1.2.3. Knowledge Capture and Reuse

Engineering Knowledge Manager

Getting Started Guide | Chapter 1: Introduction to EKM | 1.2. How Does EKM Work? |

1.2.2. Collaboration |  | 1.2.4. Remote Simulation and Visualization
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### 1.2.3. Knowledge Capture and Reuse

Though simulation tools are becoming increasingly easier to use, they still require experts to model complex problems and get good results. The accuracy of data depends both on the accuracy of the underlying tools and the expertise of the user with those tools. This poses a dilemma for companies interested in expanding the use of simulation tools because most of the users do not have the required expertise to use the tools. EKM offers several solutions for capturing the knowledge of simulation experts and for enabling the knowledge to be reused by a large number of non-experts.

- Analysis templates: EKM can be used to create Analysis Project templates. Simulation experts can create the analysis project that defines how the project should be executed. The project can be a parameterized template that enables a non-expert user to create a new solution set by simply supplying the required parameter values and letting EKM handle the execution. Out-of-the-box support for Workbench projects has been provided that enables you to create new design point runs by specifying the input parameters in EKM.

- Custom applications: EKM can be used to create custom applications — simple web-based applications that can be dynamically deployed. Custom applications have a user interface that enables users to enter input. This input is submitted to, and processed by, the back end, which can then execute some automated tasks such as simulation execution, report generation, performing what-if studies, optimization, and so on. The user interface is defined using common web technologies (such as HTML) and the back-end is defined using powerful scripting languages such as Python or BeanShell. In order to provide maximum flexibility, both the user interface and the back-end can be as simple or as complex as required. There are no constraints on the kinds of problems that can be modeled, the type of user interface that can be designed, or the type of logic that can be defined. Custom applications can be deployed to EKM dynamically and once loaded they act like any other object in EKM. You can perform all data management operations on these applications. You can also assign metadata to custom applications and search for them. Finally you can place them under version control and define a lifecycle for tracking their maturity status. This enables you to ensure that custom applications are used only when they reach a certain level of maturity and have gone through a review process.

- Single-user process templates: EKM can be used to define process templates. EKM processes can be used either for collaboration between multiple users as previously discussed, or for modeling single-user problems that are inadequately addressed by custom applications. Some simulation processes can be modeled as a set of activities performed by a single user. Some of these activities may involve automated execution of simulations. The results of the simulations may dictate the subsequent steps that need to be taken. Custom applications can only handle a single activity, so process templates are required to model a set of multiple activities. Like custom applications, process templates can also be deployed dynamically and once loaded, they behave like any other object in EKM. For instance, you can perform all data management operations on an EKM process template, search for it, place it under version control or associate it with a lifecycle, and so on.

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