Corporate 'central nervous system' software

Citation

(1999), "Corporate 'central nervous system' software", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 71 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1999.12771dab.011

Corporate 'central nervous system' software

Corporate "central nervous system" software

Keywords: KTI, Software, Knowledge management, KBE

Knowledge Technologies International (KTI) recently launched Knowledge-based Process Modeller TM (KPM), a significant innovation to further empower the Knowledge-Based Organisation. KPM is significant because, for the first time, an enterprise has a "central nervous system" able to comprehend, initiate, control and monitor dynamic processes, such as a complex design or manufacturing project. KPM operates not just within an enterprise but also throughout the supply chain, even over the Internet. In addition it monitors and controls all sub-processes, no matter how fragmented or complex, and irrespective of whether it is third-party software or a human activity where these sub-processes occur. It even initiates activity in order to complete its goals. It is designed to be downloadable from the Web, e-commerce driven and even chargeable on a usage basis.

KPM is available as part of KTI's "The KBO EnvironmentTM with The ICAD ® System built in", which uses stored human knowledge to accelerate innovation and delivery of complex products such as airplanes or automobiles. According to KTI, the benefits of working in a Knowledge-Based environment, such as time and cost savings ranging from 50 - 94 per cent, and the ability to maximise quality, accelerate innovation, and optimise performance are becoming widely accepted. Companies such as Airbus, General Motors and Ford are good examples.

Also illustrative is said to be the fact that several major corporations have lately announced a desire to return to the philosophy of their founders. In those early days all engineers were, like as not, housed in one building, and all could easily collaborate and communicate on every aspect of the design/manufacture process. Nowadays, with enormously increased product and process complexity and global operations, this is impossible, unless knowledge is distributed and deployed electronically and delivered as and when required. KTI supplies that system. The need to become a Knowledge Based Organization (KBO) has never been better understood and is now driving the supply chain and spreading into other vertical markets.

KTI's KPM becomes the central piece in the KBO jigsaw, a "central nervous system" for an organisation's knowledge network. Before KPM, companies used simple graphical tools to understand and document their processes, or interfaced via Workflow/PDM environments which can only capture part of the knowledge of a process. They document a process as a series of steps, part of the knowledge about the process. Little analysis, optimisation or management can be achieved. KPM, however, assists optimisation of the process as it has knowledge about the process as well as knowledge within the process.

KPM employs novel technology to manage millions of knowledge-based decisions and transactions across an enterprise's process network. The database is dynamic, multi-dimensional and in memory (cache) so it can operate at extremely high speeds. As tasks are initiated, KPM analyses their relationship with other tasks and, while under way, watches for their timely completion. As each task reaches a point of delivering a result of any kind, perhaps geometry, a dimension, a material decision or manufacturing process decision, this information is "posted" to KPM's dynamic, in memory, database, like a stimulus delivered to a brain by its central nervous system.

Using intelligent agent technology, the databases' Intelligent Monitor identifies this stimulus as a necessary input for other task(s) elsewhere in the enterprise. The "central nervous system" then notifies, for example, a person, perhaps by e-mail, or alternatively "kick-starts" a process that might reside several layers of process below that task by directly inputting the "starting data". Such processes might include CAD (Computer Aided Design) packages, analysis tools, or PDM (Product Data Management) sessions. Once these tasks are executed the results re-enter the "central nervous system" to be passed to the next waiting recipient or task process. This continues as outputs are constantly being posted and inputs waiting to be satisfied are provided with their answers. KPM comprehends, initiates, controls and dynamically monitors the entire process.

Current methods of working (either manual or semi-automated) are inherently far slower and operate with limited knowledge about the executing process. With KPM, as soon as the required starting information for a task is available, wherever it is and however it can be accessed, and even if the person producing it does not know the waiting recipients, nor their deadlines, it is immediately posted to the right place so that activity can commence. It does not have to wait for someone to realise this, or consult their "dumb" process model, or indeed wait for someone to return from holiday/lunch to start working.

KPM does not stop there. Using KPM, existing "similar" processes can be copied and "tweaked" to suit a different design approach. The process can be optimised according to priorities and then set to operate automatically while constantly managing and flagging potential issues that might arise in the future.

Dan Corkill, Senior Research Scientist, Collaborative Software Technology, KTI says:

What is significant about KPM is its special focus on handling change and uncertainty in process execution. Theoretically there is no limit to the magnitude or complexity of the task which KPM can control, nor any constraint on its speed other than the optimum pace of the various processes which it comprehends, initiates, controls and dynamically monitors.

According to Garreth Evans, CEO, KTI:

You would be forgiven for thinking that the KPM was sentient. It's not, but it acts as though it is. It's the most efficient and cost-effective employee any organisation could hire. We believe this day marks a revolution in the way companies will work in the future. No longer will thinking and process activity stop when the office lights go out, the processes within an organisation will continue to work and communicate like a living, thinking organism.

Details from Knowledge Technologies International. Tel: +44 (0)1926 438251.