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:
“secured” knowledge
sharing among different
categories of end users
 Promote
 Provide
access to stored
structured data
 Organize
Copyright  TIES
unstructured data
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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
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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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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals
Portals and Business
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 of
content is growing
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals
Benefits of Knowledge Portals
Productivity
Locating Documents
Collaboration
Better Decisions
Quality of Data
Sharing Knowledge
Identifying Experts
E-mail Traffic
Bandwidth Use
Time in Meetings
Phone Calls
Response Times
Redundant Efforts
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
sharing and reuse
Enable multiple users
work together in a
coordinated fashion over
time (and space) via the
portal
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Sydney,
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
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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
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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
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals
Portal Vendors
Vendor
KM Portal
Product
Feature Summary
Best Uses
Lotus/IBM
Lotus Raven 1.0 (in
beta)
• Intelligent taxonomy
• QuickPlace
collaboration tool
• Assigns value to
data based on how
often it is used
• Portal replication
• Facilitates content
management
• Self-creating and refining
taxonomies
• Personnel resources linked to
data sources
• Advanced collaboration
• Easy portal repurposing
• Rapid application development
with associated KM packages
Open Text
MyLivelink Portal 1.0
with Livelink 8.5.1
KM software
• Integrated work
flow
• Quick integration of
features
• Quick portal
deployment
• Integrated KM
• Document management and
work flow
• Custom collaboration spaces
(personal, project, or enterprise)
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals
Vendor
KM
Portal
Feature Summary
Best Uses
Plumtree
Plumtree • Automatic population
Corporate • E-mail, voice, and
Portal 4.0 wireless notification
• Integration with LDAP
directories
• E-room tools
• Easy and extensive
content and application
integration
• Scalability
• Advanced security
• Trainable taxonomies
• Various data access
• Customization and
extensibility
Woolamai
WebMeta • Quick integration
Engine
• Flexible portal interface
1.0
• Knowledge taxonomy
adapts to data views
• Data-mining functionality
• Web site statistics
• Usability
• Tracking site statistics
• Content streaming to
wireless devices
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Chapter 11: Knowledge Management Tools and Knowledge Portals
Final Lecture will be on
Managing Knowledge
Workers
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