Knowledge management through multi-perspective modelling: representing anddistributing organizational memory

Full and accurate representation of an organization's knowledge assets, whi ch together constitute "organizational memory", requires multi-perspective modelling at a number of levels of detail. We propose that the perspectives which need to be represented can be characterized as who, what, how, when, where and why knowledge; these perspectives, and necessary levels of abstr action, are captured by the Zachman framework for Information Systems Archi tecture. We suggest modelling techniques that might be appropriate for diff erent perspectives and levels of abstraction, and illustrate using examples from a medical domain. We also describe how an individual perspective can become the user interface of a knowledge distribution system, and illustrat e this by describing the protocol assistant, a Web-based knowledge-based sy stem capable of representing and reasoning with best practice guidelines (" protocols") in the medical domain. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.