E-COGNOS project IST

Paris, September 30, 2003

E-COGNOS project

IST-2000-28671

Methodologies, tools and architecture for electronic, consistent knowledge

management across projects and between enterprises in the construction sector

Background

{ Lisbon council, 2000:

z By 2010, Europe “to become the most

competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more jobs and greater social cohesion”

{ IST call for proposals on knowledge

management (« New methods of work »)

{ Construction industry (10% of GDP and

10% of civilian employment) Æ Enter the

Consortium

{

End-users

z Derbi, IT subsidiary of OTH (F) z Hochtief (D)

z Taylor Woodrow (UK) z YIT (Fin)

{

Research Centres

z CSTB – also an information provider (F) z University of Salford – ISI (UK)

COLLECT ADAPT ORGANIZE USE IDENTIFY CREATE SHARE Knowledge Cycle Extractor service Indexer service Searcher service Discoverer service Maintenance service Disseminator service Profiler servier

Outputs

The main project outputs include:

{ The eCKMI: an integrated infrastructure

and a set of KM services

{ The e-COGNOS ontology server { The e-COGNOS ontology

{ Industrial prototypes

{ A set of models, best practice guides and

business recommendation reports

regarding knowledge management within industry.

e-CKMI API e-CKMI API e-Cognos User Portal / Manager e-COGNOS Repository e-CKMI Kernel KM Services External Services

The e-COGNOS Solution

e-CKMI e-CKMI e-COGNOS Ontology e-CKMI Kernel eCOSer

1

2

3

eCOGNOS KM Portal Architecture

Knowledge Cleansing Knowledge Extraction Knowledge Indexing Knowledge Maintenance Knowledge Discovery Knowledge Distribution Abstraction, Mapping tools Search, Summarisation & User Profiling tools

eCOGNOS Core Services eCOGNOS API eCOGNOS interface End-user applications Expertise Directories External Data Repositories Etc.

…

Functions appreciated by the users

{

Single entry point to multiple data

sources

{

Clustering (creation of document

relationships) through an ontology

{

Guided search through an ontology

{

“Favorites”: Creating a Knowledge

Base and sharing it

Practical Example – Excel

Same Code: synonyms (same meaning) in the

taxonomy. A pair Concept/Description

Practical Example –

Excel

„

XML

„

bcXML

Converter XLSÎ XML XML bcXML Compliant taxonomy bcXML Meta-Schema EXCEL spreadsheet bcXML Generator

Taylor Woodrow Construction

Taylor Woodrow

Taylor Woodrow Developments

{ An international housing and development company. { Housing, property and construction

z Includes a Specialist engineering and consultancy at

TW’s Technology Centre

{ Environmental, sustainability, geotechnical and

Towards Zero Defects

By analysing the nature of defects, and the point in the programme when they are first identified, Taylor Woodrow’s Technology Centre provides the knowledge and technical support required to address the causes of defects earlier in the construction process.

A Help Desk is available to provide rapid access to the database of information covering all aspects of construction technology.

The ‘As Is’ Position

-Technical

Many different knowledge management systems in place

But the users have to look in many places and have difficulty finding what they need

User

?

EDMS Other File Servers Internet e-Learning Via Google Intranet (including knowledge domains)

The e-Cognos System can provide a single point of entry search tool

EDMS Other File Servers Internet e-Learning

User

e-CKMI Via Google

The ‘To Be’ Position

-Technical

Intranet (including knowledge domains)

The ‘As Is’ Position

-Organisation and Culture

Structural Issues

{ Decentralised organisation - project structure

{ Consortia based - clients, partners, sub-contractors { Local discretion - e.g. EDMS, file servers in use

{ Many documents not available to the e-Cognos system

(file structures, privacy etc)

Cultural Issues

{ ‘We will decide what is of value to use’

{ For some competitive/blame culture against knowledge sharing { Tacit knowledge

{ ‘Word of mouth’ consult the expert culture

Conclusion - effective use of the e-Cognos system depends on developing a ‘knowledge sharing’ culture

The ‘To-Be’ Position –

Aspirations of Staff

{ Provide access to the majority of documents of likely interest, i.e.

many more than can be obtained by the specific search engines currently available to members of staff

{ Achieve an 80% or better success rate in finding a specific document { Support general searches with the ease and versatility of a Google

search

{ Enable staff to assess both the relevance and the quality of each

document

{ Provide a means of searching for people with particular forms of

expertise, and

{ Achieve all the above with the minimum disruption to the document

development and filing practices of members of staff

{ Subsidiary objectives might be

:-z To provide a means of locating documents that are not available in

electronic form, and

The ‘To Be’ Position

The need for integrated solutions

Technical:

{ Agreement for the need for

a ‘single point of entry’

{ Need to be ‘equal to Google’ { Define scope and user

interface for groups of users

{ Provide route to ‘experts’

Company Culture:

{ Local discretion - Make it of

value to to specific users

{ ‘Word of Mouth’ - Provide a

route to experts

{ Give benefit without major

changes in working practice

{ Show benefits of providing

access to documents

{ Develop trust in knowledge

sharing

Conclusion - need for a technical solution but has to be integrated with development of a ‘knowledge sharing culture’ if it is to be accepted and used.

The ‘To-Be’ Position –

System Components

User User Internet: Website Internet: Website Internet: Website User/ Information Owner EDM system: ProjectWise EDM system: Documentum Intranet: Tayweb Internet: Websites EDM systems: Athena E-CKMI Portal: Web Browser User Knowledge Manager System Manager User/ Information Owner Knowledge Store User Profiles Documents Search Engine Ontology Server Database of knowledge renditions Upload Knowledge Representation Manage Knowledge Representations Manage System Search for Knowledge

Lessons learned

{ It takes time to populate the system with

“Knowledge” (conditioning of the system by linking, ranking, commenting etc. the documents), especially for the first users.

{ But the additional effort is acceptable { Added value for “newcomers”

{ The variety of data sources creates

e-Cognos and Business Benefits

The Benefits:

{ No changes to

business process but… { e-Cognos to enrich

knowledge acquisition of knowledge workers to enable them to

improve the business process

The Process:

{ Determine ‘as is’ position of KM in companies

{ Define beneficial use of the e-Cognos

system (‘to be’)

{ Establish migration path to obtain ‘to be’

Conclusions

{ e-Cognos can provide an important benefit as a ‘single point of entry’

{ It will only be effective within a shared knowledge working practice

{ This

requires:-z Specification of the e-Cognos system to give

local value

z Evolutionary movement towards a

knowledge-sharing culture

{ The route to achieving and spreading an

integrated technical and cultural development is through a evolutionary migration path

Where to get more information

{ www.e-cognos.org { Public deliverables { List of publications { E-CKMI package

{ Core Platform { Ontology Server { Ontology