Wincite Systems Introduces
Knowledge Notebooks
A New Productivity Tool to Support Knowledge Workers
This new application can apply to many different areas of a business. It is designed with a strong emphasis
on ease use for both end users (information consumers) and the information analysts responsible for
populating the system. In this connection we evaluated the IPod and Google interfaces to develop a look and
feel that provides a balance between essential functionality and simplicity of use. It is easier to use you’re
your typical cable TV remote.
The system targets knowledge worker productivity which is a major factor in creating, managing and
protecting intellectual capital. More and more corporations are focusing in on intellectual assets as a critical
factor in determining their competitive success in today’s highly competitive global market place.
The application has been used be to support the management of intelligence in a number of ways. For
example, is has been used to capture, evaluate and distribute news summaries and related articles. News
oriented Notebooks can be defined to keep various groups of individuals up to date regarding specific areas
of interest and responsibilities.
Knowledge Notebooks with embedded tables have also been used in more complex environments where they
are supporting working teams of experts. These experts typically work together on projects and deal with a
large amount of technical materials and reports. Notebooks have been become a backbone technology to
support the team’s dynamic exchange of ideas, assessments and supporting technical materials. From an
expert’s point of view, each row in a table becomes part of a dialog that is time sorted. The Notebook is like
an internal blog on steroids. Notebooks makes it ease to find information and participate in meaningful
discussions about a project or special area of interest.
It is interesting to note that the original Web was developed over 15 years ago to support research scientists
who were working in a many different universities. Today the current trends in using the Web have shifted to
social networking applications and interactions between causal users. Another development of interest is the
wide acceptance of Wikipedia as the encyclopedia of the future and the fact that is authored and maintained
by thousands of contributors who’s primary motivation is sharing their knowledge with other people.
To date it appears that corporations have been slow in capitalizing on these group networking trends in terms
of developing and sharing information within a business unit. We think that Knowledge Notebooks provides a
framework for of enhancing the exchange of knowledge within very specific areas of shared interest.
Defining the Knowledge Notebooks Application
Knowledge Notebooks is a new product category for Wincite targeted at: 1) competitive intelligence groups
with limited resources: 2) larger organizations that are interested in evaluating the basic technology of Wincite
in terms of its potential use as a more comprehensive intranet based knowledge management system, and 3)
current users of Wincite who want to enhance and expand their current use of Wincite.
The application uses portions of the technology in the Wincite database platform. Specialized screens have
been designed to support analytical processes related to: capturing, organizing, cataloging, and distributing
integrated internal and external information sources. The application can be shared by a number of users and
analysts who are connected to an existing computer network. Formatted output reports with current
information can be generated in seconds and distributed by email to individuals throughout an organization.
Notebook Screens with Tables and Buttons
The system consists of Notebook screens that use tables and buttons to display summarized analysis and
linked information sources. Click a button, or a table cell, to launch and view analysis and information sources
related to both external web sources and internal sources such as Microsoft Office files and documents. A set
of Notebooks can be viewed as a methodology for organizing and accessing the exponential growth in
information objects. Notebooks help structure these pieces of information into a logical business framework
that: 1) has visual impact, 2) is intuitive to users and 3) can be scaled up to meet future needs.
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Selecting a Notebook
The application can support any number user defined Notebooks. This screen shot is an example of how a
user can select a specific notebook and open it for both viewing and inputting information.
Select a Notebook from
the drop down list
Option to Change
Area of Interest
When the system is launched, a pop-up window is displayed that is used to select a specific Notebook. Each
Notebook has a Subject that consists of two dimensions, an “Area of Interest” and an “Attribute”. In this case
a Notebook has been selected by clicking News from the “Areas of Interest” list and Competitors from the
“Attribute” list. Users can easily add new names to both the “Areas of Interest” and “Attributes” lists. This
enables users to easily scale up the number of notebooks in the system. You might start by populating 5 to
10 notebooks and then add new Notebooks as needs are identified. The application has been scaled up to
support well over 100 uniquely named Notebooks.
