9.3.1 A Knowledge Management System Life Cycle Description Using the ISO/IEC 15288 Standard

Abstract

AbstractDevelopment of a Knowledge Management (KM) system is often considered to be a technical challenge of incorporating the proper system building blocks that provide the mechanism for information transfer from a knowledge source to a potential user. These building blocks include tangible elements such as databases, servers, networks, search engines, web portals and even extend to expert networks and artificial intelligence algorithms. This paper provides a life cycle description of a KM system that includes both tangible and intangible elements. These intangible elements include interfacing the human‐in‐the‐loop, human motivation to contribute to (and to search) the KM system, and establishing a community of practice that includes policies, procedures and guides that encourage a learning organization. Peter Senge (Senge 1994) defines a learning organization as requiring an environment for individual and organizational growth to facilitate continual improvement and maintain a leadership position. The KM system is a tool that, when properly implemented in a business, can indeed facilitate the environment of a learning organization. This paper uses the recently released ISO/IEC 15288 standard (ISO/IEC 2002) and provides a detailed system description model for the life cycle Technical Processes implemented for a KM system. ISO/IEC 15288 also provides descriptions of Enterprise, Agreement and Program Management processes which are summarized for the KM system as a part of Appendix A.