Introduction
TARDIS is the knowledge management system within the Australian Defence Force’s Capability Development Executive . TARDIS was designed and implemented by HolisTech® Pty Ltd and won the actKM 2004 Combined Cultural and Technical Silver Award . The scope of TARDIS is significant as it truly addresses all dimensions of a knowledge management system - people, process, technology and content. TARDIS is first and foremost a soft system of integrated components comprising people solutions through TARDIS Working Groups, process through TARDIS Process, and technology through various applications like ComWeb® , Telelogic DOORS® and Microsoft® Office .
TARDIS employs the The Project and Capability Knowledge Model (PCKM) as the basis for integrating Hard KM and Soft KM components. The technology components are integrated through the inherent software interoperability within the products, and some process solutions to overcome an imposed no coding constraint. The other components are integrated primarily through process, or more accurately discipline.
TARDIS Components
TARDIS consists of eight interlinked parts, as follows:
- Component 1: TARDIS Data and Document Management. TARDIS Data and Document Management provides the framework and mechanisms for managing all information artefacts generated by or provided to Capability Development Executive, no matter their form or type. It includes the ability for multi-dimensional display and management of data and information, in one or more databases. Currently TARDIS uses Telelogic DOORS® as the primary database, and Microsoft® Access for the management of some data. The intent is to move to Microsoft® SQL Server later in 2007. Objective® is used as the document management system.
- Component 2: TARDIS Financials. TARDIS Financials provides the framework and mechanisms to manage and display financial data for projects, other initiatives and the general operations of Capability Development Executive. At the moment TARDIS Financials consists of several Microsoft® Excel databases, based on standardised workbooks. Increasingly financial information is published to one of the TARDIS Web components.
- Component 3: TARDIS Schedules. TARDIS Schedules provides the framework and mechanisms to manage and display all aspects of schedule data for projects, other initiatives and the general operations of Capability Development Executive. Currently schedules are managed in Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® Project, and Microsoft® Outlook. Schedule information and calendars are published to one of the TARDIS Web components.
- Component 4: TARDIS Web. TARDIS Web provides the framework and mechanisms to manage Capability Development Executive’s web presence on the Defence Secret Network, Defence Restricted Network and World Wide Web. It uses ComWeb® as the corporate website development tool. The theme, structure, and some content are common across all networks. Wherever possible content is drawn from TARDIS Data and Document Management and updated seamlessly. Because of the problem of aggregation of unclassified data becoming classified the World Wide Web presence is managed separately.
- Component 5:TARDIS Reports. TARDIS Reports provide for the generation of information in the format and type the stakeholder requires. Experience to date has shown that this component needs to be reactive as it is difficult to ‘guess’ what information is required by each executive or stakeholder. It is also evolutionary in nature as once a report framework is generated, the stakeholder may wish to modify it to further satisfy their evolving requirements. Currently some reports are semi-automated from data maintained in TARDIS Data and Document Management and TARDIS Financials. Increasingly reports are published to TARDIS Web.
- Component 6:TARDIS Stakeholder Management. TARDIS Stakeholder Management is a framework to manage the multiplicity of stakeholders with whom Capability Development Executive must engage as part of its core business. The stakeholders include upstream and downstream organisations that provide information to, or require information from, Capability Development Executive. Peripheral organisations also use information from Capability Development Executive for various purposes not directly related to capital procurement. Currently most of the stakeholder management function is done within the Telelogic DOORS® database. Most projects are also publishing stakeholder information to one or more TARDIS Web components.
- Component 7: TARDIS Business Process Support. TARDIS Business Process Support provides the framework and mechanisms wherever possible for all elements that constitute support to business processes including the: governance of those processes; manuals and procedures that explain those processes; and metrics collection to measure and improve those processes. To date most of the focus of TARDIS has been on the collection of metrics, and the publication of manuals and procedures to TARDIS Web.
- Component 8: TARDIS Training and Support. TARDIS Training and Support addresses the training framework for TARDIS and the support element, which is known as the TARDIS Help Desk. The TARDIS Help Desk provides the formal knowledge brokering capability and is the physical knowledge portal for Capability Development Executive .
Conclusion
TARDIS is an incredibly simple system, which takes an information and knowledge manufacturing approach rather than the search and locate approach of ‘conventional’ knowledge management systems. It provides search and locate functionality by structuring data in TARDIS Electronic Files into a known ontology and taxonomy, and employing file naming discipline. This combined with the search and locate functionality inherent in ComWeb® , Telelogic DOORS® , and Microsoft® Windows Explorer means that information is easily located. Furthermore the open architecture means that a document is only held in one location. Ultimately however, the whole system works on the discipline of people to follow the set process.
