Telekomunikacja Polska – the national telephone operator
Knowledge Management System
Objectives
The objective of development of the Knowledge Management System was creation of a solution for collecting the information on projects carried out in the company and reuse of the existing knowledge and experience in the coming projects.
Some of the features of the system included:
- gathering, sorting and presentation of the knowledge which was the result of all consultancy projects carried out for TP;
- reused of the knowledge and experience in coming projects to be carried out in TP and TP Group companies in various regions of Poland;
- optimisation of the management processes inside the company based on the existing knowledge and experience;
- expansion of the data base by adding new projects;
- support of the project management process in new consultancy projects to be carried out for the firm.
Usability of the Knowledge Management System was a very important issue. The graphic user interface should be intuitive, easy to reach and present the needed data, and put new information into the system. Good design of the system results in its wide and effective use by the management, and thus contributing to better financial performance of the company.
Methods
The project started from detailed analysis of the system requirements and the internal procedures existing inside TP S.A. Confidential character of the information about consultancy projects and their results was an important issue.
The Knowledge Management System has modular design with special solutions for collecting data and for preparing reports requested by the users. Another module manages the access to the system by classified user groups and to the information they are allowed to use. The information is provided to the system from other information systems of the company and by direct input of information and documents by project managers. A set of on-line forms was designed to minimise the necessary effort to put new information into the system. Appropriate user interface and partial filling in the forms by the data already available in the data base were some of the methods to achieve this objective.
After creation of the architecture and system design a prototype was developed on a JMC server in an environment similar to the one at TP S.A. All the functionalities were tested by the developers and remotely by the project sponsors. Modifications of the system were done during this process to make it as comfortable in use as possible. Then the final version of the Knowledge Management System was implemented at Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. and integrated with other information systems of the company.
To simplify use of the Knowledge Management System and keep it running smoothly several documents and manuals were produced for the users and for the administration personnel.
Technologies
The project was executed using UML (Unified Modeling Language). The system was developed using J2EE technology and Oracle data base solutions. The entire application was created using Struts framework to implement MVC (Model-View-Controller) methodology effectively.
Result
The Knowledge Management System was designed, developed and implemented as a result of the project. The system allows to open accounts for projects carried out for the company by consultancy firms, provide basic project information and attach various documents and other files to the project description. The whole project history can be observed and analysed, starting from the basic concept to its final implementation.
Data mining and reporting module constitutes an important part of the system. Appropriately prepared data, using one of the defined criteria or profiles, provide detailed information, which supports strategic and operational decision making process. The system contributes also to broad reuse of the existing information in TP S.A. and other companies of the TP S.A. Group and generate important savings on becoming more competitive telecom market.
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