower levels, analogies,depending upon their congruent extensibilitywith reality, can be applied to enterpriseoperations such as methods, training andarchitecture.

With this brief introduction, KGainpresents the knowledge-diamond simile,metaphor, and analogy as an enterprisemodeling example for KnowledgeManagement (KM).

By Steve Pappas, President, KGain

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)(such as the solution provided by Softheon)represents a platform-level convergence ofthese three technologies.

An ECM solution should provide manyimportant features, including:

The acquiring and indexing of busi-ness documents of all types regardless oftheir source or format.

A Content Repository should be capa-ble of accessing any other business appli-cation or knowledge repository regardlessof the source, making documents from dis-parate systems available from the userscreen or portal. Document objects of vari-ous types that relate to a single customer orbusiness partner are accessible from themetadata index and are linked in a “virtualelectronic folder” as necessary, includinglegacy and client/server computer-gener-ated data documents, Web content, text, e-mail and scanned images.

A partner relationship managementportal should allow business partners toaccess all documents relevant to the salesprocess. This includes product data andspecifications, proposals, price lists,invoices, inventory status, order status,commission reports, contracts and othersales material. This content is linked to theCustomer Relationship Management sys-tem for one-stop partner support.

Unified access to content from dis-parate sources, including ERP, CRMand legacy.

It should be possible to view or printdocuments anywhere, regardless of thedevice or location. For example, withSoftheon software the user can transformdocuments from the repository for the Webon the fly without programming (includingimage documents, text documents andcomputer-based) into all-points-address-able data stream formats such as PCL, IBMAFP and Xerox/Metacode/DJDE.

Federated searching and linking of dif-ferent document types in the repositorywithout requiring the user to return toapplication-specific retrieval screens is cru-cial to effective ECM systems.

The ability to enable secure and per-sonalized access with extensive audit trails.

Document-level security, coupled withmetadata, is vital to protecting critical busi-

ness content. For example, “InsuranceAgent A” should not be able to access“Insurance Agent B’s” customer policies orstatements. Robust document securityshould also link to the personalization serverto further ensure only authorized access tothe documents.

A long-term regulatory compliantstorage and archival.

ECM should provide a long-term his-tory available for customer service, legal,accounting, and a business intelligencefunction long after the business content isgenerated. Softheon hierarchically archivesall documents on magnetic disk, tape andoptical-based media, throughout the docu-ment life cycle.

The ability to augment and stream-line existing business processes.

Integrated ad-hoc and production work-flow through ECM automatically controlsand routes all business content throughouta department or enterprise, ensuring thatthere is no time lag in the completion of aprocess (problem escalation and resolution,management approval, routing). Workflowrules should be easily implemented using agraphical interface.

While many organizations are strivingto improve customer service, the successfulones will thrive and differentiate them-selves from their competition by extendingthe traditional content and businessprocesses to their customers, employees,partners and suppliers. In turn, the strongercustomer, supplier and partner relationshiptranslates to reduced operating cost,streamlined processes and improved prof-itability—the operational excellence. ❚

Special Supplement to

It is All About KnowingYour Customer...

If you are like many other businesses, youhave spent millions of dollars implement-ing robust ERP solutions, upgrading yourcomputers and networks, investing in e-commerce and even increasing yourInternet connectivity. You have archivedevery single business transaction in yourSAP R/3 system, recorded every customerinquiry in your Clarify CRM, captured everye-mail, even scanned and indexed everypiece of correspondence.

So, what overall business value has yourorganization gained? More importantly,when do you expect to see a return on yourinvestments, if any?

The most valuable business content inthe New Economy continues to be aboutthe customer. Knowing everything aboutyour customer not only improves yourexisting service level but also opens newrevenue opportunities. Achieving thesebusiness goals would require reorganizingmillions of business objects in the form of“electronic content.”

So how do you get to know everythingabout your customer?

By definition, content is your cus-tomers’, partners’ and employees’ unifiedview of the disparate sets of informationnormally stored and managed by discon-nected business applications, from ERP toimaging systems.

Traditionally, Electronic DocumentManagement (EDM) implementations(using imaging, document and workflow)focus on the departmental or micro-levelresolution to specific business problems,with little or no emphasis on the Internet,personalization or collaboration. Althoughthe Enterprise Information Portal (EIP)solutions do provide improved interactionover the Internet, they are lacking in busi-ness process management, audit and secu-rity. Finally, the Web Content Management(WCM) implementations are primarily tar-geted at the HTML and related Web con-tent, with very little, if any, interface withthe real business applications.

