Chap # 09 "System Testing And Deployment"

Testing                                                                                                                                                      

There are two types of Testing mentioned below:

1) Logical Testing: This testing ensures that the system produces correct results.

2) User Acceptance Testing: This follows the logical testing and it tests the system’s behavior in a real environment.

Issues in KMS Testing

·         Human mistakes

·         Shortage of time

·         Unable to decide knowledge completion

·         Does not have reliable specification

·         Subjective nature of tacit knowledge. 

·         The interface of user unfriendly

Logical Testing Approaches

Verify Knowledge base formation

·         Organizing the knowledge as it associates the circular or redundant errors

·         Consistency, correctness, and completeness of knowledge base rules

Verify Knowledge base functionality

·         This deals with confidence and reliability of the knowledge base.

Logical Errors/Attributes

·         Circular errors – opposing in the meaning or logic

·         Redundancy errors - give dissimilar approaches to the same problem

·         Unusable knowledge – it is present if conditions succeed or fail

·         Assumption errors - if one rule is true, one knows the second rule is always true

·         Inconsistent knowledge - similar inputs produce different results

·         Completeness – System/module is not completed

·         Confidence – Deals with confidence of the knowledge base.

·         Correctness – How much correct output

·         Reliability – Deals with reliability of the knowledge base.

 User Acceptance Testing Approach

·         Select a person or a team for testing

·         Decide on user acceptance test criteria

·         Develop a set of test cases unique to the system

·         Maintain a log on various versions of the tests and test results

·         Field-test the system

User Acceptance Testing Approach : 

Test Team/Plan

·         Independent of the design or codification of the system

·         Understand the knowledge problem and computer technology

·         Well versed in the organization’s goals

·         Know how the system being tested will fit into the designated area of operation

Content of Test Plan

·         Items of KM system that require testing

·         Schedule of user acceptance testing

·         Description of test methods that are approved by user and company

·         Guidelines for documenting test results

User Acceptance Criteria

·         Accuracy and correctness of outcome for test items

·         Suitability of the solutions

·         Adaptability to novel input

·         Ease of use

·         Robustness

·         Technical/operational test

User Acceptance Test Techniques

·         Developing a set of test cases

·         Subsystem Validation

·         Maintaining a log on different versions of the tests/test results

·         Field testing the system

Managing Test Phase

The following tasks are included

·         Deciding what, when, how, and where to evaluate the knowledge base.

·         Deciding who will be doing the logical and user acceptance testing.

·         Deciding about a set of evaluation criteria.

·         Deciding about what should be recorded during the test.

   The following statistics are to be recorded:

o   Those rules that always fire and succeed.

o   Those rules that always fire and fail.

o   Those rules that never fire.

o   Those test cases that have failed.

·         Reviewing training cases (provided by the knowledge developer, the expert or the user).

·         Testing all the rules. Two types of errors:

o   Type-I Error: A rule that fails to fire when it is supposed to fire.

o   Type-II Error: A rule that fires when it is not supposed to fire.

KMS Deployment

·         Transfer of KM System from knowledge developer to the organization’s operating unit.

·         Transfer of KM’s skills from knowledge developer to the organization’s operators.

System Deployment

Factors affecting System Deployment

·         Technical

·         Organizational

·         Procedural

·         Behavioral

·         Political

·         Economical

Issues in System Deployment

·         Selection of KB Problem

o   The KM system can be guarantees to be successful if:

• The users have past experience with systems applications.
• The user is actively engaged in defining /identifying the specific systems functions.
• The user is actively involved in user acceptance testing and the final system evaluation.
• It is feasible to implement the system in the working environment without interrupting the ongoing activities.

·         Knowledge Transfer

Two Approaches used for transferring KM system technology in implementation:

o   The system is actually transferred from the knowledge developer directly to the working unit in the organization.

o   Installing the system on the resident hardware.

·         Ease of Understanding the KM System

o   Reliable documentation plays an important role during deployment.

o   Documentation including examples, illustrations, and graphics which might reduce the training time.

·         Integration Alternatives

o   Technical Integration: Takes place in the organization's LAN environment, the resident mainframe, or existing IS infrastructure.

o   Knowledge Sharing Integration: Mostly needs the upgrade of the LAN, the mainframe, or lines.

o   Decision Making Flow Integration: Implies that the manner KM system measures a problem situation must match the user's way of thinking.

o   Workflow Reengineering: Considered when implementation of the new KM system can give changes in the workplace.

