Information, Knowledge, Technologies, Concepts and Systems Management

Information, Knowledge, Technologies,

Dr Sherif Kamel

Department of Management

School of Business, Economics and Communication

Outline



Characteristics of IS



_{Data, information and knowledge}

Classifications of IS



_{Evolution of management support systems}

Information infrastructure



_{Role of IS department}



Knowledge management

Characteristics of IS



Different information systems can exist in one

organization (comprised of many sub-systems)



Information systems and information networks



_{Inter-organizational information systems involve}

information flow in two or more organizations



Enterprise-wide system or inter-organizational IS

is composed of large and small computers

Data, information and knowledge

 One of the primary goals of IS is to economically process data into information or knowledge

o Data

- Items refer to an elementary description of things, events, activities, and transactions that are recorded, classified, and stored, but not organized to convey any specific meaning

o Information

- Data that have been organized so that they have meaning and value to the recipient

o Knowledge

- Data or information that have been organized and processed to convey understanding, experience, accumulated learning, and expertise

Classifications of IS

 Organizational structure

o Departmental information systems

- Use of several application programs in one functional area or

department

o Enterprise information systems (EIS)

- While a departmental IS is usually related to a functional area, the collection of all departmental applications when combined with other functions’ applications comprises the enterprise-wide information system

o Inter-organizational systems

- Some information systems connect several organizations

 Functional area

Classifications of IS



Support provided

o Transaction processing system (TPS) o Management information system (MIS) o Knowledge management system (KMS) o Office automation system (OAS)

o Decision support system (DSS)

o Enterprise information system (EIS) o Group support system (GSS)

o Intelligent support system



System architecture

Classifications of IS

 Activity supported

o Operational

– Day-to-day operations of an organization o Managerial

– Middle-management activities such as short-term planning, organizing, and control

o Strategic

– Decisions that significantly change the manner in which business is being done

Evolution of management support

systems (MSS)

 Early 1950s Transaction Processing System (TPS)

 1960s Management Information Systems (MIS)

 Late 1960s Office Automation System (OAS)

 Early 1970s Decision Support System (DSS)

 Early 1980s Executive Information Systems,

Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) and Group Support Systems (GSS)

 Mid 1980s Expert Systems (ES), Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

Transaction processing systems (TPS)

and dissemination of the organization’s basic business transactions

o Provide the input data for many applications involving other support

systems

o Considered critical to the success of any organization

o Collects data continuously, frequently on a daily basis, or even in

Functional management information

systems (MIS)

 Ensures that business strategies add value in an efficient manner

 Provides periodic information about operational efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity by extracting information

from the corporate database and processing it according to the needs of the user

 Can be constructed in whole or in part by end-users

New strategic systems (eCommerce)

 Electronic commerce has become a new way of conducting business in the last decade…

o In this new model, business transactions take place via

telecommunications networks, primarily the Internet

o eCommerce provides organizations with innovative and

strategic advantages, such as;

- Increased market share

- Better ability to negotiate with suppliers

- Better ability to prevent competitors from entering

Information Infrastructure

building blocks

 Information architecture

 Computer hardware

 Software development

 Networks and communication facilities (including the Internet and intranets)

 Databases

Information architecture

 High-level map or plan of the information requirements in an organization

 Architecture designers require two kinds of information

o Business needs of the organization

- Objectives - Problems

- Contribution that IT can make

o IS that already exist in an organization and how they can be

combined among themselves or with future systems to support the organization’s information needs

Types of information architecture

 Mainframe environment

o Processing is done by a mainframe computer

o Users work with passive (or “dumb”) terminals, which are used to

enter or change data and access information from the mainframe

 PC environment

o Only PCs form the hardware information architecture  Networked (distributed) environment

o Distributed processing divides the processing work between two or

Client/server architecture

 Client/server architecture

o Divides networked computing units into two major categories;

clients and servers

- Client is a computer such as a PC or a workstation attached to a

network, which is used to access shared network resources

- Server is a machine that is attached to this same network and provides clients with these services

o Client/server architecture maximizes the use of computer resources o Client/server architecture gives a company as many access points

Electronic data interchange

(EDI)

 The electronic movement of specially formatted standard business documents, such as orders, bills, and

confirmations sent between business partners

 In the past, EDI ran on expensive value-added networks (VANs)

o These are private, data-only wide area networks used by multiple

organization to provide high capacity, security, and economies in the cost of network service

Trio-components of web-based systems

network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer

 Intranet is the use of WWW technologies to create a

private network, usually within one enterprise (security

gateway such as a firewall is used to segregate the intranet from the Internet)

 Extranet can be viewed as an external extension of the

eCommerce and storefronts

 One of the natural outcomes of the Internet and the World Wide Web has been eCommerce

 Web-based systems are the engines of eCommerce

 eCommerce enable business and inventory transactions to be conducted seamlessly over the Internet 24/7

 An electronic storefront is the Web-equivalent of a showroom (displaying products)

Electronic markets and exchanges

 Electronic markets are a network of interactions and

relationships over which information, products, services, and payments are exchanged

 Electronic exchanges are central web-based locations where buyers and sellers interact dynamically, with buyer and sellers going back and forth on a price

o Vertical exchanges position themselves as the hub for all buying,

selling, and related services in a single market category

o Horizontal exchanges focus on a specific function or need

Mobile commerce

 mCommerce is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephone and personal digital assistants

o Next-generation eCommerce, mCommerce enables users to

access the Internet without a place to plug in to

o Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is the emerging technology

behind mCommerce

o Using Bluetooth technology, WAP-enabled smart phones offer

Role of an IS department

 The role of the IS department is changing from purely technical to more managerial and strategic