However, the creation of a high-perform-ance back-office content management sys-tem is a complex undertaking that cannot beaccomplished in any reasonable time frameby developers looking to integrate EDM, EIPand WCM solutions from multiple vendors.

November/December 2001S12

With over 18 years ofexperience in the softwareindustry, Eugene Sayan wasthe entrepreneurial spiritbehind many softwarecompanies specializing inimaging, documentmanagement, workflow andComputer Output to LaserDisk (COLD) software. Duringhis four years at ImageBusiness Systems (IBS), hisresponsibilities includedstrategic business planning,industry and market

analysis, research and development planning andmanagement, quality control, product management,customer-support management, process and workflowdesign, marketing and sales planning, and cost and pricinganalysis. He has provided consulting and projectmanagement services to companies such as IBM andComputer Task Group (CTG), including large-scaleintegration proposal management on multi-million dollarprojects. Mr. Sayan serves as the President, CEO andChairman of Softheon™, Inc. Softheon enables Global 2000corporations, small organizations and government agenciesto harness and manage the transactional content that supports their overall operations.

Eugene SayanPresident,CEO and Chairman,

Softheon™, Inc.

By Eugene Sayan, President, CEO and Chairman, Softheon™, Inc.

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S13

According to a recent IDC study, the toptwo business uses of knowledge managementare to capture and share best practices and toprovide training or corporate learning.(International Data Corporation, May, 2001)Action

Additionally, IDC anticipates thatFortune 1000 companies will waste $7.5billion this year due to difficulty accessinginformation. (ibid)

While web portal and content manage-ment tools have made information moreaccessible, they have also helped support thegrowing problem of information overload.

In order for process-centric knowledgeto be useful, it must be organized within atask-specific actionable hierarchy so thatpeople can get answers to questions with-out searching through a series of web pagesand documents. These answers must bebased upon the most up-to-date andapproved knowledge. In addition to beingused as decision support, these actionableprocedures should be leveraged as tacticaltraining for the purpose of job certification.Measurement

Implementing a measurement structure,which is bound to both the process and thecustomer, provides the basis for respondingto warning signals or problems. The mar-riage of process-centric knowledge andmeasurement will ultimately enable theorganization to proactively drive the deci-sion-making process towards implement-ing the highest potential improvements.Collaboration

One of the benefits of organizinginstructions in the form of a process is thatend users and managers gain a clear under-standing of how their roles fit into thelarger picture, which leads to opportunitiesfor collaboration to improve the process.These opportunities exist at both the taskand cross-functional levels and when cou-pled with the appropriate measurementscan lead to significant improvement.Transformation

The ultimate objective of the transforma-tion cycle is to not only provide best prac-tice-based decision support and training toan organization’s staff, but to focus on theimprovement and/or redesign of businessprocesses. This is based upon a clear under-

standing of how the process works, a focuson client-relevant performance measures,and proactive cross-functional collaboration.This cycle enables an organization to priori-tize and target solutions aimed at eliminatingthe root cause of performance problems.

Benefits of the KnowledgeTransformation Cycle

The benefit of process-based knowl-edge transformation transcends organiza-tional units and departments. It providesthe basis for a common understanding ofthe cross-functional nature of business aswell as the importance of customer focusand continuous process improvement.

“Research has shown that the costs ofpoor quality (rework, mistakes, abandonedprojects, etc.) in service-based businessesand processes typically run as high as 50%of total budget” says “The Six SigmaWay.” In today’s competitive environment,improving business processes as part of anenterprise KM initiative not only makes sensebut also is imperative.

Some of the benefits include the following:◆ Reduce the learning curve within and

across processes;◆ Support the performance of new and ex-

isting employees;◆ Focus on performance measures to proac-

tively improve processes;◆ Improve customer satisfaction and accel-

erate the rate of improvement;◆ Share ideas up and down the organiza-

tional hierarchy and◆ Leverage best practices with an eye on

continuous process improvement. ❚

Improving BusinessProcesses

At this point in the evolution of knowl-edge management as a practice, it is clearthat the creation of knowledge transfer sys-tems is of primary importance. The use ofcontent/relationship management applica-tions and web portals in the developmentof centralized databases, communities ofpractice and taxonomies has proven thatthere is no one-size-fits-all solution. Onearea that is gaining in importance becauseof its ability to directly impact the bottomline is an integrated approach focusing onimproving business processes.

