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Based on an exploratory case-based approach, the purpose of this paper is to open the KM black box and examine the relationships that link knowledge management (KM) inputs (i.e. knowledge resources and KM practices) via knowledge processes to KM performance. This paper aims to identify the underlying mechanisms and explain how KM performance is enabled.

This in-depth case study conducted at a medium-sized consultancy in the supply chain management industry empirically examines knowledge flows to uncover the relationships between KM inputs, knowledge processes and KM performance. We adopt the viable system model (VSM) as a theoretical lens to identify KM mechanisms.

By identifying six KM mechanisms, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of how KM inputs are interconnected and lead to KM performance via knowledge processes.

Based on the insights gained, we provide propositions that organizations should consider in designing viable KM. Our findings help organizations in understanding their KM with the help of knowledge flow analysis and identifying how critical KM elements are interconnected.

The overall purpose of this study is to inform practitioners about the levers for improving their employee portals.

The authors introduce a theoretical model that is based on the DeLone and McLean IS success model, which considers the specific requirements of employee portals. They tested the associations between their model's success dimensions by using more than 4,400 employees' responses, which were collected in 12 companies across different industries. They applied structural equation modeling to carry out the causal analysis. In addition, within a performance‐based analysis, they further investigated the success dimensions' improvement potentials.

The results of the causal analysis indicate that besides the factors contributing to the success of information systems (IS) in general, other success dimensions – like the quality of the collaboration and process support – have to be considered when aiming for a successful employee portal. The performance‐based analysis emphasizes the significance of collaboration quality to improve an employee portal and indentifies the respective fields of action.

This paper's contribution to theory is the empirical validation of a model for investigating employee portal success. The performance‐based analysis further elaborates on the causal analysi's findings. The results advance theoretical development in the area of employee portals and serve as a basis for future research in this field.

This model offers a means for organizations to evaluate and predict the success of employee portals. The study's findings make it possible for practitioners to understand the levers with which to improve their employee portals and to prioritize their investments accordingly.

This study is among the first, which empirically validates a comprehensive success model for employee portals and highlights its practical usefulness by means of a performance‐based analysis.

Many of today's organizations already have a strong integration of groupware systems within their IT‐infrastructure. The shared databases of these groupware systems form organizational memories, which comprise the complete knowledge of an organization collected over the time of its existence. One key problem is how to find relevant knowledge or information in continuously growing and distributed organizational memories. In many cases, the basic functionalities and mechanisms of groupware systems are not sufficient to support users in finding required knowledge or information. Topic maps provide strong paradigms and concepts for the semantic structuring of link networks and therefore, they are a considerable solution for organizing and navigating large and, continuously growing organizational memories. The K‐Discovery project suggests applying topic maps to groupware systems to address the mentioned challenges. Thus, the K‐Discovery project introduces a conceptual framework, an architecture, and an implementation approach to create knowledge structures by generating topic maps from organizational memories and offers navigation tools to exploit the created structures.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of KMS success.

The paper uses a consensus‐building approach to derive the definition. An expert panel was used to generate a list of possible KM success definitions. A survey was used to identify a likely definition from this list. A second survey was used to further refine the proposed KM success definition. Finally, analysis of the survey comments was used to finalize the proposed definition.

KM success is a multidimensional concept. It is defined by capturing the right knowledge, getting the right knowledge to the right user, and using this knowledge to improve organizational and/or individual performance. KM success is measured by means of the dimensions: impact on business processes, impact on strategy, leadership, and knowledge content.

An additional survey should be performed that tests the constructs of the proposed KM success definition. Additionally, future research should focus on identifying a set of measures that can be used to measure KM success and determining whether KM and KM System (KMS), success are the same or different constructs.

The proposed definition of KM success provides practitioners with four dimensions that can be used to construct organization‐specific measures for indicating when their KM initiative is successful.

This is important, as the literature, while providing much support for identifying KM critical success factors, does not provide a definition of when KM can be considered successful. Knowing when a KM initiative is successful is important for organizations and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and evaluate the semantic process benchmarking concept.

The authors' approach includes the use of metamodels and ontologies, which make the process models syntactically and semantically comparable. Furthermore, a software prototype is presented to analyze and compare individual process models and their performance information. Thereafter, the technical, conceptual, and economic perspectives of the approach's evaluation are aligned with their respective outcomes.

The evaluation proves that this approach is generally suitable to generate novel and useful information on different process models and their performance within the same problem domain. However, the initial set‐up costs are high and will only pay off once process models are used regularly.