·         Maintenance

o   Maintenance is the way of making the corrections that is needed which meet up the user's expectations.

·         Organizational factors

o   Strong leadership;

o   User participation in the process.

o   Organizational politics.

o   Organizational climate.

o   User readiness (willing)

o   Return on investment (ROI) factor.

o   Quality information.

·         Champion's Role

o   Champion is the person that has the position, influence, power/ control, is able to gain and secure organizational support for the new system.

o   In order to work as a member of the project's board of directors he/she must be at the executive level

Post-Implementation Review

·         How KM System has modified the accuracy of decision making?

·         How KM System has changed the opinions of end users?

·         Whether the system has initiated the constructive organizational changes?

·         Whether the system has advantaged the operation cost?

Post-Implementation Review: Security Issues       

·         The new system should give password / protocol protection.

·         Security process must be constantly observed.

·         Access must be confined with respect to the update of the KB.

Week # 12 "Learning From Data"

Learning: Learning is acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. 

The Context of Learning:

The relevant technologies are:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Experts Systems
• Case-Based Reasoning
• Data Warehousing
• Intelligent agents
• Neural Networks

The Process Of Learning: It is a procedure which sort out and transforms data onto valid and practical knowledge.

The Goals Of Learning: The major goal of learning is to perk up the qualities of communiqué and decision making.

Learning From Data: There are two approaches to learn from data:

Top-down approach

• Generate ideas
• Develop models
• Validate models

Bottom-up approach

• Discover new (unknown) patterns
• Find key relationships in data

Data Visualization: Data visualization is the study of the visual representation of data, information that has been abstracted in some schematic form, including attributes or variables for the units of information. According to Friedman (2008) "main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.

Artificial Neural Networks as Learning Model: The Artificial Neural Networks are modeled after human brain’s network. They simulate biological information processing via networks of interconnected neurons.

Learning In Neural Networks: There are two types of learning in NN:

Supervised: A teacher with set of examples of input and output.

Unsupervised: Does not need a teacher.

Business Applications: Following are the business applications of Neural Networks:

• Risk Management
• Predicting Foreign Exchange Fluctuations
• Advance Evaluations

Association Rules: There are 4 types of association rules that help understanding the relationship that exist in data:

• Boolean Rule: A rule that examines the presence or absence of items.
• Quantitative Rule: A rule that considers the quantitative values of items.
• Multi-dimensional Rule: A rule that refers to a multitude of dimensions.

Week # 11 "Knowledge Transfer In the E-World"

Intranets: These are the Internet technology which is used to cater the internal needs of an organization. Intranets are used to link the knowledge workers and users 24/7. Usually used when no. of employees are moderate to large.

Extranets: An extranet is a private network that uses Internet technology and the public telecommunication system to securely share part of business’s Information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners or customers. An Extranet can also be viewed as part of a company’s intranet that is extended to users outside the company.

Groupware: Software designed to facilitate collective working by a number of different users. Such groupware applications are commonly email, newsgroups and chat. Groupware are often divided into two categories related to time and two other categories related to place. When employees are using an application at the same time, it is synchronous groupware. Workers using the same application at different times are using asynchronous groupware. The place-related categories are collocated, groupware that is used by people in the same place; and distance. 

Groupware Applications: Following are the common Groupware applications widely used these days:

• Emails
• Newsgroups and work-flow systems
• Chat rooms
• Video communication
• Knowledge sharing groupware
• Group calendaring and scheduling

E-Business: E-business (electronic business), derived from such terms as "e-mail" and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. One of the first to use the term was IBM in October, 1997. Companies are using the Web to buy parts and supplies from other companies, to collaborate on sales promotions, and to do joint research. Exploiting the convenience, availability, and world-wide reach of the Internet, many companies, such as Amazon.com, the book sellers, have already discovered how to use the Internet successfully. Some of the problems and drawbacks of E-business are:

• System and knowledge reliability.
• Viruses cause unnecessary delays, file backups, storage problems, etc.
• Danger of hackers accessing files and corrupting accounts
• Corporate weakness to access by the competitor

Supply Chain Management: Supply Chain Management is to have the right product in the right place, at the right time, at the right price and in the right condition. It requires teamwork, knowledge sharing of logistics, and agreement among knowledge workers and suppliers. The major goals of Supply Chain Management are to improve the efficiency and profitability of the organization.

