4 Ways to plan a Knowledge Base in SharePoint
Information, the new fuel to power today's businesses, is most utilized if it is organized, accessible, and shareable. The modern practice of knowledge capture and information sharing in organizations has helped them better understand market trends. However, an IDC survey suggests that 19% of employees need help accessing information when needed. So, what can be done to bridge the gap between employees and organizational data? A SharePoint knowledge base can provide the answers you seek.
The knowledge base serves as a centralized repository of information to answer frequently asked questions, onboarding material, guidelines, policies, and how-to guides. Organizations collect enormous amounts of information, facts, data, and stats over time, forming their intellectual wealth. Not only information, but problem-solving techniques, tactics, product knowledge, and experience gained by employees, form the core of your knowledge base. Having SharePoint by your side, it's easy to create and manage a robust knowledge base. Read on for some effective ways to plan one for your organization.
4 Ways to Plan an Effective Knowledge Base in SharePoint
Outline the key factors
Working on your knowledge base is critical. First, develop a foolproof knowledge management strategy that answers all your questions. For example, what to share with your audience, what queries your employees search for the most, etc., are necessary to structure your knowledge base. Furthermore, fast document access, a well-structured wiki section, easy navigation, a secure platform, and centralized storage are a few aspects to remember while planning a robust knowledge base.
Effective use of document libraries
The first thing you need to build a knowledge base is a centralized platform to store organizational knowledge. Organizing your intellectual assets digitally is easy with SharePoint document library. It allows users to create, manage, and share knowledge documents across multiple libraries, lists, and folders. It's like creating an internal wiki section within your organization.
Make your knowledge searchable
Files are mostly stored in bulk on network drives, but document tagging makes them easily searchable. A knowledge base with an effective search mechanism can reduce employees' response time, improving decision-making ability and productivity. Make sure you add keywords, tags, and metadata to the files to help your employees find the right information at the right time.
Secure your organizational knowledge
Knowledge capture is a gradual process that expands over time, storing several documents, including company policies, technology descriptions, content guidelines, manuals, SOPs, and other learning resources. However, not all information is required by everyone in the organization. With SharePoint offering multi-level permission settings, you can ensure that an authorized user accesses your knowledge base.
To put it all together
Accessing critical business information and statistics at the right time is essential to survive the fast-changing business environment. And a knowledge base proves to be the most efficient way to organize critical documents floating around cluttered departmental silos. Using SharePoint to upscale digitally can help you plan a robust knowledge base that suits your organizational knowledge management strategy.
