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Use Case Tree Method
Center of Excellence (CoE)
EKGF/ekg-method

Center of Excellence (CoE)

A Center of Excellence for the Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG CoE) is a capability—not necessarily a formal department—that builds and maintains competence in the Use Case Tree Method and supports EKG adoption across the enterprise.

Not an Ivory Tower

The CoE does not need to be a centralized department that controls everything. It can take many forms:

  • A tribe or community of practice
  • A virtual team spanning multiple departments
  • A special interest group (SIG) with rotating membership
  • A small core team that enables others

The key principle is enablement over control. Department heads and business owners throughout the enterprise should have the freedom to contribute to the EKG without gatekeepers stifling innovation. Yes, this can lead to inconsistencies or even contradictions—but that reflects reality. Large organizations often have hundreds of overlapping systems (400 different CRM systems is not unusual), and an Open World approach embraces this rather than fighting it.

However, since the organization ultimately needs to own its EKG— ensuring it serves strategic goals and maintains coherence over time— some form of CoE is essential.

Purpose

The EKG CoE serves as an enabling hub for:

  • Expertise — Deep knowledge of semantic technologies, knowledge graphs, and the Use Case Tree Method
  • Standards — Defining and maintaining enterprise-wide ontologies, data models, and best practices
  • Enablement — Training and supporting business units in adopting EKG-based solutions
  • Delivery — Building and operating the EKG Platform and its use cases

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Alignment

  • Work with business stakeholders to identify strategic use cases
  • Maintain the enterprise Use Case Tree
  • Ensure EKG initiatives align with organizational priorities

Technical Leadership

  • Design and evolve the EKG architecture
  • Establish data governance and quality standards
  • Evaluate and integrate new technologies (including GenAI capabilities)
  • Operate the Perpetual Learning Machine

Knowledge Management

  • Curate and maintain enterprise ontologies
  • Ensure semantic consistency across use cases
  • Facilitate knowledge sharing between teams and domains

Delivery Excellence

  • Apply positive learning principles to continuously improve delivery
  • Build reusable components that accelerate future use cases
  • Measure and communicate business value delivered

Organizational Models

An EKG CoE can be structured in different ways depending on organizational culture and scale:

A lightweight CoE provides guidance, standards, and platform capabilities, while domain teams and business units freely contribute their own use cases and knowledge. The CoE acts as a facilitator, not a gatekeeper.

Network Model

No central team at all—just a community of practitioners across the organization who coordinate through shared standards and tools. Works well in highly autonomous, decentralized cultures.

Hybrid Model

A small core team handles platform infrastructure and cross-domain integration, while business units own their domain-specific implementations. The core team enables rather than controls.

Centralized Model

A dedicated team owns the EKG platform and delivers use cases. This can work for organizations just starting out, but risks becoming a bottleneck as adoption grows. Plan to evolve toward a more federated approach.

Personas

The EKG CoE involves various personas with different skills and responsibilities:

See the EKG Maturity Model Personas for the full list of personas involved in EKG initiatives.

Success Factors

  • Executive sponsorship and clear mandate
  • Close collaboration with business stakeholders
  • Focus on delivering measurable business outcomes
  • Investment in training and capability building
  • Commitment to modularity and reuse

See Also