Eric Exploring the robustness of Rapid Deployment Collaboration … · Time to deploy Portal Journey Mode of deployment Top Down Bottom Up Months Hours Multiple Portals Intranet (s)

Exploring the robustness of Rapid

Deployment Collaboration Tools -

Experiences from several KM technology

workshops

Professor Eric Tsui

Knowledge Management Research Centre

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

9th October 2007

Honorary AssociateUniversity of Sydney (1990-present)University of Technology, Sydney(1996-2006)Adjunct ProfessorRMIT University (2001-2004)

Career so far

Exploring the robustness of Rapid

Deployment Collaboration Tools -

Experiences from several KM technology

workshops

Professor Eric Tsui

Knowledge Management Research Centre

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

9th October 2007

4

1.There is a consensus about

the term KMS

2. A KMS is always a technical

system

3. KMS is one integrated

system in the organization

Common myths of a KMS

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A Knowledge Management System (KMS)

6

KM Adoption in Hong Kong & Asia

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Agenda

1. KM Technologies & “KM Systems”

2. Frameworks for classifying KMS

3. Enterprise KMS Vs Rapid Deployment

collaboration tools

4. Methodology, Workshop Design &

Delivery

5. Observations and lessons learnt

6. The world as an “Open KM Laboratory”

7. Q&A

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• By functional types

• By support of knowledge processes

• By support of business processes

• By support of collaboration and/or projects

• Embodiment in core enterprise

applications

• For use by Small to Medium size

enterprises (SMEs), and large organizations

• For use by individual knowledge workers

Sample frameworks for

classifying KM technologies

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• By functional types e.g. online communities, instantmessaging, web conferencing, file sharing

• By support of knowledge processes e.g. search engines,data/text mining tools

• By support of business processes e.g. BPMS, dashboards

• By support of collaboration and/or projects e.g.workspaces, portals

• Embodiment in core enterprise applications e.g. EDMS,CRM systems, Product Information Systems, Best PracticeReplications, HelpDesk support, Q&A Systems

• For use by Small to Medium size enterprises (SMEs), andlarge organizations e.g. Hosted solutions, Open Sourcetools, Software as a Service

• For use by individual knowledge workers e.g. Desktopproductivity tools, Personal KM tools, Web 2.0 tools

Sample frameworks for classifying

KM technologies (cont.)

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KM technologies for organizational& peer-based knowledge sharing

Knowledge capture and codification

• Document Management Systems, Content Management Systems, …

Knowledge Categorization & Navigation

• Meta-data, Taxonomy Creation and Management, Content ManagementSystems, …

Collaboration

• Project Workspaces, Enterprise Portals, Knowledge Repositories, …

Search and Retrieval

• Search Engines, Peer-to-Peer Search, …

Knowledge Discovery

• Business Intelligence, Data Mining, Clustering and Text Mining systems …

Knowledge Transfer

• E-Learning, Web-Conferencing systems, …

Knowledge Visualization

• Enterprise Portals, Mind/Concept Mapping systems, …

Process Enablement

• Business Process Management Systems, Process Modelling

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Collaboration tools Vsother Enterprise KM tools

• Enterprise-wide KM systems (EKMS)– Centralised, top-down design, require a corporate infrastructure,

limited flexibility, need processes and a governance model,

considerable effort, time and cost to customise and deploy

– e.g. Enterprise search engines, taxonomy servers, document and

content management tools, data mining tools, portals etc.

• Group-based KM systems– “e-collaboration” tools (sometimes part of an EDMS or a portal)

– Support intra and inter-organizational collaborations

– Top down or bottom up deployments

• Personal KM systems/tools– Entirely user-centric i.e. decisions, operations, membership

– Business and Social needs

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Time to

deploy

Portal Journey

Mo

de

of

de

plo

ym

en

t

Top Down

Bottom Up

Months

HoursM

ultiple Portals

Intranet (s)

Days

WeeksE-mail

Collaboration

Tools

Document

Management

Systems

Dimensions for tool

deployment

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Rapid Deployment collaboration

tools

1. Supports basic synchronous & asynchronous

communications among groups of knowledge

workers

2. Integration with common desktop productivity

tools and operating systems

3. No in depth IT knowledge for download,

installation, configuration and operation

4. Rapid deployment (usually in minutes, or up to

hour)

5. Low, trial/personal or no license fee

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Case1. Strategic window is short and diminishing2. Inter-organizational collaboration is crucial3. Ad hoc, intermittent but intensive collaborations4. Requirements can be constantly evolving5. Need to harness social capital (P2P connections)6. Group Learning highly desirable for evaluation of toolsCharacteristics1. Possess standard features for collaborations2. Web-based or thick client3. Integration with common desktop productivity tools

and operating systems4. General IT user skills will suffice; no need for technical

support5. Download, install and configure in less than an hour6. Commercial (licensed/personal/trial), shareware, open

source or freeware

Rapid deployment

collaboration tools

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Objectives of the research

(Why consider such tools?)

