From Lightweight, Proactive Information Delivery to Business Process-Oriented Knowledge Management

Abstract

Abstract: Knowledge work processes consist of interleaved agile, weakly-structured processes and strictly-structured processes. Knowledge management approaches for weakly-structured, ad-hoc knowledge work processes need to be lightweight, i.e., they cannot rely on high upfront modeling effort. However, approaches for business processoriented knowledge management require intensive modeling activities. In this paper, we introduce a bottom-up strategy for proactive information delivery to cover the complete spectrum of knowledge work processes in different phases, and present a series of prototypes realizing selected phases of this strategy. Among these is a novel prototype for supporting weakly-structured processes by integrating a standard to-do list application with a state-of-the-art document classification system. The resulting system allows for a task-oriented view on an office worker’s personal knowledge space in order to realize a proactive and context-sensitive information support during her daily, knowledge-intensive tasks. Key Words: Weakly-structured workflows, agile workflows, proactive information delivery, personal knowledge space