Wincite Systems Introduces
Knowledge Notebooks
A New Productivity Tool to SupportKnowledge Workers
This new application can apply tomany different areas of a business. It is designed with a strong emphasis on ease use for both end users (information consumers) and the information analysts responsible for populating the system. In this connection we evaluated the IPod and Google interfaces to develop a look and feel that provides a balance between essential functionality and simplicity of use. It is easier to use you’re your typical cable TV remote.
The system targets knowledge worker productivity which is a major factor in creating, managing and protecting intellectual capital. More and more corporations are focusing in on intellectual assets as a critical factor in determining their competitive success in today’s highly competitive global market place.
Theapplicationhas been used be to support the management of intelligence in a number of ways. For example, is has been used to capture, evaluate and distribute news summaries and related articles. News oriented Notebooks can be defined to keepvarious groups of individuals up to dateregarding specific areas of interest and responsibilities.
Knowledge Notebooks with embedded tables have also been used in more complex environments where they aresupporting working teams of experts. These experts typically work together on projects and deal with a large amount of technical materials and reports. Notebooks havebeen become a backbone technology to support the team’s dynamic exchange of ideas, assessments and supporting technical materials. From an expert’s point of view,each row in a table becomes part of a dialog that is time sorted. The Notebookis like an internal blogon steroids. Notebooksmakes it ease to find information and participate inmeaningfuldiscussionsabout a project or special area of interest.
It is interesting to note that the original Web was developed over 15 years ago to support research scientists who were working in a many different universities. Today the current trends in using the Web have shifted to social networking applications and interactions between causal users. Another development of interest is the wide acceptance of Wikipedia as the encyclopedia of the future and the fact that is authored and maintained by thousands of contributors who’s primary motivation is sharing their knowledge with other people.
To date it appears that corporations have been slow in capitalizing on these group networking trends in terms of developing and sharing information within abusiness unit. We think that Knowledge Notebooks provides a framework for of enhancing the exchange of knowledgewithin very specific areas of shared interest.
Defining the Knowledge Notebooks Application
Knowledge Notebooksis a new product category for Wincite targeted at: 1)competitive intelligence groups with limited resources: 2) larger organizations that are interested in evaluating the basic technology of Wincite in terms of its potential use as a more comprehensive intranet basedknowledge management system, and 3) current users of Wincite who want to enhance and expand their current use of Wincite.
The application uses portions of the technology in the Wincite database platform. Specialized screens have been designed to supportanalytical processes related to: capturing, organizing, cataloging, and distributing integratedinternal and external information sources. The applicationcan be shared by a number of users and analysts who are connected toan existing computer network. Formatted output reports with current information can be generated in seconds and distributed by email to individualsthroughout an organization.
Notebook Screens with Tables and Buttons
The systemconsists of Notebook screens that use tables and buttons to display summarized analysis and linkedinformation sources. Click a button,or a table cell, to launch and view analysis and information sources related to both external web sources and internal sources such as Microsoft Office files and documents. A set of Notebookscan be viewedas a methodologyfor organizing and accessing the exponential growth in information objects. Notebooks help structure thesepieces of informationinto a logical business framework that: 1) has visual impact, 2) is intuitive to users and 3) can be scaled up to meet future needs.
Selecting a Notebook
The application can support any number user defined Notebooks. This screen shot is an example of how a user can select a specific notebook and open it for both viewing and inputting information.
When the system is launched, a pop-up window is displayed that is used to select a specific Notebook. EachNotebookhas a Subject that consists oftwo dimensions, an “Area of Interest” and an “Attribute”. In this case aNotebook has been selected by clicking Newsfrom the“Areas of Interest” list and Competitorsfromthe“Attribute” list. Users can easily add new names to both the “Areas of Interest” and “Attributes”lists. This enables users to easily scale up the number of notebooks in the system. You might start by populating 5 to 10 notebooks and then add new Notebooks as needs are identified. The application hasbeen scaled up to support well over 100 uniquely named Notebooks.