Traditional requirements elicitation for Enterprise

KMS is done by a small group of stakeholders

1. Lengthy and intensive process

2. Evaluation results are not disseminated to a

wider audience

3. Difficult to cope with changing/new

requirements

4. Limited opportunity for fostering group learning

Enterprise KMS are usually tightly controlled –

approval, security, intra-organizational

Enterprise KMS and Rapid Deployment

Collaboration Tools can co-exist

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Methodology

• Custom Design In-houseworkshops (2 to 2.5 days each) onKM technologies

• Mini-lectures, exercises (individualand integrated) with hands-on

• Evaluate, install, configure,populate, present

• Shocks and Interventions

• Group reflection and lessons learnt

An Action Learning approach

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Workshop Design

• Pre-Workshop Survey

• Customised Program

• Integrated Workshop Exercise

• Themes

1. E-Government & One-Stop Portal

2. Paperless Government project

3. Evaluation of collaboration tools

• Sample data (includingorganizational assets)

• Shocks (i.e. unexpected events)

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Workshop Program

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Keeping a watching brief on …

KMRC continues to monitor and evaluate the

following types of tools

• Social Software – Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts,

Social Bookmarking, Social Networking

• WebConferencing, Instant Messaging

• Knowledge Visualization – Knowledge/Mind

Mapping

• Collaboration Platforms

• Taxonomy Creation and Management

• Open Source Software – Portals, Content

Management, Search Engines

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Workshop on Rapid Deployment

Collaboration Tools (2-2.5 days)

4-5 members in each team3 themes in the workshop; one theme for each teamEach team is provided with its own domain dataChoose a collaboration toolDownload, install and configure the toolBuild up the collaborative spaces with appropriate featuresPopulate the spaces with document librariesShowcase their space and reflection on lessons learnt atend of workshop

Mini-lectures

Group Exercises

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Sample collaborative spaces

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Shocks/InterventionsStress testing rapid & ad hoc

collaborations

A total of 4 workshops was conducted– 2 for OGCIO and 2 for ASL

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Lesson Learnt from

Integrated Workshop Exercises

Theme

E-Government and

One-stop PortalsPaperless Government Project

Evaluation of

Collaboration tools

Software selected Eye OS 9.3 MS GrooveTeamwork Live

Web-based tool

Shock 1

Urgent request to find some files

(all formats in the same topic)

Search function on desktop or

share drive not available in

‘EyeOS’.

Need to change to ‘Copernic’ for

federated search

It is possible to use the ‘Search’

function or through ’Discussion’

to seek for relevant files

Use desktop ‘search’ function

Shock 2

Need to maintain an update list

of subject experts/expert locator

Need to upload the contact list

document file

Possible with ‘MS Groove’ but

requires invitation.

Can also use ‘Wiki’

‘contact list’ function

Shock 3

Need to extend collaboration to

other parties and share folders

(with subsets of materials)

Can upload info to share drive Not relevantAt ‘teamwork workspace’, open

the VOIP Folder.

At ’Message’ zip the folders and

send out

Shock 4

Crisis Mx need instant virtual

meeting using VoIP + webcam

Face-to-face web conferencing

feature + ‘Skpye’ or ‘msn’ as

these are also allowed in their

department

MS Groove “Meeting’

Or use ‘Skype’

(but department not allow staff

to use this kind of software)

For web conferencing, switch to

‘Zoho’ Virtual Office or ‘Skype’

Conference.

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Lesson Learnt from

Integrated Workshop Exercises

Shock 2

Need to maintain an

update list of subject

experts/expert locator

Shock 1

Urgent request to find

some files(all formats

in the same topic)

Description

Software selected

Evaluation of

Collaboration tools

Paperless Government ProjectE-Government and

One-stop Portals

MS Groove eRoom Teamwork Live

Features :

allow multiple login for

editing

‘Discussion”,

“Calendar”

No need to work online

Expensive, linking with

MS Office

Online tool

Administrator creates an eRoom and invites

others to join.

Easy to us for project as there is a built in

icon with features “deliverables”, ”project

plan”, “schedule” etc. Works are already

classified.

There are ‘instant messaging’ for online

discussion. Members available can be seen.

No search function Presence of search function

Use ‘Excel’ to list the

experts, and then upload.

Or use Wiki page

Built in ‘resource contact list’ with name,

contact information, role, may add skills set,

e.g. add ‘product’ ‘management role’. Entry

can be searched so person’s contact can be

found.

