KNOWLEDGE

CODIFICATION

Lecture Six
(Chapter 6, Notes;
Chapter 7, Textbook)
Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Review of Lecture 5
On-site Observation Consensus
(Action Protocol) Decision
Making

Brainstorming
(Conventional & Electronic)

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Review of Lecture 5 (Cont’d)

Delphi Method

Repertory Grid
Construct T1 T2 T3
1 Inexperience 3 3 1
2 Appearance 3 2 1
… … … …
5 Late 2 3 2

Nominal Group
Technique
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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification
Concept Map
White
horse Bear
d At
chimneys On roofs
Birthday
has
rides
Spain listens
has climbs
lives
in lives in
SAINT helper of BLACK
NICOLAS
PETER

not same as gives brings

Santa
Presents
Blackboarding Clause

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

This Week’s Objectives

 What Does Knowledge Codification
Involve?
 Benefits of Knowledge Codification
 Pre Knowledge Codification
Questions
 Tools and Procedures
 The Role of Planning

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Knowledge Codification in the KM System Life Cycle

Capture Tools Intelligence

Programs, books, gathering Decision tables,
articles, experts Decision trees, frames
maps, rules

KNOWLEDGE
CAPTURE KNOWLEDGE
(Creation) CODIFICATION

DATABASES TESTING AND

DEPLOYMENT
Explicit Knowledge

KNOWLEDGE
SHARING

KNOWLEDGE
TRANSFER
KNOWLEDGE
BASE

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GOAL
Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

What Does Knowledge

Codification Involve?
 Converting “tacit knowledge” into
“explicit usable form”
 Converting “undocumented” information
into “documented” information
 Representing and organizing knowledge
before it is accessed
 It is making institutional knowledge
visible, accessible, and usable for
decision making 6-7
Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Benefits of Knowledge
Codification
 Instruction/training—promoting training of
junior personnel based on captured
knowledge of senior employees
 Prediction—inferring the likely outcome of a
given situation and flashing a proper warning
or suggestion for corrective action
 Diagnosis—addressing identifiable symptoms
of specific causal factors
 Planning/scheduling—mapping out an entire
course of action before any steps are taken 6-8
Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Pre-KC Questions
 What organizational
goals will the codified
knowledge serve?
 Why is the knowledge
useful?
 How would one codify
knowledge?

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Some Codification Tools

 Knowledge Map
 Decision Table
 Decision Tree
 Frames
 Production Rules
 Case-based Reasoning

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Knowledge Map
 Visual representation of knowledge, not a
repository
 Identify strengths to exploit and missing
knowledge gaps to fill
 Can be applied in Knowledge Capture
 A straightforward directory that points people
to where they can find certain expertise
 Capture both explicit and tacit knowledge in
documents and in experts’ heads
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 Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Knowledge Map (Relationships

among Departments)

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www.nwlnk.com Copyright 2004
Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

The Building Cycle

 Once where knowledge
resides is known, simply
point to it and add
instructions on how to get
there
 An intranet is a common
medium for publishing
knowledge maps
 Main criteria: clarity of
purpose, ease of use,
accuracy and currency of
content
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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Decision Trees
 Composed of nodes representing goals and
links representing decisions or outcomes
 All nodes except the root node are instances
of the primary goal. (See next figure)
 Often a step before actual codification
 Ability to verify logic graphically in problems
involving complex situations that result in a
limited number of actions

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Discount Policy (A Decision Tree)

Discount ?
Order 6 or Discount
size ? more is 25%
Customer is copies
bookstore
Discount ? Discount
Less
is NIL
than 6
copies
Bookstore

Discount Discount ?
50 or Discount
Policy is 15%
more
copies
Not a
bookstore Discount ?
Order Discount
20-49
size ? copies is 10%
Customer is
library or
Discount ?
individual 6-19 Discount
copies is 5%

Less than Discount ? Discount

6 copies is NIL

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Decision Tables
 More like a spreadsheet—divided into a
list of conditions and their respective
values and a list of conclusions
 Conditions are matched against
conclusions (See next table)

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Discount Policy (A Decision Table)

Condition Stub Condition Entry
1 2 3 4 5 6

Customer is bookstore Y Y N N N N

Order size > 6 copies Y N N N N N

Customer is librarian/individual Y Y Y Y
IF Order size 50 copies or more Y N N N
(condition) Order size 20-49 copies Y N N
Order size 6-19 copies Y N

Allow 25% discount X

Allow 15% discount X
Allow 10% discount X
THEN Allow 5% discount X
(action) Allow no discount X X

Action Stub Action Entry

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Frames
 Represent knowledge about a particular idea
in a data structure
 Handle a combination of declarative and
operational knowledge, which make it easier
to understand the problem domain
 Have a slot (a specific object or an attribute of
an entity) and a facet (the value of an object
or a slot)
 When all the slots are filled with values, the
frame is considered instantiated
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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification
Generic COUPE Frame
An Automobile
Specialization:
Example AUTOMOBILE
Generalization:
Generic AUTOMOBILE
(SMITH’S AUTOMOBILE,
Frame
HANSON’S AUTOMOBILE)
Specialization:
Doors: 2
VEHICLE
Generalization:
(STATION-WAGON,
COUPE, SEDAN) SMITH’S AUTOMOBILE
. Frame
. Specialization:
. COUPE
Year: .
Range: (1940 – 1990) .
If-Changed: (ERROR: .
Value cannot be modified)
Year: 1990
.
. Doors: ( )
. 6-19
Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Production Rules
 Tacit knowledge codification in the form of
premise-action pairs
 Rules are conditional statement that specify an
action to be taken if a certain condition is true
 The form is IF… THEN, or IF…THEN…ELSE
 Example:
IF income is “average” and pay_history is “good”
THEN recommendation is “approve loan”
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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Case-Based Reasoning
(CBR)
 CBR is reasoning from relevant past cases in
a manner similar to humans’ use of past
experiences to arrive at conclusions
 Goal is to bring up the most similar historical
cases that match the current case
 More time savings than rule-based systems
 Requires rigorous initial planning of all
possible variables
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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Generic CBR Process

Submits Partial Description
Specify Attributes of
User of a New
Problem
Problem

Similar
Cases Match Attributes
Case Base to Those in
Case Base

User

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Role of Planning (Earlier

Steps)
Breaking the KM system into modules
Looking at partial solutions
Linking partial solutions via rules and
procedures to arrive at the final solution
Making rules easier to review and
understand

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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Role of Planning (Latter

Steps)
 Deciding on the programming language
 Selecting the right software package
 Developing user interface and
consultation facilities
 Arranging for the verification and
validation of the system
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Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

End of Lecture Six

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 Chapter 6: Knowledge Codification

Stages of KMSLC
Evaluate Existing
Infrastructure

Form the KM Team

Knowledge Capture

Iterative Rapid Design KM Blueprint

Prototyping
Verify and validate the KM
System

Implement the KM System

Manage Change and

Rewards Structure

Post-system evaluation
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