The proposed approach depends strongly on the availability of appropriate metrics and ontologies, as well as on the annotation of these ontologies to process models, which is a time‐consuming task. If large benchmarking clearing centers are established, the approach will be more cost‐effective. The developed SEMAT prototype, that demonstrates and proves the proposed approach's general viability, supports cost‐effective ontology engineering and annotation in the context of semantic process benchmarking initiatives.

To date, process benchmarking has primarily been a manual process. In this article, the authors suggest an approach that allows time‐consuming and costly process analysis to be partially automated, which makes the performance indicators, as well as qualitative differences between processes, apparent.

The study aimed to focus on how well information technology (IT) was supporting business processes in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

The study collected data using a questionnaire that incorporated the 12 processes of the American Productivity and Quality Center's (APQC) process classification framework. Structured interviews were conducted with managers in 66 SMEs.

The data indicated the importance of each process and how well IT supported each process. The following two core business processes were identified as strategically most important: deliver products and services, and manage customer service. Although the evidence indicated that the most important business processes were supported at an acceptable level, IT support was found to be low for many business processes. IT support also varied considerably across the sample, indicating that some firms have much higher IT support for business processes than others.

A limitation of the study is that it used a new instrument. Also, all the firms were SMEs in one part of one country. The study created an instrument that can be used by managers as a diagnostic tool to help SMEs identify areas for business improvement.

The study indicates that the business process view provides a useful lens for studying IT support. There seems to be much potential for SMEs to improve their IT support for some business processes.

The focus on IT support for business processes is original, especially by examining support for the broad range of processes of the APQC's model.

This paper aims to present a case study of the application of a methodology that represents an innovative strategy that integrates researches on interaction design and business process management with practical implications. This methodology is devoted to aligning the needs of enterprise system users with business processes (BPs).

This approach establishes an unbroken network of links between BPs, task models and abstract representations of user interfaces. Once the models are linked, it is possible to identify the impact that any change on these models may produce in other models. The main challenge is to organize the linked models according to the organizational context and manage those links with consistency in order to support improving process efficiency and user productivity. This approach has been applied in a large telecommunications organization during four months with its application in two different projects and validated with a cost‐benefit analysis.

Applying this approach in large organizations has demonstrated that: every involved stakeholder is capable of understanding the whole approach in one working day; creating the models and linking them with the corresponding business process models takes around three men/day per core business process; and applying this approach brings up to 60 per cent of return on investment related to process improvement and user experience.

The main differentials of this methodology include using simple models; considering light actions; preserving the independence of technology; and adopting a human‐oriented approach assuring that every managed information impacts people and not only systems, thus enabling fast adaptation to the business dynamism.

Identifying the benefits arising from implementations of enterprise systems and realizing business value remains a significant challenge for both research and industry. This paper aims to consolidate previous work. It presents a framework for investigating enterprise systems benefits and business change, which addresses the identified limitations of previous research and provides a more detailed analysis of benefits and their contextual variation.

Drawing on data gathered from 31 real‐world organizations (case studies) of differing size, maturity, and industry sector, the study adopts an iterative content analysis to empirically derive a comprehensive benefits framework.

The content analysis provides a detailed classification of expectations and benefits, which is described in a four‐level framework. The four levels (areas) are further subdivided into aspects and criteria plus an attributed appraisal value. The resulting scheme for the “three‐level benefit codes” provides a greater level of detail about the nature of expected and realized benefits.

The high level of detail and the code scheme comprising 60 different codes and the method for deriving the codes allows companies to identify and define benefits as well as to assess the outcome of enterprise systems implementation projects.

The paper empirically develops an applicable benefits framework, which addresses the lack of detail of previous frameworks.

In contemporary times process‐oriented approaches in information management are elementary in meeting business challenges. However, most methods for business process management (BPM) focus on improved performance from only the company's perspective. They neglect the growing importance of value co‐creation between company and customer that typically results from a service‐dominant logic. Modern BPM methods need to focus on the internal performance of processes whilst including the customer's perspective. This paper aims to address these issues.

By combining the market‐oriented approach, service blueprinting, with the syntax of business process modeling, the authors introduce a method that visualizes and analyzes processes simultaneously from the company's and customer's point of view. Within this integrated approach, information management and marketing are linked. A used case illustrates implementation and benefits of this method.

This paper addresses the gap between marketing and information management sciences. “Business Process Blueprinting” (BP²) provides a conceptual foundation for a further integration of these two scopes of interest.

The integrated view on processes supports an enhanced understanding of process performance. In its current stage, the method reflects a basic combined approach – further development is needed. Well‐established models and tools from controlling and marketing as well as from other fields can be integrated to open this analysis for service elements.

Applying BP² to practical process analysis promotes a better understanding of the customer's process perception. This potentially leads to a more efficient and effective process design.

The paper introduces the missing method for the integration of the effectiveness‐driven perspective into business process modeling.