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Business Knowledge Management

Executive Summary

Credit Claims Help Line is a London's UK based company, whose mission is to provide reliable, timely, and safe Debts clear services by using complete, in credit and debit card access, along with computer-aided dispatch. The company will establish its presence in the industry by acquiring an existing Credit Claim help association, Debit Clear, a family-owned business that was formed 25 years ago.

The company's strategy is to build reputation and market share by establishing their business offering as a viable alternative to existing customers claims services in the area. The company's goal in the next year is pursue an aggressive marketing campaign and from that, penetrate at least 65% of the market share. The company's long-term goal is be the top rated credit claim company in whole UK.

Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is an interim product of an ongoing research effort by our group on the company name “Credit Claim Help Line” is to describe the knowledge management project, which is the basic unit of activity that firms use to derive greater value from knowledge assets. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to create some kind of ongoing process or system for leveraging knowledge data and Management.

We will address key questions for this organization planning a knowledge initiative. For example, what are the different types of knowledge management projects? What are their business impacts? What resources are required to begin?

Our study of early adopters in this field reveals that knowledge management is being approached at different levels in organization.

Knowledge is most easily managed in a local context, the majority of knowledge initiatives are undertaken at the business unit, function, or operational process level where they have the most immediate impact on performance.

These knowledge management projects appear in a variety of forms:

An online communications system for the company seeks to reduce its cycle time for producing new clients and existing client’s by reusing relevant pieces of its existing product designs.
Recognizing that project management is a core competence in “Credit Claim Help Line”, is set up to improve the quality of project management in the firm’s IT function by capturing and sharing best practices, and by facilitating “lessons learned” sessions at the conclusion of individual projects.

We will elaborate on the different types of knowledge management initiatives below. However, it is important to address the somewhat slippery definitional issues involved in the concepts of knowledge and information.

Research Problem:

Research forms as cycle which starts with a problem and ends with a solution to the problem. The problem statement is therefore the axis which the whole research revolves around, because it explains in short the aim of the research.

1. A research problem is the situation that causes the researcher to feel apprehensive, confused and ill at ease. It is the demarcation of a problem area within a certain context involving the WHO or WHAT, the WHERE, the WHEN and the WHY of the problem situation.

2. Identification of the problem.

3. Sub-problems (s)

4. Statement of the problem. The statement of the problem involves the demarcation and formulation of the problem, i.e. the WHO/WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY. It usually includes the statement of the hypothesis.

5. Checklist for testing the feasibility of the research problem.

The company had various problems in research which are as follows:

One tactic is to bombard credit reporting agencies with requests to verify information. If a credit reporting agency cannot verify an entry within 60 days, it will remove the information from the report.

But if the information is later verified to be accurate, it will go back in the report. Before you even consider signing a contract with a company that promises to repair your credit, remember these facts:

You may obtain a copy of your credit report on your own.
You have the right to dispute entries in your credit report.

Beware guaranteed credit offers is comes as a big research problem ever comes like!

Credit repair and other companies often claim they "guarantee" to get you a credit card, regardless of your credit history. In fact, these companies do not always honour their guarantee. Sometimes, they'll just take your money and run--you will not get any credit, regardless of what they promised.
Credit repair companies often advertise on television, in newspapers and even on matchbooks. Sometimes they require consumers to dial a "900" telephone number to get more information. Calls to 900 numbers can cost $2 or $3 a minute, so listening to a few minutes of information about the cards can be expensive.
Some companies try to get people a credit card by having them apply using financial information of other people with good credit histories. It is a criminal act to apply for credit under someone else's name--do not do business with one of these companies.
Law enforcement agencies have shut down many credit repair outfits, but it is hard to stop a fraudulent credit repair outfit unless people complain about it. Therefore, be careful about responding to credit repair ads and be sure to complain to the agencies listed below if you think a credit repair company took advantage of you.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publishes information for consumers on the subject of credit and enforces federal laws on credit. For a list of free publications, write to the FTC's Public Reference Department at the address given below. While the FTC does not handle individual cases, it can act when it sees a pattern of possible law violations develop.
Contact your local consumer protection agency or your state Attorney General's office. Many Attorneys General have toll-free consumer hotlines. These numbers may be listed in the "self-help" or government sections in the front of your phone book. These agencies can offer you advice and may also be able to help resolve your complaint.
Credit Claims Help Line can offer free complaint/information switchboards offering non-legal consumer advice and referrals can be reached from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays.
The Credit Claims Help Line (CCHL) assists consumers who have problems in paying their bills--before their good credit ratings suffer.
Before you sign a contract with any company, check it out with the local Better Business Bureau (BBB), a non-government service which advises consumers on fraud prevention. Call your local BBB. If you cannot find a local number listed in the phone directory, call the Council of Better Business Bureaus at (703) 276-0100 for a referral to the office nearest you.

