Knowledge management

Give a comprehensive definition on KM.

For a better understanding for the KM process, firstly we have to understand the difference between
data, information, knowledge and wisdom.

- Data: Row material, Facts and figures which relay something specific, but which are not
organized in any way and which provide no further information regarding patterns, context, etc.
- Information is the set of data that has already been processed, analyzed, and structured
in a meaningful way to become useful. It is data with relevance and purpose. Once data is
processed and gains relevance, it becomes information that is fully reliable, certain, and
useful.
- Knowledge is our interpretation and application of information through experience or
communication. It can be defined as the experience, know-how, and conceptualizing
information.
- Wisdom: it is the ability to increase effectiveness. Wisdom adds value, which requires
the mental function that we call judgment.it is about knowing what is the best, doing
the right thing.
Knowledge may be accessed at three stages:
- before, during, or after KM-related activities.

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively
using organizational knowledge.
It refers to a multi-disciplinary approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the
best use of knowledge.
The purpose of the knowledge management is to create value and meet organization objectives
through managing its knowledge assets.
The main function of knowledge management is to make the right knowledge available to the
right people.
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There are many KM strategies including:

- Push strategy: (Codification approach to KM)
Individuals strive to explicitly encode their knowledge into a shared knowledge repository,
such as a database, as well as retrieving knowledge they need that other individuals have
provided to the repository.
It focuses on collecting and storing codified knowledge in previously designed electronic
databases to make it accessible to the organization. So it can refer to both tacit and explicit
knowledge.

- Pull strategy: (Personalization approach to KM)

Individuals make knowledge requests of experts associated with a particular subject on an
ad hoc basis.
expert individual(s) can provide their insights to the particular person or people needing
this.
it aims at encouraging individuals to share their knowledge directly

- Cross Project learning (Cross-functional project teams):

It is the practice of assembling project teams using members of the organization from
different functions. Typically, this would involve selecting a number of specialists under a
generalist project manager.
The role of project manager can be particularly demanding when using cross-functional project
teams. Apart from being an expert at project management, the project manager must also have
enough general knowledge to understand what his specialists know and how it can be used. The
project manager must also be skilled at conflict resolution, which is more likely to happen within a
diverse group.
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As with all projects but perhaps more so for cross-functional project teams, proper planning
is required, which involves clear definitions of the roles and responsibilities of the project
team, as well as a timeline and cost estimation.
Cross-functional project teams have several key benefits related not only to knowledge
management (KM) but also to innovation. These are:
• Creation of new knowledge
• sharing across organizational boundaries
• Support of the creation of informal knowledge networks
• Upon completion of a given project (whether carried out by a cross-functional team or
otherwise), after-action reviews are used to enhance knowledge sharing and retention.

State its benefits to the organization

• It helps firms learn from past mistakes and successes.
• Enable better and faster decision making
• Leveraging the expertise of people across the organization through:
• taking advantages of existing expertise and experience
• re-deploying experience in areas where the firm stands to gain something, e.g.
using knowledge from one department to improve or create a product in
another department, modifying knowledge from a past process to create a new
solution, etc.
• Increase teamwork and collaboration
• Improve access to important company data, information, and training materials
• It enhances the firm's ability to innovate and also facilitate and manage innovation and
organizational learning
• It enhances the firm's ability to protect its key knowledge and competencies from being
lost or copied.
• Avoid redundant efforts
• Improve effectiveness and efficiency
• Cost saving through Reduction in money spent on training of employees
• Time saving through Reduction in time it takes to train employees
• Provide better customer service to your customers via:
• Help customers find their own answers
• Offer answers to frequently asked questions
• Keep information up to date and easy to find
• Reduce wait times
• Managing business environments and allowing employees to obtain relevant insights
and ideas appropriate to their work (Feedback)
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Define its main components (Technology – Process – people)

“people, process, and technology.” && Strategy

The “golden triangle”—to guide initiatives and lead organizational change. The idea is, if you
over-focus on one factor, your initiative is bound to fail. And the order is important: you need
to get the right people involved before you get into processes and technology.

People
When you’re starting a KM program, you need two kinds of people:

1. senior leaders to provide sponsorship and insight into broader organizational strategy, and

2. cross-functional stakeholders to guide implementation.

Senior sponsors should be visible, engaged business leaders who have something big to gain
from the implementation of KM. Often, they’re people who lead business areas with major,
urgent knowledge needs (e.g., experts are retiring, new hires can’t get up to speed quickly).

In selecting cross-functional stakeholders, look first to your colleagues in HR, IT, and process
improvement.

As the KM effort matures, most organizations staff up a KM core team, identify KM champions
and facilitators across the business, and establish an executive steering committee to provide
ongoing stewardship. If you think this sounds like a lot of people, you’re right! You need
engaged people at different levels and in different areas of the business to really build
knowledge sharing into the culture. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend a ton of money
or take away too much time from folks—especially if your processes are smart, your content
and IT infrastructure isn’t cumbersome, and your strategy is compelling.

Process
In organizations with strong KM processes, knowledge flows like a city water supply: when
someone needs it, they just turn the tap.

