Enterprise Knowledge Portalsfor Naval Personnel: Challenges

in DevelopmentILI 2001 27 March 2001

Joan Buntzen

Librarian of the U.S. Navy

buntzen@spawar.navy.mil

and

Dr. Maxine Reneker

Naval Postgraduate School

mreneker@nps.navy.mil

Naval Library Environment

• Libraries and information centers– 115 special, medical, and academic– 94 general, 300 shipboard

• Organization– Librarian of the Navy and policy under Department

of the Navy Chief Information Officer– Web site: www.don-imit.navy.mil (Knowledge Sharing

Interest Area)– Consortium of Naval Libraries

• Content licensing• Information literacy• Next Generation Library planning

Definitions

• Gateways and portals– Web/internet portal – Corporate/intranet portal– Enterprise knowledge portal

• “Enterprise Knowledge Portals to Become the Shared Desktop of the Future” (http://www.itforecast.com/Data/Software/content/SW032699PR.htm)

The Two Projects• Next Generation Library (NGL) and Naval

Postgraduate School Knowledge Portal (NPS KP)• Articles:

– Reneker, M. and Buntzen, Joan L. (2000), “Enterprise Knowledge Portals: Two Projects in the United States Department of the Navy,” The Electronic Library, vol.18, No.6, pp.392-402

– Buntzen, Joan L. (Fall 2000), “The Next Generation Library,” chips (www.chips.navy.mil)

Naval Network Environment

• Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI)• Many portals in the Department

– Anthes, Gary H. (August 21, 2000) “Charting a Knowledge Management Course,” Computerworld (www.computerworld.com)

• The Port– Entrance point to NMCI

• Facilitate enterprise knowledge discovery and sharing

Integrating NGL in NMCIand The Port

• Refining our vision• Unifying and coordinating requirements … and

exploiting new opportunities– Access to commonly licensed resources– Consortium collection development– Inter-library Web mining– Collaborate for distributed reference– Create new linkages

• Digital science library hub at Naval Research Laboratory Library

Alternative Information Paths

• Global and local– NMCI and the Port

• General and specialized– Sources– Searching

Naval Postgraduate School Environment

• Graduate university• Corporate university• Mandate to tie curricula and research closely to the

needs of the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense

• Targeted student body• School reorganization• Competitors• Dudley Knox Library mission

NPS Knowledge Management Goal and Objectives

• Ultimate goal: increase the richness of the NPS information environment to further academic and organizational goals

• Facilitate a common understanding of the NPS information environment

• Increase ability to obtain information about sponsors and other customers

• Provide ability to locate people on campus• Facilitate contributions to the NPS knowledge base• Incentivize information capture• Use knowledge management tools to improve internal

processes such as thesis research

NPS Portal Status

• Autonomy PIB software selection• System configuration

– Server– Firewall

• Test system developed November 2000• Selected School for pilot• Administrative data through snapshot reports rather

than real time access

Approaches to Implementation of Pilot

• Target to School of International Graduate Studies– External resources– Usability testing planned– Promotional materials– Buy-in from Dean

• Implementation team– License librarian– Reference/collection development specialists– Head, Information Services– Systems librarians– Information technology personnel at NPS

Home Page: Data from User Stakeholder Interviews

• Flag level: AOL, FLAGNET homepage, NPS homepage• Military administrative personnel: Outlook up all day;

Pointcast, NPS Intranet• Provost and deans: MS web, Yahoo, NPS Intranet,

Satellite link data, Netscape homepage, Google, Northern Light, Netscape

• Civilian administrative personnel: DFAS homepage, Cyberfeds, NPS Intranet, list of favorite bookmarks

• Department chairs: NPS Intranet, bookmarks,

Alternative Information Paths

• View Dudley Knox Library web pages as the interface between the NPS community and the Library service program (http:// web.nps.navy.mil/~library/

• Newly updated NPS home web page with Google search engine (www.nps.navy.mil) and updated intranet pages accessible only on campus

• Dudley Knox Library web page net search site– http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/netsearch.htm

• Dudley Knox Library resources page– http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/resources.html

• Browser list of favorites

NPS Intranet Search Page

New NPS Internet

Home Page

NPS Internet Search FromThe NPS Home Page

Dudley Knox Resources Page

Dudley Knox NetSearch Page

NPS KP Page

Challenges in NPS KP development

• Funding issues• Maintenance of spiders• Constantly changing array of potential relevant

information sources• Availability of systems personnel• Resistance to contributing Office documents• Delays in upgrading or implementing new internal

databases, e.g., financial and course management

What we did right

• User assessment thorough and still accurate– Desire for customizable interface– Requirements: ease of use, ease of access,

training, good system performance• Restructuring of NPS Schools and Institutes creates

opportunities for pilot testing• Expectations of the campus community remains

positive• Integrator performance excellent• Hardware procurement timely and allows for

scalability• Separate NGL and NPS KP implementations allow

appropriate targeted development

Future Direction

• Integrating the development of the NGL and the NPS KP into the Department of the Navy knowledge centric organization

• People, technology, and social relationships to make things work