**8. Field tests and results**

208 New Research on Knowledge Management Technology

project can be obtained from and deposited into the system database only through a secure interface. The web and database servers are distributed on different computers, between which a firewall and virus scans can be built to protect the system database against

The CWTKM system provides project category search, keyword search and expert category search. The project category and keyword search functions enable users to find the knowledge they need directly from the activities of selected projects. The system, also, provides another function in the expert category for users to find related knowledge according to domain experts. The information held by each domain expert is provided to the users seeking the domain knowledge-related experts. One of the main features of the CWTKM system is enabling users to request assistance in knowledge support and exchange

The following case study involves a contractor with seven years of specific experience in Taiwan high-tech construction projects. The contractor hoped to take full advantage of knowledge management (KM) to obtain the valued experience from participating engineers and effectively manage it for exchange and reuse in other comparable projects. The contractor, therefore, announced that all engineers would be encouraged to use the CWTKM system to apply KM to effectively manage acquired knowledge from participating engineers. The CWTKM system was utilized in the Taiwan construction building project to verify the proposed methodology and demonstrate the effectiveness of sharing previous knowledge in the construction phase. The case study was undertaken in a 11-month construction project with a schedule including approximately 1,450 activities. Moreover, all engineers were encouraged to explore and edit their own experience in the CWTKM system. In the knowledge acquisition phase, senior engineers and knowledge workers undertook most work knowledge acquisition, since tacit knowledge must be acquired directly from the minds of engineers. Further, the tacit knowledge may be transferred into explicit knowledge by senior engineers and knowledge workers themselves. Most tacit knowledge extracted for reuse and storage may be available from the memories of experts and engineers. In a broader view, knowledge extraction may also include capturing knowledge from other sources such as from problem-solution descriptions, suggestions, innovation and

In the case study, the senior engineer attempted to edit domain knowledge and experience in the "Contract management among subcontractors" learning lesson. The learning lesson experience in contract problem-facing description among subcontractors, detailed situation description and problem-solution explanations. The knowledge workers and senior engineer initially sketched the main knowledge map based on the original project networkbased schedule plan. After the main map was identified, the five experienced senior engineers were invited to edit their experience in the TBM regarding contract problemfacing. Related information/documentation was then collected and converted into a digital format. The attached files included digital documents, video and photo files. After the related attached files were digitized, the senior engineer packaged them as an experience set for submission. The knowledge workers, also, assisted the senior engineers in completing the above digitization work and conferred with them weekly to accelerate the problem solving process. The project activities continued for ten months. All engineers were required

from specific selected engineers or all engineers in the enterprise through the TBM.

intrusion.

**7. Case study** 

collaboration.

During the field trials, verification and validation tests were performed to evaluate the system. The verification process was proposed to determine whether the system operated as intended while validation was performed to evaluate the system's usefulness. The verification test was conducted by checking whether the CWTKM system could perform tasks specified in the system analysis and design. The validation test involved asking selected case participants to use the system, who then provided feedback via questionnaire. The seventeen respondents included two project managers with 5 years of experience; five senior engineers with 20 years of experience; four engineers with 10 years of experience; four junior engineers with 1 year of test experience; two knowledge workers with 5 years of experience; and one Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) with 3 years of experience. The CWTKM System was demonstrated to the respondents, who were then requested to express

Enhancing Knowledge Management for Engineers Using Mind Mapping in Construction 211

mind mapping and TBM approach to enhance knowledge acquisition and management. The experimental results showed that the CWTKM system significantly enhanced progress in the construction knowledge exchange progress and management. Overall, the use of CWTKM system minimized ineffective experience communication and exchange among

The significant findings of the case study are summarized as follows: (1) the total number of knowledge units in the system was 317 with 97 knowledge packages during execution of the project; (2) most senior engineers and experts considered recording and editing their experience to be too time consuming; (3) assisting more senior engineers in transferring tacit knowledge can be problematic, because most senior engineers cannot type their knowledge by themselves, and (4) most engineers agreed that the TBM approach and mind mapping

