Knowledge management

[marianna]

Nothing is explicitely said about knowledge data bases as part of problem management - or am I wrong ?

I have been responsible for the support kdb for nearly for years in a big American IT services company and would like to see more focus on KM within ITSM methodology.

Any ideas ?

[Ladywolf]

This is something I've struggled with for a number of years....knowledge management appears to be the least recognized component, yet one of the most valuable (in my opinion). I have yet to stumble across any materials that stress knowledge management, and if anyone knows of any, I would be eternally grateful. We're launching a regimented incident/problem/change management process here...I am responsible for the problem management portion.....and I would love to have any materials that help back up my assertations that managing your knowledge can be key to managing your problems and changes.

[ElaineL]

We also have recognized the gap. Our solution at this time - we developed and prepared process documentation for KM, just as we did for the other ITSM processes we're focusing on - we used the KCS model as a guideline and are currently in the process of extending our implementation of our KB to our global IT group.

[itil_asia]

Same comment.

I have seen organization that have explicitly added this process, while implementing ITIL.

[SebKnows]

Hi my Name is Sebastian Michalak and I'm the Australian Process Owner of Knowledge within a Large global company.

ITIL does not include KM as a Process however recognizes the need of a KM Process.

KM Underpins all ITIL Processes and Function...

KM is needed in order to build Knowledge Wealth within the organization and makes it easier to create synergy with the processes.

if you like more details email me sebbie79@hotmail.com or smichalak2@csc.com

[Guerino1]

Hello Sebastion,

You are very correct in saying that KM is the underpinning to ITIL but, then again, it is the underpinning for all information management and sharing within an enterprise.

Technically, KM is not a process as much as it is a problem space. For example, Change Management, as a process has very clearly definined and highly repeatable steps that can be carried out by everyone in the enterprise. However, Knowledge Management does not. There are many ways to create, store, search for, recall, transform, format, render, etc. information in such ways to facilitate knowledge wealth. This includes implicit information sharing and explicit information sharing. KM is more about the problem of "how do I get any and all information from any one individual or collective group that creates the information to any other individual person or collective group that needs the information, in ways that are relevant to the consumer(s) of that information and in ways to maintain it that will prevail, long after the resource(s) that created it are gone.

KM is my personal hobby and the foundation around our entire company so please feel free to connect with me, offline if you wish to explore some of the KM issues some more. I am involved with many different global KM resources (forums, list servers, etc.) that I'd be more than happy to share with you. My email address is Frank.Guerino<@>TraverseIT.com.

My Best,

Frank
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[Edited by Admin to remove link]

[CarlosValderrama]

When I started at the Service Desk at a major company I quite inmediately found that there was a gap in information storage. Since then I started creating a process and finally I have introduced Knowledge Management and I was lifted out of the Service Desk and placed into the ITIL Process Management group as the Knowledge Manager.

My focus is set on three matters:

- Information storage
- Information delivery
- Process transparency

In my opinion, if people do not know what the process is and what information it holds they will not make use of the sytem.

I have differentiated information and knowledge, where knowledge is information that our IT support specialists and end users can act upon.

I have also defined several diffetent knowledge item types, like:

- Hot news
- Standard calls
- IT alerts
- End user FAQ's
- plus some more.

KM in our organization now has tight bonds with Incident and Problem Management. All information that can become knowledge will be stored at the proper storage location after deciding the knowledge type and then it will be stored by a certain format.

I have also defined roles in the process, where I am the manager but every 2nd line assignment(support) group that we have has a knowledge handler. That person basically handles candidates for knowledge, rejecting or promoting the candidates to knowledge status and informs the correct persons.[/list]

[Guerino1]

Hello Carlos,

[CarlosValderrama]

The KM process is definately a brand new thing at our organization indeed.

Our ITSM tool offered a very simple and basic KM module and I started making use of it. Then the Service Desk and our biggest 2nd line support group started making use of it and I began defining procedures and roles.

After a while I began setting up requirements for a global knowledge sharing process and the management created a function for this and I am trying to make it all happen.

At this point in time our ITSM tool is our bottleneck and I need to initiate a project to get features created which can improve knowledge, call, incident and problem management.
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Call + Knowledge Manager

[Guerino1]

Hi Carlos,

If you're up for a discussion on this, connect with me offline at Frank.Guerino<@>TraverseIT.com. I can share some of the things we've seen work at other companies.

My Best,

Frank
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[Edited by Admin to remove link]

[CarlosValderrama]

I'm always up for it. Always interested in hearing other peoples thoughts and seeing how KM has been implemented at other companies.

I will contact you tomorrow from work.
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Call + Knowledge Manager