Table Of ContentActive Knowledge Modeling of Enterprises
Frank Lillehagen John Krogstie
●
Active Knowledge Modeling
of Enterprises
Frank Lillehagen John Krogstie
Active Knowledge Modeling - AKM NTNU
P.O. Box 376 Sem Sælandsvei 7-9
1326 Lysaker 7030 Trondheim
Norway Norway
[email protected] [email protected]
ISBN 978-3-540-79415-8 e-ISBN 978-3-540-79416-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008924868
ACM Computing Classification (1998): D.2, H.4, J.1
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Preamble
This book addresses knowledge processing, product and process design,
and systems engineering challenges, and solutions by applying Active
Knowledge Modeling (AKM). Examples, directions, methods, and services
are given to enable new ways of working, exploiting the AKM approach to
enable effective c-Business, enterprise design and development, and life-
cycle management.
The purpose of the book is to make industry managers, engineers, and
researchers aware of the possibilities that open up with AKM and
accompanying execution platforms. Business people will better understand
the new value constellations, partners delivering services to other partners,
and the stronger dependencies making all actors customers and suppliers.
People with different competences and skills will be able to exploit the
most recent advances in IT, Knowledge and Communication technologies
in industry as well as in research.
The book covers the backgrounds of Enterprise Modeling, including the
initial “war-room” thinking, and introduces bounded enterprise knowledge
spaces, support for multidimensional thinking and modeling, and references
to mental knowledge models. New aspects, such as the importance of cap-
turing pragmatic logic, and the need for new forms of organization are
emphasized.
A brief history of modeling approaches and tools is provided including:
CASE-tools, design structuring tools, process modeling tools, and
diagramming tools to provide a link to existing approaches. The book
looks ahead to development of Active Knowledge Architectures for
effective collaboration and concurrent design, and to configuring Visual
Scenes for proactive collaborative working and learning.
Early efforts in AKM was attempted already in the early 1990s – where
early versions of the approach was stretched to its limits through practical
applications at manufacturing companies such as Volvo, Ford, Ericsson,
and McDonnell-Douglas. The book has practical references to industrial
use-cases, specifically from pilots in these sectors and application areas:
(cid:120) Configurable Product Platforms for Collaborative Product and Process
design (CPPD) in the Automotive industry, supporting holistic design,
vi Preamble
concurrent engineering, adaptable manufacturing, and sales support of
mass-customized, multibrand families of car systems
(cid:120) Use-case pilots from the ATHENA and MAPPER research projects
illustrating the use of a model-configured collaboration space for
Engineering Change Management. Configured workplaces for product
design and supplier collaboration are deployed for commercial testing.
This book is the result from the cooperation of the authors with a
number of scientists and industrial practitioners over a long period of time.
The core concepts of AKM, such as the knowledge spaces, were conceived
at Volvo Cars around 1990, somewhat ahead of its time (and current
technology). However, most of the challenges, many ideas, and needs were
aggregating in Frank Lillehagen’s mental models as early as 1981, when
he left his position as Research Manager at the Central Institute in Oslo to
join a company he cofounded three years earlier. Frank then founded
METIS in 1985, and was invited as tools provider to the Volvo Interactive
Graphic Car project in 1989. For many years, he was the general manager
responsible for market and product strategy, and business and organizational
development.
John Krogstie, with a background both from traditional modeling
techniques in information systems and development of business integration
solutions in industry, started working on these areas in detail when starting
in SINTEF in 2000, working on applied and basic European and national
research projects.
Since 2000, the two authors have worked closely together in many
national and EU founded R&D projects including:
(cid:120) EXTERNAL – a STREP on process support environments for dynamic
networked organizations
(cid:120) VOSTER – a clustering project presenting state of the art on virtual
enterprises and smart organizations
(cid:120) UEML – a thematic network on most aspects of enterprise modeling
(cid:120) IDEAS – a road-mapping project for Enterprise Interoperability
(cid:120) ATHENA – a large Integrated Project for implementing Enterprise
Interoperability
(cid:120) MAPPER – a STREP, focusing Model-Configured User-Composed
Platforms and Services, applied to car system testing, seat-heating
design, and hybrid electronics design
Although the book emphasizes certain domains through the cases that are
presented, the material is of relevance for all industry sectors, companies
in the ICT-sector, and for researchers and people who in the future will want
to work closer together and base their working methods on work-centric
Preamble vii
and situated knowledge, exploiting the Web as a powerful knowledge-
sharing medium.
How to Read the Book
The model (which is a view of a METIS model of the book) illustrates the
structure of the book, and will be briefly described below (Fig. 1):
Fig. 1. Structure of book
(cid:120) In Chap. 1, “What is AKM Technology?,” we briefly present the main
concepts and approaches of AKM. One of the main case studies that act
as an appetizer and motivator for the rest of the book is presented.
viii Preamble
The next three chapters describe challenges in industrial computing and
past and present approaches to address these. Those who are highly
familiar with these areas may want to skip this part.
(cid:120) In Chap. 2, “Customer Challenges and Demands,” we summarize
industrial challenges that so far has poor or no IT support.