The KM team, like a city planner, knows how everything flows beneath the surface. They can
identify bottlenecks, reroute flows, and measure inputs and outputs. But the end user doesn’t
need to understand how all that stuff works. For them, getting the knowledge they need is
simple and easy.

There is a process, the KM team follows to allow the end user to retrieve the needed
knowledge easily and in understandable format to make the needed decision:
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• Collecting Data
The first component of Knowledge Management involves collecting data that is relevant and
beneficial to your company. Inclusion of any irrelevant or superfluous data can cause confusion
and inaccuracies in your knowledge.
Thus, you should have a dedicated system for collecting data, whether that’s through a
designated person or a technological system. The goal is to have a process for collecting data
that is essential to your business and excluding data that is not essential.
• Organizing Data
Once you have collected all relevant data, it’s necessary to organize it appropriately. This really
depends on your own company’s criteria and goals.
For instance, it can be helpful to assign categories to different types of data in order to make
sense of what data goes where. Once you have given an “identity” to your data, it then
becomes information – that you can then analyze and apply.
• Summarizing Information
Next, it’s time to make sense of the organized information by summarizing its meaning. This can
be done by adding descriptions to the categories, including images and charts, and other
techniques.
• Analyzing Information
Beyond simply summarizing the information, you need to analyze its meaning by looking for
patterns and relationships.
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That is, analyze how bits information relates to one another, what these findings mean, and
how this can be used within your company. Again, you can employ analysts to do this or utilize
data analyze tools.
• Synthesizing Knowledge
In order for “information” to become “knowledge”, it needs to be synthesized into concepts
that can then be used constructively within your company.
Some common questions to ask are:
How can these findings be used to make the company better?
Who should have access to this information?
Does this information increase productivity and efficiency? If so, in what areas?
Once you have answers to these questions, it’s time to apply the knowledge to the decision-
making process.
• Applying Knowledge to Decision Making
The last component of Knowledge Management is using the knowledge constructively by
applying it to your decision making. This involves determining where to put this knowledge to
use. It can also mean helping improving collaboration by involving your team in the decision
making.
All of these components build on one another in order to ensure that your data is organized,
your information accessible, and your knowledge is able to be utilized in a practical way. Now
it’s a matter of finding the right KM system, tools, and resources for your business.

For KM teams, the key is to identify ways to build these steps into the business processes
people already use every day. For example, you can build knowledge collection into stage gates,
or integrate knowledge review into certain job roles.

Technology tools can also help with this—by, for example, delivering relevant alerts in the flow
of work—but ultimately, you need to understand people’s processes first.

Content/IT
Content is any kind of documented knowledge, from vetted best practices to quick-and-dirty
tips shared amongst colleagues. Content can be immediately reusable stuff like templates and
how-to videos, or it may be messy and unstructured information (e.g., project documentation).
We put content alongside IT because IT infrastructures enable people to create this stuff, put it
somewhere, and access and reuse it. If you don’t have KM, people will still create and use
content—but they’ll put it in places others can’t find, re-make things others have already
created, and (most dangerously) reuse content that’s out of date or incorrect.
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Effective KM programs have workflows for creating and vetting content, taxonomies to
organize content, and technology tools to connect people to content. Advanced organizations
use content management to facilitate collaboration, uncover innovations, and automatically
serve up content to employees in their most teachable moments.

Strategy
Every KM program needs a clear, documented, and business-relevant strategy. You can have
the best technology tools and a super-smart KM team, but it will be all for naught without
strategy. Perhaps Kenichi Ohmae said it best, “Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is
headed in the wrong direction.”
You need a solid business case that demonstrates a deep understanding of your organization’s
critical knowledge needs. The business case should outline:

• the value proposition for KM (that is, how KM will solve business challenges);

• the tools, approaches, and roles you’ll need to get there;

• a budget; and

• the expected impact of KM (ROI).

Evaluate your organization in fulfilling of the requirements of

the main KM components
For my organization, I am working at Telecom Egypt, in transmission projects implantation sector.

our sector is making use of the company’s well established and managed intranet, to enhance work
practices, communicate key information.

The sector faced some problems at past, the most affecting problem can be described as below:

Some projects which are fully executed and handed over to Operation team but not closed financial and
the vendors’ letter of guarantees are not released

Using Fish bone analysis tools to identify the root cause of this problem, the root causes are:

Processes: no unified process for contract management

Culture: PMs have a common understanding that the most important outcome of the project execution
is handing over what was executed to operation team but closing contract including financial and
documentation is not important.