Review of previous work relating to research problem(to define, explain, justify) review of previous work relating to methodology (to define, explain, justify) review of previous work relating to results (particularly reliability, etc.).

By taking on a consumer viewpoint, we apply a process framework to our review of varied literature on consumer credit use, and introduce a process model. This conceptual model relates credit use to other consumer decisions, and is comprised of three main parts:

(a) Processes before credit take up,

(b) Processes at credit take up, and

In the literature review and the subsequent discussion section, frequent shortcomings of, and gaps in, research on consumer credit use are identified and implications for future research are derived.

Research Methodology:

We need to know how the data was obtained because the method affects the results. For instance, if we are investigating users' perceptions of the efficiency of Credit Claims Help Line, we will obtain different results if we use a multiple choice questionnaire than if we conduct interviews. Knowing how the data was collected helps the reader evaluate the validity and reliability of the results, and the conclusions we draw from them.

Often there are different methods that we can use to investigate a research problem. Our methodology should make clear the reasons why we chose a particular method or procedure. The reader wants to know that the data was collected or generated in a way that is consistent with accepted practice in the field of study.

So like this company we work as a group by collecting the data which Credit Claims Help Line company produce the knowledge of their clients and gather to make a research methods that how they are working by filling the above questionnaire and come to the conclusion that how they are working or is their work is proving the best knowledge of their task or not. By mean while the company at the research method going well and achieve all the targets which they want to.

For example, if we are using a questionnaire, readers need to know that it offered your respondents a reasonable range of answers to choose from (asking if the efficiency of Credit Claims Help Line is "a. excellent, b. very good or c. good" would obviously not be acceptable as it does not allow respondents to give negative answers).

The methodology should also discuss the problems that were anticipated and explain the steps taken to prevent them from occurring, and the problems that did occur and the ways their impact was minimized. In some cases, it is useful for other researchers to adapt or replicate your methodology, so often sufficient information is given to allow others to use the work. This is particularly the case when a new method had been developed, or an innovative adaptation used.

Knowledge Management

Here in our report we would like to add some literature reviews of different experts in the field of Knowledge and Data Management. In these reviews we will see how they define the Knowledge Management and the different levels of Data Management.

According to one Article Knowledge Management is the discipline that helps spread knowledge of individuals or groups across organizations in ways that directly affect performance. Knowledge Management envisions getting the Right Information within the Right Context to the Right Person at the Right Time for the Right Business Purpose. (1)

How it might work

Knowledge is collected from all existing sources including people, systems, data stores, file cabinets and desktops. All knowledge of value is stored in the organizational knowledge repository. For virtual teams, this knowledge would be immediately conveyed to those people and systems that could use it.

The right knowledge will go to the right person or system at the right time. Current knowledge can be retrieved from the system at any time in the future. As knowledge becomes obsolete or expires, that knowledge will automatically be removed from the system.

Maintaining Knowledge Quality

While knowledge components are crucial to a knowledge management system, experts have estimated that 90 percent of the success of knowledge management is involved with gaining the buy-in of knowledge users and encouraging knowledge sharing. One important aspect of knowledge sharing is obtaining high-quality knowledge and in maintaining its excellence.

One essential aspect of knowledge quality is meaningful classification. Although it may be possible to perform some classification automatically, a considerable amount of manual effort will be required initially. "Knowledge Journalists" will be required to perform some of these activities.

This is not to say that Knowledge Journalists are essential for a functioning Knowledge Management System.. What it means is that those organizations that require high-quality information need to consider developing Knowledge Journalist professionals.