This study proposed a novel and practical methodology for capturing and representing the experience and project knowledge of engineers by utilizing mind mapping and TBM approach. Furthermore, this study developed a Construction Topic-based Map Knowledge Management (CWTKM) system for engineers that provides a concept experience exchange and management service for the reuse of domain knowledge and experience. TBM divide knowledge into map units, thus forming an effective knowledge management tool in construction projects. Effective integration of web technology in CWTKM system has been demonstrated in the case study in the Taiwan construction building project. The CWTKM system enables engineers to exchange and share previous knowledge using TBM to express their ideas and knowledge. Furthermore, the CWTKM system enables users to request knowledge support and to exchange knowledge with selected engineers or all enterprise engineers by submitting problem descriptions through TBM. Novice engineers directly accessing the system can effectively share and exchange knowledge. The integration of the TBM and mind mapping appears to be a promising means of enhancing construction KM during the construction phase of a project. In summary, the CWTKM system can assist engineers in illustrating their ideas clearly and sharing their knowledge. Furthermore, CWTKM system and TBM approach enable users to survey and access effectively the tacit

are helpful to enabling knowledge sharing and management in construction projects.

and explicit knowledge of previous engineers and experts in similar projects.

knowledge by submitting a problem description.

and effectively based on TBM illustration.

Although further effort is needed to update the explicit/tacit knowledge related to various projects, the proposed system benefits construction knowledge management by (1) providing an effective and efficient web-based environment for exchanging knowledge specifically regarding construction projects; and (2) providing users options by requesting assistance from selected engineers or all engineers in the enterprise who have relevant

The use of the TBM approach integrated with mind mapping in the study mainly provides assistance to help engineers illustrate their own knowledge easily and effectively. The questionnaire results indicate that the primary advantages of TBM in the system are as follows: (1) the TBM provide clear and dynamic representations, thus identifying the experience and knowledge of engineers relevant to the project, (2) the TBM clearly identify the available engineers or experience to request for experience exchange regarding the special knowledge in the current project and (3) users can locate needed knowledge easily

engineers.

**9. Conclusions** 

their opinions of the system via the questionnaire. To evaluate system function and satisfaction with system capabilities, questionnaires were distributed, and the system users were asked to separately rate the conditions of system, system function and system capability, in comparison with the previous system using a five-point Likert scale. A 1, 3 and 5 on the Likert scale corresponded with "not useful", "moderately useful" and "very useful," respectively. Table 1 shows system evaluation result. Some comments for future improvements in the CWTKM system were also obtained from the project participants.


Note: the mean score is calculated from respondents' feedback on

fivescale questionnaire: 1(Strongly Disagree), 2, 3, 4 and 5 (Strongly Agree)

#### Table 1. System Evaluation Result

The integration of mind mapping and TBM technique to share and illustrate available experience significantly enhanced the efficiency of KM processes. Based on the user satisfaction survey, most users agreed that the CWTKM system enables engineers to exchange and share previous experience and knowledge using TBM to express their ideas and thoughts. Furthermore, the TBM provided clear and dynamic representations of experience and effectively identified Map units with experience and knowledge related to the project. The survey revealed a user satisfaction rate of 87 %, indicating that the CWTKM system is useful for assisting engineers in editing their previous knowledge through the mind mapping and TBM approach to enhance knowledge acquisition and management. The experimental results showed that the CWTKM system significantly enhanced progress in the construction knowledge exchange progress and management. Overall, the use of CWTKM system minimized ineffective experience communication and exchange among engineers.

The significant findings of the case study are summarized as follows: (1) the total number of knowledge units in the system was 317 with 97 knowledge packages during execution of the project; (2) most senior engineers and experts considered recording and editing their experience to be too time consuming; (3) assisting more senior engineers in transferring tacit knowledge can be problematic, because most senior engineers cannot type their knowledge by themselves, and (4) most engineers agreed that the TBM approach and mind mapping are helpful to enabling knowledge sharing and management in construction projects.
