Capturing knowledge transfer using zachman framework in bio-inspired design process

Abstract

Natural entities are sources of inspiration for designers as they exhibit nature’s unique and novel strategies and help them design products. For understanding and abstracting principles from nature, the knowledge of a biological entity is a must. Knowledge capture and representation in bio-inspired design is a complex process. Firstly, the biological entities are documented in different places such as books, articles, blogs, etc. A designer might need to spend considerable time while shuffling through these documents without coming to any conclusion. Secondly, biological knowledge is intricate and from a different domain. This complexity at the entity level and retrieving captured knowledge can lead to confusion and frustration. Thirdly, the roles of various stakeholders are not clearly defined. Hence, the knowledge collection, compilation, usage, and representation process are vague. We provide an organizational approach to represent bio-inspired design knowledge collection, compilation, and usage and representation process using the Zachman framework. Zachman framework provides the descriptive representation of enterprise architecture, uses six primitives, and can handle complex systems. In this research, we understand and apply the Zachman framework to capture and represent bio-inspired design knowledge with an organizational viewpoint. This research aims to organize and represent captured knowledge transfer, building, and representing processes and making it readily available for designers who can use it to make design decisions. Bio-inspired design takes inspiration from natural entities to solve human design problems. Many revolutionary products and applications such as Lotuson, Velcro, Sharkskin inspired swimsuit, etc. have been developed in the past. However, realizable and repeatable novel designs and applications need multiple tools, methods, people, resources, databases, and process knowledge. The facilitation, collection, and processing of knowledge also become a critical part of bio-inspired design organizations. Since organizations act as social systems, they have to deal with problemsolving, coordination, and uncertainty in assigned tasks. With a countable number of bio-inspired design organizations, research on organizational processes can discover significant organizational structures. In this research, we intend to find (1) an appropriate work configurations and links between systems and actors (2) and recognize stakeholders and their specialized tasks in bio-inspired design organization. The answer to these questions can help streamline the process and optimize the bio-inspired design organization’s structural set. Defining the organization form possesses numerous difficulties. One issue in organizational design is knowledge management. Organizational learning is improved if the knowledge management processes are effective and efficient. Knowledge management is a business process that identifies knowledge from previous experiences and selectively applies it to current decision-making processes [1]. Modern-day technology enterprises are highly dependent on knowledge management. The emergence of bio-inspired design products has led to the development of bio-inspired design organizations, where the knowledge management process can be implemented [2]. The success of design projects is facilitated by design communication in a structured organization. Design communication and performance are affected by the team organization [3]. Knowledge management is also strengthened by defining knowledge flows in an organization. Firms have no formal, explicit representation of knowledge, and their knowledge is processed in the unstructured form [4]. However, many models exist that are used to describe the organizational structure and knowledge management in an enterprise. Co-ordination theory [5], enterprise modeling using IDEF (Integration Definition) modeling method [6], knowledge mapping to identify knowledge flows in the organization [7], ontology-based framework such as Core Organizational Knowledge Entities (COKE) for specifying organizational knowledge using representation language [8], modeling languages such as Web Ontology Language (OWL), ArchiMate [9], and enterprise modeling technique like Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM )[10] has been used in the past. Many of them are effective, detailed and efficient but there are some limitations. They may not be suitable for current bio-inspired organizational knowledge structuring. GERAM requires details of several building blocks for its development. It may not be appropriate to represent the bio-inspired design organization, where little is known about the knowledge architecture, management, organization structure, and stakeholders. COKE, OWL, and ArchiMate require an understanding of modeling language first. The modeling is often too elaborative, complicated and requires knowledge of the organization’s functioning. We assume that bio-inspired design organizations’ structure for knowledge management can be represented using the Zachman framework. Zachman framework is developed to be independent of any methodology or process within an organization but can be implemented using a rational selection of variables [11]. Similarly, the knowledge transition in bio-inspired design is a complicated task involving multiple stakeholders [12]. Therefore, a biological knowledge process comparable to information system architecture has been developed using ZF.