Knowledge Management ( Purpose, Integration and Features )

Purpose

With its Knowledge Management capabilities, SAP NetWeaver provides a central, role-specific point of entry to unstructured information from various data sources in the portal. This unstructured information can exist in different formats such as text documents, presentations, or HTML files. Workers in an organization can access information from different source such as file servers, their intranet, or the World Wide Web. A generic framework integrates these data sources and provides access to the information contained in them through the portal.

Knowledge Management functions support you in structuring information and making it available to the correct target audience. These functions include search, classification, and subscriptions (see below): You can use these functions on all content of integrated data sources, as long as the technical conditions are met.

Integration

Knowledge Management is a part of SAP Enterprise Portal. The entire functional scope and
configuration of Knowledge Management are available in portal iViews.

Functions such as discussions, feedback, and sending items from KM folders by e-mail are integrated into Knowledge Management and enable you to work across role and department borders. In addition, Knowledge Management functions are used in Collaboration, for example, to store documents in virtual rooms.

Knowledge Management supports the SAP NetWeaver™ scenario Information Broadcasting. You can use the BEx Broadcaster and Knowledge Management to make business information from SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence available to a wide spectrum of users in the portal. You can store the following BI objects in KM folders: 

·        Documents with precalculated reports.

·        Links to BEx Web applications and queries with live data.

Various Knowledge Management functions, such as subscriptions for documents, are available for these items. There is a specially modified user interface for displaying BI items in KM folders. You can also change or extend this interface to meet your requirements.

The graphic below depicts the positioning of Knowledge Management in the SAP NetWeaver component structure and provides an overview of the KM functions.

Knowledge Management Components in SAP NetWeaver

Features

Knowledge Management comprises the following subcomponents:

·        Content Management (CM)

·        Search and Classification (TREX)

The table below presents an overview of Knowledge Management functions.

Component	Description
Integration of repositories	Information is typically stored in various types of repository such as file servers, groupware systems, or document management systems. Knowledge Management uses several preconfigured repository managers to integrate these repositories, thereby providing you with a central point of access to content in SAP Enterprise Portal. Open programming interfaces (APIs) allow customers and partners to develop repository managers for other storage systems. You can also store documents in one of KM’s own repositories.
Navigation in folders	Portal users can navigate in folders and access the items in the folders of all integrated repositories in an iView in the same way as on a file server. Access to folders and documents is controlled using permissions. The user interface for navigating in folders can be configured flexibly and modified to suit various roles. Users can personalize the presentation of the user interface. Open interfaces allow you to extend the user interface by integrating your own functions into the standard system.
Search	The search function helps you find documents in all repositories that you have integrated into Knowledge Management. The system displays only documents for which the current user has read permission in the results list. You can also include the content of Web sites in your indexes using Web crawlers. This information is then also available via the search function in SAP Enterprise Portal.
Taxonomies and classification	A taxonomy is a hierarchical structure of categories in which you classify documents according to content, organizational, or other criteria. Documents that are stored in different physical repositories can be included in the same category. Taxonomies portal users to navigate in a uniform structure throughout an organization even if information is stored in heterogeneous storage locations. After the initial configuration has taken place, the system automatically carries out classification of new and changed documents.
Content Management services	Content Management services enable functions that you can use on the content of all connected repositories as long as technical conditions are met. These services include subscriptions, ratings, public reviews, feedback, and personal notes. You can also import documents into KM repositories from external sources by using the content exchange service.
Document creation and publishing	All portal users can create information in SAP Enterprise Portal as long as they have the appropriate permissions in the KM folder in question. You can upload documents that you created using a PC application directly to a KM folder. You can also use forms to create information directly in the Web browser. The publishing process is supported by various functions such as the approval workflow. Documents and other items have properties to which you can assign values. This gives the items meta information that the system can evaluate in various ways in order to facilitate the use of existing knowledge. You can determine which properties particular types of items can or must have, and you can define new properties to meet your requirements.