Knowledge Management: Best Practices

Knowledge Management: Best Practices

Written By
eWEEK EDITORS
eWEEK EDITORS
Mar 12, 2002
1 minute read
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  • KM is not software you install (though vendors think it is); its a process that doesnt begin with IT and doesnt end with it. Remember that IT is merely plumbing.
  • Get users involved from Day One. A KM system is useless if employees dont contribute.
  • Isolate who knows what in an organization by systematically interviewing knowledge workers.
  • Divide and conquer: Associate KM with a specific business practice and grow it from there. Dont go for an all-encompassing solution–these look good only on paper.
  • Tighten up security and educate users on safety issues. A KM system in the hands of the wrong person can be extremely dangerous, not only because of the threat of data theft but also because of potential data corruption.
  • Devise a system that extracts and packages knowledge from the forms in which its actually used, rather than one that requires separate creation and maintenance of a dedicated parallel knowledge base. The latter makes for a quicker pilot project, but it will rarely be maintained once the novelty wears off.
  • Consider but dont rely on, third-party benchmarking solutions, such as PIMS (www.bintranets.com).
  • Continually solicit feedback to improve the system over time.
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