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The St. James KnowledgeBook is a corporate wide electronic knowledge base manager designed for Industrial Operating Conditions. The j5KnowledgeBook provides a structure whereby Knowledge Items can be cataloged and categorized for easy access by anyone on the site. The application is just one of the suite of Zero Client j5Log applications.
Knowledge Items
In order to successfully operate a process control plant, personnel rely on various items of "Know How" or Knowledge Items. Typically, these items of Know How are held in various locations and in various forms. For example, an important maintenance procedure may be in a document in the maintenance library whereas a flow diagram of a new operating paradigm may be in a Word document. Each of these items is a Knowledge Item. The Knowledge Book either stores the Knowledge Item itself or indirectly tells the user where he or she can get hold of the item.
As the screen shot below shows, each item is classified into various categories so that the user can quickly find out the source of the information using the KnowledgeBook' powerful filtering. The classification is tailored to the specific areas and departments that you have on your site. This makes it easy to quickly drill down to find the information you are looking for.
Why go to a Networked Knowledge Base System
The primary benefit to going to a networked Knowledge Base System is that site personnel spend less time looking for data and more time using it. Additionally, because the data is maintained in a structure, it is generally up to date and "good" which means the users are better informed and make better decisions.
Additionally, the existing Knowledge becomes secure and now becomes a firm foundation for growth. Instead of searching for information, the information is quickly located and made to work. This gives the users more time to enhance and extend the knowledge. (Instead of spending all their time looking for it.)
Because there is now a networked expandable system, knowledge that was previously only known to one or two people is now easily accessible by anyone with a computer. This means the expertise and know how of the whole site quickly ratchets up and people start talking the same language.
Since the system is on-line, updates and enhancements to the knowledge can be made instantly available to everyone. And if an employee leaves, the knowledge doesn't go with him or her, but remains with the corporation.
Minimal Administration
The KnowledgeBook is a true web server based application. There is no requirement to load software on any of the client machines. This means that the Knowledge can be quickly made available to tens or even hundreds of users without any changes to the user computers whatsoever.
Attach any file to the KnowledgeBook
You can attach files of virtually any format to the Knowledge Entries. (E.g. graphic files, Word or Excel files, Schedules, PowerPoint files etc.) When the user clicks on the Attachment link, the application (e.g. Word) is started on his or her system and the information is immediately made available.
Really Industrial
The KnowledgeBook package has been designed specifically for use on Industrial sites. It can be easily tailored to suit the areas and streams of your process plant and has a complete inbuilt user management system.
Easy to start: Easy to change
The KnowledgeBook package comes with a standard set up so that you can immediately implement it on your site with a minimum of effort. However, as you become familiar with the concepts of Knowledge Items, you will probably want to customize the application to your specific needs. This is a simple fill-in-the-blanks process that enables you to customize not only the look and feel of the KnowledgeBook but also the structure.
Change the Look and Feel of your KnowledgeBook
Just change any of the presentation parameters and you will see the immediate effect of your changes. There are on-line tool tips for each of the categories to help you make the choices. There are over 50 different parameters that you can choose from to vary the presentation of the layout. All of these changes can be achieved through a simple fill-in-the-blanks form without having to do any graphical design. Most of the entries are available as options in a pull-down combos.
Add your own site-specific fields
You can add your own fields that are specific to your business. Just go into the configuration, click on the new field button and enter the name and format of the new field. The system will take care of the database transactions for you and add a new column to the table. You can now fine-tune the characteristics of the new field such as the presentation of the field and what valid options are for that field.
KnowledgeBook will automatically fill in the standard fields
Your users do not have to fill in many of the standard fields like the date, console and their user name. All these fields are filled in automatically by KnowledgeBook.. Additionally, the system will not allow the users to enter data outside of their assigned areas and will only give them the choice of options that are in fact valid for their areas.
Choose the valid options for your fields
You can specify the valid options for each of the fields. For example, for the discipline (or department) field, you may specify the departments Engineering, Production, Maintenance, Technical etc. When the user is adding new knowledge items, these options are made available to him or her in a combo box. They are also made available when you want to filter the logs to find some specific information.