Viewing Tables and Cells in Notebooks
A table is embedded in each Notebook screen and is used to display and capture information from a variety of
sources including internal business files and external information sources. Each cell in a table is managed as a
data field. A cell can be quickly expanded by selecting a cell and clicking Zoom. This launches a pop-up window
having a text format which can support multiple pages of text. Information can be entered directly into a cell or a
zoomed window using either a keyboard or a “copy and paste” function from an existing electronic text source.
Columns of cells in a table can be formatted to support different types of values: dates, numeric, or text.
Viewing Text in Cells and Linked Files and Web Sites
Click Button to
View Linked Item
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Click a Cell to
view Linked Items or
Zoom Text
Buttons and Cells Linked to Information Sources
Buttons in the screen are used to find and capture information. Buttons can have links to files and other
information sources such as web addresses. Click a button to launch a pop-up window that displays the
linked item.
It is very easy to create these links. You can “drag and drop” a file or folder name from Microsoft Explorer file
manager onto a button to create a link. To link web sources, “drag and drop” a hyperlinked item from a web
page onto a button to link it. For example, run a Google search and drag an item from the hit list onto a button
to create a link. You can also drag a Web address onto a button to create a link. Another feature is to drag
the URL query address on to a button. When the button is selected it will regenerate an updated search hit
list.
This linking process also applies to creating links to cells in the tables, “drag and drop” a file name or
hyperlink onto any cell to establish a link. You can have a number of files and web pages linked to each cell in
a table. To view cell links, select a cell, and click hyperlinks. A window opens with a list of links, click on an
item to view it. Links to either buttons or cells can include: web sites and pages, internally stored files such as
Microsoft Office files, folders and files in Windows Explorer, HTM files, PDF files, etc. When a table cell has
one or more links, the back ground color changes.
Search Functions to Find and Link Information
The criteria field in a screen can be used to initiate a number of different search functions. Enter a query and
click on one of the search button below and a list of hits appears in a pop-up window. Select an item from the
hit list and view the contents of the web page or file.
Using the Search Options to Find and Link Web Pages
Enter Query
View a search hit list
To link an item
drag it on a cell or button
Profile and Benchmark Reports
Notebooks support both Profile and Benchmark reports. These reports can be launched from buttons at the
top of each screen. The contents of the reports reflect the current values in the tables. These reports can be
distributed by email to any number of end users.
Profile reports are text oriented with the contents of the cells in a Notebook being displayed using a document
table format. These reports can be emailed and/or saved as Word documents. Saved reports can serve as a
way to achieve information sources.
Benchmarks reports structure the contents of selected Notebook tables into a matrix type spreadsheet format.
The user can define which Notebooks they want included in the report. This format is very useful when
comparing fields that appear in several different notebooks. These reports can be exported to Excel.
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Profile and Benchmark Reports
Implementing Knowledge Notebooks
When a new application is installed, the client determines: 1) the number columns in a table, 2) the column
formats in terms of date, text, numeric, 3) the labels for the column, and 4) a default sort order for the tables.
Clients can also define an unlimited number of rows in the tables, and the height of the rows. A client can also
select the public search engines that you want attached to the buttons that are used in connection with the
criteria field. Most implementations have the system up and running in less than a week.
License Costs
Knowledge Notebooks has a one time license fee of $5,000. Annual support and updates are $500 per
year. This license includes assistance in installing the system on a LAN server at a client’s site which
supports Microsoft LAN server software. This server software includes an internal Access database that is
used by Knowledge Notebooks to manage and store the information in the application. The license includes
full access rights for up to 10 named users. Reports produced and downloaded from the application can be
saved and distributed by email at the discretion of the client.
If in the future a client decides to upgrade to a full featured intranet supported Wincite system, all of the
information in the Notebooks can be easily replicated into the expanded system which in most cases would
be supported by a Microsoft SQL server or Oracle database. The Knowledge Notebooks license fees would
be credited to the license fees of the new larger system.
Current Wincite Clients
Existing Wincite clients can add Knowledge Notebooks to their current application with no additional license
fees. Notebooks are tailored Topic screens that can be designed using the Wincite Painter module. These
new screens and related data would be automatically integrated with the client’s existing Wincite database
and the eWincite intranet browser features.
Knowledge Notebooks
Sophisticated Simplicity
7/28/2017 8:42 PM
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