“Whether designing products and serv-ices, measuring performance, improvingefficiency and customer satisfaction—oreven running the business—Six Sigmapositions the process as the key vehicle ofsuccess.” (“The Six Sigma Way—HowGE, Motorola and other top companies arehoning their performance,” Pande, Nueman,Cavanagh, McGraw-Hill, 2000.)

Knowledge Transformation CycleKnowledge management today recog-

nizes the need to exploit intellectual capi-tal, but many practices fall short by onlyconcentrating on individual knowledgecomponents. Integrated knowledge has:◆ structure (it’s process-centric);◆ links (it integrates parts into a dynamic,

cohesive whole);◆ relevance (it’s meaningful to execution of

the task at hand); and is◆ accurately delivered in a time-critical en-

vironment.An integrated solution is more effective

from a process-improvement, decision-support, training and risk-management per-spective than a focus on just storing andaccessing information from a central repos-itory. The transformation cycle begins withinstruction, action, measurement, collabo-ration, transformation and ultimatelyreturns back to instruction.Instruction

Capturing instructions or leveraging exist-ing information is the first critical step towardtransforming tacit knowledge and experienceinto explicit knowledge, which can be minedand shared across an organization in the formof process-based best practices.

By James Conlan, CEO, BCI Knowledge Group

James Conlan is CEO ofBCI Knowledge Group.Previously, James heldvarious senior consulting,sales, and marketingpositions within theparent company,Breakthrough Concepts,Inc. and has lead a seriesof successful knowledgeintegration projects forleading financial servicesfirms. BCI KnowledgeGroup provides bothknowledge management

solutions and services that focus on transformingbusiness processes. Our flagship product, TheManager, is a web-based suite of applications thatprovides an organization with an efficient way tocapture, maintain and share knowledge in the form ofprocess-centric decision support, collaboration,training, and risk/metrics management. The companycounts J.P. Morgan Chase, First Union and Mellonamong its customers.

James ConlanCEO, BCI Knowledge Group

success is based on high levels of service,emphasizing close client relationships andresponding to their evolving requirements.To meet their high level of service objec-tives, they were searching for an automatedand secure method to make spool filesavailable in various formats including PDF,DOC, XLS and RTF. Compleo, fromSymtrax, was ultimately selected to deliverincreased customer response and servicelevels, plus significant reductions in thetime to produce and distribute the requiredcustom reports.

Kenny Panton, a member of the GlobalISD iSeries 400 Technical Services Group,helped provide technical and infrastructuresupport for Bank of Bermuda’s InvestmentManagement System and other key applica-tions. As Panton explains, “Bank ofBermuda required an automated, securemethod for making spool files available in

various formats using a variety of differentmethods.” They needed a replacement forthe company’s in-house function of down-loading spool files to PCs. “Previously, theentire report would be converted to a data filethat the users had to download using ClientAccess/400 before manually formatting andfaxing the report to meet the individualclient’s requirements. Also, our internalapplications would have to be downloaded

and formatted using this method. Tailoringand distributing these reports was quite timeconsuming and not the most efficient ofprocesses,” explains Panton.

The Solution“Our users now have the facility to

download directly into Microsoft Word andExcel from an NT Explorer-style inter-face,” says Panton. Furthermore, the banknow has the ability to import multiplereports, drag and drop reports into Word,Excel, PDF, Access, as well as the Web ande-mail. Users can parse out data intocolumns for spreadsheets, format differentpages, select and omit lines and previewthe results on screen.

Currently, the software is used daily todistribute reports to clients all around theglobe. Panton explains: “Once reportimport formats are correctly set up, theycan be applied again and again for othersimilar types of reports by just pointing andclicking. The report can be automaticallyparsed, downloaded into any popular PCformat and distributed throughout the com-pany. This 2-step point and click processcan be applied to multiple reports. In short,Bank of Bermuda now delivers customreformatted reports to our clients effectivelyand efficiently."

The ResultsPanton is convinced that this ability has

saved his company a great deal of time andmoney over the past three years. They spendless time formatting reports while focusingon more pertinent job functions. E-mailcapability also plays a crucial role. Insteadof printing and faxing or mailing reports toclients, users can quickly deliver the customreports electronically. Panton also notes thathis users now have more independence fromhim and his support staff. The users can cre-ate ad hoc reports anytime they want with-out having to call Panton for help, and that’sthe way he likes it. ❚

Symtrax develops and distributes information management and distribution software.For additional information,contacthttp://www.symtrax.com,mailto:sales@symtrax.com or call 800-627-6013.