Knowledge processes are embedded throughout the enterprise (e.g., strategic planning, decision making, marketing, hiring personnel). Every person in an enterprise participates in knowledge processes. Knowledge managers help the organization improve the effectiveness of their knowledge processes.

Several professionals, under the sponsorship of Knowledge Management Consortium International, developed the following three-phase Knowledge Life Cycle model. (2)

Knowledge Stewardship (Editorial Board)

Stewardship has been defined as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care. Knowledge does not belong to a knowledge community; it belongs to the enterprise. Therefore, selected knowledge community members should act as stewards of the knowledge to maintain and enhance the quality of the knowledge.

Knowledge stewards need to take responsibility for both appropriate knowledge content and appropriate knowledge presentation.

One knowledge stewardship approach is to set up an Editorial Board for this purpose. The Editorial Board will be responsible for ensuring that both content and presentation of knowledge is appropriate. Presentation would consider aesthetics as well as the medium (for example, text, graphics, data, audio, video) by which knowledge is conveyed.

Knowledge Content Administration

In addition to Editorial functions, members of the organization will also need to perform Knowledge Management administrative functions. Functions that need to be provided include reviewing and maintaining knowledge, archiving appropriate knowledge, organizing knowledge etc.

Knowledge Management Tool Administration

Of course, all the tools the Infrastructure will have to be maintained. Maintenance will include common network management functions, server maintenance, as well as administration of all the KM tools.

Here we have some tools available online for this purpose but all have different terminologies like;

Autonomy, Inc.(www.autonomy.com)
BackWeb Technologies (www.backWeb.com)
Communispace (www.communispace.com)
Docushare Xerox Corporation (www.xerox.com)
Eugenia Unity Desktop (www.engenia.com)
Excalibur Technologies Corporation (www.excalib.com)
Hummingbird (www.pcdocs.com)
Intraspect Software, Inc.(www.intraspect.com)
MAGI (www.projectmagi.com)
Open Text Corporation (www.opentext.com)
Plumtree Software (www.plumtree.com)
SageMaker (www.sagemaker.com)
Tacit Knowledge (www.tacit.com)

Some definitions of "knowledge management"

University of Texas: According to the University of Texas, The systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information in a way that improves an employee's comprehension in a specific area of interest. Knowledge management helps an organization to gain insight and understanding from its own experience.

Specific knowledge management activities help focus the organization on acquiring, storing and utilizing knowledge for such things as problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic planning and decision making. It also protects intellectual assets from decay, adds to firm intelligence and provides increased flexibility. (3)

The Biz Tech Network: Knowledge Management caters to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous change. Essentially, it embodies organizational processes that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings. (4)

In assessing attempts to define knowledge it can be helpful to remember that the human mind has often been seen as capable of two kinds of knowledge - the rational and the intuitive.

In the West, intuitive knowledge has often been devalued in favour of rational scientific knowledge, and the rise of science has even led to claims that intuitive knowledge is not really knowledge at all. However, recognition of the difficulties inherent in transferring knowledge from one person to another has tended to highlight the importance of tacit knowledge e.g. notably in the writings of Polanyi (1975), and Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). (5)

In an effort to distinguish knowledge from mere information, some Western analysts (Karl Erik Sveiby) have tried defining “knowledge” as wholly tacit (i.e. as capacity in action), thus consigning what others have considered as explicit knowledge to mere information. (6)

In the East, the tradition has been to celebrate the importance of the intuitive, in comparison with the rational. The Upanishads for instance speak about a higher and a lower knowledge, and associate lower knowledge with the various sciences. (7)

Chinese philosophy has emphasized the complementary nature of the intuitive and the rational and has represented them by the archetypal pair yin and yang.

Debates about the meaning of knowledge have continued for thousands of years, and seem likely to continue for some time to come

History of knowledge management

The pursuit of any significant human activity typically leads to the acquisition by those involved of know-how and expertise as to how the activity may be successfully conducted. Insofar as what is learned in the process can be captured, and communicated and shared with others, it can enable subsequent practitioners - or even generations - to build on earlier experience and obviate the need of costly rework or of learning by making the same repetitive mistakes.

