XPERTFINDER - Increased Knowledge Exchange Through Expert Search in Cooperating Companies

A company's employees represent an important knowledge resource, not only by documenting knowledge but also by helping other colleagues directly with problem solving. Because the decentralisation or company networking for increased cooperation among companies the transparency within a company as to which employees are experts in what fields decreases. The purpose of IT-Systems for the search of experts is to provide employees with a straight-forward way of accessing experts within a thematic field of interest. This paper lays out the Xpertfinder methodology, developed by the Fraunhofer IPA, that analyses explicit knowledge forms e.g. e-Mail communication data or News of registered user in order to create expert profiles. Contrary to common systems Xpertfinder offers the possibility for expert search within ventures. Through convention of co-operational thematic fields it is possible to define the areas for company transcending expert search. Measures for the protection of personal data as well as future research areas are addressed.