Essentials of Knowledge Management

4.5. Support Mechanisms

Just as the key issues apply variably to each phase of the KM life cycle, the support mechanisms are more relevant to some phases than others. The primary support mechanisms or methods in the life cycle include technology, standards, knowledge workers, and management.

4.5.1. Technology

The technologies involved in the KM life cycle, described in depth in Chapter 5, include communications and collaborative systems, such as the Internet and other networks; a variety of tools to manipulate, transform, and create information; and database technologies that can enable the rapid storage and retrieval of information.

In addition to general technologies, specific tools enhance and secure the flow of information in the KM life cycle. For example, security systems provide data encryption and user authentication; software systems and processes insure the version of information used is appropriate to the intended use; and program instrumentation is an automated means of tracking use of information throughout the KM life cycle. Other niche technologies range from erasure programs, the equivalent of paper shredders in an office environment, to decision support tools to help a librarian or management decide, for example, what information to archive and what information to destroy. Expert system technologies can help guide knowledge workers and other employees by providing them with access to instant expertise. Even the media used to store information has implications ...