Process-Oriented Knowledge Management

This thesis draws from PKM in order to design a business process that takes cost opti-mization and capacity management factors into consideration in the planning and run phases of an applications cloud journey. The PKM framework was chosen as it designs business processes while keeping value in mind.

Knowledge Management (KM) often lacks strategic perspective within organizations. A variety of theoretical approaches, practical activities, measures and technologies are used for KM, which often results in neglecting to take business and strategic values into consideration. Therefore, more attention should be directed at the strategic value of KM initiatives, as well as the relationship between KM activities and business strategies.

(Maier 2002) Furthermore, KM can be classified into two sub-categories, human and technology-oriented KM. To bridge the gap between human and technology-oriented KM, Maier & Remus (2003) suggest a PKM approach. Human- and technology-oriented KM initiatives will still be apparent even when bridging the gap. Both initiatives must extend to include instruments, roles, tasks, contents and systems that are linked and contextualized to enable facilitated navigation in both directions. In addition, an organi-zational culture that supports closing the gap is also an essential factor in bridging the two initiatives. These can be achieved by redesigning knowledge-intensive business pro-cesses and designing knowledge propro-cesses which provide an integrating platform for the links and contextualization. (Maier & Remus 2003)

PKM is defined by Maier & Remus (2003) as the management function responsible for the selection, implementation and evaluation of PKM strategies. PKM strives to better organizational performance by improving an organizations way of handling knowledge.

Process Management (PM) and KM initiatives are typically the starting points for the implementation of a PKM strategy. Moreover, the PKM approach is defined by four key levels of intervention, which include strategy, organization and processes, topics/ con-tent, and instruments/ systems. Each level of intervention must work hand in hand to enhance the flow of knowledge within and between business processes. (Maier & Remus 2003) This closely resembles the knowledge lifecycle demonstrated below by Nissen, Kamel & Sengupta (2000).

Knowledge lifecycle (adapted from Nissen et al. 2000) PM initiatives stem from organizational units or process management specific projects.

Improvement of process visibility by modeling business processes and knowledge pro-cess reengineering are examples of propro-cess management initiatives (Allweyer 1999).

KM initiatives on the other hand, root from KM projects. The implementation of a Knowledge Management System (KMS) to support business processes covers a tech-nology driven approach to KM initiatives. A KM approach focuses more on comprehen-sive KM initiatives, which concentrate specifically on other levels of intervention, such as organization and processes, as well as KM instruments. (Maier & Remus 2003) In this thesis, the PM initiatives are more apparent in the implementation of PKM concepts. A new business process must be designed. Although PM is the more dominant initiative, KM is also a part of the PKM initiatives. As previously mentioned, KM initiatives focus on organization and processes, and the implementation of KM instruments. In a process-oriented view, these KM instruments are turned into knowledge processes or take part in the redesigning of knowledge-intensive business processes (Maier & Remus 2003).

Knowledge is believed to be one of the most important strategic resources of an organi-zation. Furthermore, KM must be linked to business strategy, the creation of economic value and competitive advantage. (Maier 2002) The strategy entails defining and imple-menting an appropriate KM strategy, and acts as a guide for the other levels of interven-tion. The strategy should have the ability to balance both resource- and market-orienta-tion when designing business and knowledge processes. (Maier & Remus 2003) The

strategy of the case company can be considered resource- and market oriented, as both internal and external factors are apparent. The case company has limited the potential cloud providers to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure. The strategy entails creating a business process for applications that are moving to the cloud. The goal is to build a process that results in cost optimization with the help of effective capacity management.

This requires adequate visibility to the appropriate knowledge, and a culture that culti-vates cost optimization. The combination of knowledge residing in the minds of employ-ees (implicit) and the knowledge gained from the literature review (explicit) will assist in bridging the gap between technology- and human-oriented KM.

Topics/ content includes the interpretation and construction of process relevant knowledge by gathering knowledge about processes. Knowledge about processes typi-cally stem from process models and knowledge that is created and used within pro-cesses. Filtering knowledge from internal and external sources of the organization ac-cording to specific business process activities can assist in avoiding information over-load. (Maier & Remus 2003) The case company has several ongoing projects where applications are being moved to the cloud. Majority of the current knowledge on pro-cesses is embedded in the heads and ways of working of the employees. For this reason, qualitative interviews are used to gain access to the implicit knowledge residing in the heads of the employees. The interview template used for the empirical study is a compi-lation of themes identified in the literature review section of this thesis. As a result of the interviews, knowledge about the processes require identification and explication. Fur-thermore, the identification of knowledge created within the process itself requires expli-cation. (Maier & Remus 2003)

Instruments/ systems include KM instruments such as knowledge networks, lessons learned, best practices, process communities etc. In addition, the PKM approach in-cludes instruments such as continuous process improvement and process modeling.

Roles, responsibilities, activities and resources must be defined for each instrument and joined into knowledge processes. KMS should have the ability to support PKM. The re-sults of the conducted interviews require identifying instruments, activities and pro-cesses. The knowledge lifecycle presented in figure 21 should be considered when de-signing activities and processes. (Maier & Remus 2003)

Knowledge-intensive business processes are specified as core processes along the value chain, using knowledge to create process outputs. Knowledge processes enable the exchange of knowledge between business units and processes. These include pro-cesses that support the collection, organization, storing and distribution of knowledge,

as well as processes that manage the allocation of skills and expertise to business pro-cesses or projects. Knowledge management propro-cesses manage the organizational knowledge base. Focus is placed on the continuous improvement of the knowledge base. KM organization and processes in PKM utilize knowledge lifecycle activities and combine them into knowledge processes. Business processes must also be linked in order to integrate processes and KM. As an example, process manager and knowledge manager roles can be assigned to one person. Furthermore, another example is the enhancement of existing activities within business processes with KM activities. The idea is to bridge the gap between human- and technology-oriented factors into one single process. (Maier & Remus 2003)