Knowledge management is the name of a concept in which an enterprise consciously and comprehensively gathers, organizes, shares, and analyzes its knowledge in terms of resources, documents, and people skills. In early 1998, it was believed that few enterprises actually had a comprehensive knowledge management practice (by any name) in operation. Advances in technology and the way we access and share information have changed that; many enterprises now have some kind of knowledge management framework in place.
Knowledge management involves data mining and some method of operation to push information to users. A knowledge management plan involves a survey of corporate goals and a close examination of the tools, both traditional and technical, that are required for addressing the needs of the company. The challenge of selecting a knowledge management system is to purchase or build software that fits the context of the overall plan and encourages employees to use the system and share information.
The goal of a knowledge management system is to provide managers with the ability to organize and locate relevant content and the expertise required to address specific business tasks and projects. Some knowledge management systems can analyze the relationships between content, people, topics and activity and produce a knowledge map report or knowledge management dashboard.
In an Information Week article, Jeff Angus and Jeetu Patel describe a four-process view of knowledge management that we have put into a table:
| This major process... | Includes these activities.... |
|---|---|
| Gathering |
|
| Organizing |
|
| Refining |
|
| Disseminating |
|