A Framework to Clarify the Role of Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge management Systems (KMS) are IT applications that manage representations of organizational knowledge. This paper presents a conceptual model of KMS which adapts an artificial intelligence (AI) based view of knowledge. According to this view, knowledge can be defined in terms of agent, action, state, and goal. The conceptual model is intended to help differentiate the role of KMS from that of Information Systems (IS). The knowledge managed by the KMS is intended to enable an agent to choose actions that can be taken to accomplish a goal in the given state. The role of the IS is to make the agent aware of a situation described in terms of states, actions, and goal. The model suggests that whether we classify an IT application as KMS or IS depends on the contents it manages and to increase the effectiveness of KMS, it is often necessary to use IS that complement the KMS. Considering the importance and popularity of KMS in organizations, we believe the clarification of the role of KMS is useful.