Viewing Tables and Cells in Notebooks
A table is embedded in each Notebook screen and is used todisplay and capture information from a variety of sources including internal business files and external informationsources. Each cell in a table is managed as a data field. A cell can be quickly expanded by selecting a cell and clicking Zoom.This launches a pop-up window having a text format which can supportmultiple pages of text.Information can be entered directly into a cell or a zoomed windowusingeither a keyboard or a “copy and paste”function from an existing electronic text source. Columns of cells in a table can be formatted to support different types of values: dates, numeric, or text.
Buttons and Cells Linked to Information Sources
Buttons in the screen are used to find and capture information.Buttons can have links to files and other information sources such as web addresses. Click a button to launch a pop-up window that displays the linked item.
It is very easy to create these links. You can “drag and drop” a file or folder namefrom Microsoft Explorer file manager onto a button to create a link. To link web sources, “drag and drop” a hyperlinked item from a web page onto a button to link it. For example,run a Google search and drag an item from the hit list onto a button to create a link. You can also drag a Web address onto a button to create a link. Another feature is to drag the URL query address on to a button. When the button is selected it will regenerate an updated search hit list.
This linking process also applies to creating links to cells in the tables, “drag and drop” a file name or hyperlink onto any cell to establish a link. You can have a number of files and web pages linked to each cell in a table. To view cell links, select a cell,and click hyperlinks.A window opens with a list of links, click on an item to viewit. Links to either buttons or cells can include: web sites and pages, internally stored files such as Microsoft Office files, folders and files in Windows Explorer, HTM files, PDF files, etc.When a table cell has one or more links,the backgroundcolorchanges.
Search Functions to Find and Link Information
The criteria field in a screen can be used to initiate a number of different searchfunctions.Enter a query and click on one of the search button below and a list of hits appears in a pop-up window. Select an item from thehit listand view the contents of the web page or file.
Profile and Benchmark Reports
Notebooks support both Profile and Benchmark reports.These reportscan be launched from buttons at the top of each screen. The contents of the reports reflect the current values in the tables. These reports can be distributed by email to any number of end users.
Profile reports are text oriented with the contents of the cells in a Notebook being displayed using a document table format. These reports can be emailed and/or saved as Word documents. Saved reports can serve as a way to achieve information sources.
Benchmarks reports structure the contents of selected Notebook tables into a matrix type spreadsheet format. The user can define which Notebooks they want included in the report. This format is very useful when comparing fields that appear in several different notebooks. These reports can be exported to Excel.
Implementing Knowledge Notebooks
When a new application is installed, the client determines: 1) the number columns in a table, 2) the column formats in terms of date, text, numeric, 3) the labels for thecolumn, and 4) a default sort order for the tables. Clients can also define an unlimited number of rowsinthe tables, and the height of the rows. A client can also select the public search engines that you want attached to the buttons that are used in connection with the criteria field. Most implementations have the system up and running in less than a week.
License Costs
Knowledge Notebooks has a one time license fee of $5,000.Annual support and updatesare$500 per year. This license includesassistance in installing the system on a LANserver at a client’s site which supports Microsoft LAN server software. This server software includes an internal Access database that is used by Knowledge Notebooks to manage and store the information in the application.The license includes full access rights for up to 10 named users. Reports produced and downloaded from the application can be saved and distributed by email at the discretion of the client.
If in the future a client decides to upgrade to a full featured intranet supported Wincite system, all of the information in the Notebooks can be easily replicated into the expanded system which in most cases would be supported by a Microsoft SQL server or Oracle database. The Knowledge Notebooks license feeswould be credited to the license fees of the new larger system.
Current Wincite Clients
Existing Wincite clients can add Knowledge Notebooks to their current application with no additional license fees. Notebooks are tailored Topic screens that can be designed using the Wincite Painter module. These new screens and related data would be automatically integrated with the client’s existing Wincite database and the eWincite intranet browser features.
Knowledge Notebooks
Sophisticated Simplicity
10/19/2018 8:53 PM
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