Development of a Knowledge Management Tool for the Ecotourism Community

• Main Author: Mat Nor, Mustafa Afanddi
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/866/1/FK_2004_84A.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/866/

Malaysian government is focusing more than ever on its ecotourism industry, which could soon become the nation's number-one source of foreign exchange. This industry is made up of hotels, restaurants, retail operations, transportation, travel agents, marketing organizations, tour operators and a host of other businesses, organizations and components. Therefore, Internet technology is widely used to support the operation of this industry. The number of documents on ecotourism published on the Internet is growing very fast. This growth has caused difficulty in accessing and managing the information by the ecotourism community in Malaysia. This has lead to a study to be conduced with designing, developing and testing a knowledge management tool called etrNet in order to manage information related to ecotourism. Knowledge management tool provides infrastructure for process of knowledge creation, validation, presentation, distribution, and application to the community. The design process used software development life cycle (SDLC), systematic design with UML and common database design method. The artifacts produced from the method are conceptual model, navigational model, presentational model and database diagram for the system. The application is developed using Microsoft Active Server Page technologies. The application is then validated by utilize user acceptance test (UAT), web stress test and load test method. This application can integrate various modules, database and other related data. The system built is Internet-enabled thus it can be accessed by anyone, regardless of time and place. It is hoped that the application can assist the ecotourism community in managing their knowledge resources. Companies can utilize it to create new types of services and enhance their existing products. EtrNet is a knowledge management tool for the ecotourism community that can be easily accessed by anyone at anytime and anyplace.