Organisational Memories for Capturing, Sharing and Utilizing Knowledge

by

Dr. Ulrich Reimer
Swiss Life, Information Systems Research Group
Postfach CH-8022 Zurich,
Switzerland

General:

In the context of Knowledge Management the topic of organisational memories has got more and more attention. In analogy to human memory the term means that organisations have a memory, too, which allows them to pursue their tasks with the necessary efficiency, effectiveness, and consistency over time, as well as to learn from experiences made to be able to adapt to an ever changing environment. 
Part of the organisational memory are, among others, the people working in the organisation, documents (in paper or electronic form), data bases, as well as regulations of how things are to be done. The latter are often implicit in the business processes. 
This tutorial deals with the IT aspects of organisational memories, i.e., how to support the capturing, preservation, sharing, and utilization by IT means. The electronic repository holding the represented knowledge together with the information systems which offer the above functionalities are called an Organisational Memory System. 

Structure:

1. Definition and Role of an Organizational Memory
2. Generic Architecture of an Organizational Memory System
3. Knowledge Integration, Sharing, and Reuse
4. Entering Knowledge into an Organizational Memory
5. Utilizing Organizational Memories
6. Outlook

Presentation