Method and system for use and maintenance of a knowledge base system

• US 6,560,589 B1
• Filed: 08/24/1999
• Issued: 05/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Stream International Incorporated (TD SYNNEX Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Stream International Incorporated (TD SYNNEX Corp.)
• Inventors: Haughton, Debra Ann, Melino, Joseph, Stier, Sharon
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hirl, Joseph P.
• Application Number:
  US09/379,694
• Time in Patent Office: 1,351 Days
• Field of Search: 706/50, 706/55, 707/702, 707/101, 707/4, 707/200, 704/9
• US Class Current: 706/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition

Abstract

A method of and system for managing and maintaining knowledge bases having knowledge in objects involves authors creating authoring output comprising knowledge objects and analysts managing knowledge base content. Authors use conventions and guides to add uniformity among knowledge objects. Analysts manage backlog of knowledge awaiting entry into the knowledge base, provide to authors feedback from knowledge base users and beneficiaries, and review authoring output for technical accuracy, adherence with the conventions and guides, knowledge base usability, and responsiveness by authors to feedback. A content management system has a criticality system, to provide a ranking indicative of importance of incorporating, into the knowledge base, the suggested needed content, knowledge entry review system to determine whether created knowledge requires additional input before entry into the knowledge base, an escalation system for the additional input issues, and an escalation coordination system for coordinating escalation, receiving feedback, and passing feedback to authors.

Claims

1. A method of managing a knowledge base in which existing knowledge is stored in a plurality of existing knowledge objects, comprising:

using a knowledge author to create authoring output comprising created knowledge objects to be incorporated into said knowledge base,

said created knowledge objects comprising knowledge awaiting entry into said knowledge base, and

said knowledge authors using authoring conventions and guides to add uniformity among said created knowledge objects and said existing knowledge objects, said authoring conventions and guides comprising;

definitions of said existing knowledge objects and for said created knowledge objects;

guidelines for format of said existing knowledge objects and for format and development of said created knowledge objects; and

guidelines for use of synonyms to capture alternative statements of said existing knowledge objects and said created knowledge objects; and

said uniformity comprising uniformity of said format of said created knowledge objects and said existing knowledge objects, uniformity of said development of said created knowledge objects, uniformity of said use of said synonyms, and uniformity of said definitions; and

using a knowledge analyst to manage content in said knowledge base, by

managing backlog of said knowledge awaiting entry into said knowledge base;

providing to said knowledge author feedback concerning said knowledge base from users of said knowledge base and from beneficiaries of said knowledge base; and

reviewing said authoring output for technical accuracy, for adherence with said definitions and guidelines articulated in said authoring conventions and guides, for usability in said knowledge base, and for responsiveness by said knowledge authors to said feedback, said reviewing said authoring output for said technical accuracy comprising determining whether factual circumstances of said authoring output are accurately described by said existing knowledge and by said knowledge awaiting entry into said knowledge base.

2. A method of managing a knowledge base in which existing knowledge is stored in a plurality of knowledge objects, comprising:

developing authoring conventions and guides to add uniformity to said knowledge objects, said authoring conventions and guides having definitions for said knowledge objects, guidelines for format and development of said knowledge objects, and guidelines for use of synonyms to capture alternative statements of said knowledge objects, and said uniformity comprising uniformity of said format and development of said knowledge objects, uniformity of said use of said synonyms, and uniformity of said definitions of said knowledge objects;

providing a reporting system for creating reports of need for content in said knowledge base;

reviewing said reports and, if incorporation of said content into said knowledge base is indicated, incorporating said content into said knowledge base by creating authoring output, said incorporating further comprising using said authoring conventions and guides, and said creating authoring output comprising at least one of the following;

developing at least one created knowledge object for entry into said knowledge base; and

creating at least one edited knowledge object, said edited knowledge object comprising a knowledge object already existing in said knowledge base and edited in order for said content to be incorporated into said knowledge base;

managing a backlog of knowledge awaiting entry into said knowledge base,

providing a feedback system for feedback concerning said knowledge base from beneficiaries of said knowledge base; and

after said creating said authoring output and before entering each said created knowledge object and each said edited knowledge object into said knowledge base, reviewing each said created knowledge object and each said edited knowledge object for technical accuracy, for adherence with said definitions and guidelines articulated in said authoring conventions and guides, for usability in said knowledge base, and for said feedback, said reviewing each said created knowledge object and each said edited knowledge object for said technical accuracy comprising determining whether factual circumstances of said authoring output are accurately described in each said edited knowledge object and each said created knowledge object.

