Knowledge Management System Project: ABC Timber & Hardware Company

This project report details the design of a Knowledge Management System (KMS) for ABC Timber & Hardware Company, aiming to improve efficiency across its 12 branches. The report begins with a case study overview, followed by a system analysis identifying strengths and weaknesses of the current system. Research questions are posed to guide the development of a new KMS, incorporating features like web content, document, and digital asset management. The project includes detailed planning activities, stakeholder roles and responsibilities, resource quantification, and monitoring programs. Policies, procedures, training requirements, and promotional activities are outlined. The report also addresses legal and ethical issues, concluding with a summary of the KMS's benefits and references to supporting research.

Information management system
2017

Contents
Case study overview:.................................................................................................................2
System analysis and system option............................................................................................2
Analysis of the system............................................................................................................2
Strength and weaknesses........................................................................................................2
Research Questions................................................................................................................3
Solution...................................................................................................................................3
Planning, stakeholder, and personnel.........................................................................................4
Planning activities for the implementation of the IMS..........................................................4
Quantification of human, physical, and financial resources in the implementation of the
new system.............................................................................................................................5
Role and responsibilities of the stakeholder...........................................................................5
Monitoring and policies.............................................................................................................6
Identification of the monitoring program...............................................................................6
Identification of policies and procedures...............................................................................6
Training and promotion..............................................................................................................7
Analysis of the learning requirement.....................................................................................7
Promotional activities.............................................................................................................7
Ethics..........................................................................................................................................7
Impact of legal issues.............................................................................................................7
Impact of ethical issues..........................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8

Case study overview:
The ABC timber and hardware company is a big organization having 12 branches in the
complete state. The company wants to develop a knowledge management system for
increasing the efficiency of the enterprise. The company is looking forward for the system
which makes the new employees to obtain the information and knowledge of their senior
person. The new information system should be capable of providing information relevant to
the different department of the organization such as accounting, human resource,
administration, and other. The efficiency of the working employees should be improved with
the deployment of the new information management system. In this paper, we are going to
design a knowledge management system which helps in improving the efficiency and
working environment of the enterprise.
System analysis and system option
Analysis of the system
The analysis of the current system helps in determining the strength and weaknesses
associated with the working of the information management system. The traditional system is
efficient in maintaining long term relationship with the customers. The monthly reports are
provided by the sales manager at the end of the month (Rolling, 2011). The purchasing
activities can be efficiently maintained in the accounting system of the organization which
provides financial statement of the enterprise (Simpsons, 2010). It is difficult to analyse the
knowledge of senior executives by the new sales person at the time of retirement. This
problem results in the wastage of time to analyse the past work done by the senior person.
Strength and weaknesses
Strength Weaknesses
Face to face communication between the
sales manager annually
Better communication and understand ability
between the customers and employees of the
organization (Kodali, 2015)
The frequent information cannot be retrieved
from the different departments of the
enterprise.
The updated information is not retrieved
from the central database.

The employees are motivated towards the
their work
The market share of the organization can be
kept high
The strategic management system is not
developed according to the requirement of
the organization ((Robertson, 2015).
Inefficiency in the management of activities
for the working employees
Incapability in managing the vast database of
the purchasing activities
Research Questions
 Is the current working information system is capable of storing information on the
cloud for easy accessing of the information?
 Is the current information system is capable of providing knowledge to the new sales
officer for increasing its efficiency?
 What are the issues associated with the traditional working information system?
Solution
The features which should be added in the development of the new system are categorised as
 The new system should be capable of exploring web content management system
 The new system should be capable of exploring document management system
 The new system should be capable of exploring record management system
 The new system should be capable of exploring digital asset management system
 The new system should be capable of exploring learning practices for the new
employees (Liu, 2014)
 The new system should be capable of exploring collaboration with different
departments of the enterprise (Oper, 2010).
 The new system should be capable of exploring better communication platform
between the different participating units.

