Measuring KM Success and KM Service Quality with KnowMetrix - First Experiences from a Case Study in a Software Company

It is commonly accepted that knowledge management (KM) and knowledge transfer are critical success factors for competing enterprises. What is not yet known sufficiently is how to measure the status of KM in order to develop concrete and effective actions to improve KM and knowledge transfer. What is lacking is a methodological base to support the development of such diagnostic tools. This paper sets out to fill this gap. Firstly, an overview of the approaches applied so far is provided. From this, a concrete instrument was developed for the use of success factor analysis in a stepwise, methodical manner. The results from a first case study showed that the transfer of the general success factor analysis technique to the specific context of KM is possible. The method is called KnowMetrix and is presented together with first experiences of its application in a software company.