People: Senior management don’t share with the middle managers the organization strategy so they are
not oriented with the organization objective.
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Many factors have to be balanced to create the right homepage, including quality of content, site
design, site navigation, site & content maintenance and updates, and the application of tools that
are directly useful to the business processes and networks. The objectives of the intranet will also
vary depending on the individual business, and may focus more on certain aspects than others.
Knowledge management

Sa7r:
- Knowledge transfer sessions
- Use zoom, webex application to hold meetings with vendors
- Database stored on information center including lesson learned to be shared with all
team
- Archiving documents
- Updated projects progress reports
- Use share point to instantly update reports
Contract and requests management process >> Explicit
Knowledge transfer sessions:
• Reduction in money spent on training of employees
• Share knowledge and experience
•
Noha:
Contract manage. Processes >> Explicit
Contracts follow up (Technical / Financial / Managerial) >> Knowledge mang. System
• Helpful in taking decisions
• Tracking for planned / delivered / used material for contractors (balance)
• raise flag in case of deviations occurred
• use new tools, innovative (add skills)
• Storage and analysis for data
Instant reporting
Instant decision taking by top management
On job training >> tacit
Training courses for fresh engineers >> Explicit
Intranet >>
• storage for documentation + archiving + sharing
• sharing for templates, PM documents by PMO
• Sharing lessons learned
• share all news on TE,
• all new jobs advertisements
• site for each department
• Talent mang. Programs
• Leadership development program
• Project Management office share PM templates accessible for employees
Knowledge management

Talent manag. Program>> Knowledge transfer

LDP: change agent, CMP
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KM Technologies
Knowledge Management (KM) technology can be divided into the following general categories:

• Groupware
Groupware refers to technologies that facilitate collaboration and sharing of
organizational information. One of the earliest very successful products in this category
was Lotus Notes. Notes provided tools for threaded discussions, sharing of documents,
organization wide uniform email, etc.

• Workflow
Workflow tools allow the representation of processes associated with the creation, use,
and maintenance of organizational knowledge. For example, the process to create and
utilize forms and documents within an organization. For example, a workflow system
can do things such as send notifications to appropriate supervisors when a new
document has been produced and is waiting their approval.

• Content/Document Management
Content/Document Management systems are systems designed to automate the
process of creating web content and/or documents within an organization. The various
roles required such as editors, graphic designers, writers, and producers can be explicitly
modeled along with the various tasks in the process and validation criteria for moving
from one step to another. All this information can be used to automate and control the
process. Commercial vendors of these tools started to start either as tools to primarily
support documents (e.g., Documentum) or as tools designed to support web content
(e.g., Interwoven) but as the Internet grew these functions merged and most vendors
now perform both functions, management of web content and of documents. As
Internet standards became adopted within most
organization Intranets and Extranets the distinction between the two essentially went
away.

• Enterprise Portals
Enterprise Portals are web sites that aggregate information across the entire
organization or for groups within the organization such as project teams.

• eLearning
eLearning technology enables organizations to create customized training and education
software. This can include lesson plans, monitoring progress against learning goals,
online classes, etc. eLearning technology enables organizations to significantly reduce
the cost of training and educating their members. As with most KM technology in the
business world this was most useful for companies that employ knowledge workers;
highly trained staff with areas of deep expertise such as the staff of a consulting firm.
Such firms spend a significant amount on the continuing education of their employees
and even have their own internal full-time schools and internal education staff.
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• Scheduling and planning

Scheduling and planning tools automate the creation and maintenance of an
organization's schedule: scheduling meetings, notifying people of a meeting, etc. An
example of a well-known scheduling tool is Microsoft Outlook. The planning aspect can
integrate with project management tools such as Microsoft Project. Some of the earliest
successful uses of KM technology in the business world were the development of these
types of tools, for example online versions of corporate "yellow pages" with listing of
contact info and relevant knowledge and work history.[21]

•
Telepresence
Telepresence technology enables individuals to have virtual meetings rather than having
to be in the same place. Videoconferencing is the most obvious example.
These categories are neither rigidly defined nor exhaustive. Workflow for example is a
significant aspect of a content or document management system and most content and
document management systems have tools for developing enterprise portals.[7][46]
One of the most important trends in KM technology was the adoption of Internet standards.
Original KM technology products such as Lotus Notes defined their own proprietary formats for
email, documents, forms, etc. The explosive growth of the Internet drove most vendors to
abandon proprietary formats and adopt Internet formats such as HTML, HTTP, and XML. In
addition, open source and freeware tools for the creation of blogs and wikis now enable
capabilities that used to require expensive commercial tools to be available for little or no
cost.[30][47]
One of the most important ongoing developments in KM technology is adoption of tools that
enable organizations to work at the semantic level.[48] Many of these tools are being developed
as part of the Semantic Web.

KM tools:
Intranet
The intranet is essentially a small-scale version of the internet, operating with similar
functionality, but existing solely within the firm. Like the internet, the intranet uses network
technologies such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). It allows for the
creation of internal networks with common internet applications that can allow them to
communicate with different operating systems (Newell et al 2000).
Although it need not be, the intranet is usually linked to the internet, where broader searches
are implemented. However, outsiders are excluded through security measures such as firewalls.
The Role of the Intranet

The intranet can be a very useful tool in the knowledge management process. It allows for the
integration of multimedia communication and can act as a platform for groupware applications
and publishing. It is intended to enhance collaboration, productivity, and socialization, but also
to influence organizational culture and to act as a repository for embedded knowledge.
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Robertson (2009) identifies seven key roles of the intranet homepage:

• news
• navigation
• key tools
• key information
• community and culture
• internal marketing
• collaboration
The focus is to provide a useful site that enhances work practices, communicates key
information, provides the right navigation tools, and helps define organizational culture. Many
factors have to be balanced to create the right homepage, including quality of content, site
design, site navigation, site & content maintenance and updates, and the application of tools
that are directly useful to the business processes and networks. The objectives of the intranet
will also vary depending on the individual business, and may focus more on certain aspects than
others.
Perhaps the most important function of the intranet is knowledge sharing and collaboration.
The main functions supporting this are (Damsgaard & Scheepers 1998 in Newt et al 2000):
• Publishing: E.g. homepages, newsletters, documents, employee directories.
• Searching: The intranet can integrate different search functions, e.g. through a search engine or
using a system of categorization.
• Transacting: Allows user to make transactions with other web/intranet homepages.
• Interacting: Collaborative applications and other groupware, expert finders, directories, etc.
• Recording: It can be used as a storage medium for such elements as procedures, best practices,
and FAQs (embedded and explicit knowledge).
Successful Intranet Implementation

Naturally, the implementation of the intranet must be done in line with organizational needs,
processes, and objectives, as outlined in the section on implementation of knowledge
management systems.
One specific and key concern is the selection of the search engine. Google offers an option for
on-site search, which you can read more about here.
In his article, "The Ten Best Intranets of 2011", Jakob Nielsen (2011) indicates that the best
intranets implemented solutions in the following areas:
• Knowledge sharing: This aspect is very similar to what I have discussed so far on this site and
includes the sharing of all manner of explicit knowledge, but also connecting people that
require assistance to experts that can help them.
• Innovation management: By incorporating tools that support the recording and management
of new ideas.
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• Comments: This is an easy way to allow users to contribute with their insight. This type of
loose, unstructured communication can provide some limited tacit knowledge transfer and can
encourage participation.
• Ratings: An even quicker, albeit shallower, way for people to point to good sources
of knowledge.
• Participation rewards: Point systems, badges, and other symbolic rewards actually increase
participation. Sometimes non-symbolic rewards (i.e. actual prizes) were used.
• Customized collections: By allowing users to customize content collections, one can bypass the
shortcoming of never being fully able to predict a user's knowledge and information needs.
Decision Support Systems
There are several kinds of such systems, however, in this subsection I will look at only at data-
driven decision support systems (from now on referred to solely as decision support systems).
The role of these systems is to access and manipulate data. They usually work with a data
warehouse, use an online analytical processing system (OLAP), and employ data mining
techniques. The goal is to enhance decision-making and solve problems by working with the
manager rather than replacing him.
A decision support system can be a valuable tool. However, in order to be able to provide the
information that each expert would find relevant, the user must be involved in the
development and the post audit evaluation of the decision support system (Liebowitz 1999).
This involvement must span not just the content issues, but also the presentation and the
organization of the information. This is necessary to ensure that the system fulfills the three
criteria that determine its success, namely compatibility, understandability, and effectiveness
(Rouse in Liebowitz 1999).
If these three criteria are met, decision support systems can be invaluable in expanding the
scope of information that each expert can handle. As a result, cognitive limitations become less
important in determining the amount of source material that the expert can use.
One advantage and limitation of the decision support system is that it is user driven. This
implies that the system answers queries what the expert inputs, but does not carry out further
analysis on its own. It is therefore not a form of artificial intelligence like other decision-making
tools.
Knowledge management (KM) is involved in two ways here. Normally the area that is
emphasized is that decision support systems can enhance the manager's knowledge
through knowledge discovery and supply of relevant information. However, knowledge and KM
activities are key components in how the manager uses the system, i.e. the direction of the
analysis that he carries out, and the knowledge that he is looking for. Kiku (2006) emphasizes
that a decision support system must be designed in light of KM. An effective decision support
system thus requires that the organization:
• Investigates the decisions made within their firm
• Compares these decisions with KM activities
• Evaluates any current decision support system in light of this
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• Modifies said system if necessary

Content Management Systems

Content management systems are very relevant to knowledge management (KM) since they are
responsible for the creation, management, and distribution of content on the intranet,
extranet, or a website. Content management is a discipline in itself, so this section will be
relatively brief, only outlining the basic considerations.

A content management system may have the following functions:

• Provide templates for publishing: Making publishing easier and more consistent with existing
structure/design.
• Tag content with metadata: I.e. Allowing the input of data that classifies content (e.g.
keywords) so that it can be searched for and retrieved.
• Make it easy to edit content
• Version control: Tracking changes to pages and, if necessary, allowing previous versions to be
accessed
• Allow for collaborative work on content
• Integrated document management systems
• Workflow management: Allowing for parallel content development
• Provide extensions and plug-ins for increased functionality
Content management systems come in different forms (and prices), and an organization must
carefully evaluate what it needs. Tanya Sahu (2007) presents six general factors for
consideration:
• Technology: Including dynamic vs static publishing, high load performance, security issues, and
search engine ranking factors (static pages rank better).
• Ease of use: Most users are non-technical. Therefore, it is important to assess the ease of use of
the end user content editing interface, the template-building interface, and the content
approval system.
• Total cost of ownership: I.e. the costs in the long run, including maintenance and applications.
• Cross Platform Support and Scalability: Can it handle multiple operating systems? Can it
integrate with other server side technologies?
• Web Presence Management: The system should allow for the management of different
websites separately and securely so as to manage multiple web presences (e.g. site on the
intranet vs site on the extranet).
• Solution deployment: How long will it take to move content onto the content management
system and how hard will the process be?
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James Robertson (2003) stresses that the processes that surround the content management
system are of most value to the management of knowledge. Apart from what has been already
discussed, he emphasizes processes such as the restructuring and rewriting of content carried
out by professional writers supported by experts. This not only improves the accessibility and
presentation, but also points to content gaps.
As one can see, selection and implementation of a content management system is something
that requires careful consideration. As with all KM related IT systems, the functionality must be
weighed against organizational needs and processes as well as expected costs. If properly
implemented, the content management system can be very beneficial to KM, by improving the
quality of explicit knowledge, and providing limited support to tacit knowledge transfer by
identifying content authors (i.e. experts) and supporting collaborative projects.