In the village, from time immemorial, the elder, the traditional healer and the midwife have been the living repositories of distilled experience in the life of the community. (8)

Even in highly sophisticated modern knowledge organizations, the most valuable knowledge – know-how in terms of what really gets results and what mistakes to avoid – often resides mainly in people’s minds.

Interactive knowledge-sharing mechanisms have always been used - from palavers under the baobab, village square debates, and town meetings, to conclaves, professional consultations, meetings, workshops, and conferences – all functioning to enable individuals to share what they know with others in the relevant area of knowledge.

Migrations of people have been a principal mode of knowledge transfer across continents. Today, a range of technologies from computers to video-conferencing for distance learning offers unprecedented opportunities to disseminate know-how and insights rapidly and cheaply to a worldwide audience.

Explicating knowledge: The reach of know-how and experience possessed by individuals can be greatly extended once it is captured and explicated so that others can easily find it and understand and use it.

In ancient Greece, the philosopher, Plato, in his dialogues, captured and elaborated the thinking of his mentor Socrates, and so succeeding generations have been able to discover and share that thinking, and in turn reinterpret those thoughts and to be stimulated to achieve fresh insights and creativity.

In other cultures, the Analects of Confucius, The Art of War of Sun Tzu, or the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico, have served similar knowledge sharing functions. In modern times, reports of activities, minutes of meetings, memoranda, proceedings of conferences, and document filing systems maintained by organizations are traditional commonly-used devices for recording content in paper format so that it can be transferred to others.

More recently, the unit costs of computers, communications and transactions are declining towards zero, and electronic transfer is proliferating. Electronic databases, audio and video recordings, interactive tools and multimedia presentations have become available to extend the techniques for capturing and disseminating content. (9)

Digital divide or opportunity: Although these tools are not yet everywhere available in the developing world, they are spreading rapidly and present a unique opportunity for developing countries to benefit most from the technological revolution now unfolding: low-cost telecommunications systems could help countries to leapfrog ahead through distance education, distance health services, and much better access to markets and private sector partners abroad.

Nevertheless, even with modern tools, the process of knowledge transfer is inherently difficult, since those who have knowledge may not be conscious of what they know or how significant it is. Thus know-how is “sticky” and tends to stay in people’s heads.

Human beings resist taking on new challenges their existing beliefs. What this means for the transfer of knowledge is that simply making new knowledge available doesn't typically result in it being transferred. If you want new knowledge to be imparted to people who hold contrary views, then you need to learn a different way of communicating, as explained The Secret Language of Leadership. (10)

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Description of the business:

Credit Claim Helpline, have over 25 years of financial services experience, and teamed with their panel of specialist litigation solicitors, they provide their clients with a first class ‘One Stop Shop' service for all of their credit claims. Their aim is to provide a unique and professional service against unfair credit agreements on behalf of their clients, ensuring that the highest standards are always maintained throughout the entire process.

Business Objectives:

Credit Claim Help Line have a proven track record for being able to handle large volumes of business without detriment to service and their highly trained staffs is able to handle client enquiries as well as their sensitive financial circumstances.

They deal with all correspondence with their lender, leaving you to concentrate on other important matters in your life. Their panel of specialised litigation solicitors have also been carefully selected based on their knowledge and experience within the claims field, so clients can be rest assured that they are in good hands. And to make the process as smooth as possible for our clients, they endeavour to always keep them fully informed at each stage of the claims process.

Apart from helping their clients wipe out their debt, they also provide a unique and great income generating opportunity for anyone regardless of background. For some, this can prove to be a great side income or add-on service to their existing business, whilst for others it can be the start of a very rewarding full-time career. This opportunity will not only change their client’s life financially but will also provide them with job satisfaction in knowing that they are helping people break away from their continuous stranglehold of debt.

Agreements that can be challenged include:

Credit cards
Store cards
Unsecured loans
Secured loans
Hp finance
Car loans/finance
Overdrafts
Payment protection insurance (PPI)

To the point of view by knowledge data management by their implications in the frame work of their principles in current situation of the company called credit claim help line is differ from the old manual program goes to the new data knowledgeable program by the following method.

This program helps the company that how to develop the data and which data is kept in which category, it’s very knowledgeable or the new user and easy to manage in the new development of KM programs.

