Knowledge Management Systems

How to Create a Knowledge Management System
By Adaptive Leadership SystemsLLC, eHow Member


According to the website, www.ehow.com, knowledge can be defined as actionable information which has been refined for a specific purpose. It was expressed that leaders, managers, and subordinate employees of many organizations may possess information that can be refined for specific business use. The author or the article feel that by sharing this knowledge it may be possible to elevate the collective ability of employees within the organization. Knowledge Management systems are designed to efficiently share this information with other employees to help them with their work responsibilities. This article listed six step needed in creating a knowledge management system.

Step One-Determine a design for knowledge management system

*A system may come in various forms (intranet, internet, virtual private network)
*Design should be comparable to organizational needs
It was noted that an Information Technology (IT) consultant who is well-informed on information security may be able to assist with determining what type of users should be granted access and the best type of information security systems for the organization’s needs.
The tools should not be too complicated for employees to learn. This would hinder the Knowledge Management efforts.

Step Two- Determine the knowledge to be shared based on organizational goals

Determine the design of the system, leaders and managers should consider the type of knowledge that should be placed on the network. The knowledge should be industry or organization-specific information and should be designed to help employees do their jobs better. It may also be designed to allow multiple employees perform the same or similar work functions. This may result in increased efficiency.

Step Three-Hire Information Technology consultants or use in-house IT staff to build the network.

Organizations must determine whether it is more cost-effective for them to build the system themselves or to hire an outside consultant to perform the endeavor. The organization may lack the appropriate staff to build the database, set up the user permissions, and maintain the system. If this is the case it may be more effective to hire a consultant. Requests For Proposals (RFP’s) may be distributed to several vendors to determine the best price and the most qualified company. I like!

Step Four- Train employees how access and to load information into the Knowledge Management system.

Employee should be trained on how effective use the system or it will not be useful.

Step Five- Obtain feedback in the form of surveys and/or informal meetings to determine the effectiveness of the Knowledge Management system.

The system should be helping to improve employee effectiveness, efficiency, and overall productivity. If it is not accomplishing this, it may need to be adapted.

Step Six- Implement changes and make improvement and feedback an iterative process.

Organizations may decide to consider making improvements on the Knowledge Management system based on feedback provided by users. If this type of system is not improved over time and adapted to fit the changes in the organization it may become obsolete. Incremental improvements may help the system to become better over time and may help keep employees motivated to continue sharing their knowledge to improve the organization as a whole.


This article was quite useful in assisting my understanding the uses of a knowledge management system. I work for an organization that could use this type of system. We are constantly having to re-do tasks do to lack of understanding of information by everyone involved. We are always 3 steps behind the pack. Administration would benefit for a knowledge management system. There is little motivation on the behalf of employees to do better than the minimal.