Knowledge Management Playbook

Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Version A01 vF
March 2020
Project Management Office
Author: Steve Marsh
 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Contents
THE BASICS ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
Why is managing our knowledge important? ....................................................................... 3
What are our objectives in managing knowledge? ........................................................... 3
Definitions ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Knowledge management lifecycle ......................................................................................... 5
GUIDELINES....................................................................................................................................... 6
How to manage your knowledge ............................................................................................ 7
WHY MANAGE YOUR KNOWLEDGE ...................................................................................... 7
ESTABLISHING KNOWLEDGE CATEGORIES ........................................................................... 8
DRAFTING – Knowledge Articles ............................................................................................ 8
REVIEWING AND APPROVING – Knowledge Articles ....................................................... 9
PUBLISHING – Knowledge Articles ......................................................................................... 9
UPLOADING YOUR ARTICLE AND ONGOING ADMINISTRATION IN SERVICENOW® . 9
Knowledge Management Process Overview ..................................................................... 10
Roles and Responsibilities (excludes any Service Now roles and responsibilities) ..... 11
Managing Your Knowledge ..................................................................................................... 12

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

THE BASICS

Introduction
The Knowledge Management playbook provides information and
explanation of how you can use Knowledge Management processes to
manage your knowledge efficiently and within the ServiceNow® platform.

This playbook outlines the way Western Sydney University expects knowledge
is to be created. This playbook provides advice up to the point of uploading
your knowledge into the ServiceNow® platform. Advice on managing your
knowledge in ServiceNow® is provided separately. Refer to your Knowledge
Champion for advice.

Why is managing our knowledge important?

Staff and students seeking services often don’t know ‘the who, what, how,
and when to do’ something. Providing accurate, simple, concise and well
written information in the form of knowledge articles can support staff
members or students seeking services to be able to quickly understand
actions and steps they need to take and discover information to support and
aid understanding.

Well written knowledge articles, create increased consistency in support you,

your team, or business area provide, increase visibility of knowledge to team
members, build clearer understanding of ownership of processes, and build
collaboration across teams, business units, and with staff and students, using
services when change is needed.

What are our objectives in managing knowledge?

1. Be efficient in providing knowledge to our staff and students, and in the
way we manage and administer our knowledge
2. Continually improve the quality of service
3. Increase staff and student satisfaction

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Definitions

Knowledge Management - “is a business process that formalises the

management and use of an enterprise’s intellectual assets. Knowledge
Management promotes a collaborative and integrative approach to the
creation, capture, organisation, access and use of information assets,
including the tacit (inferred/silent), uncaptured knowledge of people.” -
Gartner

Tacit knowledge is knowledge that's difficult to write down, visualize or

transfer from one person to another

The goal of knowledge management is to gather, analyse, store, and share

across the organisation.

Knowledge base
“A knowledge base contains knowledge categories and articles that provide
users with information such as self-help, troubleshooting, and task resolution.”

Knowledge category
“A knowledge category is a way to define a knowledge base. It is like the
chapters in a book providing a specific place where related knowledge
articles sit.”

Knowledge article “is a common document to show and explain how

something can be done. A knowledge article would be established within a
knowledge category.”

Procedural knowledge articles “are step by step instructions on ‘how to’, or

‘action to be taken’, or steps to follow

Informational knowledge articles “provides general information about a

topic or subject”

Note some articles may include a combination of informational content and

procedural steps (e.g. what is annual leave (information) followed by how to
submit an application for annual leave (procedures)).

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Knowledge management lifecycle

Essentially the knowledge management lifecycle consists of 4 basic steps

Create an article to solve the problem/answer the

question or provide information using templates and
forms to write articles that create consistency and
ease of understanding for staff and students
Draft
Ensure the content is valid and that the quality
standards are respected and maintained

Review Make articles available to the staff and students,

providing a mechanism for feedback on quality
and accuracy of the article

Regular review and feedback of articles ensures

Publish articles support problem solving, provides an
opportunity to update or retire redundant articles

Retire To understand how to create knowledge articles

and manage your knowledge refer to Document
B01 – Guidelines: Creating Knowledge Articles

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

GUIDELINES
How to use this Playbook. This graphic shows you the documents forming the
framework for the Knowledge Management Playbook.

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

How to manage your knowledge

This section is designed to provide, guidance to assist you in managing your

knowledge.

These guidelines covers

1. Why manage your knowledge
2. Establishing knowledge categories
3. Process steps to follow in
a. drafting
b. reviewing
c. approving
d. publishing and
e. retiring knowledge articles
4. Templates

WHY MANAGE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

As staff and student need for knowledge grows, capturing and managing it
in a singular structured way is becoming increasingly important. Well
managed knowledge requires less effort to maintain, improves accuracy,
and reduces the amount of time spent responding to repetitive questions.
Effective knowledge management assists staff and students obtain
information quickly and more timely, improves decision making, and reduces
the possibility of ‘lost organisational knowledge’. Its not in someone’s head!

