Trident University International
Elgin M. Sanders
ITM 442
Module 1

Information technologies were designed to assist managerial and professional workers by processing and disseminating vast amounts of information to managers organization-wide (MIS). Over several decades systems evolved to systems focusing on providing tools for ad-hoc decision analysis to specific decision makers (DSS), and to systems designed to provide updated, often real-time, relevant information to senior and middle managers (EIS). These systems each contributed to individual and organizational improvements in varying degrees and continue to be important components of an organization’s information technology investment. An emerging line of systems targets professional and managerial activities by focusing on creating, gathering, organizing, and disseminating an organization’s "knowledge" as opposed to
"information" or "data." These systems are referred to as Knowledge
Management Systems (KMS).
The concept of coding and transmitting knowledge in organizations is not new: training and employee development programs, organizational policies, routines, procedures, reports, and manuals have served this function for years.
For example, the McDonald’s restaurant’s operating manual captures almost every aspect of the restaurant management including cooking, nutrition, hygiene, marketing, food production, and accounting. By capturing, codifying, and disseminating this knowledge, the company reduces the level of required know-how for its managers while improving the effectiveness and efficiency of its
Communications of AIS . To define KMS, it is necessary first to define knowledge and knowledge management. Knowledge is a broad and abstract notion that has defined epistemological debates in western philosophy since the classical Greek era .1
Action in