Knowledge Portals and

Knowledge
Management Tools

Lecture Eleven
(Chapter 11, Notes;
Chapter 13, Textbook)

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Portals: The Basics

Portals are considered to be
virtual workplaces that:
 Promote “secured”
knowledge sharing among
different categories of end
users
 Provide access to stored Copyright  TIES

structured data
 Organize unstructured data 2
 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Portals: The Basics (cont’d)

 Web-based applications
providing a single point of
access to online information
 An emerging tool for

 Simplify access to data stored

in various application systems
 Facilitate collaboration
among employees
 Assist company in reaching
customers
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Evolution of the Portal Concept

Information
Portals

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Evolution of the Portal Concept

(cont’d)
From Information to
Knowledge Portal
 Focus on how it will be used by
the knowledge workers
 A key component in the
knowledge management
architecture
 Allow producers and users of
knowledge to interact 5
Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Evolution of the Portal Concept

(cont’d)
Knowledge portals provide
two kinds of interfaces:
 The knowledge producer
interface
 The knowledge consumer
interface

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 Portals and Business
Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Transformation
Portals can meet (or transform)
Today’s Business Challenges
 Shorter time to market

 Staff turnover

 More demanding customers and

investors
 Explosion of key business information in
electronic documents
 Speed by which the quantity and kinds
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Benefits of Knowledge Portals

Productivity E-mail Traffic

Locating Documents Bandwidth Use
Collaboration Time in Meetings
Better Decisions Phone Calls
Quality of Data Response Times
Sharing Knowledge Redundant Efforts
Identifying Experts Operating Costs
Time to market
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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Key Infrastructure Components

of Knowledge Portal
 Business intelligence
(knowledge)
 Content management
(dynamic)
 Data management (structured)
 Data warehouses and data
marts (analytical)
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Layers of Knowledge Portal

Architecture

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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Categories of Portal Tools

 Gathering
 Categorization
 Distribution
 Collaboration
 Publish
 Personalization
 Search/navigate

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Collaboration
 Collaboration tools
create a KM system that
supports information Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
sharing and reuse
 Enable multiple users
work together in a
coordinated fashion
over time (and space)
Sydney,
via the portal Australia

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Types of collaborations
 Asynchronous collaboration
 having no time or space constraints.

 Queries, responses, or access occur anytime

and anyplace
 Synchronous collaboration
 interaction that occurs immediately (within
few seconds).
 It can use audio, video, or data technologies

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Collaboration Toolset
 Comfortable e-mail systems
 A Web browser
 Simple search functionalities
 Collaboration services with a
multipurpose database
 Web services
 Indexing services for full-text
search of documents
 Well-organized central
storage locations 14
 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Content Management –
Categorization and Publishing
 Use metadata to define types of
information
 Categorize similar documents into
named groups
 Directory/Indexing capability to
automatically manage growing
warehouses of enterprise data
 Provide dynamic taxonomy maintenance 15
 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Intelligent Agents – Gathering

and Personalization
 Software that executes a range of tasks
autonomously (e.g., comparing, learning,
searching)
 Discover previously unknown
relationship details between organization
and customers
 Analyze customer’s demand priorities by
learning from their purchasing experience

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Intelligent Agents Services

 Customized online customer services
 Profile customers based on records
 Integrate customer profiles into group
marketing activities
 Predict customer requirements
 Negotiate prices and payment schedules
 Execute financial transactions on
customer’s behalf
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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Critical Issues for

Knowledge Portals
 Responsiveness to user need
 Content structure in large systems
 Content quality requirements
 Integration with existing systems
 Scalability
 Hardware–software compatibility
 Synchronization of technology
with the capabilities of users 18
Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Portal Vendors
Vendor KM Portal Feature Summary Best Uses
Product
Lotus/IBM Lotus Raven 1.0 (in • Intelligent • Self-creating and refining
beta) taxonomy taxonomies
• QuickPlace • Personnel resources linked to
collaboration tool data sources
• Assigns value to • Advanced collaboration
data based on how • Easy portal repurposing
often it is used
• Rapid application development
• Portal replication with associated KM packages
• Facilitates content
management

Open Text MyLivelink Portal • Integrated work • Integrated KM

1.0 with Livelink flow • Document management and
8.5.1 KM software • Quick integration work flow
of features • Custom collaboration spaces
• Quick portal (personal, project, or enterprise)
deployment

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 Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Vendor KM Feature Summary Best Uses

Portal
Plumtree Plumtree • Automatic population • Easy and extensive
Corporate • E-mail, voice, and content and application
Portal 4.0 wireless notification integration
• Integration with LDAP • Scalability
directories • Advanced security
• E-room tools • Trainable taxonomies
• Various data access
• Customization and
extensibility
Woolamai WebMeta • Quick integration • Usability
Engine • Flexible portal interface • Tracking site
1.0 • Knowledge taxonomy statistics
adapts to data views • Content streaming to
• Data-mining functionality wireless devices
• Web site statistics 20
Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals

Final Lecture will be on

Managing Knowledge
Workers
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