Knowledge Inventory

Knowledge Inventory – Part 1

Introduction

Conducting a knowledge inventory is an essential precursor to deploying enterprise search in a small, or small/medium, company. The knowledge inventory is the first part of a two part process that provides the basis for deploying enterprise search and reduces the time needed for implementation and controls investment in consulting.

The results of the inventory include:-

• The groundwork for the security plan
• Validation of the need for Enterprise search
• A list of specific benefits
• A checklist of problems to be solved

The Knowledge Inventory Process

Companies that have small or non-existent IT staffs tend to have information scattered across the organization. This is a result of a natural evolution process rather than a result of error or oversight. Different groups within the organization develop their own naming conventions that work for the group but are obtuse to outsiders. The result is often a series of silos, collections of useful information that are not shared, or even visible, outside the group.

The knowledge inventory identifies these silos and their owners, presents the reasons for other users' access and guides the rules for that access. Enterprise search, by its nature, eliminates the need to understand naming conventions.

Give everyone in the organization as possible one of the attached questionnaires. Require them back in 48 hours. The questionnaires are sent to SQI and a knowledge profile is built from them.

Have someone on the IT staff, or a knowledgeable executive complete the company profile.

Knowledge Inventory Personal Sheet

Name:

Department:

List 5 times when you needed information that existed in the company but you either couldn't find, or you spent much too long looking for. For each instance, say why you needed that information and within which area of the company it existed. If the information is held in a corporate database or application, name that.

Company Profile

Company Name:

Address:

Telephone number:

Web Site:

CEO:

CEO Telephone Number:

Key Contact:

Key Contact Number:

No locations: Total Employees:

Who hosts your web site

Do you have your own IT staff or do you depend mostly on external consultants to maintain your computing environment.

List the Corporate applications (Accounting, Sales Management, etc) on which you run your business.

Knowledge Inventory – Part 2

The second part of the Knowledge Inventory involves an SQI person on site. The results of Part 1 are assembled into a work plan that drives the technical discussion. This involves both the executive staff and the IT or other technical staff.

The result is a complete picture of the available information who should have access to it and where it can be found.