Previous System:

The previous system was totally manual. Clients were asked to fill in application forms and handover or submit to the office where they were accessed and client’s case was taken further from there. Lots of documentation was done for every client that resulted in too much filing and paperwork and that was hard to retrieve knowledge and some time even impossible.

Limitations in the Previous System:

There were certain limitations of the previous system. For example for case update clients had to contact office and market that company could focus on was also local as clients always like ease for themselves and rely on local companies they can approach easily.

Also for representatives working for credit claim helpline it was difficult to manage every case in order to provide information to the client whenever he asks for it. They also had to contact office for progress on the case and they could focus less on marketing and making new clients.

New System and Data Management

The new system for Credit Claim Help Line(CCHL) includes a complete new website that facilitates clients along with bespoke e-commerce application that is linked to the website that provides ease to CCHL staff and representatives to track all the process and keep all the data up to date and easily accessible. The new system has two separate interfaces:

Admin interface
Administration Panel
Representative interface

The new system has not only minimized the time taken to complete a particular case but has also helped reducing paperwork required.

It’s helpful not only for clients but also for representatives who work for the company as they can see all the progress with the help of representative panel at any time. So that they can focus more on marketing instead of spending too much time documenting for a single client.

Discuss the drivers/requirements of the organization for a knowledge management system

A well-developed knowledge management system would stimulate the creativity of each employee by providing exactly the knowledge that employee needs to be optimally creative. We will define knowledge as ideas, information and the relationships between various ideas and information.

Functionally, the ideal knowledge management Infrastructure would take advantage of existing knowledge, stimulate the development of new knowledge and ideas, acquire knowledge directly and painlessly, automatically classify and inter relate knowledge, make knowledge globally accessible so that the right knowledge could be obtained and effectively utilized by any Knowledge worker who needs it.

Every representative working directly for CCHL is allowed to make further representatives/agents to work for him. Those further made representatives/agents will also get access to the representative panel and will have same privileges that a representative has while working directly. Moreover the first level of representatives get commission paid for the work produced by representatives or agents hired by them.

So any representative hiring someone to work for him can not only get paid commission for his own work but also for work done by agent or representative hired by him. That created more motivation for people working for the company not only to get clients directly for the company but also to employ more people so that they can get commission for work produced by their child agents or representatives as well.

A knowledge component is a self-contained, reusable object that can be used independently or assembled with other components to satisfy knowledge management requirements. There is the generic set of architecture issues relevant to all components. Knowledge components have to interface with the knowledge portal, with the knowledge repository, and with other knowledge components.

A knowledge component may need to be customized to handle knowledge of events specific to a given knowledge community. In a like fashion, component behaviour may need to be customized to satisfy the special needs of the specific knowledge community.

The best tool or driver need for this company to make the best of knowledge management system is follow by explain the graphical methods.

Component behaviour should be activated like the following diagram:

The Component Meta data Model

Knowledge Management Component Architecture

The Knowledge Management Component Architecture consists of knowledge portals, knowledge components, and the knowledge repository.

A Knowledge Portal is a starting point web site where members of a knowledge community begin to enter, find, and access knowledge using the various knowledge artefacts. The knowledge portal may be designed to focus upon the type of work expected to be done by the knowledge user. Knowledge portal profile modes so far determined are:

(1) Knowledge subject matter access,

(2) Collaboration,

(3) Community description and,

(4) A combination of the above.

At times, the knowledge user may wish to focus on knowledge relevant to a project being worked on within the context of the knowledge community, or he or she may wish to take an enterprise knowledge view.

The Knowledge Repository consists of servers where knowledge indices and, often knowledge artefacts (documents, presentations, databases, charts, graphs, plans, audio files, and/or video files) are made accessible. Some searching may cross knowledge servers.

Global Virtual Knowledge Repositories are inter-connectable Knowledge Repositories, globally distributed, that look to be a single entity to portals and knowledge components. One search searches all.

Explore and outline the potential benefits of KM for the chosen company

To explore the potential benefits is compilation by KM with the CREDIT CLAIM HELP LINE COMPNAY of possible and potential benefits available. We are not suggesting that all of these are realizable simultaneously, through every knowledge initiative.