Associate the options of each category with different color and style codes
To help your users easily identify the specific codes, you can assign colors and styles to these codes. For example, you can assign specific colors to the departments or areas of the process.
Powerful yet cost effective
The pricing is based on the number of user sessions that are simultaneously active. For a site with say 100 people, you could purchase 5 or 10 concurrent licenses and make these available to all 100 users.
Add additional Sessions at any stage
To add more concurrent sessions, you simply connect into our web site, order and pay for the new session licenses and we send you an updated license key. The software already on your system will recognize the new license and activate the new session keys for you.
Each session can have multiple users
You can have as many users as you like on a given viewing station. For example, if you have a system in the control room, you could have 5 different users for that one seat. Each user can have different personalities depending on their position in the organization.
Control who looks at KnowledgeBook and what they can see
You can decide who looks at KnowledgeBook and exactly what they see. For example, you may want one user to be able to see everything on one site but only be able to enter knowledge in the utilities area. Alternatively, you may want to prevent some users from seeing marketing or management knowledge for example.
On-line Help
A comprehensive easy to use on-line help system is available from the KnowledgeBook. Browse through the system or go directly to a specific key word.
Choose your Database
Your KnowledgeBook will connect to any of the following databases: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Postgres or Microsoft Access. Because all your data is stored in a standard database, you can access it with any of your favorite utilities such as Crystal Reports, Microsoft Excel, or the utilities that come with the database itself. Alternatively, you are welcome to download our free jWorkBook utility which gives you direct access to the database and the facility to create your own custom reports in the spreadsheet. For databases other than Oracle, SQL Server or Microsoft Access, please contact us at
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Internet Access
Provided you have a Network connection (either Internet or Direct Connect or via modem) you can access the Knowledge Information. Of course you can also inhibit access from off site if you want.
The KnowledgeBook package produces a standard html output which can be viewed using any standard browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer. The Knowledge Items are presented in tabular form and are updated as soon as a new Knowledge Item is added anywhere in the system.
Store as much data as you want
There is no software limit to the number of records that can be stored or the number of days of data that can be stored.
Find the data easily and quickly
Finding information is easy, just click on the Filter Button and type in the word or keyword you are looking for and the table will show all the Knowledge Items that match your specification. If you type in two criteria for different columns, then the log will show only those records that match both criteria.
Set your time window
You can decide how far back in the Knowledge base you want to look. For example, you may be only interested in the last year's information. Of course, you can simply decide to look at all the information.
Control the modification of Knowledge Items
You can define which Knowledge Items a specific user can modify. This means that the Items are only updated by people that are authorized and have the Know How to do so.
Try out KnowledgeBook
You can try out KnowledgeBook immediately by clicking here. (This is a full Knowledge Base system that has had the Adding and Modification facilities removed for use on the open web.) Alternatively, you can download a version and test it (or tailor it to your requirements) on your own computer.
Your current system will probably run KnowledgeBook without changes
KnowledgeBook comes in two versions, a Web based version and a standalone version.
We recommend the web based version for all but the smallest of sites. For the web based version, we provide an Install that includes the Apache server. Once the system is installed, any user on your network that has a web browser has access to the system.
For the standalone KnowledgeBook application you would need Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 or Windows XP. Typically, the database can either be in the same computer or in a central server and the users will connect via a LAN to this server. The software will run on most reasonable computers however we recommend a Pentium computer with 32 MB of RAM to provide a reasonable interface to the software. To start off, you can download the free demo software and run it on a single computer. Note that you will need to register first. (If you do not have a central database, the system will use an MS Access format in the local computer.)
Where to from here?
We recommend as a starting point, you try out our on-line demo by clicking here. You can also get more information by clicking on the Help Link in the toolbar. Alternatively, you can register with us then download our free version or purchase the full license. Of course, you can e-mail us or request a call from one of our engineers or from one of our system integrators. Or just give us a call on 1 713 893 7152.
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