Enterprise Content Management

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a system solution designed to manage an

organization’s documents. Unstructured information—including Word documents, Excel
spreadsheets, PDFs and scanned images—are stored and made accessible to the right people at
the right time. From commercial supply chains to contract management, or HR processes to
government administration, the driving force behind implementing an ECM solution is to do
business better. By eliminating dependence on paper documents and organizing unstructured
Knowledge management

information according to business need, organizations are empowered to work more efficiently.
Listening to our customers over the years, we’ve found consistent goals for implementing ECM.
Regardless of industry, customers want ECM to help:
• Remove dependence on paper and streamline business processes
• Drive better customer service and increase productivity
• Reduce organizational risk
Leading ECM solutions, including Laserfiche, accomplish these goals and more. Here are 5 key
elements of an ECM solution:

Top 5 Elements of ECM

1. Capture documents digitally

Managing an organization’s content begins with the capture and importing of information into
a secure digital repository. This can be any kind of document that is created, captured, stored,
shared or archived, including:
• Invoices from vendors
• Resumes from job applicants
• Contracts
• Correspondence
• Research reports
A few methods of capturing these documents include:
• Using electronic forms to make documents digital from the point of creation
• Scanning paper documents to be filed in a digital repository
• Managing “already digital” content, including Microsoft Office documents, PDFs,
photos and video
• Automatically filing and categorizing documents from servers, MFPs and other shared
locations
Traditional methods of capturing documents require a great deal of effort and
expense. Capturing documents in a digital repository eliminates many of the obstacles created
by paper: labor-intensive duplication, slow distribution, misplaced originals and the
inconvenience of retrieving files from offsite storage.

2. Store documents in a digital repository

With robust ECM systems, organizations can easily store any business-critical document in a
digital repository, allowing users to:
• View or make edits (based on access rights) to any document in the repository
• View document metadata
• Organize documents within a flexible folder structure
The benefits of enterprise content management go beyond simply keeping track of where
documents are located. A content management system also reduces the time, cost and
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complexity associated with managing documents throughout their life cycle, helping ensure
compliance with organizational record retention policies. In fact, a recent Nucleus Research
study showed content management systems returning $6.12 for every dollar invested.

3. Retrieve documents, regardless of device or location

Once an organization’s records have been securely stored, you can:
• Find any document using full-text search
• Identify specific words or phrases within document text, metadata, annotations and
entry names
• Use preset search options to search by document creation date, the names of users who
checked out documents and other metadata
Enterprise content management software helps eliminate time spent searching for information,
enabling employees to answer information requests from clients, citizens and auditors
immediately. More than that, staff have instant access to the information required to make
better decisions about issues impacting your organization’s bottom line.

4. Automate document-driven processes

Automation helps organizations eliminate manual tasks—including photocopying, hand delivery
and repetitive dragging and dropping—to achieve greater results with fewer resources.
Some ECM systems have digital automation features that can:
• Automatically route documents to the right people at the right time
• Alert staff members when documents require their attention
• Recognize errors before any extraneous work can be done
For example, purchase orders must be signed, records must be archived and employee vacation
requests must be either approved or denied. Automation moves these documents through the
necessary steps of review and approval, in the order specified. The end result is processes that
are more cost-efficient, streamlined and error-free.

5. Secure documents and reduce organizational risk

With strengthening compliance restrictions in a wide range of industries, organizations are
increasingly using ECM systems to optimize records management practices and protect against
risk. An enterprise content management system must provide customizable security settings to
allow organizations to protect information from unauthorized access or modification.
• Restrict access to folders, documents, fields, annotations and other granular document
properties as needed
• Monitor system login and logout, document creation and destruction, password
changes and more
• Protect sensitive metadata by controlling information access down to individual folders,
templates and fields
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Leading ECM solutions enable line of business departments to manage user access
independently—which means sensitive HR information stays within the HR department, while
private financial information stays within the finance department, even if the information is
stored in the same repository. Most ECM platforms include a few of these 5 key elements, but
category leaders—like Laserfiche—provide a complete ECM solution, helping your organization
dramatically improve business processes.

