International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056
Volume: 02 Issue: 02 | May-2015 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2015, IRJET.NET- All Rights Reserved Page 327
A Survey on Knowledge Management in Small-Sized Software
Organizations
Gajendra Patil
1
, Dr. G R Bamnote
2
1
Research Scholar, Dept. of CSE, Dr. K N Modi University, Newai, Rajasthan, India
2
Professor and Head, Dept. of CSE, Prof. Ram Meghe Institute of Technology and Research, Badnera, Maharashtra,
India
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Abstract - The aim of this paper is to provide a
comprehensive outlook on the area of knowledge
management in small-medium sized software
organization. The paper offers the readers an insight
into the theory of knowledge management, a
comparison of current practices, and an example of a
real knowledge management environment. As software
development is a very knowledge intensive task, both
researchers and industry have recently turned their
attention to knowledge management as a means to
improve software development. This often involves
developing technical tools, which many companies have
spent resources on. But the tools are often not used in
practice by developers and managers in the companies,
and it is often unknown if the tools improve how
knowledge is managed. In order to build efficient
knowledge management tools, we need a better
understanding of how the tools that exist are applied
and used in software development. We present and
analyze case studies of knowledge management
initiatives from the literature. Further, we examine
success criteria in knowledge management codification
initiatives, based on Intranet tools in small-sized
software companies. We found four factors that we
consider important: Having a culture for sharing
knowledge, having a stable focus on knowledge
management, developing knowledge management tools
incrementally, and coupling knowledge management
initiatives well to business goals.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper is about how Intranet-based Knowledge
Management Tools can be used to support what has been
called a DzLearning Software Organizationdz. An )ntranet-
based tool is a software program that provides help for
software developers. Software development usually takes
place in team-based projects where the participants work
towards a shared goal. Many companies have problems
with transferring what people learn in one project to other
projects in the same company. Knowledge Management is
a set of strategies and techniques to increase the transfer
and use of different types of knowledge in a company or
organization. We find many knowledge management tools
and methods in companies and in the research literature,
but most of the scientific work on tools is concentrating on
technology to build such tools; on the structure of
knowledge and technical work on retrieval mechanisms.
Also, work on knowledge management methods usually
described an ideal way of collecting and sharing
knowledge, which is often difficult to reproduce in
practice. In this thesis we discuss how companies can
improve their knowledge management by adjusting
Intranet-based knowledge management tools, and thus
become more of a learning organization. We will base this
discussion on an examination of tools and initiatives that
are used in small-sized companies that develop software.
These small-sized companies are four case companies in a
pre-study, and a main and a contrast case in a main study -
as well as reports of knowledge management tools from
the literature. In this paper, we investigate the correlation
between knowledge management and organizational
performance with the help of analyzing the previous
studies and methods of knowledge management
elements.
2. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
We depend more and more on software in our daily lives.
Software used to be installed in large computers in
military and research institutions, but has spread to the
everyday lives of nearly everyone in the developed world.
Most people now uses computers at work, at home for
leisure activities, and also have other equipment with
software in it, like cell phones and organizers. Soon we