CMb 2007-03
There are no “KM systems”
Categorised under: articles, information management, knowledge management
With the rise of knowledge management as a discipline, vendors increasingly rebranded their products as ‘knowledge management systems’ (KMS).
While this was a convenient label to cover a broad range of functionality, the use of ‘KMS’ as a term has caused considerable confusion.
For this reason, this briefing will argue that organisations should abandon the search for a ‘KMS’, and instead focus more closely on the specific capabilities required.
Vendors are similarly encouraged to more clearly define their product capabilities, and to let go use of the catch-all ‘KMS’ label.
Technology and KM
As defined by the Australian Standard on knowledge management (AS 5037-2005), knowledge management can be considered to consist of:
- people
- process
- technology
- content
In this way, it can be seen that while KM is not a technology discipline, technology plays a key role in delivering and supporting KM services.
Within any organisation, there will almost certainly be the need for some technology (new or existing) to support overall knowledge management initiatives.
Quite naturally, some organisations are therefore going to the marketplace in search of ‘knowledge management systems’, as part of the KM projects.
This is where the problems begin.
Just as knowledge management covers a broad range of activities, so does the term ‘knowledge management system’. Without a clear definition of such systems, there is considerable scope for confusion in the marketplace.
With this confusion comes the danger that organisations will purchase technology solutions without fully understanding their capabilities, or where they fit into the broader IT context.
Many knowledge systems
In practice, there are many different (and quite distinct) technologies that could come under the umbrella of ‘knowledge management systems’, including:
- web content management systems (CMS)
- electronic document and records management systems (EDRMS)
- collaboration tools
- search engines
- classification tools
- portals
Each of these systems delivers specific functionality that could support KM objectives and projects.
(For a definition of these (and other) systems see the earlier article Definition of information management terms.)
Abandon ‘KMS’
To mitigate risks, and to get the best possible project outcomes, organisations should abandon use of the term ‘KMS’. Use of this term in any form of tender is likely to cause considerable difficulties when evaluating potential solutions.
Instead, organisations should focus on clearly articulating exactly what functionality is required.
For example, organisations would specifically purchase a DMS, with the understanding that this would be used to address one particular organisational need. Other specific products would then be obtained as required.
Information management strategy
At the end of the day, organisations need to let go of the desire for ‘silver bullet’ solutions implied by terms such as KMS. Instead, they should look to build internal information management expertise, alongside the people and process aspects of KM.
The earlier article 10 principles of effective information management outlined some of the key ways of tackling these needs.
James Robertson is the founder and Managing Director of Step Two Designs, a vendor-neutral consultancy located in Australia.
James is recognised as one of the world-wide thought leaders on the topics of web content management and intranet strategy. He has worked with many organisations in both the public and private sectors, including Fortune 500 companies and Federal Government agencies. 
15 Comments:
Hi, thanks for information.
would you please clarify what can be called a knowledge management system ?
I would argue, as I have in this article, that nothing should be called a “knowledge management system”. Better to refer to the specific capabilities required (content, records, collaboration, etc).
thank you , your artical helped me a lot
but I am confused since i am doing research about KMS and now you say there is not such thing :S
Hi, I recommend that you pick a specific type of system to do research into, which will help you to conduct a more in-depth project.
Do you mean I do my research on EDRMS or CMS rather than KMS ??
sorry for stupid question but I am in the beginning and confused :S
Yes, it would make sense to pick one type of system, such as EDRMS, CMS, collaboration, etc.
(Either that or look at “knowledge management” more broadly than the technology, which is certainly a valid topic for research, if a big area to cover!)
Hi, many thanks for posting the article. I’m a very beginner in this KM area.
Right now, I’m in the process of building a KM system. I’m thinking of using CMS, which allows people to do multi crossover data searching and also gives system would also gives recommendations on related documents. But the costing is pretty high.
Should i switch to a blog website system instead?
Hi @Mee Lee, there’s probably some work needed to specify exactly what functionality you require. You can then make a decision about a suitable technology (commercial CMS products offer a quite different feature set than blog software, although the gap is closing).
Hello. Now this article is confusing me more although it sort of explains also why there is confusion in the first place. I am trying to find out the difference between an MIS and a KMS. Looking at the descriptions point out that they are one and the same
@Maria, I’d avoid both “MIS” and “KMS” as terms! They are so vague and broad to be useless…
i am in the field of library and information science. i want to do my PHD and focus my research on knowledge management. i was beginning to get confused by the two term KM and KMS because it seems everyone is focusing on KMS. Please i need guidance in my research so that the research matches my area of study. thank you in advance
@Kudzayi, you might find that “KMS” has a specific meaning withing the library community. In which case, define it carefully, and there could well be the basis for a PHD.
Hi Buddy
Thanks for info
I Wounder If You Could Possibly Define Some OF KMS Functionality, So that We Can Distinguish Between CMS, KMS, DMS, Portal, Share points, Network Of Communiuty,Wiki and …
@Mojtaba, you might find this article useful:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_definition/index.html
Thanks for the post James. It is very concise, easy to understand and straight into the point. I’m like a number of other commenters herer who are doing research about KMS. I do it for my Honours degree.
I agree that KMS is a very broad concept and could be hard to be looked at in one research. I think I will take your advise and pick on of the more specific systems to look at in more depth.
Keep up the good work!