KEPT: a knowledge elicitation tool to support communities of practice

This paper illustrates how Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) can improve the capability of Communities of Practice (CoPs) to be agile in their activities. As a case study, the P-Truck Project is presented, whose goal is the development of a KMS to support experts in the decision making process about the different phases of the truck tyre production process. In particular, KEPT, (i.e. Knowledge Elicitation module of P-Truck) is further described as a very important tool to support a specific Community of Practice involved in the truck tyre production process: compound designers. The development of KEPT has provided compound designers with a conceptual and computational framework concerning their expertise. In particular, the maintenance and sharing of knowledge have been facilitated, with a significant improvement of compound designers agility in accomplishing daily tasks and in the interaction with other CoPs involved in the truck tyre production process.