3. A knowledge maintenance system for a knowledge base in which existing knowledge is stored in knowledge objects, comprising:

a user reporting system to provide at least one interaction report, each said interaction report for reporting at least one instance of needed content in said knowledge base; and

a content management system to review each said instance in each said report and, if incorporation into said knowledge base of said needed content suggested by said instance is indicated, to incorporate said needed content into said knowledge base by developing created knowledge from said needed content and by incorporating said created knowledge into said knowledge base, said content management system further comprising;

a first pass review having

a subject matter review of said report to determine whether said instance comprises a content incorporation candidate, said subject matter review comprising a comparison of said needed content suggested by said instance to existing content in said knowledge base, said comparison comprising a redundancy check for said instance to determine whether said needed content suggested by said instance is already stored in said knowledge base, and

a criticality system to provide each said instance with a criticality ranking indicative of a scale of importance of incorporating, into said knowledge base, said needed content that is suggested by said instance;

a backlog management system to manage a backlog of each said needed content that is suggested by each said instance determined to be a content incorporation candidate;

an authoring system for authoring said needed content suggested by said instance into said created knowledge; and

a knowledge entry review system for reviewing said created knowledge, said knowledge entry review system having;

a quality level review of said created knowledge to identify said created knowledge as additional input issues knowledge if said created knowledge requires additional input before said created knowledge can be entered into said knowledge base, and to identify said created knowledge as resolvable issues knowledge if said created knowledge does not require additional input before said created knowledge can be entered into said knowledge base;

an approval system for approval of entry into said knowledge base of said resolvable issues knowledge;

an escalation system for escalation of said additional input issues knowledge to an entity that can provide said additional input; and

an escalation coordination system for coordinating said escalation, receiving feedback from said escalation, said feedback comprising said additional input, and passing said feedback into said authoring system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said user reporting system comprises:

a knowledge notes memo capability in said knowledge base for sending an experience report memo reporting a knowledge base use experience; and

a draft memo capability for saving an incomplete experience report memo for later completion.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein said authoring system further comprises at least one of the following:

a new record authoring system for storing said needed content as said created knowledge in a new record;

an existing record editing system for storing said needed content as said created knowledge in an existing record by editing said existing record; and

a synonym and links system for adding synonyms to other records in said knowledge base and providing links between said needed content and said other records in said knowledge base.

6. The system of claim 3,

wherein said scale of importance comprises a first importance, a second importance, and a third importance;

and

wherein said third importance involves issues that are able to be eliminated from incorporation into said knowledge base;

wherein said third importance further involves issues that may be set aside for later consideration for incorporation into said knowledge base; and

wherein said criticality system comprises a system for providing a first criticality ranking to any said instance having said first importance associated therewith, a second criticality ranking any said instance having said second importance associated therewith, and a third criticality ranking any said instance having said third importance associated therewith.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said criticality system provides said first criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves an issue that has a resolution that is not yet incorporated into said knowledge base.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation, and wherein criticality system provides said first criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves an issue having a resolution that is not disclosed in said existing documentation.

9. The system of claim 6,

wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation in which are described a first issue and a first resolution to said issue,

wherein said first resolution is erroneously disclosed in said existing documentation, and

wherein said criticality system provides said first criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves said first issue having said first resolution.

10. The system of claim 6,

wherein said existing knowledge comprises knowledge about a product that has been made available in a plurality of releases,

wherein said product has a first release that was made available after previous releases of said product, and said first release is substantially different from said previous releases, and

wherein said criticality system provides said first criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves an issue involving said first release.

11. The system of claim 6,

wherein said existing knowledge comprises knowledge about a product that has been made available in a plurality of versions,

wherein said product has a first version and a second version, said first version having been available before said second version, and

wherein said criticality system provides said second criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves an issue that pertains to said first version.

12. The system of claim 6,

wherein said needed content suggested in said instance involves an issue and a resolution to said issue, and

wherein said criticality system provides said second criticality ranking to said instance when said resolution associated with said issue is not easily understood by users of said knowledge base.

