This sunset represents the end of the chapter of the first 25 years of Ardans on 23 December 2024 and the opening of a new one.
Photograph taken at Pointe de Pen Hir (Camaret) on 20 June 2024 at 22:12 © Ardans 2024.
Information System and KM with Ardans
A reference in knowledge management
Ardans was launched in Lyon on 23/12/1999
with Jean Viallard as President.
After celebrating 25 years on 8/10/2024,
we would like to thank all those who have placed their trust in us!
1999-2024: stages from Lyon to Montigny-le-Bretonneux
The launch took place in Lyon with Solygec's administrative team, with a view to returning to Guyancourt in January 2001 with the creation of the Guyancourt site at Cristal.
Since June 12, 2022, its headquarters have been established in Montigny-le-Bretonneux. The year 2000 was the year when Jean-Pierre and Alain joined Jean to build the project: the former management team of TDL and then Decan Telecom met again.
From the first consulting actions to the delivery of the first IS for an SMI
In 2001, Nicolas, Eric, David and Samuel joined the adventure to work with Ardans' first customers: France Telecom, PSA Peugeot Citroën (Banque PSA Finance) and Électricité de France.
We will also mention a SMI "Soprel" for which we redesigned the entire information system by taking advantage of the euro to build a real application for managing the production and operation of the company.
The information technology engineering activity
It is notable to note the loyalty of more than 20 years in the relationship of Ardans with the companies Sol Paysage, SMEH / SUPEX and EDF. With the latter, Ardans has notably developed expertise around CIM and 61850 standards ... and more generally on information systems for electrical networks. Moreover, the expertise developed and the efficiency of this work are recognized and are gaining in diffusion in the industrial world.
CIM training modules are provided to help you understand and use the Common Information Model .
Knowledge engineering and knowledge management
You can't change your nature!
Alain's past as a knowledge engineer and the projects shared since Framentec-Cognitech & Ingénia facilitated Pierre's arrival to confidently launch our first "professional reference" project at the DTPA at PSA Peugeot Citroën, we are mid-2002.
At the end of 2002, Ardans communicates on the Omega Cycle and produces its first collection at SAFT in Poitiers using this method and uses the alpha version of what was to be called K-Maker before being called Ardans Knowledge Maker (AKM).
The first AKM export delivered for validation on 23 February 2003 was generated in the form of a 139-page structured Word document!
Consulting and engineering to generate methods
This knowledge engineering and management activity is being consolidated incrementally between methods and software tools, so that we can continue to evolve our methods and refine our tools... a brief reminder of our KM methodological elements:
- Kalam ®: Knowledge And Learning in Action Mapping for participative mapping of key knowledge applied to processes,
- Ardans make ®: Managing Asset of Knowledge & Engineering for the implementation of a continuous memory,
- Omega Cycle: for managing and implementing the collection of Expertise,
- CogniCoach ®: the evolution of the Omega² Cycle or the dissemination of a collection and appropriation by the recipient referents,
- Parnasse ®: for the understanding, appropriation and evaluation of its knowledge management system with regard to ISO30401,
- CoP: CoPBoK & CoPMgr, the method for supporting community of practice facilitators from creation to life.
The handover on 29 November 2004
With Jean's well-deserved retirement, a new capital structure was put in place, with employees, partners - Myriam, Adrien - and close friends - Michel, Denis - acquiring a stake in the company. Jean-Pierre became the second Président of Ardans on 1st January 2005, and the following day appointed Alain as Directeur Général. To date, all the shareholders are employees of the company.
The commercial launch of Ardans Knowledge Maker
On 16 December 2004, Dialog Services became the first purchaser of AKM for the Phoenics project, followed by ALTIR for Apollon in March and in June 2005, on the one hand the acquisition by Stago for Racines, and on the other hand the approval followed by the purchase by PSA Peugeot Citroën for Icare.
The momentum was there and Ardans celebrated this industrial milestone by communicating with a new logo that will evolve in 2016.
- The Omega, in the background-color, symbolises the principle of knowledge management, where the ‘joint construction of an unknown object’ is achieved,.
- For us Hystérésis, means supporting our customers in their projects, programmes and operations by transferring our technology so that they can go further.
The discreet birth of Ardans Information Maker
The beginnings of what was to become an invaluable foundation tool for the development of information system applications date back to 2005: AIM for Ardans Information Maker. Our long-standing client Sol Paysage accompanied us in this birth in 2006, just before Graniou, a Vinci company. We look back on this first screen with a great deal of fondness, and it also carried a great deal of hope for the team, ...
We had to wait until 2011 to consolidate the AIM environment and its industrialisation at the CEA with Edifice, followed by Vinci with Opéra, the FNPF with Suran, ANDRA with T&B, INRAE with Maia, Le Relais with Sagittaire, Nexter System with MCS, GP Location with Vigie, etc.