Special Supplement to

Managing ReportContent and DistributionAutomatically Reformatting Reports Meets

Custom Customer Requirements

The Background

The spool file is the primary format formidrange IBM iSeries system enterprisereports. Similarly, other mainframe,midrange and PC systems usually outputreports in a TXT format. For maximumproductivity and usability, most report filesare reformatted to common desktop applica-tions including Excel, Word, PDF andHTML. To further enhance the reports andreduce costs, custom forms and e-mail dis-tribution replace printed multipart form setsand the associated paper distribution costs.

Symtrax Corporation, founded in 1989,develops and markets software solutions thataddress these common “information man-agement and distribution” requirements.Symtrax solutions are in most marketsincluding manufacturing, education, health-care, financial, distribution and others.

The Requirement

One such enterprise utilizing Symtraxsolutions is the Bank of Bermuda, a globalfinancial institution that provides financialservices to corporate, private, and retailclients. Founded in 1889, its headquartersis in Hamilton, Bermuda, and it has a net-work spanning 15 of the world’s key finan-cial and offshore centers. Bank of Bermuda’s

November/December 2001S14

"The Bank of Bermuda now

delivers custom reformatted reports to

our clients effectively and efficiently."

David Morgenstern is VicePresident for Symtrax Corp.,the North America divisionof Symtrax Holdings, Inc. Hehas been with Symtraxsince the start of thedivision in 1997, helping tomake Symtrax one of theleaders in developing andmarketing information andreport distribution software solutions.David Morgenstern

Vice President,

Symtrax Corporation

By David Morgenstern, Vice President, Symtrax Corporation

Special Supplement to November/December 2001 S15

screening, and categorizing content, organ-izing knowledge becomes an efficient andquick-to-deploy initiative.

But the lack of visibility and control overthe categorization engine’s decisions has leadto less than desirable accuracy. Today’s auto-categorization solutions deliver at best 60% to70% accuracy. Mis-categorizing or losing oneout of every three documents is simply unac-ceptable within the enterprise when organiz-ing high-value or confidential information.

A Hybrid Approach—The Flexibility toDeliver Both Accuracy and Efficiency

Quiver addresses the accuracy and effi-ciency ‘trade-off’ by introducing a new andunique approach to organizing content—ahybrid approach. QKS Classifier™ organiz-es valuable content by combining the effi-ciency of technology with the accuracy ofhuman judgment, driving increased produc-tivity and more informed decision-making.

Using a unique combination of best-of-breed auto-categorization technology andhuman oversight acquired through an intu-itive Directory Management Toolset,Quiver’s hybrid taxonomy platform deliv-ers the most intuitive and accurate view ofenterprise information assets.

State-of-the-art auto-classification tech-nology automates the process of finding,screening, and categorizing information,enabling comprehensive and timely accessto enterprise content.

The directory and workflow managementinterface provides granular control overexactly what information is included, whocan access it, and how it is displayed. Clearvisibility into the categorization engine deci-sions allows information managers maxi-mum control of the employee experience.

A hybrid solution enables enterprisesthe ability to tune on a topic-by-topic levelthe amount of human oversight or automa-tion. This ensures accuracy where accuracyis demanded—for topics like HR and R&Dand efficiency where efficiency is desired—for topics like News.

An Intuitive Directory of EnterpriseContent—Communicating Knowledge

A taxonomy provides a centralized,integrated search and browse experiencefor end users.

Delivering an intuitive browse interfaceto users:◆ Improves productivity;◆ Increases informed decision-making; and◆ Helps users quickly find what they’re

looking for and spend less time searching.

A hybrid taxonomy platform has multi-ple applications within a variety of knowl-edge management initiatives:◆ Enterprise portals◆ Intranets◆ Extranets◆ Corporate websites◆ Application views

Augmenting advanced auto-categoriza-tion with human oversight is key to ensur-ing the highest quality directory for consis-tent and predictable information retrieval. ❚

Quiver, Inc. develops and markets categorization software thatprovides the most intuitive and accurate view of knowledge assets.Building on its core technology competencies in information classifica-tion, ranking and retrieval, the company delivers Quiver KnowledgeSuite ™ (QKS), a portfolio of information management products mak-ing Global 2000 enterprises more efficient and more productive.

For more information, contact Quiver via 1-415-863-9945,info@quiver.com or www.quiver.com.

Building an Enterprise Taxonomy

Today’s enterprise contains hundreds ofthousands of documents located in distrib-uted content stores across various depart-ments and global offices. Estimates predictthat unstructured information doublesevery three months [Gartner Group].

Employees require consistent and pre-dictable access to this growing knowledgeto effectively do their jobs. However, aseach new piece of content is added, theability of employees to find the informa-tion they need diminishes.

