To deliver services successfully, service staff need the right information at the right time. They want to be able to respond to circumstances in a well informed and efficient manner. Having information to hand means they can ultimately understand the consequences and benefits of any situation during the service lifecycle.
Knowledge Management is a lifecycle process that we see in all aspects of the ITIL lifecycle, from strategy through to continual service improvement. Knowledge is a powerful element that provides astuteness and foresight to all people in all roles in ITIL.
Which informationData and information management decides which information is valuable and what need to be captured. This is typically based on the future decisions that need to be made, which things need to be monitored and of course which data is readily available.
Typically as actions take place during the service lifecycle, new knowledge is available for distribution. We seek to organize, create, capture or distribute this knowledge and ensure its availability for future users. A good example during ITIL would be the knowledge gained from release management such as 'production errors', which will be passed onto the service desk.
Who needs knowledge?- Users
- Support staff
- Service desk
- Suppliers
- Managers
What types of knowledge to transfer- Skills (via training)
- Recording of errors, faults, workarounds
- Testing information
- Documentation
- Compliance requirements
- Suggestions and ideas
- Risks
Key knowledge sharing processes- Identifying the knowledge holders within the organization
- Motivating them to share
- Designing a sharing mechanism to facilitate the transfer
- Executing the transfer plan
- Measuring to ensure the transfer
- Applying the knowledge transferred
See also