Customer Relationship Management: It entails all aspects of interaction that a company has with its customer, whether it is sales or service-related. CRM is often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to:

• Understand the customer
• Retain customers through better customer experience
• Attract new customer
• Win new clients and contracts
• Increase profitably
• Decrease customer management costs

Week # 10 "Knowledge Transfer & Sharing"

Knowledge Transfer:  Knowledge transfer is the transfer of knowledge from one part of the organization to another. Like knowledge management, knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or distribute knowledge and ensure its availability for future users.

Fundamentals Of KT:

• Must be an integral part of a learning organization.
• Conveying the knowledge of one source to another source and the suitable use of the broadcasted knowledge.
• The Goal of KT is to promote knowledge sharing, increase collaboration and networking.
• Sources: knowledge bases, experts, etc.
• Media: LAN, secure/insecure lines, encrypted/plain text, etc.
• Consumers: another application, a manager, a customer, etc.

Guidelines of successful KT & Sharing:

• Building an feeling of Trust inside the Organization.
• Collaboration & Cooperation.
• Creating the Culture to house change.
• Reasoning before Processing.
• Knowing how the Organization handles Mistakes
• Doing is better than Talking
• How Management view and reward Knowledge Transfer
• Determine Employee Job Satisfaction

Employees Vocational Needs:

• Ability Utilization
• Advancement
• Level of Achievement
• Level of Creativity
• Compensation
• Independence
• Authority (supervision)
• Level of responsibility
• Recognition
• Status
• Job Security
• Variety
• Work conditions

Strategies of Knowledge Transfer:

• Collective Sequential Transfer
• Explicit Inter-team Transfer
• Tacit knowledge Transfer

Role Of Internet in Knowledge Transfer & Sharing:

• Accommodates knowledge swap and communication
• Permit sending messages to multiple persons concurrently
• Offers a variety of services
• Incorporate systems and networks

Week # 08 "Knowledge Codification"

Knowledge Codification  involves the following:

• Tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge.
• Undocumented information into documented information.
• Before accessing the knowledge it is organized.
• Tacit knowledge is familiar in a way that will make highest return for the business.
• Explicit knowledge is organized, categorized, indexed and accessed.
• Codification tools include the decision trees, decision tables etc.

Benefits of Knowledge Codification

• Instruction/training: promoting training of junior personnel on the basis of the knowledge captured by the senior employees.

• Prediction: assuming the possible conclusion of a given state and hinting a proper warning or suggestion for correct action.

• Diagnosis: tackle the identifiable symptoms of certain factors.

• Planning/scheduling: planning a complete course of action before any steps is taken.

Some Codification Tools

• Knowledge Map: The knowledge is represented visually and it is not a repository. It is used to fill knowledge gaps. This can be used to capture knowledge. Knowledge mapping is quite helpful in order to visualize and survey the complex system. Key are taken out from database or literature and put in tabular form as lists of facts. Then the tabled relationships are joined to form networks to get the knowledge maps.

• Decision Table: It is like a spreadsheet. The decision table has a list of conditions, rules and actions. Each condition is match up with the conclusion.

• Decision Tree: It is a hierarchically arranged semantic network. The node represents the goals and the links in the decision tree represents the outcomes/decisions. Apart from the root node all nodes are illustrated as the primary goal. The decision tree is a step before the knowledge codification.

• Frames: The frame represents the knowledge about a particular idea in a data structure. In order to understand the problem domain easily the frames handles the combination of declarative and operational knowledge.

• Production Rules: The tacit knowledge codification is in the form of premise-action pair. The premise is a Boolean expression that is true for the rule that is applied. Rules are conditional statement that tells an action to be taken if any condition is true. The action part of the rule is separated from the premise by the keyword THEN and if there are series of statements separated by AND's or comma's and is executed if the premise is true. The form is IF… THEN, or IF…THEN…ELSE.

• Case-based Reasoning: CBR is reasons from related past cases in a way the humans’ use their past experiences to reach conclusions. The goal of the CBR is to get the alike historical cases that matches the current case.

