Besides the core information contained in documents, the contents can include information developed in the interests of collaboration. For example, a knowledge manager could develop records of employees' capabilities and their current and past assignments. Then if expertise on a topic such as environmental regulations or astrophysics is needed, any employees with relevant experience can be found easily. Personnel records typically are contained in older computer systems that were not designed for online access from ordinary desktop PCs. To overcome this structural barrier, some organizations are turning to data warehousing, which involves using software tools as bridges among incompatible systems.
Some people regard knowledge management and data warehousing as closely related.
Navy CIO Porter, however, says he does not think they are necessarily connected. Other information, such as external or commercial databases, can be included in the knowledge system. Porter has included the Navy librarian, Joan Buntzen, who recently was named federal librarian of the year, as a key member of his staff. To his knowledge, this hasn't happened in many other places, but to Porter it seems like a natural because she is the official custodian of the Navy's published information. Online repositories of knowledge have proven their worth because they save time, leverage human expertise and prevent people from reinventing the wheel.