Our main point is to show that there is a wide range of benefits to be had, depending on one's needs and strategy. Nor is the list exhaustive and complete. There may well be other benefits that we are overlooking, or that the creative entrepreneur can figure out a way of generating.

Produce and conserve New Value - such as Intellectual Property Assets
Generate new Wealth and increasing returns
Increase Revenue
Open New Markets
Enable Sustainable, Organic Growth
Improve Decision-Making
Mitigate Risk
Develop and implement New Business Models
Build More Profound relationships and ongoing Mind-Share with Customers - penetrate the mind of the customer
Lift Productivity and Efficiency
Speed Innovation
Unleash new Ideas and Creativity
Help create a more Adaptive, responsive, dynamic, flexible, organization
Facilitate the evolution of a more Intelligent Enterprise and produce smart engaging products
Use knowledge To Build Virtual Networked Businesses
Better prepare for and anticipate The Future
Improve and accelerate Learning
Gather superior Business and Competitive Intelligence
Enhance Team Collaboration & Coordination
Maximize the organization's use of available collective wisdom, experience, and the Brain-Power of human capital assets
Improve the Flow of knowledge
Improve the Service and Support of Customers
Shift employees from balance-sheet expense items to Knowledge
Investors in the enterprise
Improve the ability of the organization to Manage Change
Attract, and retain motivated, loyal, and committed Talent
Introduce a more relevant measurement "Dashboard" and instrument panel, with knowledge-based metrics versus mere industrial age measures
Be better positioned for Knowledge Workers to cope with increasing Infoglut and Information-Overload
Turn Process Know-How into a valuable Corporate asset - Knowledge Conversion
Help the enterprise to grow more Network Connections, more knowledge nodes ( the value of a network is related to the extent of the nodes in it )
Lower Operating Costs by substituting information and knowledge stores for inventory
Avoid Waste and Duplication by encouraging Knowledge Reuse
Create a more knowledge aware, knowledge friendly culture, and Community of Practice(s) better suited to the emerging knowledge-based economy context
Allow more leveraging of knowledge assets through Knowledge Arbitrage strategies
Have better Knowledge Transfer occur in the execution of projects
Extend the global Reach, Richness, and Scope of the enterprise
it can be a tremendous Enabler allowing the organization and knowledge workers to share ideas and collaborate in ways that would not have been possible previously.
Bring a new level of sophistication to managing the brand, reputation, and Intangibles that customers value
In general, be better able to Create, Capture, Share, Protect, Disseminate, Package and Exploit knowledge, intellectual capital, and intangibles

Indicate key components or systems the company could consider

Key Components of Knowledge Management in which our Company Cr Claim Help line should consider:

Knowledge Management is more about processes then products. But products and technology enable these processes and provides required tools for an effective KM program. We talked about Knowledge Management Infrastructure in previous posts.

Knowledge Management provides order to unstructured enterprise data and information into knowledge that is actionable and provides business value. This company is a major responsible for knowledge management directly or indirectly should know the building blocks and their interaction with the processes.

Credit Claim Help line is the organization are the building blocks of Knowledge Management from technology standpoint of views by the following components.

Knowledge Management consists of following components:

Collaboration
Content Management
Search
Taxonomy management
Business Process Management
Business Intelligence
Portal

How these components interact with Knowledge Management processes are highlighted in the following diagram?

All the components are required for knowledge management practice within the organization. There are vendors that provide all the required components in their product suite to enable organizations to implement effective Knowledge Management program.

Highlight the possible challenges for the implementation, and outline how these challenges could be overcome in an applied context

In the present days the only challenges we have to face to pick the right technology which should have the best match with the organization and should fulfil all the requirements and the staff satisfaction. After the implementation of the new technology Employees can acquire information and knowledge from the world outside the organization.

Employees can attend classes; perform research of various sorts, including piloting real world applications; browse the Web for relevant, electronically available information; and read hard-copy resources-such as reports and patents-for information, The acquisition process provides raw material (information and invalidated knowledge) for the next core knowledge process, knowledge production. Other terms used for acquire in this context include search, gather, find, capture, and validate.

Before we consider implementing a full KM methodology in our company Credit Claim Help Line, we would like to tell how an organization functions when operating in connect-and-collect mode. Suppose a knowledge worker faces a problem.

