Determining the number of simultaneous users of an institutional knowledge repository at a management institute in India

Abstract

Digital repositories are still in nascent stages of development in academic institutions especially in developing countries like India. To identify the intellectual capital, facilitate knowledge sharing and management among the faculty and research staff at management institutions, the creation of digital institutional repositories is becoming a necessity. Management institutes in a developing country like India have constraints on infrastructure, manpower and funding. Thus identifying the resource requirements to establish an institutional knowledge repository keeping in view these constraints is necessary. The paper aims to describe a simulation on an institutional knowledge repository (IKR) test bed at a Business School using a performance and load testing tool to determine the number of simultaneous users that the IKR on a minimal server configuration can support on the institute intranet. An institutional knowledge repository (IKR) at ICFAI Business School, Ahmedabad, is built on a system with a minimal configuration using open source DSpace Institutional repository software to capture the intellectual capital and enable knowledge sharing. A simulation on the IKR test bed at ICFAI Business School, using a performance and load testing tool, to determine the number of simultaneous users that the IKR on a minimal server configuration could support on the institute intranet, is described. The simulation exercise helped determine that about ten-15 simultaneous users could be supported on the institute intranet in the current minimal configuration that the IKR test bed was built on. The simulation exercise when repeated with a server with higher memory indicated support for 15-20 simultaneous users. For institutions with less than 20 full time faculties and in the initial stages of IKR development this minimal system configuration was sufficient, though an IKR server with higher memory was recommended. Keeping in mind IT infrastructure constraints like disk space, memory and network in an academic institute; a minimal server configuration was chosen as the IKR Server and made available on the institute intranet as a part of the IKR test-bed for the simulation exercise. An IKR helps in capturing the intellectual capital and enabling knowledge sharing in a business school. An IKR can be initiated even with a minimal configuration at management institutes in a developing country like India. It is critical that business schools in India should identify the intellectual capital, facilitate knowledge sharing and management among the faculty and research staff, by initiating the creation of an institutional knowledge repository. A business school with a small number of faculties can initiate the process of setting up an institutional repository even with constraints of infrastructure, manpower and funding. The IKR is of value to the faculty and institution.