Capturing "Knowledge"

[pghorvath]

Hi,
I recently passed the ITIL 2011 Foundations and am attempting to create a process for my company using the ITIL Guidelines.

Basically, I am creating a process to farm knowledge.

An inbound "question" is posted in an internal community. Once the "answer" is formulated, i wish to capture this in our Knowledge Article Library (KALib).

I have created my high level Strategy and a Low Level processs. however, what I am falling short on is the correct ITIL terminology (if it exists) for the published "answer". I currently call it the Knowledge Article (an object in my KALib, a component of my SKMS)

Since this isn't TRULY a Service Desk process, but more of a METHOD to capture knowledge, maybe I shouldn't be using ITIL Guidelines or terminology... but it seems to fit nicely within the ITIL processes I am currently aware of.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[24sa]

Hi pghorvath
If these answer are the solutions to your known Errors (Errors to which the cause is known), then you can use the Term "SD,-Solution databse" (Solution to the Known Errors)
Else the other term Service Improvement Plans is there...
All depends on for what type of question you have find the answer.

Hi All,
Corrections and improvements to my reply are welcomed.

[MikkoH]

Hi,
I think there is nothing wrong with Knowledge Article as it quite well defines the article, don't you think?

Remember that ITIL is about adapting the best practices for YOUR company, it is not a set of rules to restrict you.

Business requirements come first and document is document, however, the method, when defined should be a process, so that the KAs get added according to the pre-planned process, in order to maintain quality and integrity of the data. All your processes can and should be defined.

KEDB as for the known errors is a bit different horse if you are posting guides and similar to the Kalib.

Mikko Hellemaa
Indeo Oy
Finland

[pghorvath]

Thanks, you've both shed some light on the core concern.

A spark occurred in my mind... your thoughts?

My Knowledge Article is a form of Service Request (!?). However, the outcome of the the KA is NOT an accomplished IT task. The outcome of a KA is document that attempts to deliver an intangible concept/idea/thought.

I intend to attempt to measure the effectiveness of the KA document.
To this end, I envision the KA including a "questionnaire". It will try to capture the effectiveness of the KA by measuring the level of retention of the reader.

a.k.a. Did they learn what they needed to learn? I should then be able to measure the effectiveness of the KA.

If we discuss this in terms of an SR, where would the activity of "this SR is effective" be captured? During CSI or simply a final activity of the SR execution?

Thanks for the dialog.

[MikkoH]

Hmm, so basically you are creating a knowledge base the enduser/service desk can refer to when they encounter an issue, to have self-help or further guidance to the known issue, if so, then you are indeed having a KEDB, and how that is set, is up to the software available.

In essence, the KEDB could be a wiki style thing, with commenting, ratings and so on. I've seen it as an addon to quite a few ITSM apps I have worked with, only once have seen one effectively used though.

The best case scenario will be if it's easy to define the errors encountered, so anything you can help the end user with their search is a plus.

In my opinion the 5 star system does not work that well if you don't make it mandatory to fill, and that will make people unhappy so ...

The Yes/No question should be better, as the 'No' will be entered if your solution does not work more easily.

But in any case it's quite good to have anything you can get statistics from, the hits on the page will show you tons of useful information.