 The position of the IS department tends to be elevated from a unit reporting to a functional department, to a unit reporting to a senior vice president or to the CEO

 The role of the director of the IS department is changing from a technical manager to a senior executive

 IS as a function could be centralized or decentralized or a combination of the two

Managerial issues

 Transition to networked computing is a complicated process

 Migrating from a architecture to another requires human and technical resources and capacities

 Information systems is at the core of strategy development in the organization

 How much infrastructure is needed?

o Justifying information system applications is not an easy job due to

the intangible benefits and rapid changes in technologies

Overview – knowledge management



Each organization processes information from the

external environment in order to adapt to new

circumstances



_{Such mechanism does not help in comprehending}

innovation



Innovation needs to come from within the

organization and diffusing it to the external

environment – the market place

Knowledge management definition

 Knowledge management (KM) is a process that helps organizations identify, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer important information and expertise that are part of the organization’s memory

 Knowledge is information that is contextual, relevant, and actionable

o Tacit knowledge is usually in the domain of subjective, cognitive,

and experiential learning

o Explicit knowledge deals with more objective, rational, and

Innovation

Knowledge Cycle

Epistemology and Ontology



Epistemology is the Theory of Knowledge



_{Ontology is the Knowledge Creating Entities}

- Individuals - Groups

- _{Organizations}

Knowledge Creation Process



There are 4 modes of knowledge conversion

created when tacit and explicit knowledge interact

with each other

o Socialization o Externalization o Combination o Internalization

Important Tips

 Socialization leads to sympathized knowledge such as shared mental models and technical skills

 Externalization outputs conceptual knowledge such as development of analogies and metaphors

 Combination gives rise to systemic knowledge such as prototype and new technologies

 Internalization produces operational knowledge such as focusing on a project, sharing the experience,

Knowledge and information

Types of information

Knowledge conversion



Which modes of knowledge is more truthful?

o Western School: [Explicit Knowledge] o Japanese School: [Tacit Knowledge]



It is widely believed that explicit and tacit

knowledge complement each other

Knowledge creation spiral



Organizational knowledge creation is a continuous

and dynamic interaction between tacit and explicit

knowledge



_{The interaction is shaped by different shifts}

Knowledge creation spiral

 Socialization mode

o Starts with building a field for interaction

o Facilitates sharing of experiences and mental models between

members

 Externalization mode

o Triggered by meaningful dialogue or collective reflection

o Help individuals using metaphors articulate hinder tacit knowledge

that is otherwise difficult to communicate

 Combination mode

o Triggered by networking

Spiral of organizational knowledge creation

Knowledge-based economy

 Rapid changes in the business environment cannot be handled in traditional ways

o Firms are much larger, with higher turnover and require better tools

for collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing

o Firms must develop strategies to sustain competitive advantage by

leveraging their intellectual assets for optimum performance

 Managing knowledge is now critical for firms spread out

Learning organization (culture)

 The term learning organization refers to an organization’s

capability of learning from its past experience

o To build a learning organization, it must tackle three critical issues:

- Meaning (determining a vision of the learning organization) - Management (determining how the firm is to work)

- Measurement ( assessing the rate and level of learning)

 Ability of an organization to learn, develop memory, and share knowledge is dependent on its culture

 Over time organizations learn what works and what doe not work (organizational culture)

Objectives of knowledge management

 Improve knowledge access

 Enhance the knowledge environment

Knowledge management cycle

Organizational knowledge repositories

o The individual who has the knowledge transfers expertise through

person-to-person contacts

 Knowledge repository model

o Knowledge contribution and use follows a two-step transfer

procedure of person-to-repository and repository-to-person

- Captured knowledge is stored in a knowledge repository, a collection of

both internal and external knowledge  Hybrid model

o Many organizations use a hybrid of the network and repository

Knowledge Repositories

 Databases

o It is possible to structure part of a knowledge repository as a

database

 Data warehouses

o Large repositories of valuable data, can be used for knowledge

management, especially in conjunction with customer relationship management (CRM) systems

 Electronic Documents

Knowledge management benefits

 Reduction in loss of intellectual capital when people leave the company

 Reduction in costs by decreasing the number of times the company must repeatedly solve the same problem

 Economies of scale in obtaining information from external providers

 Increase in productivity by making knowledge available more quickly and easily

 Increase in employee satisfaction by enabling greater personal development and empowerment

Chief knowledge officer (CKO)

 Set knowledge management strategic priorities

 Establish a knowledge repository of best practices

 Gain a commitment from senior executives to support a learning environment

 Teach information seekers how to ask better and smarter questions

 Establish a process for managing intellectual assets

Knowledge management and systems

integration

 Knowledge management is an enterprise system that must be integrated with other enterprise and information

systems in an organization including

o Decision Support Systems (DSS) o Artificial Intelligence (AI)

o Database Management Systems (DBMS)

o Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) o Supply Chain Management Systems (SCM)

Managerial issues

 Organizational culture change and transformation

 How can people contribute to knowledge acquisition and sharing?

 How to measure the tangible and intangible benefits?

 Implementation is a successful factor for IT

 How can the organization develop a successful knowledge management system?