Planning, stakeholder, and personnel
Planning activities for the implementation of the IMS
The activities which are deployed for the implementation planning of the new information
management system are categorised as following
 Development of the leadership program
 Development of the strategies for the knowledge management
 Definition of the road maps for the knowledge management program
 Implementation of the knowledge management process
 Coordination of knowledge management activities with the transfer of knowledge,
maintenance program, and evaluation of the activities (Adams, 2014).
 Reviewing of knowledge management system
 Determining the knowledge type
The following flowchart shows the flow of activities for the development of the
implementation model:

The success of the new information system depends on the use of knowledge, professional
experience, investigation of the research, inclusion of quality control services, increasing
reputation of the company, and maintaining healthy relationship with the customers and other
working employees (Kaplan, 2006).
Quantification of human, physical, and financial resources in the implementation of the
new system
Human Resources Physical Resources Financial resources
The role and responsibilities
should be divided between
the working participant
according to their capabilities
and efficiencies.
The training and
development program helps
in improving expertise of the
working employees.
Improvement in
infrastructure
Requirement of physical
devices at sender and
receiver end
Implementation of the server
program
Cost estimated with the
development of the project is
approx. $ 185000.
Role and responsibilities of the stakeholder
Name Role Responsibilities
R. Greenwood Project manager He is looking forward on the
features to be added in the
development of the new
information management
system for the enterprise
S. Brown Designer He works on developing the
design of the information
system according to the
requirement specification
presented by the project
manager
L. Liu Project senior executives Work on developing the

upgrading of the database
W. Wuest Senior sales executives Works on providing the
information which is required
to be kept on the cloud for
future use
E. Buhalis Account manager Activities required to be
linked with the new
implementation management
system
H. Hasan Project sponsor Estimation of the funds
required for the development
of the project
Monitoring and policies
Identification of the monitoring program
Development of the feedback system: The feedback system helps in analysing the flaws in the
proposed system. It helps in inventing the change management program for increasing the
efficiency of the new system.
Evaluation of the project objectives: The checklist should be prepared for identifying the
performance of the new system according to the requirement placed by the project owner in
the requirement specification plan. The matching of the activities with the generated checklist
helps in analysing the performance of the new project.
Identification of policies and procedures
The efficiency of the new information system can be improved with the analysis of the risks
management plan associated with it to take proactive action according to the requirement of
business activity.
The organization challenges and the impact on the working efficiency of the employees
should be taken under consideration.

Training and promotion
Analysis of the learning requirement
The training and development program is required to upgrade the efficiency and effectiveness
of the employees for using the new system.
It helps in creating social responsibility in the working employees
It helps in providing guidelines and procedures for using the new information management
system developed for the organization.
Promotional activities
The promotional activity should rely on the complaints done by the working employees with
the traditional environment which helps in distinguishing the benefits of the new system over
the existing working environment.
Ethics
Impact of legal issues
The new information system should deploy government compliance requirement
specification plan to overcome the legal issues with the new system. The development of the
governance compliance model helps in resolving legal issues created with the deployment of
information system.
Impact of ethical issues
The ethical code of conduct should be followed for managing the ethical behaviour in the
working curriculum of the organization to resolve the issues related with the chaotic created
at the work place. The proficiency of the employees can be effectively improved with the
deployment of ethical standards guidelines and policies.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper is to develop a new information system which can provide relevant
knowledge to the new employees directly from the database. The new information system
should be capable of providing information relevant to the different department of the
organization such as accounting, human resource, administration, and other. The developed

information system is capable of managing better communication between the customers and
employees of the organization.
References:
Adams, O. (2014). Human, physical, and intellectual resource generation-proposal for
monitoring. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper49.pdf
Kaplan, R. (2006). How to implement new strategies without disturbing your organization.
Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207543.2014.937508
Kodali, R. (2015). Knowledge management tools. Retrieved from http://www.knowledge-
management-tools.net/knowledge-management-systems.html
Liu, W. (2014). Monitoring, review, and evaluation. Retrieved from
https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/pmc/implementation-toolkit-5-
monitoring.pdf
Oper, P. (2010). Knowledge management for improving business processes. Retrieved from
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-74382010000200004
Robertson, J. (2015). Principles for effective management system. Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207543.2014.937508
Rolling, S. (2011). Design and implementation of knowledge management system. Retrieved
from http://www.community-of-knowledge.de/beitrag/design-the-implementation-of-
knowledge-management-system/
Simmsons, R. (2013). Steps to implement knowledge management program at your
organization. Retrieved from http://focus.forsythe.com/articles/281/8-Steps-to-
Implementing-a-Knowledge-Management-Program-at-Your-Organization