Document Management Systems

Document management systems, as the name implies, are systems that aid in the publishing,
storage, indexing, and retrieval of documents. Although such systems deal almost exclusively
with explicit knowledge, the sheer volume of documents that an organization has to deal with
makes them useful and in some cases even mandatory. Often they are a part of content
management systems.
Usually, a document management system will include the following functions:
• Capturing: In order for paper documents to be useable by the document management system,
they must be scanned in. For companies that need to carry out this process and who have
numerous paper documents this may be time consuming and expensive.
• Classification using metadata: Metadata (data about data) is used to identify the document so
that it can be retrieved later. It can include keywords, date, author, etc. The user is often asked
to input this metadata or the system may extract it from the document. Optical character
recognition may be used to identify text on scanned images.
• Indexing: There are many different forms, and a good indexing system is crucial. The index
function will use metadata.
• Searching & retrieval: The document management system's search function is one of its most
important elements. Search functions can be more or less sophisticated, allowing for searches
by elements of the document's metadata, or by searching the actual document for key
words/phrases and using semantic analysis to determine relevance.
• Versioning: Storage and management of different versions of documents - useful for
documents that require frequent updating. Allows authorized users to return to earlier
versions.
• Administration & security: Any IT system needs to be regulated and policed. Users require
different levels of authorization, with certain more sensitive functions/documents being
available only to selected users/administrators. Document management systems will also have
backup systems in place in case of mishaps.
Beyond this, they may include a whole host of possible features, including multiple platform
support, multiple/customizable interfaces, workflow modules, file/format conversions, etc.
Prices vary accordingly and solutions should be carefully matched to organizational
requirements. There is also an open source system called OpenKM that, despite its somewhat
misleading use of the term "knowledge management", seems to have gathered a significant
degree of popularity.
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Compared to non-electronic systems, the document management systems offer reduced

operational costs, improved efficiency and speed of retrieval, improved consistency, and more
safety (both in terms of file backups and security measures). There are hundreds of systems out
there, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The points to consider are:
purchasing/set up costs, types of features, training, upkeep, ease of use etc. Be sure to assess
each one in light of your specific needs and your organizational processes.

Sharepoint Knowledge Base Review

A Look at the Pros and Cons of This Common Knowledge Base Platform

If you’re in the market for a knowledge base, SharePoint has likely popped up on your radar.
This popular Microsoft software program is often recommended for its versatility and
customizability. But digging deeper, it may not be everything you’d hoped for.
No matter which knowledge base you choose, you have to be absolutely certain that the
solution you ultimately commit to is:
• Cost-effective
• Fully functional
• Easy to navigate and use (for both your team and your customers)
In addition, you must be sure that whichever knowledge base software you choose adds value
to your customers’ interactions with your business and creates an impressive and memorable
experience for them. That’s a tall order to fill!
SharePoint does have a number of major selling points, among them:
• Its ease of integration with other systems in the Microsoft suite of programs.
• Its highly customizable options (in fact, customizing SharePoint is more of a requirement to get
the most out of the software).
• Its flexibility in terms of use for both customer-facing and internal knowledge bases
Although SharePoint is a quality program, it’s certainly not for everyone. In fact, based on our
experience working with a variety of knowledge base systems, we’d argue that it’s not the best
choice if you’re looking for a robust knowledge base program.
In this article, we’re going to delve into reasons why you may not want to choose SharePoint as
your knowledge base software of choice for your organization.
SharePoint’s Shortcomings as a Knowledge Base Solution

For all of its beneficial features and its reputable place among the Microsoft suite of programs,
SharePoint simply falls short as a knowledge base in a number of ways. Most notably, they
include:
• Its overwhelming (and underwhelming) feature set
• Its pricing tiers and overall cost
• Its functionality and ease of use
Knowledge management

Let’s take a closer look:

SharePoint Caters to a Very Specific Audience
SharePoint is designed to appeal to a very specific niche audience. If you fit into this
demographic, great -- you’ll find SharePoint brings a great deal of value to your organization.
But if you don’t fall into this narrow slice of users, you’re going to find that SharePoint is both
underwhelming and overwhelming, and not nearly as useful as it presents itself to be.
SharePoint Can Be Overwhelming for Non-Technical Users
SharePoint’s biggest complaint among its users is how overwhelming it is. If you’re looking for a
knowledge base software that your team can hit the ground running with -- SharePoint
probably isn’t going to be the best option unless you’re already a seasoned user of the system.
One of its biggest selling points is actually one of its biggest drawbacks. It allows for detailed
customization as far as database creation and interface design are concerned. The problem is,
this level of customization is practically necessary in order to get any real use out of the
software right from the start.
That means you’ll have to configure SharePoint before you even start using it. If you or your
team doesn’t have a great deal of technical know-how, this can feel overwhelming, if not
impossible.
One Capterra reviewer sums up the sentiment nicely:
Pros: Little or no training required if you have technical ability
Cons: If you are not a power user, your ability to add will be very limited.
In other words, if you’re not a SharePoint power user right out of the gate, your ability to get
the most use out of it is going to be handcuffed and hobbled, right from the start.
One Capterra user likened SharePoint’s myriad choices to shopping for cereal:
Using Sharepoint is like shopping for cereal with 50 different choices, whereas using Google is
like shopping for cereal with only 5 different choices. It might seem great to have 50 choices on
the surface, but you soon find yourself in the middle of the aisle unable to make a decision
because of the myriad of potential choices you could make.
Even if you’re fortunate enough to have the technical know-how to use SharePoint to the
fullest, there’s still the problem of deciding which route will get you from where you are to
where you want to go. What’s the best way to go about developing your knowledge base and
configuring it to meet everyone’s needs?
It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, which in turn leads to analysis paralysis among you
and your teams. That can cause productivity to skid to a halt. In short, getting the most out of
SharePoint means that your team must not only have a high degree of technical knowledge but
also have the creativity to build “something out of nothing” with every decision that they make.
Having that kind of customizability sounds great -- in theory. But it would definitely be nice to
have some sort of road map or guidance when starting out.
 Knowledge management

