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Information and Knowledge, Knowledge Management, State-of-the-art of Modeling
PA116 – L6
(c) Zdenko Stanicek, Sept. 2010
OPVK_MU_EN_stred_2.jpg

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Discussion
•What is “Knowledge” ?
•What is the difference between knowledge and information?
–Is there any difference?
–Is a knowledge a special case of information?
•What definition of “information” we will use?
–Shannon’s one?
–Carnap’s one?
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Information
•According to  Shannon:
–Information is a reduction of a ratio of entropy.
•The measure is relative with respect to a receiver.
•According to Carnap:
–Information contained in a proposition is measured by a number of “possible worlds”  excluded by
the “true” value of this proposition.
•This is an absolute measure.
•Carnap is our choice !

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Discussion on
the next slide
Classify the following propositions:
•It is raining outside.
•Usually, I have my wallet in the left pocket of my jacket.
•If the rain will go for a long time there will be puddles and morass on country roads.
•A square over hypotenuse equals the sum of squares over cathetae.

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Pythagorean
Theorem

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Some information is knowledge, some is not !!!
Some knowledge is not information !!!
Information
Knowledge
Knowledge:
•DEFINITION: Knowledge is an (intangible) element which helps to a systematic and repeatable
management or driving or executing of processes.

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Knowledge: where it dwell and what to do with it ?
•Knowledge dwells in human heads
•(and maybe in artificial agents simulating people behavior)
•… in any case it dwells in appropriately organized memory
•To deal with projects we need knowledge
•Often knowledge is encoded in a program code of applications
•Knowledge has to be developed and maintained
•It is important not to lose knowledge
•Knowledge has to be worked on effectively and efficiently
•
•Hence we need “Knowledge Management”

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Knowledge - Information - Processes
•Performance of a process is influenced by information (input)
•Process produces information (output)
•To execute a process (within a project) we need knowledge
•There is a continual change and evolution
•Knowledge has to be developed
•Appropriate information has to be sought for

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Knowledge Life-Cycle by Nonaka and Takeushi
Knowledge
Tacit
Explicit
socialization
combination
externalization
internalization
SECI model

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Agree what you know about the problem
Do and recognize constraints and/or ambiguities
Improve the agreement/
execute a new iteration
Agree-Do Paradigm

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Agree what you know about the problem
Do and recognize constraints and/or ambiguities
Improve the agreement/
execute a new iteration
Agree-Do Paradigm
MENTION
MENTION
USE

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Decision:
Set the aim/goal
Describe WHAT,
HOW, …
(Agree !)
Act according to
the description
(Do !)
Tune the process
and/or description
Revise the aim/goal
(WHAT, HOW, …)
Continual
Improvement !!!
Cyclical Paradigm
(Agree !)
(Agree !)
(Agree !)

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MENTION
USE
The Nonaka-Takeushi Life-Cycle in a relation with a MENTION and USE switching
Knowledge
Tacit
Explicit
socialization
combination
externalization
internalization

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Knowledge Management means to keep the Nonaka-Takeushi cycle in a run !
Knowledge
Tacit
Explicit
socialization
combination
externalization
internalization

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MENTIONing Knowledge
means
creating a MODEL of a part of reality (a DOMAIN) containing the particular Knowledge !

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Modeling and modeling tools: state-of-art

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Available modeling tools (MT)‏
•CASE tools
–CASE: Computer Aided Software Engineering
–any computer-based tool for software product planning, development, and evolution
–Editors, Compilers, Debuggers, Edit-Compile-Debug environments, Code Generators, Documentation
Generators, Requirements Tracing, Change Management (CM), Defect Tracking, Collaboration tools,
Access Control, …
–
–E.g.: Oracle Designer, System Engineer, Enterprise Architect, Rational, Power Designer, …
–
–
–http://www.faqs.org/faqs/software-eng/part1/section-2.html
–

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Available modeling tools (MT)
•BPM tools
–Business Process Model
–help enterprises map out their existing processes and optimize them
–E.g.: Aris Tool Set, Corporate Modeler
–
•PM tools
–Project Management
–E.g.: MS Project, Primavera
–
•Workflow
–…
•

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Are we happy with them?
Available modeling tools

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Current state issues of MT
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.Current CASE tools, BPMT, PMT, … allow to record only such objects and relationships, which had
their creators in minds in the time when they were developing the tool.
2.
2.
•

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Z. Staníček, P. Hocová - Domain Understanding and Modeling
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Current state issues of MT
1.
2.Objects and relationships, we focus on when modeling various aspects of business, are continually
changing.
3.
3.Problem of effective communication within any IT project lies nearly allways on boundaries of
capability of a given modeling tool
• (… thus the model doesn’t represent the reality appropriately)

