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(This article is part of our ITIL v3 Guide. Use the right-hand menu to navigate.) Knowledge management is responsible for maintaining the service knowledge management system (SKMS), which represents the total body of knowledge within the service management organization. In order to deliver service successfully, it is necessary that knowledge be captured, organized, and made available to all with a need to know. The SKMS contains all of the other data stores used by service management, including:
Download Now: ITIL 4 Best Practice e-BooksThese all-new for 2020 ITIL e-books highlight important elements of ITIL 4 best practices. Quickly understand key changes and actionable concepts, written by ITIL 4 contributors. Knowledge can be categorized according to the data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) structure as follows:
As you manage your IT team, you want to be sure that every employee has access to accurate and reliable information. Knowledge is key when it comes to successfully completing tasks and ensuring that your team can provide effective services, so how do you manage the flow of information in an IT team? Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) knowledge management helps keep team members informed, knowledgeable, and ready to assist customers. Service knowledge management system exampleITIL knowledge management definedITIL knowledge management is aimed at helping you and your team make decisions throughout the service process by controlling and managing the flow of information. When you use knowledge management, you are able to ensure that the knowledge that is being distributed to employees is accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Improving the quality of information prepares employees to make effective decisions, and the end result is a more efficient team. The benefits of knowledge managementBy implementing knowledge management practices in the workplace, IT managers can improve their teams and provide better service. Consider these benefits:
The stages of knowledge managementAs with other ITIL concepts, knowledge management must be understood before it can be implemented. There are four stages of knowledge management. DataRaw data consists of the facts that are available in databases that you and your IT team use on a daily basis. When this data is processed, it becomes information that can be distributed to team members. InformationOnce the raw data has been given context, it becomes information. To create information, the data is sorted according to type. In other words, it answers “who, what, where, when, and why” questions. The translated information can then be relayed via documents, email, and formal reports to establish relevant information. KnowledgeWhen you and your team members analyze information while taking your own experiences into consideration, knowledge is formed. Your insights into the information that is translated from raw data turn basic information into real knowledge. Once the facts have reached this stage, you can start to use knowledge to make decisions. WisdomWhen you have knowledge, you will use these facts to put them into context in IT service situations. You and your team are responsible for using personal judgment, experience, and expertise to properly apply knowledge in a way that allows it to reach the wisdom stage of knowledge management. Knowledge management activitiesThe process of knowledge management is also broken down into key activities that must be performed to complete the process. Knowledge Management StrategyAs an IT manager, you need to create a strategy for identifying the information that should be processed through knowledge management. Many organizations identify feedback from customers, repeated incident reports, and the costs associated with providing and managing support systems as key data that needs to be translated into facts to be distributed across the team. Your strategy should determine the types of information to target for processing through knowledge management. You’ll need to document your strategy to ensure that everyone on the team understands what is expected. Knowledge TransferOnce you have your strategy in place, you will have to decide how knowledge will be transferred among team members and between departments. The first step in knowledge transfer is determining where gaps are located to ensure that you have a plan for getting knowledge to the appropriate people in the organization. By taking the time to identify gaps, you can eliminate them. It is helpful to create a communication plan for disseminating information across channels during this activity. Information ManagementInformation can only become knowledge if it is properly managed and distributed across your team. Access to information is essential to the knowledge management process. Information management is part of the process that involves gathering data, managing information, and determining how this information will be translated to become knowledge. Policies and procedures can be created using information, but you must first establish a process to organize this information into a procedure and record it in a manual your team members can access as needed. SKMSThe Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) is a group of systems, tools, and databases required for successful knowledge management. As an IT manager, you will use the system to store, update, and manage data on a regular basis. Team members can access information through the system at any time of the day, so utilizing such a system is of the utmost importance for teams that include members across time zones. There are two key portions of the SKMS:
Who uses knowledge management?In one form or another, knowledge management is used by everyone in your organization. Your job as an IT manager is to ensure that data is properly processed into information,which is stored in a location that is accessible to the people who require specific knowledge to successfully complete job tasks. Your team will run more efficiently if you use knowledge management properly. At your team’s level, knowledge management creates knowledge and access to this knowledge when necessary. All of your team members will be responsible for identifying the need to translate information into knowledge, while you will need to manage the databases and manuals that are available to your team members. Outside of your IT team, knowledge needs to be available to users through self-service portals. To improve the efficiency of your team, basic knowledge should be available to users who are willing to troubleshoot their own problems. When users can find solutions on their own, your team has opportunity to focus on escalated issues that require special skills and knowledge that is not available to those who are not familiar with IT applications, processes, and knowledge. Keys to knowledge management successIf you are just starting to implement knowledge management in your organization, it may be difficult to get everyone else on board with the idea. While knowledge management is a significant undertaking, it is one that yields tangible benefits. To ensure that your efforts are successful, you need to involve everyone affected by the changes. You will also need to establish methods to manage the problems that may arise. Involving Members of the OrganizationUnless you own your own business or are working in a small or mid-sized company, you will probably need to find someone at the executive level to advocate for implementing knowledge management. To ensure that you have a strong advocate, take the time to explain the benefits of knowledge management to high-level managers. Not only will a high-level manager be able to gain approval for your plan, but involving such a professional will give you the benefit of in-house support throughout the process. To get everyone on the same page, you will need to proactively educate them about the reasons for implementing knowledge management. Be sure to explain how implementation will help improve customer service and allow people to find solutions for their issues on their own when the incidents do not have to be reported and processed. As you implement knowledge management, be sure to monitor progress to report to associated members of the organization. Gaining support for knowledge management is often a matter of showing that the process creates a positive outcome. Being Proactive about Managing ProblemsKnowledge management is partially about successfully managing problems that your IT team may encounter. These problems may even be related to the knowledge management process itself. To avoid delays in implementation and efforts to update knowledge databases, it is important for you to establish roles and dictate how problems will be resolved before implementation. The most essential part of avoiding problems with knowledge management is to both assign roles and assure that team members understand their roles. If everyone knows the part that they play in the knowledge management process, your team will be better able to collaborate. The Relationship between knowledge management and other processesKnowledge management affects all processes that your IT team encounters. When you and your team members collaborate to establish procedures, these procedures are then used to handle everything from incident reporting to managing databases. Managing knowledge for your IT team allows other processes to flow smoothly by ensuring that there are established procedures available for your team members to follow. ConclusionYour IT team can be more efficient and effective when everyone on the team collaborates to create knowledge resources. ITIL knowledge management offers a guideline for recording data, processing information, and creating a knowledge database that can be accessed by your team members as needed. The end result is a more knowledgeable and effective team that can promptly process incident reports to provide superior customer service. See an error or have a suggestion? Please let us know by emailing . Which statement about the relationship between the CMS and the SKMS is correct?Q: Which statement about the relationship between the configuration management system (CMS) and the service knowledge management system (SKMS) is CORRECT? E: A inverts the relationship.
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between change management and configuration management?The best answer is D. If Change Management is implemented without Configuration Management, the result will be less effective.
Is CMS part of SKMS?A configuration management system (CMS) and a configuration management database (CMDB) are also a part of SKMS.
What is purpose of service knowledge management system SKMS?The Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) is the central repository of the data, information and knowledge that the IT organization needs to manage the lifecycle of its services. Its purpose is to store, analyze and present the service provider's data, information and knowledge.
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