Cloud-Based SharePoint is Underwhelming

With all of this talk of software “in the cloud”, it might sound highly beneficial to have the
cloud-based version of SharePoint, but you might be surprised to learn that this version is
considerably lacking in both features and functionality. There’s no middle ground: the on-site
version is overwhelming in terms of the levels of customization it requires while the cloud-
based version can be a little too simple.
The truth boils down to the fact that smaller businesses and organizations will likely need to
upgrade from the cloud-based version to the on-site version at some point anyway, which
means investing even more time, money and resources in terms of not only installation but also
configuration and onboarding all of the teams that will be using it.
Helpjuice: The Smarter SharePoint Alternative

Fortunately, rather than trying to decide if you want to deal with the hefty customization of the
on-site version of SharePoint versus the trimmed down “lite” cloud-based version, there is a
better alternative to both: Helpjuice.
Helpjuice is an intuitive knowledge base software that’s easy to set up and use, right from the
start. With very little time spent customizing and getting up and running, you and your team
can immediately begin to:
• Create new pages and documents
• Edit text, add links, add multimedia directly within documents
• Categorize and tag documents for easy searchability.

Helpjuice is designed to be streamlined and simple. If you can use Google Docs, you’ll feel right
at home with Helpjuice. If you do want advanced customization features, you’re in luck, too.
Helpjuice allows for customization via CSS which makes it easy for designers and developers to
make the knowledge base match your existing site’s brand, look and feel.
In addition, you’ll benefit from detailed support documentation and direct access to a
knowledgeable support team. Rather than forcing you to slog through countless pages of
documentation, Helpjuice’s team is on standby, ready to help you get the most out of the
system.
Lack of Functionality and Ease of Use in SharePoint

Even if your team can technically wrangle SharePoint to do what you want it to do at its fullest
capacity, that doesn’t mean that you yourself can do it. That’s because, as many Capterra
reviews will attest to, SharePoint doesn’t offer much in the way of functionality nor in ease of
use. It tends to be slow-loading and take up a large amount of bandwidth. For companies that
may already be stretching their bandwidth thin, having a bloated, slow-loading software
program doesn’t make the situation easier.
One Capterra user summed up the experience succinctly by explaining:
 Knowledge management

Customization time and costs Integration can require extra development effort. The licensing
model is very complex [and you] need the right expertise to get it set up correctly. It will require
a lot of configuration and training. It's browser based so if there is no internet, it means no
SharePoint.
Can your organization really stand to have a combination of complex licensing troubles,
detailed technical configurations and extra time and cost spent training and onboarding your
staff on how to use the system? And that’s saying nothing about any downtime from the
network itself that could affect your ability to work seamlessly with the system.
Another common complaint, despite its so-called collaborative tools, is that SharePoint’s online
editing system seems to overwrite concurrent changes by multiple users at the same time.
When you have several users making changes to documents at the same time and doing so in
real time, SharePoint seems to have trouble keeping up and keeping track.
It’s also worth noting that many users encounter issues updating SharePoint from older
versions of the software. Although this might not be as much of a problem for you right now if
you’re considering buying the latest version, it will become a headache when updates are rolled
out in the future.
Beyond issues with updating, collaboration and ease of use, SharePoint also suffers from
problems on the customer-facing side of things. There are two major difficulties that customers
face when using a knowledge base built with SharePoint:
1. SharePoint’s built-in problems with indexing content and
2. SharePoint’s lack of information architecture when organizing information
Difficulties with Indexing Content
To put it mildly, SharePoint’s ability to index text inside of files like PDFs or PowerPoints is
sorely lacking. It’s simply undiscoverable via search. Even if text is uploaded directly to a Wiki
page, SharePoint can only read the metadata for that page. That means that customers have to
spend an inordinate amount of time scouring your knowledge base to find the precise phrase
used within your existing metadata for a certain page. Realistically, what customer is going to
do that?
Disorganized Information Architecture
Secondly, SharePoint is lacking any sense of context or meaning behind its information
architecture. Documents and data are presented in a vacuum, without any real idea of what the
data actually means. Unless customers are lucky enough to stumble across the exact
information they’re looking for, it’s unlikely that they’ll find it naturally, much less easily.
Helpjuice vs. SharePoint Knowledge Base

In terms of sheer user-friendliness, Helpjuice once again beats SharePoint. With Helpjuice,
users can easily create and tag documents as well as categorize them into directories and
subdirectories, creating an easily-understandable information architecture that helps things get
found faster and more easily.
[Helpjuice Screenshot]
Knowledge management

