IV.4.2. System Scenario

In order to create a scenario model for the knowledge system, the 4+1 model [Kruchten 95] is adopted for describing the scenario model of the system. The system scenario aims at illustrating the interaction between objects and processes in the ceramic cluster. As we depicted about the 4+1 model in chapter 3, four views (i.e. logical, development, process, and physical view) are required for designing the fifth view which is scenario view. These views were acquired from the system architecture and cluster interviews in the previous levels. In this chapter, we will present an example of scenario model with the UML use case diagram and sequence diagram. The complete system scenario model of the ceramic cluster can be found in Annex E.

The UML use case diagram was generated from the requirement of the system architecture. It presents a graphical overview of the functionality provided by the system in terms of the actors, their goals (represented as use cases) and dependencies between those use cases. The use case diagram illustrated the actors (e.g. CDA, core cluster, support cluster, etc.) and their roles in the KMS.

The use case diagram above implies that there are four types of participants in the knowledge management system, the CDA, support cluster, core cluster and anonymous user. The goal of each type of user is different.

• The CDA acts as the administrator of the system. The roles of the CDA to the system are facilitating the virtual collaboration of the system, providing opportunities to members, and distributing information to all users.
• The core cluster is composed of the experts and knowledge users. This group of users is the primary actor of the KMS. It is allowed to access most of services on the system except the administration module.
• The support cluster is the knowledge provider, a representative of a government agency, financial and academic institution, supporting industry and/or association. The relationship among these participants is generalization. Thus, they have the same roles in the system i.e. sharing their knowledge, collaborating with the core cluster, and providing opportunities from their part to the ceramic cluster.
• The anonymous user is the participant who is not a stakeholder of the ceramic cluster, but is interested in the information from the cluster. Regarding the security of the system, an anonymous user could acquire some types of knowledge from system (i.e. know-who, know-where and know-when), but the domain knowledge may be prohibited. The extended use cases represent the function of the knowledge system that the participants could perform.

The sequence diagram extends the requirement of the system in terms of interaction among the actors. It shows how the processes operate with one another and in what order. This diagram was used to model the message, information or knowledge that exchanged from one actor to another in the system. In this part, we will demonstrate the sequence diagram for knowledge sharing in the ceramic cluster by using a case study of a ceramic trade fair, as shown in figure IV.10.

From our initial investigation into the knowledge sharing in the ceramic cluster, we found that there is no explicit system for sharing the knowledge in the cluster. Moreover, the procedure of knowledge acquisition is also vague. There is only a meeting of cluster members before the ceramic trade fair in order to prepare for the trading. Knowledge about the trade fair from the experienced members was shared to define the strategy of the exposition. However, the shared knowledge came from the memories of the experts and was mostly incomplete. Moreover, the members of the cluster admitted that the meeting after the trade fair was frequently neglected. Thus, this sequence diagram shows the scenario of the knowledge sharing in the cluster via the KMS.

The sequence diagram above was divided into three periods: before the trade fair, after it, and next the trade fair. Assume that there is no knowledge about the ceramic trade fair in the knowledge system. The process was initiated by the CDA sending a request to the KMS for inviting members to share knowledge about “trade fair” via KMS. The invitation message will be sent to all members in the ceramic cluster by the system. Then, the CDA receives a message from the KMS to inform that the invitation is completed. As soon as the members have read the message from CDA, the experts or experienced members could access to the KMS via the link provided in the message. They can jointly create the knowledge card about the ceramic trade fair, similar to the wiki concept. Hence, a new knowledge card about the ceramic trade fair was created and ready to be acquired by the knowledge users interested in contributing to the ceramic trade fair in the future.

After the ceramic trade fair, the CDA sent another invitation to the cluster members who participated in the exhibition to share their experience and knowledge about it. On this occasion, the experienced members could share their knowledge, different points of view and lessons learned warnings, best practice, etc. This new knowledge will be appended in order to enlarge the knowledge of the ceramic trade fair. These knowledge maps will be stored in the KMS and await retrieval by the knowledge users in the next trade fair. At this point, we already have architecture and the views of the system which is a kind of system requirements from the ceramic cluster. However, these requirements are in the format of diagrams, which are not precise and unsuitable for the system development. Therefore, the next section will address the transformation of these diagrams into the explicit form to reduce ambiguity.