Domain ontologies and software agents: A methodological approach to knowledge management

Knowledge Management Systems are used for storage and management of knowledge artifacts with the goal of applying this knowledge towards achieving competitive advantage. Military situations such as small scale contingencies several knowledge and data fusion problems for the war fighter. Despite the recognized need for effective Knowledge Management at all levels, many KM implementations fail to meet their stated goals. The Active Knowledge Management Environment (AcKME) is a flexible and open architecture that overcomes many of the problems faced by traditional Knowledge Management systems. This paper examines the role of domain ontologies and software agents in Knowledge Management systems. It describes the AcKME environment which consist of software agents organized into functional agencies. The AcKME ontology models the entities in the domain and their relationships, and is used to represent the Knowledge Management processes. The application of AcKME to Environmental Legislation and Regulation Monitoring at the Army Environmental Policy Center (AEPI) is discussed.