Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization Free Essay Example, 1500 words

Intranets provide a smooth platform for sharing information that is dynamic and enriched. The web server and web browser enable them to achieve greater access and integration of information by the workers. They act as knowledge silos within the company, they are ideal for sharing internal process knowledge. Document Management Systems are good repositories for vital documents. Thus, they can be used for storing explicit knowledge. These systems are essential in creating, processing and viewing of documents (Thierauf, 1999) Information Retrieval Engines are a type of knowledge silo that assists knowledge seekers to retrieve the information they need from the knowledge repositories. They also have extra features that greatly improve their speed and precision in information retrieval. Thus, they are useful tools for accessing explicit knowledge. Groupware and Workflow Systems enable users in teams or units to communicate and collaborate within the company structure. They are also inte grated into knowledge silos and they enable sharing of tacit information. Push Technologies and Agents enable transfer of applications and information to the end users in a more advanced way than emails. Agents are a more sophisticated technology that enables end users to specify the kind of knowledge they want to access. We will write a custom essay sample on Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now They are powerful tools that enhance sharing of explicit and implicit knowledge. Help-Desk Applications help organizations to cope with the internal and external requests for information. Thus, they enhance sharing of tacit, explicit, and implicit knowledge. Brainstorming Applications are designed to aid the brainstorming process within an organization. They bring about creativity that leads to the conversion of tacit into explicit knowledge. Data Warehouses and Data Mining Tools enable managers to create and maximize relationships between clients, suppliers, and internal processes. By utilizing data mining tools on the data warehouses, managers are able to find patterns in data and infer rules from them that guide them in decision-making and forecasting the effects of those decisions (Thierauf, 1999, P. 97).