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

ESTABLISHING KNOWLEDGE CATEGORIES

In developing your knowledge articles you will need to determine where and
how they will be stored and importantly how they can be searched and
accessed by staff and students. You should develop a hierarchy based on
the following principles
1. Knowledge Base
2. Knowledge Category(ies)
3. Knowledge Article(s)
Creating a hierarchy using these principles will assist you when you establish
your knowledge in ServiceNow®.

The Knowledge base should be determined by your business unit sponsor and
is where all your knowledge will be maintained. Knowledge categories should
be determined by the Knowledge Champion(s) and are the sections where
you will store your knowledge articles.
Example
1. Knowledge Base - Human Resources
2. Knowledge Category(ies) – Leave
3. Knowledge Article(s) – How do I apply for annual leave

DRAFTING – Knowledge Articles

Drafting of a knowledge article is the responsibility of the knowledge
developer. A knowledge developer is usually a team member who is a
subject matter expert (SME) in the area of knowledge to be developed.
There may be several subject matter experts within the team, and they may
collaborate in developing a knowledge article for review. Reviewing of your
Knowledge Article is undertaken by your Knowledge Champion. To draft a
knowledge article Refer to Documents B01 Creating a Knowledge Article and
B02 Knowledge Article Template

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

REVIEWING AND APPROVING – Knowledge Articles

This section will help you in reviewing NEW knowledge articles for approval
prior to publishing in Service Now. This section do not reference managing
existing knowledge bases, categories or articles, held in other documents or
systems.

Following drafting of your knowledge article, your article should be submitted

to your Knowledge Champion for review.

The Knowledge Champion coordinates day-to-day knowledge management

process activities in your area. One of the tasks for the Knowledge Champion
is to review your submitted knowledge articles to ensure the content is valid
and that your business unit’s quality standards are met. If required, they may
seek additional information from you and may request the article be
amended prior to approval.

Once your article has been reviewed and deemed ready your Knowledge
Champion will approve your article for publication. Refer to C01 Knowledge
Article Register.

Following approval the article can be published on ServiceNow®.

PUBLISHING – Knowledge Articles

To publish your knowledge article you will require training in Service Now.
Please contact your Knowledge Champion to arrange this training.

UPLOADING YOUR ARTICLE AND ONGOING ADMINISTRATION IN

SERVICENOW®
Training in managing knowledge within the ServiceNow® platform is
available and must be completed. Please contact your Knowledge
Champion to arrange this training.

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Knowledge Management Process Overview

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS TO CREATE AND MANAGE A KNOWLEDGE ARTICLE V1.0

DRAFT REVIEW/APPROVE PUBLISH RETIRE

Knowledge User

Request new knowledge

article/update an existing
article
Knowledge Developer

Review knowledge article

Create update and submit due for retirement
article for approval
Knowledge Champion

Review & Approve Approve and retire

Publish knowledge article
knowledge article knowledge article

Change Service
Management Catalogue
Other Processes

ServicecNow
Problem Knowledge
Service Portal
Management Management Database

Incident Case Service

Management Management Portal

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Roles and Responsibilities (excludes any Service Now roles and

responsibilities)
Role Responsibility
Knowledge Knowledge users are the staff and  Review and use knowledge in
User students who use knowledge day-to-day activities
articles.  Identify any missing
knowledge required for day-
to-day activities
 Identify knowledge that
needs to be updated
Knowledge Knowledge developers are those  Create Knowledge articles
Developer who create and edit knowledge  Submit new knowledge
articles to share information across articles for review and
the organisation. Are often known approval
as subject matter experts (SME)
Knowledge The knowledge champion assigns  Manage and coordinate all
Champion Knowledge Developers, and of the day-to-day knowledge
supports the daily administration of management process
knowledge, including review and activities
approval steps prior to publishing.  Define knowledge categories
 Review submitted knowledge
They define knowledge category articles to ensure the content
structures, where articles will sit. is valid and that the quality
standards are respected
 Obtain the appropriate
subject matter expert (SME)
validation when needed
 Identify need for new content
 Approve knowledge articles
for publication in Service Now
 Encourage people to
contribute knowledge articles
Sponsor o The sponsor is the organisations  Provide leadership in the
advocate and lead. They serve as management and delivery of
the voice for organisation. They the business unit’s services
gathers the appropriate support including knowledge
and resources ensuring buy-in.  Determine the Knowledge
base

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 A01 – Guidelines: Managing Your Knowledge

Managing Your Knowledge

Templates to use

Knowledge Article Register

Refer to C01 Knowledge Article Register.

This template is to be used to track and monitor the development of

knowledge articles

Roles and Responsibility Template

Refer to C02 Individual and Team Responsibility Register

This template is to be used to identify the roles and responsibilities within a

business unit responsible for all aspects of knowledge management within
their unit.

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