Knowledge-Management Best Practices

Length – Knowledge articles presented to end-users should be one-half to 2 pages (300–900 words), depending on the complexity of the topic. Articles less than 300 words will not contain enough content for keyword searchability while articles of more than 2 pages are likely to lose the reader’s attention.

Content – Each knowledge article should pertain to a single topic or address a single situation. This aids in searchability and helps direct readers to the specific topics they are seeking. Troubleshooting guides, release notes, and other knowledge documents should be separated into individual topics when recorded in your KMDB, so each article can be managed independently.

What to include – Knowledge articles should include a concise overview of the situation or problem, a description of what outcome the article describes, any constraints (such as special access levels required) and a clear set of steps for the user to follow. Depending on the expected skill/experience level of the reader, articles may include technical diagnostic steps or they may just include a few basic tasks and instructions on how to seek assistance from a support agent.

What not to include – When creating knowledge articles, never include any sensitive system information, such as usernames and passwords, that could compromise security. Also, be aware of the data that is being accessed (such as system log files) and the security considerations for this data. If the article suggests a user provide data to an agent, then only collect personal information if you have a means of storing it and controlling access appropriately.

Tone and language – The tone of knowledge articles should be direct and concise, providing enough information to be effective without being overly verbose. In some organizations, localized language content may be necessary. If so, then ensure you have an easy method to filter knowledge articles based on language.

Intended audience – Defining the intended audience of a knowledge article requires some forethought. A technical article for a support agent or IT engineer will be very different than an FAQ article for business users. If the content of an article is suitable for multiple audiences, then it may be helpful to create multiple articles (one for each audience) to customize the tone and language.

Tagging articles – Meta-data tagging of articles can be an effective means of enabling navigation and browsing of knowledge content. Because modern search technology can perform keyword matches against text fields, such as titles, descriptions and article body text, tagging is less important than it was a few years ago. Tagging may still be helpful in situations where you need to identify knowledge articles related to a specific audience or a specific systems release.

Searchability – Modern search engines have powerful keyword matching capabilities that can help users quickly find the resources they want; however, there are a few steps you must take when creating articles to help search engines work effectively. You must be sure to use the keywords users would be using to search for your article. Keyword density is the best way for search functions to find an article. You should also avoid using keywords for topics, subjects, etc. that don’t apply. For example, a phrase, such as “This article wouldn’t apply to XYZ,” would cause the article to be found for a search of XYZ.

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) – These are commonly included as a part of contract terms and often extended to individuals within the vendor organization. The purpose of the NDA is to establish a contractual framework to allow vendor personnel to access your company’s data and resources and to govern the use of the information they obtain. Specifically, NDAs should restrict the use of your data to activities that directly support the activities of your company.

Terms of use – In addition to NDAs, contractual terms-of-use specify the use and non-use of your knowledge, and for which activities. In some cases, you may allow vendors to use your data to help improve their commercially available product and service offerings. In other cases, you may restrict the use of your data to prevent vendors from revealing processes and capabilities that are a competitive advantage for your company.

Controlled environment – A common technique for restricting access to knowledge resources is to make the data accessible to 3rd parties through a controlled environment (such as a Web portal) where your knowledge stewards can provision, monitor and revoke access to individual users or entire companies.

Filtered data - Filtering knowledge content based on job role is a common practice in knowledge management and curation. You can use the same technique to differentiate content intended for support staff vs end-users to filter the knowledge data available to vendors or other 3rd parties.