Case Study: Knowledge Source Management, Approaches, Practices, and Processes

One of ApexCX’s predecessors, Taylor Reach Group (“TRG”), developed knowledge source management, approaches, practices, and processes for a nonprofit organization.

The Challenge:

This large international not-for-profit organization had a problem; in an effort to manage and disseminate knowledge and information across its global infrastructure it had deployed an intranet solution and encouraged stakeholders to post and identify best practices, processes, and documents on the site. All stakeholders could post and share, but there was no version control, centralized management or vetting, and approval structure in place. As a result, a few years and a few reorganizations later the intranet was no longer serving its designed purpose. There was a large volume of very good, helpful and accurate information, but there was also older versions of documents and multiple answers to the same questions. In fact, the system was in such bad shape that it was seldom employed by its intended population and actually created more problems and questions for the contact center than it answered. The contact center often simply passed the question on to someone else in the organization as they had no confidence in the quality of information on the intranet knowledge site. Addressing this challenge and constructing a knowledge base was one of the central recommendations included in our Strategic Assessment of the organization’s contact center infrastructure.

The Process:

Our team and the client identified key knowledge sources within the organization and identified more than 100 Knowledge Managers. These were the people who created, vetted, and maintained specific areas of knowledge. In addition, we identified Knowledge Owners, the people within the organization who commissioned the creation or documentation of new knowledge and who signed off on all knowledge created within their areas of management and control. Hundreds of stakeholder interviews were conducted and existing knowledge was checked for currency and accuracy.

The Solution:

We worked with all departments within the organization to document and catalog all points (more than 100,000 knowledge points were cataloged) of known knowledge source documented. Vetted each point of knowledge source through the Knowledge Manager and the Knowledge Owner and developed work-flows to ensure the ongoing management of current and future knowledge. FAQ’s were developed for all stakeholders to use, but with specific focus and benefit to the contact center. We supported the organization in its design and ultimately deployment of a SharePoint knowledge base that hosted the knowledge.

The Result:

The FAQ’s allowed the contact center to answer questions accurately and with confidence. This process significantly improved the operational effectiveness of the center. The knowledge base created by this process was designed to be self-managed through work-flow processes which will ensure the ongoing accuracy and currency of information.