The main value of every company is unique know-how. It brings more effective realization of business goals as well as faster company growth and having an edge over the competition. That’s why, if you want to manage the know-how in your organization efficiently, you need to create company knowledge base. What is a company knowledge base? What should it include?
What is a company knowledge base?
A company knowledge base is an organized compilation of documents, instructions, regulations and procedures used in the organization. It is a source of information about the company and it helps to find the data we are looking for. It’s a repository system used to store onboarding and educational materials and all the other files employees need to do their jobs. Company knowledge base supports employees in learning process and makes onboarding easier in order to make newly hired person faster and more productive.
Furthermore, knowledge base saves your time while looking for specific information or documentation. Usually, this kind of files are send by email which leads to situation when employee is lost and can’t find what he actually needs. As reported by McKinsey, employees spend 20% of their workweek looking for an internal information or documents. It often requires involvement and support of other workers. Sometimes they even end up tracking down the archives, forgotten files and catalogues. The time would be saved by 35% if company decided to create internal knowledge base.
What should company knowledge base include?
Building knowledge base should be priority in every organization. Why? Creating a library of company’s documentation, putting it in one available for all the employees place, prevents part of the know-how from disappearing when someone leaves the team.
What’s more, „internal wiki” is to help employees identify with company’s mission and values. It gives quick outlook who is responsible for certain things.
What can be included in company knowledge base?
- Information about company’s mission and culture (e.g. description of traditions and events in the company like Christmas, birthdays),
- Description of organization’s management processes (e.g. recruitment process, onboarding process),
- List of positions (who is responsible for what in the company),
- Brand guidelines (e.g. presentation templates, brand books, logo, e-mail footers),
- Regulations, policies and instructions (e.g. how to use printer or coffeemaker, how to add e-mail footer in mailing system),
- Dictionaries and handbooks (with explanation of specific vocabulary used in your industry)
- Business and marketing strategy
- Project documentation (e.g. brief templates, demands, required documentation)
Moreover, all the data in the company knowledge base should be organized into sections. Some of them should be available for all employees, other parts – only for some departments or work positions.
Building company knowledge base – what you should know?
How to start building company knowledge base? Firstly, it is worth to order all the internal knowledge resources, processes of creating, storing and distributing data. To achieve that, it is recommended to have professional software for creating knowledge base, which helps to protect company’s know-how, gives easier and faster access to wanted and the most important information.
Secondly, fast and easy access to company’s updates is not all. The security of stored data is also important. The best software for creating company knowledge base should be functional and let manage the knowledge according to organization structure. Apart from the collection of company’s documentation in one place, it is worth checking if the right employees have access to them. For example, documents like holiday request forms should be available for everyone, but employees shouldn’t have access to information intended for the company’s management or accounting.
On top of that, building knowledge base and its regular updating will increase the employees motivation and satisfaction from fulfilling their duties. Employees will become more efficient and complete training faster thanks to the time saved on searching for information. It is the best opportunity to lower learning and onboarding costs!
Knowledge Base building software
Do you want to efficiently manage knowledge in your organization? Check out this knowledge base creating software! Get your company to the next level! LearnWay LXP Platform will help you do that! Contact our experts for a LearnWay demo and see for yourself!