The problem could occur because the system is new for him and he needs additional training. Or it could be that he has uncovered one of a myriad of unique situations outside his personal knowledge base (understanding gained from prior experience or training).

Here is the process that this knowledge worker followed as they experienced the positive fruits of a typical day in the life of a connect-and-collect environment, along with some reflections and possible results. Let’s study the, connect and collect problem.

Step 1: The knowledge worker realizes that although he does not know how to solve the problem, people in his organization might know the answer. To find out if “we already know this,” the knowledge worker accesses the knowledge base related to the job at hand. Perhaps one of the books of knowledge associated with this activity will provide the answer. Typically, knowledge workers might find this information through training (online lessons are available), answers to frequently asked questions, recommendations on tools to use, or any of several helpful knowledge nuggets accumulated over time in the knowledge base.

Step 2: In this case the knowledge worker’s problem seems unique, and helpful knowledge is not available in existing knowledge bases. He must turn to others for help. The help could be in the form of a named individual who is expert at this activity and has volunteered to be on call to help others.

Steps 3 and 4: The community discusses the problem to reach a resolution (step 3). As several discussion threads develop, three positive outcomes result.

• The discussion in group solves the problem. The process has stimulated the company’s best minds associated with this particular activity to collaborate on creative outcomes, which represents the critically important production of new knowledge (innovation).

• The discussion group validates this new knowledge and harvests it. One discussion partner volunteers to summarize the discussion outcome in terms of what the knowledge base needs. She will also post that new knowledge to the knowledge base manager for verification and filing in the knowledge base.

This is step 4.

• The addition of this new knowledge enriches the knowledge base. The next worker with the same type of problem can find the answer in a self-serve mode. This mechanism eliminates the problem of needlessly expending the energies of those creative folks (in the discussion group) that thrive on facing new problems, not repetitiously answering frequently asked questions.

Connect-and-collect functionality built into an enterprise knowledge portal addresses many needs. It optimizes the possibility of getting the best knowledge to the right person at just the right time to solve the problem at hand. (11)

We have some steps here to overcome the challenge:

Provide appropriate technology-enhanced collaboration tools. These tools include simple ones for discussion groups to use, such as cellular phones, pagers, and e-mail servers capable of storing threaded messages. These tools can also include expert locators, which automatically uncover experts within the organization based on, for instance, e-mail content.
Provide intuitive repositories for accumulating mission critical knowledge. These repositories should cover lessons; best practices; keys to success; and recommended checklists, templates, and tools. An often-made mistake is to create document repositories. Though important, they alone do not provide the best knowledge to the right person at just the right time to solve the problem, make the decision, and so on. To be truly effective, knowledge bases must be much more granular with nuggets of knowledge in the context of the activity being performed. This last thought points to the confluence of e-learning, performance support, and KM, but that’s another topic.
Enrich the technology with managerial practice and business process. Remember, it is not simply the infusion of collaborative technologies and knowledge bases, but cultural change management that will ultimately determine KM’s success. This brings this discussion full circle to a comprehensive KM methodology. Such a methodology instructs employees in how to create and execute strategic KM initiatives that optimize the embedded knowledge processes of acquisition, production, and integration to truly create a learning organization.

Conclusion

We hope that this basic explanation of Knowledge Management of Credit Claim Help Line will begin to break down the barriers that separate Knowledge Management from other disciplines. It is our strong contention and firm belief that an ability to leverage knowledge is so essential to performance of the company which makes the work so easy for everyone connected to that because at the same time they all share that useful knowledge.

Also consider the typical lack of a diagnostic and prescriptive mentality in applying Knowledge Management. Many Knowledge Management initiatives resemble a solution in search of a problem.

In contrast, the CKM community realizes that organizations should first use knowledge audits to analyze organizational problems and assess potential knowledge building, opportunities. Only then can an organization apply the proper prescription such as connect and collect-not just a generic tool, such as a portal to all problems.

After the implementation or we can say managing the data and knowledge in a proper form the overall work load of the company has not only minimized the time taken to complete a particular case but has helped reducing paperwork required which also is a step towards green revolution to save the Earth.