This is a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A135693. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: The U.S. Coast Guard is reaching the limits of incrementalism. Extending aircraft and cutter service-lives, increasing work hours to compensate for reduced manpower, responding to data calls faster and squeezing another penny out of costs are the challenges of leaders today. But pursuing incremental improvements is similar to paving over cow paths. Today's technology provides the Coast Guard with the opportunity to make exponential improvements in processes for managing knowledge, and to revolutionize business practices. This thesis presents a knowledge management architecture that addresses articulable limits to fast, efficient, knowledge management within the cutter community. Building upon a foundation of messaging and collaboration, the architecture provides modules maximizing the ability to manage informal and formal knowledge. The results are a transparent interface for the creation, sharing and capture of organizational knowledge. Successful implementation is dependent upon the improvement of the Coast Guard's IT infrastructure and the creation of a culture friendly to knowledge sharing.