• Knowledge-Based Agents: It is a program code which is that performs independent action in an appropriate way. They are programmed to interact with other agents or humans by using agent communication language. In terms of knowledge-based systems, an agent can be programmed to learn from the user behavior and deduce future behavior for assisting the user. 

Week # 07 "Other Knowledge Capture Techniques"

On Site Observation: It is a process which includes observing, recording and interpreting the expert’s problem-solving process while it takes place. The knowledge developer does more listening than talking; avoids giving advice and usually does not pass his/her own judgment on what is being observed, even if it seems incorrect; and most of all, does not argue with the expert while the expert is performing the task. Some of the problems in On-Site observations are expert’s reluctance, peer’s reactions & accuracy of the captured knowledge.

Brainstorming: It is a free approach of producing thoughts about imaginative solution of a crisis.  It engages numerous experts in a sitting. The main questions considered in a brainstorming session include:

• What benefits are to be gained if a particular idea is followed?
• What specific problems that idea can possibly solve?
• What new problems can arise through this?

In case of a conflict, the role of a knowledge expert is to guide all the experts to a single solution by voting or any other feasible technique.

Electronic Brainstorming: It is a computer-aided approach of brainstorming which deals with multiple experts. It encourages instant exchange of ideas among experts. It protects the introvert experts. The benefits are improved communications & effective discussions regarding sensitive matters.

Protocol Analysis: scenarios/protocols are composed by enquiring experts about how to resolve a problem & express their conclusions by stating their thoughts directly.

Consensus Decision Making: It is a method of group decision making. Input from all members are collected and blended to reach at a final conclusion which is acceptable to all. It aids in reaching to improved solutions & also encourages community and trust. The procedure is:

• Forward a proposal.
• Adjust the proposal with the help of discussions.
• Those who disagree, forward alternate proposal.
• If dead end is seen, the proposal is withdrawn.
• Facilitator confirms any objections.
• If no objections, facilitator can call for consensus.
• If there are no further objections, then u have the decision.
• Facilitator repeats the decision, to make everyone clear.

Nominal Group Technique (NGT): Provides an interface between consensus & brainstorming. The board of experts happens to be a Nominal Group whose conferences are prepared in order to efficiently pool individual judgment. It is an idea writing mechanism.

Idea Writing: It is a ordered group approach used for mounting ideas as well as discovering their semantics and the conclusion is typically a written report. steps of NGT includes:

• Division of people in small groups.
• Put forward an open-end query.
• Every individual is required to brainstorm all possible ideas.
• Collect ideas in round-robin fashion.
• Each person evaluates the presented ideas.
• A group report displays ideas having most points.
• Brief group presentations are prepared on solutions.

Delphi Method: in this method, a chain of questionnaires are prepared to pool experts’ answers in explaining a difficult problem. Each expert’s offerings are shared with other experts by using results of one questionnaire to build the next questionnaire. advantages are:

• Anonymous response
• Controlled feedback
• Statistical group response

Disadvantages are:

• Inadequately prepared questionnaire cannot be much effective in confining the density of the problem domain.
• Experts may be short of total knowledge to support their answers.

Repertory Grid: It is a procedure of drawing individual ideas. This is a tool used for knowledge capture. Its main benefit is that it prompt the expert to think more concretely about the problem and its solution. The main drawback is its difficulty to handle when large grids are accompanied by multifaceted details. Due to its difficulty and manageability, the tool is usually used in the early stages of knowledge capture.

Concept Mapping: It is a system of ideas, which consists of nodes & links. A node symbolizes a idea and a link symbolizes the association between concepts. Concept mapping is designed to convert new concepts/propositions into the existing cognitive structures related to knowledge capture. The process includes:

• Preparation.
• Idea generation.
• Statement structuring.
• Representation.
• Interpretation
• Utilization.

Black boarding (Groupware): Contributors are unspecified experts with only one of its kind experience. Every expert has equivalent likelihood to contribute to the solution via the blackboard. Process continues until the problem has been solved. Uniqueness of blackboard system:

• Various approaches to problem-solving.
• Common language for interaction.
• Efficient storage of information.
• Flexible representation of information.
• Iterative approach to problem-solving.
• Organized participation.