CIMA E1 Syllabus E4. IT - Knowledge management and IT - Notes ^{3 / 7}

Knowledge management is the process for the acquisition, sharing, retention and utilisation of knowledge.

Knowledge is a vital asset in any organisation and the capturing and sharing of this knowledge in an organisation can result in great value to the organisation.

Two Types of Knowledge

1. Explicit knowledge - this is knowledge that the company knows it has, for example, customer information.

2. Tacit knowledge - this is knowledge from the experience and expertise of the people in the organisation, it has not been formally documented, for example, knowledge gained through the experiences of employees in the organisation. 

   The organisation will try to turn this tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge so that it can be shared with others in the organisation and therefore be used throughout the organisation.

Knowledge Management Systems

IT systems are now available which support the capture and sharing of knowledge. 

They are called Knowledge Management Systems.

Examples include:

1. Groupware - software which helps teams to work together and collaborate on projects, for example, email and file sharing technology.

2. Intranet - an organisational network using internet technology which is only accessible by authorised employees

3. Extranet - this is an extension of the intranet, that can include suppliers, customers and other business partners.

4. Data warehouses and data mining

5. Decision support systems (DSS)

6. Content management systems

7. Document management systems