Knowledge Management
A Knowledge Value Chain (KVC) is a chain of processes bringing added value to the organisation. It is a chain of activities acting via the five fundamental leverages that are: data, information, knowledge, competence and capability. The KVC is important in order to establishing a KM Framework. It shows that Data and Information Management is the basis for KM, that Knowledge is the resource for Competence, and that Competence is the resource for Capacity. The successive transformations of data into information, then into knowledge, then into competence then into capability, are fundamental for the organisation.
The KM approach presented here includes four phases that realize a virtuous Knowledge Cycle for KM:
Ø Phase 1: Building a KM action plan
The objective of this phase is to analyse the Capacity Portfolio of the organisation, guided by the strategy of the organisation and to propose a plan for knowledge actions that is aligned with this strategy, together with a KM framework to pilot that plan.
Ø Phase 2: Organising the Knowledge Resources
The objective of this phase is to design a coherent and efficient Knowledge Repository, to federate or create all the knowledge sources that are necessary to critical knowledge domains identified in the first phase, and allow an easy and friendly user access to these sources: codified resources (Databases, Information and document resources, Software resources, Web resources, ...), or not codified resources (Tacit knowledge from experts via yellow pages, Knowledge communities...)
Ø Phase 3: Implementing KM processes:
The objective of that phase is to design processes to maintain and share the Knowledge Repository and use it for Knowledge Acquisition.
Ø Phase 4: Managing Knowledge Creation
The objective of this phase is to achieve the final goal of any organisation: being a creative organisation. The KM cycle must terminate in the capability of the organisation to make its Knowledge Capital evolve in a strategic way.