Team member profile can be

managed and edited (name, phone,

address but no field for information

on projects done)

Can be searched within team

(N.B. Features may not be complete

for trial version)

It has search function.

Can search for text, data, owner…

Full text document indexed

(N.B. probably due to this trail version,

indexing was not done immediately but

overnight!)

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Lesson Learnt from Integrated Workshop Exercises

Evaluation of

Collaboration tools

Paperless Government ProjectE-Government and

One-stop Portals

Conclusion

Shock 5

Swap team members

Shock 4

Crisis Mx need instant

virtual meeting using

VoIP + webcam

Shock 3

Need to extend

collaboration to other

parties and share folders

(with subsets of

materials)

Workflow not present in trial versionCreate another team workspace to

share the selected folders by copying

and pasting into this workspace.

Invite those into this particular

workspace to share the materials

No such function.

To use ‘Skype’

‘eRoom’ does not support video-conferencing

Use “Mionet” which is good.

For Mionet, it has videoconferencing with

sound features. Virtual meeting can be done

when camera and mic connected.

(The weakness are it has no ‘workflow’,

‘whiteboard’

No videoconferencing function,

need to use other tools such as

‘Skype’.

NA NA NA

Will not us it as materials

cannot be searched even for

filenames (i.e. no search

engine)

Allows maximum 10 persons

to use, thus cannot be

employed for large enterprise

This does not support workflow but workflow

is very important for project management and

monitoring.

(probably provided with version, but not

supported in this trail version)

Maximum projects allowed are 5.

Other weaknesses: index and searching allowed

only overnight, no whiteboard for online

discussion, no video-conferencing, no

enterprise inbox…

Strength is that templates for projects are ready.

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E-government &

one stop Portals

PaperlessGovernment

Evaluation of

Collaborative Tools (I)

Evaluation of

Collaborative Tools (II)

Softwareselected

EMC eRoom EYE OS Teamwork Live EMC eRoom

Description Built-in templates readybut needs customizationto rebuild and redefine

Freeware

2 versions: opensource, serverbased and web-based publicversion

Good desktopdesign

Free

All members can see, keymember as administrator

Archive function forstorage

“Personal Workspace’only seen by owner

“Team Workspace’ forsharing information

‘Folder’-can create, storedocuments(50M capacity)

Other features“Messages’,calendar,’Schedule’,’Tasks”

Can share workspace withmembers by login.

Invite new members byemail, then follow the linkto join in the group

“Report’,’Administration’,’presence management’,data map-up and archivepossible

Can support multiplegroups

Service-on-demand model

Payment for every 6months, billed when used

Default features include’public folders’,’contactlist’,’document library’,’team sharecalendar,’forum’,’usefullinks’,’teammessages’,’task list’, For‘membership’ can add,change, remove, invitemembers


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Shock 1

Urgent need tolocate ALLmaterial on aspecific topic inthe collaborativespace andlaptop

Document libraryavailable but cannotsearch attachments bykeywords nor names.

Solution: to build anotherdocument library whichallows keyword search,input metadata withauthor names, fields etc.

Multiple documentspossible, accessed withlinks to common file.

Allow filtering for betterand quicker search

Can create folder fordocuments in owncomputer using “MyHome” and put filesto share in publicserver.

For sharing, only thepublic version can beused. Folderdirectory can becreated but not tofiles.

But cannot set rulesor rights. Anyonelogin the publicserver can access.

No search function

No desktop searchfunction, relying onother software tosearch

Documents put indocument library

Search by attributes(canadd, change attributes)

Also full text searchpossible,

e.g. found in’virtualmeeting room’

For web search only, nodesktop search.

Shock 2

Create a peoplelocator forsubject matterexperts

Create data base using itstemplate.

Searching for expertbased on questioningformat.

Can be customized: needmore metadata to definecategories e.g.availability, years ofexperience

“Phone in” functionbut not peoplelocator.

Can’t search.

Solution: create excelspreadsheet whichhas sorting andfiltering function thenupload to publicserver

possible People locator searchusing questions andanswers format.

Allows surveys and identifysubject experts.

From “Address book” getphone number and contactdetails.

Shock 3

Rotation of teammember

Easy to cope usingeRoom

Initially used thedownloaded versionto own computer. Asthe member rotated,everything is lost

Easy to assign members todifferent groups


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Shock 4

E-governmentteam needs toaccess latestfindings oncollaborativetools

NA For folders, user canset access rights. Forexternal parties, tocreate new folder, setviewing and editingright

Put to public folders.

e.g. get governmentrelated materials, createsub-categories forvarious people

Shock 5

An epidemicoutbreak. Allstaff remainsindoors.Communications via webconferenceand Instantmessaging

No video-conferencingfunction.

