Managing characteristic organization knowledge in collaborative networks

Modeling and management of the knowledge/information related to the organizations is fundamental to efficient operation of the Collaborative Networked Organizations (CNOs). Continuous changes in different aspects of involved organizations, is an unavoidable reflection to the dynamic changes in the demands of stakeholders and customers in the market / society. Organizations’ profiles, and especially their competency characteristics tailored to the requirements of opportunities emerging in the market, need to be modeled and managed. Furthermore, mechanisms are required for handling the flexible representation and processing of the organizations’ knowledge. Both research and practice have shown that the formation of collaborative networked organizations requires pre-establishment of a cluster, also called a breeding environment. In this paper we address the Virtual organizations Breeding Environments (VBEs), which provide the necessary conditions and support for configuration and creation of Virtual Organizations (VOs). Using the ontology engineering approaches, we present an approach for modeling of organizations’ knowledge inside VBEs, and specify the ontology for their profiles and competencies. Furthermore, we present the required mechanisms for management of the organizations’ knowledge, and specify the functionality required to manipulate organizations’ information through the life cycle of VBEs. The paper also addresses the logical design of a database for storage of organizations’ information and for the visualization of organizations’ profile and competency knowledge.