The Ardans Users'Group Meetings or exchanges between our community of customers and partners
After organising a conference on 16 November 2006 as part of SISQUAL 2006, entitled ‘Switching to knowledge management’, Ardans validated the need to share its customers‘ players at a dedicated and private event: the Ardans Users’ Group Meeting.
The first was held in Versailles at the Hôtel de la Comtesse du Barry, headquarters of the CCIV, and subsequent events have been held every two years at different sites in Paris ... except 2020 due to Covid!
Let us thank here the key witnesses who contributed to these meetings:
- Versailles: ArcelorMittal, Société Générale (SGCIB), AbAg, AFI Agence Française Informatique,
- Paris - Étoile: CEA DAM, Diagnostica Stago, EADS-IW Airbus UK, Société Générale (SGCIB), Zodiac Aerospace, Pertimm, LIP6, AFI, EADS IW France, Calydial, K.Map, SolPaysage, Robert Bosch, Récoproq', ArcelorMittal,
- Paris -Boétie: Club 3C-R, Egis, EADS-IW UK, Air Liquide Engineering, Dexip,
- Paris - Mutualité: CMI Defence, Andra, I.M.Projet, Elhom, Créargie, LIP6 (Ethicaa), Réciproq',
- Paris - PanPiper: Michelin, Spie, Areva, CEA DAM, LIP6, Vinci, eDF, CEA DEN, Andra, ArcelorMittal, Air Liquide, PSA Peugeot Citroën, AFI, Airbusafran, Transdev, LAMSADE,
- Paris - PanPiper: Orano, Andra, eDF, Eurosae, Créargie, Cetim, GouvInfo, Club 3C-R, IMT Ethos, IMT Atlantique, Dassault Aviation, ArianeGroup, CNAF, CEA DAM, Framatome, LFB, Transdev,
- Paris - La Fabrique: TechnicAtome, Le Relais, IPC, Andra
- Paris - Voie 15: eDF, ArianeGroup, Club Gestion des Connaissances, Vinci, Andra, B2V Groupe, CEA DAM, IPC, LFB, TechnicAtome, Sorbonne Université LIP6,...
... and all those who came from all over mainland France, England, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Morocco!
The real roadmap for successive versions of AKM & AIM
Tracing 25 years of such a technological and human adventure in a few paragraphs is always tricky. However, there are still key episodes where answers were given to then generate great solutions. Among these episodes, we will mention:
- The "AKM Composer" module for generating the records of ArcelorMittal's ‘Defectology’ database, which has been perfectly adapted by Calydial, AbAg, IMProjet, etc. and is a must for exploiting the knowledge stored in configuration in a single place. This composition is preserved in the static version of the knowledge base generated in e-K.book.
- "e-K.book" or EKB with the CEA as the trigger, Jasmine for Egis as the springboard, Rebecca for Andra as the solution... and fans like the CEA - to its credit - Michelin, ArianeGroup, Orano, TechnicAtome and the Navy tomorrow. In 2025, the ‘EKB Generator’ will be integrated into AKM to provide even greater certainty in the management of the right to know. (to learn more about EKB)
- The "AKM Scheduler" task diaries, created for Calydial, and fully exploited by Michelin...
- Alpin's pins for Air Liquide: they represent the location of knowledge on the "AKM Viewer ".
- Interoperability through the "AKM WebServices" module developed for AFI, then integrated by Airbus UK... and which enables IPC to use AKM as a platform to orchestrate its KM, Watch (with KB Crawl), EDM and file management.
- The most spectacular visual tool is undoubtedly the "KB-Scope". Since 2011, it has been proving to be a guarantor of the quality of the knowledge base and a tool for mastering its content. It has been fully adopted by educationalists looking for ways to help a newcomer embrace a knowledge base. From the CEA to ArianeGroup, from Egis to Michelin, from TechnicAtome to LFB... what steering committee could do without a knowledge base map?
- The "AKM Loader" module offers the ability to mass-load knowledge elements into files that respect the structures of the models in order to perpetuate the content (of Excel files, for example) so that it can be fully exploited in the database. TechnicAtome has thus considerably strengthened its Sarbacanes database... and this is becoming a considerable asset when it comes to increasing the power of knowledge bases!
At a time when everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI), and for those who do not yet know that knowledge engineering is one of the founding disciplines of AI, it is worth mentioning the "AKM Semantic Analysis" module, which makes life easier for AKM users in terms of both consultation and contribution.
- And the logic underlying all these developments is that of having efficiency in the representation, processing and exploitation of the content of the knowledge base or database. This is how "AKM & AIM" were built on the same technological foundations in order to best exploit the synergy between knowledge and information respectively. The dialogue between these tools is exemplary as demonstrated by Andra which uses OSCAR and T&B in the same business process.