In the evolution of knowledge manage-ment, organizing information into an intu-itive topical hierarchy or taxonomy hasproven to be an efficient and productive wayfor end users to not only find, but also to dis-cover information. The topic tree presentsinformation in context, providing users theopportunity to quickly find relevant informa-tion for more informed decision-making.

Building a taxonomy or directory ofenterprise content, however, has tradition-ally been a challenge. Until now, enterpris-es have had two options for taxonomybuilding and maintenance—fully manualor fully automated.

Manual Approaches—Accuracy at a High Cost

Manual approaches employ humansalone in the process of finding, screening andcategorizing content. Corporate librarians orinformation managers define topics and liter-ally comb through content to manually placerelevant information in the right place.

This is a highly accurate process thatprovides the visibility and control neces-sary to deliver end users a useful directoryof enterprise content. On the downside,this approach can require excessiveresources, and does not easily scale to copewith the immense amount of informationgrowing within the enterprise.

Automated Approaches—Trading Accuracy For Efficiency

Fully automated approaches leveragetechnology alone to provide the efficiencyand scalability that manual solutions lack.By automating the process of finding,

By Scott Potter, President and CEO, Quiver, Inc.

Scott Potter, President andCEO of Quiver, Inc., is aseasoned technology andcorporate financeprofessional who joined thecompany in February 2000.Scott directs all businessfunctions and strategywithin Quiver, driving solidgrowth for marketapplications and strategicopportunities within theinformation managementindustry. Previously, Scottserved as executive vice

president at Worldres, an online hotel distribution network,where he drove the transformation of the B2C hotelreservation website to the hospitality industry’s leading B2Binfrastructure company. Scott began his career in corporatefinance at Venture Law Group where he played a pivotal rolein the Yahoo! IPO and Microsoft’s acquisition of WebTV.

Scott Potter

President, and CEO, Quiver, Inc

Organizing Information Is No Longer A Trade Off

For more information on any of the companies who contributed to this white paper, visit their website or contact them directly:

Produced by:

KMWorld MagazineSpecialty Publishing Group

For information on participating in the next white paper in the “Best Practices” series. contact:kathy_rogals@kmworld.com • 207.338.9870

Kathryn Rogals Paul Rosenlund Andy Moore207-338-9870 207-338-9870 207-236-0331kathy_rogals@kmworld.com paul_rosenlund@kmworld.com andym@mint.net

www.kmworld.com www.infotoday.com

Softheon™, Inc.1393 Veterans Memorial Highway, Suite 401SHauppauge, NY 11788

PH: 866.718.2195FAX: 631.390.1101E-Mail: sales@softheon.comWeb: www.softheon.com

Quiver, Inc.1065 Folsom StreetSan Francisco, CA 94103

PH: 415.863.9945FAX: 415.863.9946E-Mail: info@quiver.comWeb: www.quiver.com

Sun Microsystems, Inc.901 San Antonio Rd.Palo Alto, CA 94303-4900

PH: 650.786.9877FAX: 650.786.3445E-Mail: rita.gupta@sun.comWeb: www.sun.com

Symtrax Corporation5777 W. Century Blvd. Suite 1745Los Angeles, CA 90045

PH: 800.627.6013FAX: 310.216.9407E-Mail: sales@symtrax.comWeb: www.symtrax.com

TOWER Software11490 Commerce Park Drive, #120Reston, VA 20191

PH: 703.476.4203FAX: 703.476.4371E-Mail: information@ustrim.comWeb: www.ustrim.com

KGain1111 Arlington Blvd., 937 WestArlington, VA 22209

PH: 703.527.0992FAX: 703.527.0993E-Mail: steve_pappas@kgain.comWeb: www.kgain.com, www.v2t2.com

Citrix Systems, Inc.6400 NW 6th WayFort Lauderdale, FL 33309

8890 McGaw RoadColumbia, MD 21045

PH: 888.820.7917 or 410.423.4031FAX: 410.715.6835E-Mail: rebecca.hirschfield@citrix.comWeb: www.citrix.com

DigitalOwl6545 Corporate Centre Blvd., Suite 200Orlando, FL 32822

PH: 407.514.4800FAX: 407.206.7248E-Mail: info@digitalowl.comWeb: www.digitalowl.com

BCI Knowledge Group, Inc.135 Kinnelon Road, Suite 203Kinnelon, NJ 07405

PH: 973.838.4775FAX: 973.838.0474E-Mail: info@bciknowledgegroup.comWeb: www.bciknowledgegroup.com