Can indicate whethermembers are onlineCommunicating similarto SMS within thecommunity. It alsoallows file sharing andeven sharing ofdesktop.

For the serverversion, it cannotbe accessed fromoutside through thefirewall. For publicweb version, it isopen to everyone.Though there is‘instant messaging’function, everyonecan see themessages.

Can send messages tomembers and to thewhole team, alertfunction through email.

Cannot do instantmessaging

Indicate whethermembers are online

Conclusion Will not use thissoftware, there isno customization

Will continue to use itas it is simple to use,with no time limit, withsimple functions thoughnot very powerful

Will use

It is good as one canedit and change anytime and createapplication


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Observations & Findings

1. Many tools overlap in features; no one is allencompassing

2. Collaborations can be across multiple systems

3. Be prepared to give up and try something else;be adventurous

4. Always be prepared to shift the collaborationboundary

5. Corporate IT should evaluate and considerapproving some tools for rapid collaborations

6. Multiple security profiles often need to beestablished

7. Storage is cheap; Peer-to-Peer tools can be aviable alternative

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Convergence or Conflict?

• Top Down Vs Bottom Up Deployment

• Official information Vs User-Generated Content

• Governance

– Security

– Robustness

– Work-Life Balance

– Control

• Harnessing of social capital as well as internal

capital

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Participants Feedback &

Future Work

Additional feedback

• Highly valued the hands on experience with thetools; many are unaware of these tools

• Many requested a longer duration for theworkshop

• Some will continue using the tools after theworkshop and introduce them to theircolleagues

Future Work

• New shocks

• Mashups of Web 2.0 applications

• Sensemaking and Storytelling

• Conduct workshops for non-IT groups

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User-centric Web 2.0 tools

User-configured RSS feeds User-configured social networks

User-configured Mash-Ups

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Potential improvements on deployment &

user adoption of KM technologies in HK

• Business, IT divide – insufficient end-user, Subject MatterExpert input

• Technologies ahead of the KM Strategy• KM systems treated as only static repositories• Under-leverage of collaboration software• Over-governance on security and access control• Multi-lingual support can tip the balance• Inadequate user training/awareness on search engines• Lack of enterprise/departmental-wide focus on taxonomy• Time lag between requirements elicitation and

procurement• Content Management not treated as a lifecycle process• Over emphasis on the containers rather than the

identification of critical knowledge assets/flow and peopleconnections

• Fear of losing power (on content ownership and control)• Commitment on some out-dated technologies• …

Projects in the KM Research Centre (KMRC)

Projects in the KM Research Centre (KMRC)

ResearchTeaching

In-house training

Strategy Formulation

Framework Assessment

Strategic Planning

Taxonomy Creation &

Maintenance

IC Audit & Benchmarking

Knowledge Audit

Knowledge Retention

Experience sharing by PolyU’s KM Group

Consultancy

Master of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Engineering

Teaching Company Scheme

(Scholarships)

Areas: Organizational Learning,

Knowledge Audit, Narratives,

Intellectual Capital, Patent

Search, Taxonomy/Folksonomy,

Knowledge Communities,

E-Learning

M.Sc. in KM

Certified Knowledge

Professional (CKP)

Dissertation Projects

Final Year Projects

(FYP)

KMAP2006

ResearchTeaching

In-house training

Strategy Formulation

Framework Assessment

Strategic Planning

Taxonomy Creation &

Maintenance

IC Audit & Benchmarking

Knowledge Audit

Knowledge Retention

The outside world is our KM Laboratory

Consultancy

Master of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Engineering

Teaching Company Scheme

(Scholarships)

Areas: Organizational Learning,

Knowledge Audit, Narratives,

Intellectual Capital, Patent

Search, Taxonomy/Folksonomy,

Knowledge Communities,

E-Learning

M.Sc. in KM

Certified Knowledge

Professional (CKP)

Dissertation Projects

Final Year Projects

(FYP)

KMAP2006

Project Brochures are available …

Current Research Projects

1. Survey on the use of KM systems to supportknowledge processes in Hong Kong

2. A hybrid Knowledge Navigation mechanism usingTaxonomies & Folksonomies/Tag Clouds

3. Building, sustaining, tracking & measuring knowledgecommunities

4. Development of a knowledge portal for organizations inthe construction industry

5. Building/Simulating KM scenarios & competencytracking in an E-Learning environment

6. Data/Text Mining for very large datasets using a hybridclustering and genetic algorithm

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Business Automation Lab.Business Automation Lab. Knowledge Solutions Lab.Knowledge Solutions Lab.

Logistics & Simulation Lab.Logistics & Simulation Lab.M-Commerce Demo. UnitM-Commerce Demo. Unit

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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Contact details for Eric Tsui