Checklist: What Knowledge Management Systems Should Deliver

* Support for multiple channels of user access, including Web, e- mail, chat and VoIP

* Personalised, self- service end- user experience (whether access from inside or outside an organisation)

* Costs must scale effectively as services needs grow and expand

* System must support unassisted service (self- service) and assisted service with equal facility (and be able to track interactions from the unassisted side into the assisted side, so support staff can put a customer’s problems into context)

* Ability to capture feedback from end- users, customers, support staff and knowledge management

* Rapid solution development with proactive service for endusers, so that any unsolved problem is solved as soon as possible

* Must apply to any subject area, from sales to customer service, where knowledge elements can be captured, organised and ranked for relevancy. Ideally, a KM system should be able to handle multiple subject areas within the same overall framework.

* KM vendors must supply training and consulting support, so that organisations can learn how to utilise the system, and build their knowledge bases

* KM systems should be able to incorporate pre- existing knowledge bases, especially for widely used IT products and technologies.

Solicit continuous feedback on the applicability of existing knowledge elements to new situations, new problems and new scenarios. This permits the number of element relationships to grow, and explains how organisation and relevancy ranking can improve with time, thereby increasing the value of the knowledge base itself.

Experience has shown that implementing a KM solution is both attainable and desirable within most organisations. Typically, it is possible to conduct a standard initial implementation within thirty business days. Within that timeframe users are able to demonstrate the success of installing, populating, and using a modest knowledge base system to address service or support issues within a well- defined problem area.

This initial implementation enables organisations to understand the processes and methodologies necessary to carry out a successful KM project and can provide a powerful demonstration of a KM system’s capabilities within the user organisation. The right supplier can also provide all the necessary project management, systems engineering, knowledge management consulting, technical training and support needed to obtain the results targeted from an initial deployment.