A blueprint for the implementation of process‐oriented knowledge management

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.182
• Author: Stephan Schub,Ulrich Remus
• Published date: 01 October 2003
• Date: 01 October 2003

&Research Article

A Blueprint for the Implementation

of Process-oriented Knowledge

Management

Ulrich Remus

1

* and Stephan Schub

2

1

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

2

SAP AG, Germany

Process-oriented Knowledge Management aims at the integration of business processes and

knowledge management. In order to provide knowledge for value adding activities within

the business processes KM instruments and KM systems have to be adapted to business and

knowledge processes. In detail, KM instruments such as content management, skill manage-

ment, lessons learned, and communities have to be assigned to KM activities and processes.

Models and patterns that describe generic pKM processes can build a blueprint for the imple-

mentation and support the stepwise integration of business processes into the knowledge life

cycle. The introduction of a pKM becomes more efficient, as the flexibility is increased and the

complexity is reduced. In this paper the authors show the essential elements of a blueprint

developed during the implementation of a pKM in a large transaction bank. The blueprint

describes the essential knowledge structures, activities, processes and instruments on different

layers of abstraction in the context of a continuous knowledge life cycle. Copyright #2003 John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

Process-oriented Knowledge Management (pKM)

has been proposed to integrate Knowledge Man-

agement (KM) and process orientation (Davenport

et al., 1996; Allweyer, 1999; Eppler et al., 1999;

Mertins et al., 2000; Remus, 2002). Knowledge that

contributes to value-added activities is successfully

linked to activities in business processes. As a

result the knowledge value chain and the general

value chain are much more strongly connected

than in other KM approaches (Lee and Yang,

2000). Knowledge can be offered to an employee

in a much more targeted way (Schreiber et al.,

1999, p. 72). At the same time, an information over-

load can be avoided, since only information rele-

vant to value-creating activities is filtered and

made available.

With the help of the pKM approach, KM instru-

ments and KM systems (KMS) have to be adapted

to business and knowledge processes and finally

have to be integrated in the general business-

process landscape of the organization. However,

up to now there are only a few approaches that

provide practical methods, tools or guidelines to

implement pKM concepts in practice. In the follow-

ing paper we try to fill this gap by introducing a

blueprint for the implementation of pKM.

An important requirement for the implementa-

tion of pKM concepts is the transparency of corre-

sponding processes. Process modelling supports

transparency and facilitates the analysis and

implementation of knowledge-related processes.

Moreover, models that describe pKM-relevant pro-

cesses in a generic manner can be used as effective

Knowledge and Process Management Volume 10 Number 4 pp 237–253 (2003)

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/kpm.182

Copyright #2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

*Correspondence to: Ulrich Remus, University of Erlangen-

Nuremberg, IT-Management and Business Systems Develop-

ment, D-90403 Nuremberg, Germany.

E-mail: ulrich.remus@wiso.uni-erlangen.de

tools to build a blueprint, which can support the

implementation of pKM. A blueprint describes pro-

cesses on different layers of abstraction and can be

used for different tasks when implementing pKM

concepts. Traditionally, a blueprint is used in the

construction industry as a tool to guide the con-

struction process— in our context it supports the

implementation of pKM in different process areas

and shows ways to extend the pKM approach in

the future.g Furthermore, the blueprint serves as

a boundary object that supports communication

and coordination between different communities

of practice.

The goals of this paper are to show the basic

levels and elements of a blueprint, as well as to

show which modelling methods are used to imple-

ment a pKM. The paper is structured as follows: In

the next section the essential concepts of a pKM are

presented. The third section will first examine the

technique of reference modelling used as a founda-

tion for the development of a blueprint. The result-

ing blueprint consists of a procedure model and a

conceptual model. The three levels of the concep-

tual model will be discussed in detail. We describe

modelling methods, which can be used at these

levels to model activities, processes, instruments,

knowledge structures and detailed functions. In

addition, we show the development of that model

in terms of defining the activity and process land-

scape, assigning processes and instruments and

modelling processes, its detailed functions and

the corresponding knowledge structure. The final

section concludes the paper and provides an out-

look on further research.

PROCESS-ORIENTED KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT

The process-oriented view offers a number of

advantages for KM, such as orienting KM towards

the value chain and applying widely accepted

management methods (Maier and Remus, 2002).

Furthermore, it provides relevant context and

supports navigation in KMS. Knowledge about pro-

cesses can provide part of the context that is impor-

tant for the interpretation and construction of

process-relevant knowledge. A process-oriented

knowledge structure should provide the process

context by classifying and structuring process

knowledge—knowledge about, within and from

processes (Eppler et al., 1999)—according to the

specific needs of certain activities in business

processes.

Typically, a KMS comprises a (process-oriented)

navigation structure derived from process descrip-

tions. This structure links process elements, e.g.

tasks, roles, information or business objects or pro-

cess outputs, to various knowledge elements. These

can be links to documents concerned with project

descriptions, with lessons learned, or with task

instructions, or the access to other KMS. In addi-

tion, the analysis of business processes can be a

good starting point from which to design and intro-

duce KMS (see Nissen et al., 2000, p. 40; Schreiber

et al., 1999). Information derived from processes

can also be used to specify KMS more precisely,

e.g. to guide push/pull strategies, to define work-

flows, to specify a process-oriented navigation

structure and to select appropriate KMS functions.

The central concepts and elements of a pKM

implementation can be classified in terms of strat-

egy, processes (and KM organization), knowledge

life cycle, instruments/systems and knowledge

base (topics and content) (Remus, 2002).

Fundamental to pKM is that all instruments,

measures and methods are necessary to set up

and support the flow of knowledge. The flow of

knowledge corresponds to the knowledge life cycle

and is responsible for exchanging knowledge

between and within business processes. A closed

knowledge life cycle consists of a sequence of the

KM activities creation, acquisition, organization,

distribution, application and improvement of

knowledge (e.g. Nissen et al., 2000).

The starting point of a pKM initiative is the defi-

nition and implementation of an appropriate pKM

strategy. Process orientation can be seen as an addi-

tional dimension within a bundle of possible

dimensions describing a complex KM strategy,

especially for process-oriented organizations(Maier

and Remus, 2002). The role of the pKM strategy is to

guide the design of the process landscape.

The process landscape integrates so-called knowl-

edge-intensive business processes, knowledge pro-

cesses and KM processes. Each of these processes

implements specific KM instruments and activities.

Knowledge-intensive business processes are often

core processes along the value chain and primarily

use knowledge in order to create process outputs.

Knowledge processes are service processes that

support the exchange of knowledge between busi-

ness units and business processes. Examples are

processes that support the collection, organization,

storing and distribution of knowledge as an out-

come of business processes or processes that man-

age the allocation of skills and expertise to business

processes or projects. Knowledge management

processes control and manage the organizational

knowledge base and realize an external manage-

ment cycle, e.g. the continuous improvement of

the knowledge base.

RESEARCH ARTICLE Knowledge and Process Management

238 U. Remus and S. Schub