(cid:120) In Chap. 3, “Industrial Evolution,” we discuss early approaches to AKM
that were only partly successful due to limitations in approach and
technology at the time.
(cid:120) In Chap. 4, “State of the Art of Enterprise Modeling,” we particularly
focus on state of the art in (enterprise) modeling, and indicate the many
short-comings that still persist as seen from an industrial perspective.
The next two chapters discuss the conceptual and technological
foundations of the AKM approach and the main findings and concepts.
(cid:120) In Chap. 5, “Enterprise Knowledge Architecture,” the core concepts of
the Enterprise Knowledge Architecture (EKA) are presented.
(cid:120) In Chap. 6, “Approaches to Enterprise Solutions,” we focus on different
areas of enterprise information systems, and how these fail to address
the challenges outlined in Chap. 2.
The next part discusses the AIMS of AKM Technology: Approach,
Infrastructure, Methodology, and Solutions, including cases of industrial
applications of AKM-technology.
(cid:120) In Chap. 7, “Introducing Active Knowledge Modeling in Industry,”
we look at the high-level C3S3P approach for applying AKM-
Technology.
(cid:120) In Chap. 8, “Families of Platforms and Architectures,” the technical
infrastructure and platform to support the AKM-approach are described.
(cid:120) In Chap. 9, “Enterprise Design and Development,” CPPD, the AKM
holistic design methodology, is presented in more detail.
(cid:120) In Chap. 10, “Realizing the Knowledge Economy,” the potential impacts
of using the approach in practical industrial and other types of projects
are discussed.
The final part looks at further developments, complimentary
technologies, and impacts of the approach.
(cid:120) In Chap. 11, “Towards Enterprise Visual Scenes,” we discuss how the
AKM-approach compliments new computing technologies. In addition
to more traditional interfaces, we look at the merger of industrial
computing and computer-game technology as found e.g., in Second Life
to provide richer model visualization.
Preamble ix
(cid:120) In Chap. 12, “Scientific Foundations of the AKM Technology,”
scientific foundations are presented, referencing organizational develop-
ment, psychology, pedagogy, systems engineering, design theory, process
engineering, and knowledge management.
(cid:120) In Chap. 13, “Enterprise Knowledge Spaces,” the main categories of
enterprise knowledge spaces are presented.
(cid:120) In Chap. 14, “Conclusion and Outlook,” we summarize the contributions
of the AKM approach, pointing to future directions and opportunities.
The book also contains references, an overview of the main
terminology, and an index.
Fig. 2. Possible reading order for those familiar with enterprise systems and
modeling
If you are familiar with enterprise modeling, enterprise IT approaches
and solutions and current industrial challenges, but not with AKM, you
may skip Chaps. 2–4 and 6, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
x Preamble
If you are somewhat familiar with AKM and would like to focus only
on the essential contributions, you should focus on Chaps. 7–10 and 14 as
illustrated in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Core AKM contribution chapters
If you want an overview, where AKM is one Model-based approach
among many, you should look primarily in Chaps. 1–4, 6, and 14 as
illustrated in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Overview of enterprise systems and enterprise modeling
Preamble xi
Acknowledgments
The AKM technology, its concepts and methods, is the result of a lot of
work performed over a number of years in a number of different projects
and initiatives. The authors have worked closely with and carry on working
with a number of very knowledgeable people, many of whom have also
provided feedback to the different parts of the book.
Frank would like to pay tribute to his Autokon ship design team-mates,
possibly developing the first parameterized product-structure model ever,
his computer graphics pioneers from the Utah vintage years, his many
friends and contacts Scandinavian and US industry from the METIS
golden years, 1989–1994, including leading scientists and industrial
practitioners, and finally his hundreds of friends and foes in international
R&D.
We would like to extend special thanks to Frank’s AKM cofounders
CKO Dag R. Karlsen and CTO Håvard D. Jørgensen. Without their
contributions this book would not have contained its use-case and AKM
illustrations. Chapters 5, 9, and 13, in particular, are based on methodology
handbooks coauthored by the AKM team, where Jørgensen and Karlsen
were the prime authors.
In connection to the work leading up to and the preparation of the
manuscript, we acknowledge the contributions of Sobah Abbas Petersen,
Steinar Carlsen, Helge Grenaker Solheim, Arne Sølvberg, Guttorm Sindre,
Csaba Veres, Brian Elvesæter, Arne Jørgen Berre, Oddrun Ohren, Svein
Johnsen, Heidi Brovold, Vibeke Dalberg, Siri Moe Jensen, Per Høgberg,
Lennart Holmberg, Jan Goosenaerts, Kurt Sandkuhl, Jörg Haake, Adam
Pawlak, Thomas Knothe, Kai Mertens, Andreas Opdahl, Birgit Krogstie,
Kurt Kosanke, Martin Zelm, Francois Vernadat, Jack Ring, James
N. Martin, Christine Legner, Baptiste Lebreton, Hans Johanneson,
Christopher Dean, and numerous others.
So, to all of you new readers and followers, we look forward to getting
to know you! Remember the advert saying: “You are what you eat!” Well
we think: “You are who you meet!” is much closer to the truth!
Thank you all!
