Evaluación de procesos departamentales

67 User Query * Section Name of User

* Keywords where IP is desired

Inference Engine : Locates user section in the knowledge base * Searches for IP Matches

* Outputs IP + Current Best Practices

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Y

Fig 3.14: Inference Engine Flowchart

KEY

KR = Knowledge Repositoy JFN = Job Function

DKB = Dynamic Expert’s Knowledge Base CBP = Current Best Practice

IPKB = IP Knowledge Base END Log +

Picture Start

Obtain User Name and Password

Validate User Name and Password

Valid User?

?

Invalid user Access Denied

3 attempts?

Obtain IP User’s Thumb Print

Valid User?

Invalid User, access denied

Obtain Job Function code of Desired IP

Locate it in the KR

Output Corresponding IP

User satisfied?

GoToNext IP KR Record

Does its job function code?

End N

N

Y

N Y

Y

N Y

69 3.13 CASE STUDY

The Company used as case study is ELDI Awka. Also, the University PG Research output of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Faculty of Engineering was used when considering Patentability. This is because her R&D output is more suited for the analysis of Patentability.

The Group of workers participating to create a Dynamic IP expert system are:

i. Research Team ii. Production Team

ii. Quality control Team iii. Marketing Team iv. Agricultural Team

IP knowledge is elicited from each group in turn and added to the IP expert system comprised essentially of best practices for each category of workers above. The best practice for each identifiable job function of each category of workers is elicited, codified and recorded in the IP knowledge base. The elicitation panel for each category of workers is comprised of the 1) Knowledge Engineer (Researcher), the foreman for that group of workers and the Operations Manager that is over and above every worker in all categories. These co-operated to elicit IP content of the workers they lead. While the knowledge Engineer guided all in the process of knowledge elicitation, the foreman listens as each worker under them was interviewed by the knowledge Engineer and help to attest to the veracity of the answers provided by the workers. Typical interview questions are shown in section 3.6. The Operations Manager was also handy to further validate the views of the foremen as the knowledge elicitation process progressed. The outcome of the knowledge elicitation process is the capture and storage of the best work practices used in the company (ELDI) at all levels. These now constituted the primary IP

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knowledge base which will begin to grow as the knowledge elicitation process is repeated in subsequent quarters of the year. A new best practice may be found which then leads to the deletion of the old practice from the IP knowledge base and the inclusion of the new best practice in the upgraded IP knowledge base. A copy of the former IP KB is kept to facilitate a study on how IP grows in the company from quarter to quarter.

The quest for new Best Practice keeps the workers on ten-toes and they are able to become more and more efficient and effective. The recognition of those workers who bring in new Best Practices in terms of remuneration help to simulate workers for better performance. The foremen, the Operations Manager and the Knowledge Engineer agree on the right level of remuneration to ensure that the remuneration is significant but yet does not exceed the net worth of the best practices introduced in each case, in terms of their envisaged addition to the company‟s bottom line. In this respect, each new IP would have one of three grades, namely grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3 according to quality, with grade 1 being the new IP of the highest grade. The agreed remuneration is then as follows:

New IP grade 1 is worth 1 salary step to the originator New IP grade 2 is worth ½ salary step to the originator New IP grade 3 is worth ¼ salary step to the originator Table 3.4: The Grade and Step Size of ELDI Staff

s/n Grade Step Size (N)

1 01 360

2 02 500

3 03 644

4 04 718

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Table 3.4 is the Grade and Step Size of ELDI Staff. Each Staff has different grade level and grade size attached to them. Grade Level 12-14 terminates at Step 11.

Grade level 15-17 terminates at Step 9. Grade level 01-11 terminates at step 15.

Intellectual property is knowledge in the brain of a company‟s workforce. Its management is capturing the best practice for each job function and making each worker use only best practices in performing each job function. The IP KB of the dynamic expert system therefore contains the knowledge inside the workforce that can make the organization move faster, smoother and better, and on the bottom-line, have higher income and better integrity. The dynamic expert system is meant to improve the IP content of the workers so that they work with greater effectiveness measured in terms of the following:

1. Efficiency of Operation 2. Reduced cost of job function

5 05 870

6 06 930

7 07 1,600

8 08 1,900

9 09 2,300

10 10 2,600

11 11 2,700

12 12 7,000

13 13 7,690

14 14 7,990

15 15 8,100

16 16 12,900 17 17 14,502

72 3. Reduced time spent on a job function

4. Customer satisfaction from the service rendered

5. Cost benefit analysis of the newly introduced Best Practices to ensure the company‟s bottom line is improved.

If any staff has an IP, the above will be used to judge it. Using cost benefit analysis, if the cost of the IP is more than its benefit, such IP is dropped, and therefore not recognized as a new Best Practice. If new jobs are added to a category of workers, the job‟s best practices are noted. The idea is that, the dynamic expert system contains the full best practices that are used in that company at any point in time. As things change, the older knowledge are weeded out as new best practices are introduced. So the IP of the company is growing dynamically with time. After several years, if a back log of all that were done previously is compared with the new practice, it will be found that there is growth.

That way, the organization won‟t be obsolete for want of improvement.

In a nut shell, we want to capture the present best practice for every shade of work done in a company which is what represents a company on paper, if a staff of the company resigns, dies or goes away and a new personnel is hired and trained with those best practices, they will represent the company well because the best practices represent all that is done in a company in the best possible way. By doing these, the capacity of the company will not be lost. There are two occasions when an organization using the dynamic expert system envisaged here stand a chance of finding new additions to their IP stock of best practices. The first occasion is during their quarterly interview with the knowledge engineer in the presence of their foremen and operation‟s manager. The second occasion is at the end of each funded primary research. When a research effort is concluded, the knowledge Engineer together with the project supervisors and the researchers should conduct a serious IP knowledge elicitation process. The experts should try to find out if the

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research output is patentable, or could lead to new products or could improve their old practices. This will be dealt with in more detail in a later section when the evaluation of a research effort is considered.