Knowledge Management Systems: An Architecture for Active and Passive Knowledge

Knowledge Management Systems KMS offer an environment for organizations to manage their information assets e.g., documents, databases, etc.. Existing KMS passively employ knowledge by querying a database, showing a document, displaying a Web page, etc. KMS can be extended to incorporate active components, such as expert systems and business rule systems. Currently, business rules reside in application code and database triggers. A KMS with an embedded expert system using business rules from the organization, combined with the connectivity of a server in a client/server architecture, provides an excellent environment for automating business activities at both local and enterprise levels. The segregation of business rules into the Knowledge Tier KT should lower the cost of development and maintenance, increase accuracy, and ensure corporation-wide consistency. In addition, knowledge verification tools are now being developed that will allow the computerization of less structured tasks, enabling another round of increased efficiency through computerization.