Knowledge Management at the Naval Postgraduate School

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Knowledge Management at the Naval Postgraduate
School

• Information Systems Group Naval Postgraduate
  SchoolMonterey, California 93943

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Overview

• KM Expertise at NPS
• KM Center for Excellence at NPS

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Naval Postgraduate School

• Top-tier institution specializing in research and
  analysis
• Accredited graduate educational curricula
• DoD organization

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KM Expertise at NPS Faculty

• Expertise in
• Information Technology Databases, DSS, software
  engineering, workflow management
• Allied disciplines cognitive science,
  organizations/management
• Military domains Navy/DoD operations,
  procedures, cultures
• Decade-long experience in KM concepts,
  technologies and applications

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KM Expertise at NPS Faculty (Contd)

• Active participants in networks of KM researchers
  and practitioners
• Ability to deliver KM projects tailored toward
  enhancing the Navys competitive advantage

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KM Expertise at NPS Students

• Expertise in Navy/DoD combat and support areas
• Significant commitment of effort through thesis
  research cycle and instruction

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KM Projects at NPS

• Analysis of tasks/
• processes
• Framework for classifying and evaluating KM
  opportunities
• Business process redesign in procurement
  activities
• Process knowledge in virtual organizations

• Design of KM Systems
• Expert Diagnostic Advisor
• Process support for procurement
• Retention of process knowledge
• Data inter-operability
• Managing knowledge in war games

• Assessment of Impact
• Measurable changes in process and performance
• Lessons Learned

• Application to Combat and Support Activities
• Shipboard combat operations
• War gaming/planning/strategy
• Shore support activities

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Analysis of Tasks and Processes

• Creation of framework for classifying and
  evaluating KM opportunities
• Business process redesign in procurement
  activities
• Study of process knowledge in virtual
  organizations

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Design of KM Systems

• Knowledge-based advisor for the MK-92 Fire
  Control System
• Process support for procurement activities
• Retention and application of process knowledge in
  virtual organizations
• Data interoperability and integration across
  heterogeneous environments
• Knowledge management in war games

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Application to Combat and Support Activities

• Combat
• Shipboard
• War gaming
• Support
• Procurement and supply chains
• Software and product design and maintenance

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Assessment of Impact

• Evaluate the impact of the retention and
  application of process knowledge in
• software maintenance
• product design
• Assess the impact of process re-design on
  procurement activities

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Naval Postgraduate SchoolCenter for Excellence
in Knowledge Management
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Concept and Roles

• Serve as a nucleus for Navy KM activities
• Facilitate the exchange of best-of-breed insights
  and practices in the Navy, Industry and Academia
• Conduct analysis and develop applications in KM

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Mission

• Develop and apply Knowledge Management solutions
  that combine the possibilities of technology and
  the realities of military organizations in order
  to create sustainable competitive advantages for
  the U.S. Navy

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Managing Knowledge as a Resource

• Managing the knowledge resources of an adaptable
  organization requires attention to several
  aspects of knowledge
• Optimizing the use of resident knowledge within
  and across organizations creating and nurturing
  communities of practice, recording and
  disseminating best practices, lessons learned
• Minimizing dissipation of knowledge from
  turnover/shifting of personnel
• Preserving continuity in knowledge structures
  across successive organizational forms

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Objectives

• Shape the overall thrust and direction of the KM
  effort in the Navy
• Coordinate and leverage the KM effort across
  different projects
• Implement medium/long-term focused projects

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Shaping the KM Effort

• Identify and validate KM opportunities/
  applications with high payoffs
• Design framework(s) and procedures for
  implementing the KM initiative

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Coordinating across Projects

• Coordinate across different stages of KM project
  life-cycles
• Leverage concepts and ideas across projects with
  similar characteristics

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Implementing Projects

Analysis of tasks/ processes
Learning Knowledge Transfer
Design of KM Systems
Assessment of Impact
Application to Combat and Support Activities
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Analysis of Tasks and Processes

• Analysis and re-engineering of tasks and
  processes for KM
• Development of quantifiable measures of impact
• Field studies
• Modeling/experimentation of KM

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Design of KM Systems

• Repositories for KM capturing, maintaining and
  disseminating knowledge
• Knowledge networking and distribution
• Yellow-page type search and retrieval systems for
  locating and accessing knowledge
• Intelligent document management

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Design of KM Systems (Contd)

• Integration with intelligent agent technology
• Decision support and expert systems systems for
  Knowledge Work

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Assessment of impact

• Surveys and interviews
• Field studies
• Analyses of costs and effectiveness
• Experimentation

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KM Center Organizational Structure

• Board of Advisors
• Operational Advisory Group
• Director
• Membership

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Board of Advisors

• The centers overall direction will be guided by
  a Board of Advisors
• The Board will be drawn from key stakeholders and
  experts in the Navy, industry and academia

