**Some Collaborative Systems Approaches in Knowledge-Based Environments**

Mihaela I. Muntean

*West University of Timisoara, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Romania* 

#### **1. Introduction**

378 New Research on Knowledge Management Models and Methods

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Collaboration represents a strategic alternative to the monolithic approach to business development and competition. It involves a different approach to business – focused on managing business relationships between people, within or without groups, and within and between organizations.

Fig. 1. Collaboration – A Business Strategy (http://literacy.kent.edu/CommonGood )

In the present global economy, strongly influenced by IT (information technology) and information systems evolution, the modern organizations try to face the challanges by adjusting their strategies and restructuring their activities, for aligning them to the new economy requirements. It is certain, that the enterprise's performance will depend on the capacity to sustain collaborative work. The evolution of information systems in these collaborative environments led to a sudden necessity to adopt, for maintaining all kind of virtual activities/processes, the latest technologies/systems that are capable to support integrated collaboration in business services.

It is obvious that, all collaborative environments (workgroups, practice communities, collaborative enterprises) are based on knowledge, and between collaboration and knowledge management (KM) there is a strong interdependence. Therefore, we focused on how collaborative systems are capable to sustain knowledge management and their impact on optimizing the KM life cycle. Some issues regarding collaborative systems are explored and a portal-based IT solution that sustains the KM life cycle is highlighted. In addition, an agile development framework for portals will be proposed

Some Collaborative Systems Approaches in Knowledge-Based Environments 381

The orientation toward a collaborative business represents a necessity for developing a competitive business in the actual global economy (Muntean 2006; Ghilic-Micu, Stoica, Mircea, 2008). At the end of 2008, Forrester Research Inc. surveyed business environment inquiring about companies' opening towards adopting new IT collaborative platforms; a trend was obvious, more than 50% heading to collaborative technologies. Based on our research, we propose the adoption of portal platforms at the level of collaborative communities/environments, and followed by integration of a series of systems, collaborative instruments, and enterprise applications which help to consolidate portal's SOA architecture (Service Oriented Architecture) meant to sustain collaboration as a business strategy. It is obvious that collaborative systems maintain knowledge management (KM) at the level of collaborative environments, interfering into all stages of KM life cycle

Without iterating different consecrated approaches in the field of collaborative systems (Mooney, 1974; Giboin, 2000; Marakas, 2003; Crabtree, 2003; Pels, Wortmann, 2003; Cil, Altrup, Yazgan, 2005; Kurdel, Sebestyenova, 2007; Niţchi, 2006, 2007, 2008), we will develop

1. in the actual global economy, in which collaboration is imposed as a business strategy, collaborative environments based on any kind of knowledge presume the existence of informatics systems, tools and technologies being able to maintain collaborative work, collaborative solving of different tasks, collaborative decisions and consolidating value; 2. multi-agent systems imposed themselves as facilitating collaboration, maintaining economic processes/activities, as well as collaborative solving of specific complex

3. on the other hand, collaborative tools are indispensable in every collaborative organization/community, concurring on sustaining the knowledge dissemination

4. but, the IT infrastructure of collaborative communities presumes the existence of complex platforms, with various capabilities in order to virtualize a big part of the

This can be achieved only with the help of portal technologies, at their level being integrated multi-agent systems with specific functions as well as a diverse range of conversational

Multi-agent systems (MAS) are computer based environments that contain multiple software agents to perform certain tasks (Turban, 2007). Multi-agent systems offer an innovative perspective on the capacity of configuration virtual communities. But some of



portal-based IT platforms; initiative sustained by the following considerations:

(subject will be developed in paragraph 4).

problems;

tools.

between its members;

communities' reality.

our scientific intercession around some consideration towards:

 collaborative systems based on software agents; collaborative tools (in fact, conversational tools);

**3.1 Considerations regarding multi-agent systems**

aiming autonomy, cooperation and learning;

languages (KQML, KIF, COOL, etc.);

their capabilities must be perfected, as follows (Muntean, 2009):
