Louis Louw

Customised high-value document generation

Contributions of different experts to innovation projects improve enterprise value, captured in documents. A subset of them is the centre of expert constraint convergence. Their production needs to be tailored case by case. Documents are often considered as knowledge transcription. As the base of a structured knowledge-based information environment, this paper presents a global approach that helps knowledge-integration tool deployment. An example, based on process plan in aircraft manufacturing, indicates how fundamental understanding of domain infrastructure contributes to a more coherent architecture of knowledge-based information environments. A comparison with an experiment in insurance services generalised the application of presented principles.

A knowledge network approach supporting the value chain

Pro-active management of the knowledge supply chain facilitates rapid technology, product and enterprise innovation. Collaboration has become an imperative for innovation. The knowledge “explosion” and abundant connectivity hampers rapid innovation and leads to communication overload. Structuring collaborative knowledge, exchanged via an integrated knowledge network, fosters the rapid exploitation of knowledge. An adequate (adaptable) configuration of network components within a domain of knowledge is required. This paper provides a framework for such an Integrated Knowledge Network (IKN); it also provides a navigation space to access knowledge contextualized with project life cycles. A practical case study that facilitates innovation research in this manner, spanning different private and public domains and including more than 100 projects, 130 users and in excess of 30.000 documents is briefly discussed.

Framework for the classification of service standardisation

ABSTRACT Literature on services refers to standardised services without describing what a standardised service is. This becomes problematic when attempting to apply a practice suited to standardised services to services that may not be standardised. A framework is developed to assess if a service is standardised or not. The methodology used is to use literature and apply examples to each dimension of the framework to give guidelines in assessing the level of standardisation of the individual dimensions and thus the overall service. The outcome is a qualitative framework with guidelines related to each dimension in improving the assessment of a service’s level of standardisation. This framework is applied to a case study to illustrate the application of the dimensions. The dimensions used as the basis of the framework are shown to be relevant as dimensions that describe the level of service standardisation.

ALIGNMENT OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BUSINESS AND INNOVATION DOMAINS

“Instead of being really good at doing some particular thing, companies must be really good at learning how to do new things ” . This ability to do new things involves both the identification and the mastery of the next ‘new thing’ as well as the ability to align the rest of the company with this new direction. This paper focuses on the alignment of innovation activities with the overall business strategy and infrastructure. An innovation strategic alignment model is presented that supports alignment in a company by identifying the driver of change and its impact on other areas of the business.

Towards a flexible innovation process model assuring quality and customer needs

Successful innovation projects require an adequate innovation management capability in organisations. This means a sufficiently rigorous, continuous, and goal-oriented management of innovation processes. The literature research demonstrates that an integrated innovation methodology requires highly qualitative processes that are both flexible and customer-specific in their design. This work focuses on the FuGle® innovation process model, which is applied at the Industrial Engineering Department of Stellenbosch University. The enhanced FuGle® innovation process model presents flexible processes that are supported by methods and techniques that guide the user to drive innovation projects. This paper presents an innovation approach that enables organisations proactively to manage customer needs and trends. Thus the enhanced FuGle® innovation process model aims to turn an innovation project into a marketable product.

ARCHITECTING THE ENTERPRISE TOWARDS ENHANCED INNOVATION CAPABILITY

In today’s competitive environment, organisations cannot afford to focus only on effectiveness and efficiencies – they also need to innovate. This is evident from most literature sources on innovation. Innovation topics, such as the innovation process and the drivers, barriers, principles, and success factors for innovation, have received a lot of attention in the literature. What is still lacking, however, is a consolidated view of the core requirements for building an innovation capability within an organisation. This paper lays the foundation for an innovation capability reference architecture by identifying those innovation success factors or requirements described in the literature, and consolidating and structuring it within an easy-to-use enterprise architecture framework.

Reference architectures as knowledge management tools guiding and supporting enterprise engineering

Knowledge management is an essential requirement for innovation, especially in initiating, guiding and improving the innovation process. It is a significant challenge to capture the planning and deployment of innovation that takes place within a company. It is not only the individual components of innovation that are challenging, but also integrating all of those activities in a focused manner. This chapter describes the importance of enterprise design models and reference architectures as knowledge management tools and methodologies for guiding and supporting the enterprise design or innovation process. It also briefly discusses the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture (PERA) and Master Plan as examples of enterprise design reference architectures.