Method for the management of artifacts in knowledge ecosystems

• US 9,946,971 B1
• Filed: 12/16/2014
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
• Inventors: Kannan, Gopika, Fabrizi, Jennifer, Polkowski, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes, Michael B
• Application Number:
  US14/572,124
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• Field of Search: 706 50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services

Abstract

A method for the management of artifacts in knowledge ecosystems is disclosed. The management of artifacts may be performed through the interaction of project participants with a computing device which may display a project repository interface of a software module within a knowledge ecosystem. The method may include the process to retrieve an artifact from a knowledge base to store in the project repository, and the process to store a new artifact in the knowledge base. Moreover, the method may include a process for associating a retention policy, a quality rank and suitable categories and tags to each artifact stored in the knowledge base, which may facilitate the selection of a suitable artifact according to the project requirements. As a result, the method for the management of artifacts may allow leveraging human expertise, saving human efforts, improving decision-making and fostering innovation.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a computer from a first client device, an upload request from a user to store a first electronic document and further receiving the first electronic document from the first client device,

wherein the upload request further comprises additional information regarding the first electronic document;

categorizing, by the computer, the first electronic document according to a selection on a graphical user interface of the first client device of a category type of the first electronic document in the upload request;

associating, by the computer, additional information received from the upload request with the first electronic document;

storing, by the computer, the first electronic document into an electronic document database storing one or more electronic documents;

automatically associating, by the computer, the first electronic document with a set of user attributes corresponding to the user identified in the additional information;

upon automatically associating the set of user attributes, deriving, by the computer, knowledge from the first electronic document by retrieving and processing raw data in the first electronic document using data mining techniques and tagging and indexing the first electronic document based on the set of the user attributes and the additional information;

storing, by the computer, the knowledge derived from the first electronic document in a knowledge database, wherein the knowledge database stores the knowledge comprising tags and references associated with the set of user attributes;

receiving, by the computer, via a search engine from a second client device, a request for a second electronic document from the electronic document database,

wherein the request comprises a set of search attributes corresponding with the second electronic document;

upon identifying, from the electronic document database, a third electronic document corresponding to the set of search attributes, identifying, by the computer from the knowledge database, knowledge corresponding to the set of search attributes and at least a fourth electronic document that corresponds to the knowledge corresponding to the set of search attributes; and

displaying, by the computer, the third and fourth electronic documents on the second client device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first electronic document category type is selected from the group consisting of:

a new version of an existing electronic document, a project deliverable, a project groundwork, and a reference document.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the additional information is selected from the group consisting of:

content type, file name, project name, electronic document title, one or more phrases associated with the first electronic document, one or more related deliverables, and one or more related projects.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the computer, one or more existing tags associated with one or more attributes associated with the first electronic document stored in the database; and

automatically associating, by the computer, the one or more existing tags matching the one or more attributes associated with the first electronic document.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein automatically associating comprises applying, by the computer, a semantic analysis.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

associating, by the computer, one or more tags received from the first client device with the one or more attributes associated with the first electronic document according to an input at a user interface.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a lack of electronic documents stored in the database to implement in a related project according to the knowledge associated with each of the electronic documents that is stored in the knowledge base, and wherein the computer accepts the first electronic document when there is a lack of electronic documents.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

recommending, by the computer, the fourth electronic document to a project participant assigned to a project when the knowledge associated with the fourth electronic document matches one or more project requirements that are associated with the project.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, by the computer, a quality score associated with the fourth electronic document, wherein the quality score evaluates the quality of the knowledge associated with the fourth electronic document.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

ranking, by the computer, one or more quality scores associated with each of the electronic documents stored in the database.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the computer, an electronic document retention policy to the first electronic document based on one or more retention policy rules.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the computer, at least one of the third and fourth electronic documents in a project repository that is associated with a project.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request for the second electronic document comprises a selection of category type of the electronic document, wherein the category type is selected from the group consisting of:

deliverable, groundwork, and reference.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the request for the second electronic document comprises a selection of an electronic document template type.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

matching, by the computer, one or more search terms in the request for the second electronic document with one or more tags associated with a set of candidate electronic documents stored in the database.

16. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer, one or more quality evaluations for at least one of the first, second, third, and fourth electronic documents, wherein a quality evaluation evaluates the knowledge associated with the each of the electronic documents;

calculating, by the computer, a quality score for each of the electronic documents using the one or more quality evaluations; and

automatically ranking, by the computer, each of the one or more electronic documents stored in the database based on the quality score associated with each of the electronic documents.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

assigning, by the computer, a retention policy to an electronic document based on a quality rank resulting from ranking each of the quality scores.

18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

polling, by the computer, one or more project participants for a quality evaluation corresponding to at least one of the first, second, third, and fourth electronic documents.

19. A system comprising:

an electronic document database storing one or more electronic documents associated with a set of user attributes;

a knowledge database storing knowledge associated with each of the one or more electronic documents;

a project repository storing one or more projects implementing a set of electronic documents that are related to a project;

a management processor operating a project repository interface and configured to receive a request from the project repository interface; and

a first client device and a second client device interacting with the project repository interface;

wherein the management processor is configured to;

receive, from the first client device, an upload request from a user to store a first electronic document and further receive the first electronic document from the first client device, wherein the upload request further comprises additional information regarding the first electronic document;

categorize the first electronic document according to a selection on a graphical user interface of the first client device of a category type of the first electronic document in the upload request;

associate additional information received from the upload request with the first electronic document;

store the first electronic document into the electronic document database storing one or more electronic documents;

automatically associate the first electronic document with the set of user attributes corresponding to the user identified in the additional information;

upon automatically associating the set of user attributes, derive knowledge from the first electronic document by retrieving and processing raw data in the first electronic document using data mining techniques and tagging and indexing the first electronic document based on the set of the user attributes and the additional information;

store the knowledge derived from the first electronic document in the knowledge database, wherein the knowledge database stores the knowledge comprising tags and references associated with the set of user attributes;

receive via a search engine from the second client device, a request for a second electronic document from the electronic document database,

wherein the request comprises a set of search attributes corresponding with the second electronic document;

upon identifying, from the electronic document database, a third electronic document corresponding to the set of search attributes, identify from the knowledge database, knowledge corresponding to the set of search attributes and at least a fourth electronic document that corresponds to the knowledge corresponding to the set of search attributes; and

display the third and fourth electronic documents on the second client device.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the management processor is further configured to automatically generate a list of each of the electronic documents associated with the project according to the request for the second electronic document from the second client device.

21. The system according to claim 19, wherein

the management processor retrieves an available electronic document from the electronic document database based on associated knowledge stored in the knowledge database matching the request for the second electronic document.

22. The system according to claim 20, wherein

the management processor retrieves the available electronic document from the electronic document database based on one or more project requirements associated with the project stored in the project repository.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein

the project repository stores the available electronic document and updates the project repository interface when one or more new electronic documents are implemented in the project.

24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the management processor associates one or more tags with a new electronic document uploaded from the first client device according to a participant input, and wherein the electronic document database stores the new electronic document in the database and is associated with knowledge in the knowledge database on the tags.

25. The system according to claim 23, wherein the management processor identifies one or more existing tags used to identify the set of user attributes,

wherein the management processor automatically associates the one or more existing tags with a new electronic document uploaded from the first client device when the one or more existing tags are associated with the set of user attributes matching the one or more attributes associated with the new electronic document, and

wherein the electronic document database stores the new electronic document in the database and is associated with knowledge in the knowledge database on the tags.

26. The system according to claim 23, further comprising:

a knowledge base processor assigning a retention policy and a quality rank to the knowledge associated with each electronic document based on the project requirements and configured to remove outdated data based on the retention policy.