ServiceNow Knowledge Management
Posted on 30 Dec 2017 · 1 min read
I was reading a book about effective ITSM and came across a passage discussing how many knowledge management initiatives fail to address the people, cultural, and procedural elements. The book also noted how some organisations reduce knowledge management to nothing more than FAQs.
As we all know, knowledge management is much more than FAQs. It is the systematic identification, capture, dissemination, and use of information for the benefit of your organisation.
The Objectives of Knowledge Management
Effective knowledge management aims to:
- Reduce the time to resolve incidents by giving agents access to proven solutions
- Prevent known errors from becoming repeat incidents by documenting known issues and workarounds
- Capture institutional knowledge so it doesn't walk out the door when people leave
- Enable self-service by giving end users the information to resolve common issues themselves
- Support decision-making by making relevant information accessible to the right people at the right time
How ServiceNow Makes KM Practical
ServiceNow makes it easy to implement effective knowledge management that addresses these objectives:
- Knowledge Bases can be created for different audiences — IT, HR, facilities, and so on — each with its own access controls.
- Knowledge Articles are structured, versioned, and can be linked directly to incident resolution workflows.
- Feedback and rating mechanisms help surface the most useful articles and flag outdated ones.
- Integration with search means articles surface proactively when agents and users search for related content.
The combination of structure, access control, workflow integration, and feedback loops is what makes ServiceNow KM more than a glorified FAQ page.
If you are implementing ServiceNow KM, start by defining your knowledge goals and knowledge owners. The technology is straightforward — the hard part is the culture and the process.