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Business Woman
www.3-d-models.com
Business Man
www.3-d-models.com
Business Man Business Woman

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Megan Fox
http://www.multiversodc.com/v2/2009/03/megan-fox-estara-em-hex/
Megan Fox Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23407670@N07/

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Current state issues of MT
4.
4.Except of some isolated cases, there are only few ways to extend used MT by constructs which are
needed for current specific requirements.
5.
5.
5.A problem arises in integration of some partial views into one common view.
•

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Current state issues of MT
•6. There exists no criteria based on modeling capabilities of MT according to which the MTs could
be ranked.
http://www.crowestudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/smart11.jpg

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Current state issues of MT
5.
5.
•7. In fact we are not able to answer the following question: “What could be expected from an MT of
a given MT class?”
5.
5.
•8. Or a question: “What is missing in given MT for our specific need and by which other MT could
we suplement it?”

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Example 1: Rational
•Built on UML
•(UML originaly intended to standardize modeling methods; in the end was created a container for
all modeling technics – diagrams – which proved to be competent regarding to OOP)
•Operations of this tool give semantics to UML diagrams
•It's possible to add another icons, but only without possibility to add operational semantics
•Mutual connection of various views (diagrams) of a modeled system is a problem
•Actual problems: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (all !)

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1.Records only what had the creator in mind
2.Objects and relationships are continually changing
3.Problems lie nearly always on boundaries of capability of a given modeling tool
4.few ways to extend used MT by new constructs
5.Problem of integration of partial views into one common view
6.No ranking criteria for MTs
7.“What could be expected from an MT of a given MT class?”
8.“What is missing in a given MT for our specific need and by which other MT could we supplement
it?”

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Example 2: MetaEdit+ Method Workbench
•Intention to offer tool enabling easy construction of CASE tool specific for given problem.
•Problems 1, 2 and 4 seems to be solved somehow. But:
•We have to create constucts, that allready exists in some other CASE tools.
•Problem 3 is solved slightly: MetEdit+ offers practically only diagram creation. So even problem 4
is solved only slightly!
•Problems 5–7 not solved. Problem 8 – only diagrams without semantics: again nothing.

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1.Records only what had the creator in mind
2.Objects and relationships are continually changing
3.Problems lie nearly always on boundaries of capability of a given modeling tool
4.few ways to extend used MT by new constructs
5.Problem of integration of partial views into one common view
6.No ranking criteria for MTs
7.“What could be expected from an MT of a given MT class?”
8.“What is missing in a given MT for our specific need and by which other MT could we supplement
it?”

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What cause this state?
•The reason is obvious:
•A classics of business is: Get USING as fast as possible, there is no time for long MENTIONING !!!
•
•The result of it is: “Bottom-up approach”.

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Bottom-up building MT
•MT is created for specific particular problem
•… according to current needs and requirements
•… without any analysis of a position of a problem within other problems (already modeled or worthy
to be modeled)
•In the given specific situation it is a pragmatic and effective approach.

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Facts and consequences
•Bottom-up approach is not supported by any theory of measuring (or more precisely comparing
modeling capabilities) of built tools.
•It leads to tools, which are not able to solve previously unexpected problems.
•Such tools are “products” but not “Service Systems” or a “good components of Service Systems”.

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Service System
•Service system is a composite of agents (including both, people and artificial ones), technology,
environment, and/or organization units of agents and/or technology, functioning in space-time and
cyberspace for a given period of time.
•There is always lot of contexts from which the service system could be evaluated, explicated and
comprehended.
•There exists at least one context from which the roles of Client, of Provider, and of Target could
be recognized on agents or environment.

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CLIENT
PROVIDER
TARGET
Individual or
Organization or
Technology
(owned or operated by
Provider)
Individual or
Organization
(private or public,
human or semi-human
living or artificial)
The reality to be transformed
or operated on by P for the sake of C
(people and dimensions of, business and dimensions of,
 products, technical artifacts, environment, information,
codified knowledge)
P provides service
to C;
C co-operates with P;
value co-production;
value proposition;
information shared
P is responsible
for actions with T
C is owner of T
or C needs an added
value on T
C
P
T
MENTION
C
P
T
C
P
T
TIME
CONTEXT

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Evaluation
•Available MTs (modeling tools) are not satisfactory for needs of current service oriented
business.
•When we extend concept of MT also to company’s IS (such IS models reality of the company’s
business), the situation is pitiful.
•Current MTs always encounter boundaries of their usefulness!!!