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The process for using this ‘systems map’ is to make sense of a knowledge management from a systemic perspective.
The map plots the inter-relationship between various parts of an organisation and its environment.

The map is called a "holon", a term that describes the idea that all systems (organisations) are parts of a supra-system (their environment) while they themselves are composed of sub-systems (units, families, interest groupings people). These categories are clearly marked on the map. In a development "knowledge management" interpretation of the holon the sub-systems are the learning activities of the system (organisation).

Any organisation is the co-ordinating shell in which various sub-systems interact with each other, one of those contributing interactions is the learning sub-system and the container for Corporate knowledge that is the product of the learning sub-systems sharing their individual learnings.

It is through the learning sub-systems that the organisation knows about its environment (supra-system). As various people in the organisation (each a learning sub-system) assemble and share their knowledge of the environment so the organisation amends and develops ways of most effectively responding to and positioning itself to influence the environment.