Helpjuice’s built-in editor also lets people collaborate quickly, easily and seamlessly. Two or
more people working on documents simultaneously is no problem at all, and even remote
collaborators can work on the same documents, all while ensuring that no one’s work gets
erased or overwritten. In addition, collaborators can link to more in-depth and detailed
information in just a few clicks, making it easy for them to guide users to more advanced
information if necessary.
Search is also made easier and more intuitive with Helpjuice. Similar to Google’s suggested
search capability, Helpjuice’s powerful Intelligent Instant Search recommends documents,
pages and other forms of media to users in real-time as they’re typing, making it easy for them
to find what they need.
Helpjuice’s categories and tagging system use machine learning to provide contextual, relevant
search results. This gives end users the convenience and instant gratification they are looking
for when searching a knowledge base. Beyond that, it can also provide them with supplemental
material should they wish to delve deeper into the information they’ve been presented.
SharePoint Cost vs. Helpjuice Cost

On the surface, it looks as if SharePoint doesn’t seem that expensive. With its per-user price,
SharePoint tries to skew the impression toward being cost-effective and simple. However,e
organizations that ultimately get on board with SharePoint find that the costs can quickly add
up.
Why?
SharePoint is designed to be used in different ways by different members of the company.
Some departments may use it internally, others may use it to create customer information
portals and share documents and data. Others may use it for a combination. With that being
said, each team or department will use different features and functions of the software. Where
problems arise is that no matter how much or how little different groups use it, your
organization will be paying for the same tier across the board, even if some users could
conceivably get by using the cheaper, lower tier.
In addition, there’s a serious difference between each of SharePoint’s pricing tiers. That means
if you want certain specific features found at a higher tier, you’ll need to upgrade the software
even if you don’t plan on using all of those features associated with that tier. Here again, a
great deal of money, time and resources are wasted just for a few things that would be “nice to
have”.
When you consider how many more actual usable features you get for the money, Helpjuice far
outshines SharePoint. For enterprise customers, Helpjuice works to determine a fair and
accurate price per user that depends on the organization’s size and how it plans to use the
knowledge base software. In short, this minimizes waste by ensuring that users don’t pay for
features they won’t use.
Helpjuice is designed to be affordable, and structures its features in such a way that it’s almost
certain that users who upgrade to the more feature-rich tiers will use all of the features therein,
and not just have to upgrade for one or two things that their organization really needs.
Knowledge management

Also, unlike SharePoint, Helpjuice is designed specifically for use as a knowledge base for
customer-facing teams and departments within an organization. It’s not designed to be used by
everyone in the company in different ways. When working with the enterprise level of
Helpjuice, you only need to consider who will actually be using the knowledge base software,
rather than trying to take into account every conceivable use of the system among every team
member.
And finally, perhaps the most important point:
SharePoint is Not Specifically Designed to Be a Knowledge Base Software
It has been mentioned several times that SharePoint tries to be all things to all people, and in
many cases, it fails spectacularly or severely underwhelms at best. It’s far better suited for
knowledge management rather than use as a knowledge base, and even though you can create
a knowledge base with it, the user-unfriendliness coupled with the technical know-how
needed, make it much more of a challenge than it needs to be.
With that in mind, SharePoint is meant to be more of a knowledge repository than a knowledge
base. They may sound like the same thing on the surface, but a knowledge base is far better
suited to not only storing information, but making it easy for users to find. As we’ve discussed
previously, SharePoint doesn’t take context into consideration when organizing and storing
data. Helpjuice, on the other hand, is built from the ground up specifically to make it easy for
people to find what they’re looking for and to allow groups to collaborate and contribute
seamlessly from anywhere.
If you’re ready to start building a reliable, collaborative knowledge base that both your team
and your customers can use quickly, easily and intuitively, it’s time to work with a real
knowledge base software platform. To learn more about using Helpjuice to create a knowledge
base, check out our detailed Features page. If you’re ready to take the next step and start using
Helpjuice, learn more by creating your very first knowledge base and see for yourself how
simple the process can be.
Other knowledge management strategies and instruments for companies include:

• Knowledge Sharing (fostering a culture that encourages the sharing of information, based
on the concept that knowledge is not irrevocable and should be shared and updated to
remain relevant)
• Storytelling (as a means of transferring tacit knowledge)
• Cross-project learning
• After action reviews
• Knowledge mapping (a map of knowledge repositories within a company accessible by all)
• Communities of practice
• Expert directories (to enable knowledge seeker to reach to the experts)
• Expert Systems (knowledge seeker responds to one or more specific questions to reach
knowledge in a repository)
• Best practice transfer
Knowledge management

• Knowledge fairs
• Competence management (systematic evaluation and planning of competences of
individual organization members)
• Proximity & architecture (the physical situation of employees can be either conducive or
obstructive to knowledge sharing)
• Master-apprentice relationship
• Collaborative technologies (groupware, etc.)
• Knowledge repositories (databases, bookmarking engines, etc.)
• Measuring and reporting intellectual capital (a way of making explicit knowledge for
companies)
• Knowledge brokers (some organizational members take on responsibility for a specific
"field" and act as first reference on whom to talk about a specific subject)
• Social software (wikis, social bookmarking, blogs, etc.)
• Inter-project knowledge transfer