Thinking from the system architecture: A better methodology for capture of collaborative knowledge

The challenge of knowledge management, particularly in non-hierarchical or virtual tasking, is familiar to all of us. The pace of change increases the need for effective knowledge management; the trend towards distributed leadership within and external to organizations makes it more difficult. The authors with Dr. Robert Neches (previously with University of Southern California and the Department of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering) envisioned development of a “Nationwide Ecosystem for Complex Engineering.” The “Ecosystem” intended to create a computing environment for virtual collaborative teams to respond to national challenges with engineering solutions in a common knowledge management environment. In development of this concept at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) we realized that a different approach to knowledge management is a core requirement for virtual teams to bring new innovation to challenge problems in complex systems. This approach is not necessarily new, as Dr. Neches has long been a proponent of model-based approaches to knowledge capture (Neches, et al., 1993). However, other work at GTRI combined with these ideas led us to the concept of using formal representations of system architecture as an organizing concept for knowledge. This is significant because ongoing development of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) concepts and the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) now provide formalism for general design modeling. We have demonstrated such approaches for large scale engineering design projects. This presentation introduces the concept of a generalized approach to knowledge management centered on models of system architecture.