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Operational Advisory Group

• Guidance for the centers activities at the
  project level will be provided by a Working Group
• The working group will be drawn from
  representatives of the user and producer
  communities of the Navy and related organizations
• Examples CNO-N6, HQMC-C4, DoN CIO, Fleet
  N6's/CKOs, ONI/DNI, Naval Space Command, SPAWAR,
  NWC/NWDC, ONR/NRL

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Director

• The Director of the Center will be drawn from the
  Faculty at NPS
• The Director will be tasked with day-to-day
  responsibilities for running the center

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Membership

• NPS Faculty and students
• Affiliates and Fellows, drawn from other
  institutions

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Implementing KM An Integrative Perspective

Organizational Capabilities
Systems and Technologies
KM Process
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Organizational Capabilities The Role of KM

Knowledge Layers
Knowledge Dynamics
Knowledge Frame
Knowledge Base
Architectural
Local
Organizational Capabilities
Source Kusunoki et al, 1998
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The Process of KM

Organize
Utilize
Filter
Create
Capture
Disseminate
Enhance/ Delete
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Implementing KM Systems and Technologies

• Technological solutions
• DBMS, e.g., Oracle
• Repository maintenance, e.g., Lotus Notes
• Document Management systems, e.g., Domino,
  AmberWeb
• Expert System Shells, e.g., KEE

• Core technologies
• Data Base/OLAP/Data mining
• Networking/collaboration technologies
• Document Management
• Artificial Intelligence
• Web-based technologies

• Systems
• Knowledge Repositories
• Expert Advisors
• Yellow Page Search Systems

• Users
• Combat/Shipboard
• Support/Administrative

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The MK92 Fire Control Diagnostic Expert System

• Knowledge-based software system designed to
  assist onboard technicians in diagnosing and
  resolving problems occurring in the Fire Control
  System (FCS) MK92 onboard the FFG-7 Class ships
• Deployed in eighteen U.S., six Australian, six
  Spanish, and three Egyptian Navy ships

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The MK92 Fire Control Diagnostic Expert System
(Contd)

• Demonstrable benefits include
• Providing onboard technicians with
  troubleshooting expertise where scarce
• Capturing and preserving domain troubleshooting
  expertise which will otherwise be lost
• Significant reduction in No Fault Evident (NFE)
  replacement of parts
• Reduction of Mean Time To Repair
• Improvement in operational readiness

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Process Support for Procurement Activities

• KOPeR Knowledge system for the capture and
  application of expertise in process innovation
  redesign. Currently being used to redesign Navy
  procurement processes
• I-Mall Multi-agent system for the capture and
  application of acquisition process knowledge for
  supply-chain processes. Currently being used to
  enact a virtual "marketspace" for matching Navy
  billets with officers

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KOPeR Project

• Objective capture, formalize distribute
  reengineering expertise
• Sponsor ONR NAWC
• Research
• Developed proof-of-concept intelligent system for
  process redesign
• Applied to redesign of NAWCWPNS procurement
  processes

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KOPeR Project (Contd)

• Results
• Redesigned processes with 1/3 cycle time and
  lower cost
• BPR novices able to redesign processes
• Web-based demo system now available

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I-Mall Project

• Objective enact procurement processes via agents
• Research
• Developed proof-of-concept multi-agent system to
  procure software
• Applying to Navy officer billet-matching process
  - mall metaphor
• Results
• Agents faithfully represent buyers sellers
• Agents perform process with correct behaviors
• Web-based demo system now available

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Retention of Process Knowledge in Virtual
Environments

• Objective Provide decision support for knowledge
  management in virtual organizations
• Sponsor NSWC
• Research
• Developed VDA A proof-of-concept decision
  support tool for knowledge management in
  distributed environments
• The tool is being applied to two activities in
  knowledge management software maintenance,
  product design

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Retention of Process Knowledge in Virtual
Environments (Contd)

• Results
• Software maintenance
• Initial use of the tool has shown promise for
  retention of process knowledge in adaptive and
  corrective maintenance
• Product design
• The tool helps product designers achieve
  continuity of design across successive versions
  of a product

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Data Interoperability and Integration

• Effort aimed at increasing data access and
  sharing across heterogeneous environments
• Involves investigation of knowledge
  representation and integration issues
• Developed prototype for integrating data across
  incompatible database management systems

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Knowledge Management in War Games

• Collaboration between Naval War College and NPS
• Objective Create an architecture for managing
  knowledge on war games design, outcomes, lessons
  learned
• Approach Argumentation-based framework for the
  capture and retention of game-based data
• Deliverable IBIS-based proof-of-concept system
  for data capture and knowledge management in war
  games