Better Knowledge Management through Knowledge Engineering

The authors believe that current knowledge management practice significantly under-utilizes knowledge engineering technology, despite recent efforts to promote its use. They focus on two knowledge engineering processes: using knowledge acquisition processes to capture structured knowledge systematically; and using knowledge representation technology to store the knowledge, preserving important relationships that are far richer than those possible in conventional databases. To demonstrate the usefulness of these processes, we present a case study in which the drilling optimization group of a large oil and gas service company uses knowledge engineering practices to support the three facets of the knowledge management task: knowledge capture; knowledge storage; and knowledge deployment.