13. The system of claim 6,

wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation containing disclosures of a plurality of issues and a plurality of resolutions associated with said issues,

wherein said needed content suggested in said instance involves a first issue and a first resolution associated with said first issue,

wherein said resolution is disclosed inadequately in said existing documentation compared to others of said resolutions, and

wherein said criticality system provides said second criticality ranking to said instance associated with said first resolution.

14. The system of claim 6,

wherein said knowledge base is developed for a plurality of issues and a plurality of causes for said issues, with some of said causes occurring more rarely than others of said causes,

wherein one of said issues comprises a first issue having a first cause occurring more rarely than said others of said causes;

and

wherein said criticality system provides said third criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves said first issue.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein said criticality system provides said third criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves duplicate records found in said knowledge base.

16. The system of claim 6,

wherein said knowledge base is developed to support a plurality of requests for assistance and said requests involve a plurality of issues, with a first issue being requested more rarely than others of said issues, and

wherein said criticality system provides said third criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves said first issue.

17. The system of claim 6,

wherein said knowledge base is developed for a plurality of issues and a plurality of resolutions for said issues, with a first resolution occurring more rarely than others of said resolutions,

wherein one of said issues comprises a first issue that is well known to users of said knowledge base and that has said first resolution;

and

wherein said criticality system provides said third criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves said first issue.

18. The system of claim 6,

wherein said knowledge base is developed to provide support for a plurality of issues and a plurality of solutions, with some of said solutions being more complex than others of said solutions, and

wherein said knowledge base has defined support boundaries for defining an extent of said support provided by said knowledge base;

wherein one of said issues comprises a first issue having a first solution that is more complex than said others of said solutions and that may exceed said defined support boundaries; and

wherein said criticality system provides said third criticality ranking to said instance when said needed content suggested in said instance involves said one of said issues.

19. The system of claim 3,

wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation,

wherein said resolvable issues knowledge involves resolvable issues, with a first resolvable issue comprising modifications to an existing knowledge object, and

wherein said modifications further comprise inclusion of subject matter into said existing knowledge base, when said subject matter already exists in said existing documentation and when said subject matter is verified as correct.

20. The system of claim 3,

wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation,

wherein said resolvable issues knowledge involves resolvable issues, with a first resolvable issue comprising modifications to an existing knowledge object, and

wherein said modifications further comprise addition of a synonym to said existing knowledge object.

21. The system of claim 3,

wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation, and

wherein said additional input issues knowledge comprises said created knowledge that does not exist in said existing documentation.

22. The system of claim 3,

wherein at least some of said existing knowledge is disclosed in existing documentation, and

wherein said additional input issues knowledge comprises said created knowledge that is contained in said existing documentation, but was not verified by said authoring system.

23. The system of claim 3, wherein said additional input issues knowledge comprises said created knowledge that may be subject to specific requirements of a beneficiary of said knowledge base.

24. The system of claim 3, wherein said first pass review is conducted by a knowledge author, and wherein said backlog management system and said knowledge entry review system are implemented by a knowledge analyst.

25. The system of claim 3, wherein said backlog management system further comprises a review of said criticality ranking and providing feedback on said criticality ranking.

26. The method of claim 3, wherein said knowledge entry review system further comprises a review of said created knowledge for accuracy.

27. The method of claim 3, wherein new knowledge entry review system further comprises a review of said created knowledge for adherence with definitions and guidelines articulated in authoring conventions and guides, said authoring conventions and guides developed to add uniformity to said knowledge objects, and said uniformity comprising uniformity of format and development of said knowledge objects, uniformity of use of synonyms to capture alternative statements of said knowledge objects, and uniformity of said definitions.

28. The method of claim 3, wherein said knowledge entry review system further comprises a review of said created knowledge for usability in said knowledge base.

29. The method of claim 3, wherein said knowledge entry review system further comprises a review of said created knowledge for responsiveness to feedback concerning said knowledge base from users and beneficiaries of said knowledge base.

30. The method of claim 5, wherein said existing record editing system comprises a system for changing said existing record, deleting said existing record, and establishing and deleting record links between said existing record and other records in said knowledge base.