And derived products
When we give engineers tools that allow them to model business repositories, business processes, how can we not end up with real software packages that are very pragmatic and therefore very effective as well as quickly operationally declinable? Here is a non-exhaustive list of these solutions that exist in Ardans software libraries and that have appeared chronologically:
- APM Ardans Project Management is the quality management tool for all project documentation that we have been using since Ardans was created and which integrates all AKM developments.
- IMT : Innovation Management Tool is based on the principle of knowledge-based innovation management, with the option of idea boxes, associated competitions and a collaborative approach. Klinger and Spie ( To learn more about Sioux and english video ) were the first to adopt the approach.
- BES : Base de données Économiques et Sociales (Economic and Social Data Base) is the ideal solution for Human Resources intended to be managed in accordance with regulations, i.e. it brings together a range of information that the employer makes available to the works council or, failing that, to staff representatives. Transport companies from Tecelys to Transdev ( Pour en savoir plus sur BES chez Transdev ) as well as industrialists such as IPSEN are among our references. ( To find out more about BES )
- COP : CoPBoK & CoPMgr Community of Practice Body of Knowledge & Community of Practice Manager are works that were initiated in 2019 following the merger with Jean-Yves Prax and Polia Consulting. 2024 was the launch of CoPMgr which is the tool dedicated to the animation of the CoP of CoPs. ( To find out more about about CoPBoK)
- ELS : Expertise Locator System ; how do you manage your intangible assets or who holds this business knowledge? This is the path which, from the mapping of knowledge proposed by the KB-Scope, leads us to the mapping of experts with the ELS. ( To find out more about ELS)
- Parnasse : P ortal A rticulating the iso30401 R eference N orme via A S tructured KM S ystem for the E nterprise" that is to say more confidently P ortail A rticulant la R éférence N ormative iso30401 A vec un S ystème KM S tructuré pour l’ E ntreprise; this is the knowledge manager's workshop that helps them to evaluate and improve their KM system with regard to the ISO30401 standard. Parnasse is based on the concepts of the Club Gestion des Connaissances (The French Knowledge Management Club) and is designed, produced and marketed by Ardans.et est conçu, réalisé et commercialisé par Ardans. ( To find out more about Parnasse and the award )
- Squale: S erveur QUAL ité de l' E ntreprise (Enterprise QUALity Server) is a variation of the relevance of the AKM environment for the management of the company's quality processes. Formalize a process, prepare an audit, monitor actions, ... quality management is configured to measure with Squale.
- Squale for Qualiopi: Ardans is the first user of the environment as a certified training organization since 2021 and whose certificate has been renewed until 2027 ). Squale allows you to monitor all indicators, to comply with regulations by adapting to the specificity of the structure.
Before concluding, we would like to salute our network partners
Finally, we specify that in 2025, Ardans is a member of different networks:
- l'AfIA, l' Association française pour l'Intelligence Artificielle the French Association for Artificial Intelligence and Ardans has been a member of AfIA since October 2, 2009 and co-founder of the Industrial College on June 13, 2018,
- Club Gestion des Connaissances the French KM Club whose President is our Associate Mrs. Aline Belloni, and Ardans has been a member since January 2008,
- Comité Richelieu the French Association of High Technology SMEs, which Ardans joined in October 2008,
- Cap Digital , the collective of digital innovators of Paris Region and of which Alain Berger is part of the college of experts. Ardans has been a member of this competitiveness cluster since March 2009,
- NextMove , the “Automobile and Mobility” innovation ecosystem for the Île de France and Normandy regions. NextMove is the result of the merger of different networks including RAVY, which Ardans joined in 2006,
- ASTech , the Paris Region aeronautics and space competitiveness cluster that Ardans joined on April 16, 2013,
- d'Efel, for Entreprendre en France pour l’Édition Logicielle , the grouping of French software publishers that brings together companies and personalities from the French innovation ecosystem that Ardans joined in January 2014,
- HubFranceIA , the association that brings together the French AI ecosystem, following the absorption on January 1, 2025 of APIL, which Ardans had joined in 2022,
- Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Paris Île de France region and Versailles in particular (Plato, Boost networks, etc.)
- SQY, the Agglomeration Community of Saint Quentin en Yvelines,
- Numeum , the French trade association for the digital industry, following the merger of Syntec Numérique and Tech In France on 18 June 2021, with Ardans joining Tech In France on 11 May 2020,
- EGC, the Association Francophone d'Extraction et de Gestion des Connaissances , the French-speaking Association for Knowledge Extraction and Management as support & speaker for its conferences,
- GIFEN , the Groupement des Industriels Français de l’Énergie Nucléaire the French Nuclear Energy Industrialists' Association.
... Thanks to all those who contributed to our Ardans adventure
Thanks to all Ardans employees, to all administrative partners (our Auditors, Chartered Accountants, Lawyers), to all our academic and scientific, technical and logistical partners who have accompanied us or who are with or alongside us currently. Thanks to all those who allowed us to celebrate this 25th anniversary by looking to the future with great assets and great ambitions as we projected with Jean Viallard.
