Our clients and us face the same challenge: How can knowledge be managed in such a way that core competences are not lost? How can new employees quickly acquire the necessary expertise and skills? How can knowledge be developed for the pursuit of strategic aims? How can all this be realized with the optimal use of resources?

Hivescout – INVENSITY knowledge base for the effective exchange of knowledge and expertise between employees (product description)

Summary

Hivescout is a web-based knowledge management and information system that is available for use by INVENSITY consultants in their daily work. By connecting Web 2.0 technologies and a semantic interlinking, the consultant obtains information, knowledge and skills in a targeted manner and in a structured format in order to efficiently execute projects for his/her clients in a target-oriented way. Hivescout is integrated into the INVENSITY processes and assists the management in the coordination of projects and the processing of client enquiries. A test version of the Hivescout knowledge management system can be found at Hivescout demo.

Background

“Knowledge management is defined as the process of continuously creating new knowledge, disseminating it widely through the organization, and embodying it quickly in new products/services, technologies and systems” – (Nonaka and Takeuchi)

INVENSITY develops high-quality solutions for the challenges its clients face - but how do these solutions come about? INVENSITY employs experts who can demonstrate exceptional expertise in various areas. So that every consultant can benefit from this knowledge pool, INVENSITY provides its consultants with a tool called the Hivescout system, which makes each individual’s expert knowledge available as formatted information.

Hivescout has been developed as a web-based knowledge management system and uses modern and innovative Web 2.0 technologies. The knowledge, which is stored in Hivescout in form of numerous knowledge objects, is linked up semantically. In this way, each knowledge object relates to its predecessor, thus enabling our consultants to think outside the box to develop innovative solutions and thus create added value for our clients. INVENSITY’s employees are always able to access and use this knowledge via the Internet using their iPhone, notebook or any other computer of their choice.

The principle behind Hivescout is based on the classic ‘SECI’ knowledge management model (fig. 2) by Nonaka and Takeuchi. By publishing knowledge in Hivescout, each INVENSITY employee’s implicit knowledge is continuously transformed into explicit knowledge. By combining a range of explicit knowledge and internalization of it results in this explicit knowledge, in turn, becoming implicit knowledge again. In this way, knowledge within INVENSITY is passed on and developed from each employee to a group of employees in a kind of spiraling process. This process assists our consultants, continually develops them and makes day-to-day project work significantly easier.

What does Hivescout offer the consultants of INVENSITY?

Knowledge is stored in Hivescout in the form of knowledge objects, which can be interlinked semantically; for instance, it is possible to create relationships from one knowledge object to another. Let’s take the Employee knowledge object as an example. This knowledge object is linked to another employee - but what does this connection reveal? Not much at first, as the connection is unclear without any context. However, thanks to the semantic connections integrated in Hivescout, the two employees’ relationships with each other can be shown, thus providing added value for the consultants. An employee may, for instance, be the mentor or mentee of the other employee. Thanks to the iPhone app created by INVENSITY, this knowledge network can also be accessed while on the move at any time.

The technological backbone of Hivescout

Hivescout is based on the PHP5 web technology in cooperation with the MySQL database system. Together with the jQuery JavaScript framework, this triumvirate forms a symbiosis of technology and user-friendliness. Furthermore, Hivescout is equipped with an LDAP interface, which enables Hivescout to be fully integrated into the INVENSITY infrastructure. By using SOAP technology, Hivescout is able to also provide second and third-party systems with information and data. Various INVENSITY online tools benefit from this web service. The database provided reduces administrative work, as the information is available centrally.

Benefits at a glance

• Access to information anywhere, any time
• Knowledge is available to every member of staff
• Continuous professional employee development thanks to knowledge spiral
• Semantic connections and the added value that these create
• Process assistance for employees and the management

Forward-looking thanks to the use of modern technologies