HR teams handle a massive amount of sensitive information – from payroll details to performance reviews. Without a defined hr knowledge management strategy, this data gets scattered in silos. Valuable information gets lost when employees leave. Overall productivity and efficiency take a hit. 

Developing a robust HR knowledge management framework is essential to streamline HR operations. It enables seamless information sharing and preservation. 

In this guide, we will explore: 

• What HR knowledge management entails 
• Its benefits 
• Steps to build an HR knowledge management strategy 
• Impactful HR knowledge management examples 
• How to choose the ideal HR knowledge management software 

 Let’s get started! 

What is HR Knowledge Management? 

HR knowledge management refers to the strategies and systems adopted to identify, capture, organize, share, and preserve HR-related information in an organization. 

It encompasses both explicit knowledge such as documents, guides, and policies as well as tacit knowledge like expertise and insights of HR professionals.

The goals of HR knowledge management include: 

• Centralize HR information in a single, easily accessible platform 
• Standardize HR processes company-wide 
• Retain organizational knowledge despite employee turnover 
• Enable self-service access to HR data for employees 
• Equip HR teams to become more efficient and productive 

With an effective HR knowledge base in place, HR teams can sharply focus their efforts on more strategic priorities rather than repeatedly answering trivial employee queries. 

Why Is HR Knowledge Management Important? 

HR data is critical business information that allows organizations to optimize talent management. Without proactive management, this data easily becomes siloed and inconsistent. 

Here are some key reasons why actively investing in HR knowledge management pays rich dividends: 

1. Improves efficiency

HR professionals spend countless hours answering repetitive employee questions on policies, pay info, leaves, etc. A self-service HR knowledge base reduces this admin burden substantially. 

2. Enhances productivity

With streamlined access to HR information, employees spend less time tracking down answers and can refocus on core tasks. 

3. Standardizes HR processes

Documented playbooks on onboarding, payroll, and compliance to ensure uniformity in HR processes across the organization. 

4. Boosts employee experience

Employees can easily access HR info like benefits, time-off policies, etc through self-service portals rather than chasing HR. 

5. Accelerates onboarding

New hires can onboard seamlessly with access to policies, guidelines, and training content via the knowledge base. 

6. Aids compliance

Version-controlled, up-to-date HR documents help demonstrate compliance with regulations during audits. 

7. Enables smooth transitions

When employees leave, critical information they hold isn’t lost but retained within the knowledge base. 

8. Supports data-driven decisions

With all HR data in one place, analytics, and reporting become easier – supporting fact-based strategic decisions. 

9. Future-proofs the organization

Curated HR knowledge equips the company to rapidly adapt to changing business scenarios. 

The benefits make a compelling case for prioritizing HR knowledge management. Next, let’s explore how to formulate an HR knowledge management strategy. 

Steps to Build an HR Knowledge Management Strategy 

Developing a robust HR knowledge management framework requires careful planning and execution. 

Here are the key steps involved: 

Step 1: Define goals and scope 

Be clear about what outcomes you want to achieve from HR knowledge management. Is the focus on speeding up employee onboarding? Streamlining compliance? Or reducing the admin workload for HR? 

Define the scope for your initial knowledge base – what HR processes, data types, and employee groups will it cover? Prioritize high-impact areas first. 

Step 2: Take stock of existing knowledge 

What HR information assets already exist within your organization? Perform a detailed audit to unearth policies, process documents, manuals, forms, and FAQs across departments. 

Look for knowledge nuggets hidden in emails, meeting notes, chat histories, and individual drives. Consolidating these dispersed content fragments into a central HR knowledge base will unlock their value. 

Step 3: Identify knowledge gaps 

The knowledge audit will also highlight potential gaps in your existing HR knowledge. 

What common employee queries remain unanswered? What new skills or insights need to be captured from senior team members before they leave? Filling these knowledge holes should be part of your KM roadmap. 

Step 4: Structure the knowledge base 

Decide on a taxonomy to categorize and tag HR content for intuitive access. For instance, separate sections for regional vs company-wide policies, and full-time vs contractor info, with relevant metadata tags for quick searching. 

Standardize document formats, naming conventions, and storage protocols. Maintain version histories of approved documents. Clearly indicate obsolete or outdated content. 

Step 5: Develop a governance model 

Define clear roles and responsibilities for creating, reviewing, approving, and publishing HR knowledge base content. 

Who can author draft articles? Who will vet content before publication? How will updates be reviewed and approved before going live? Document these governance protocols. 

Step 6: Facilitate knowledge capture 

Identify processes that allow tacit HR knowledge to be captured systematically. For instance, exit interviews and onboarding checklists could include knowledge transfer components. 

Subject matter experts from HR and other teams should be encouraged to contribute their insights to the knowledge base through interviews, videos, podcasts, etc. 

Step 7: Select and implement a technology platform 

Choose a user-friendly HR knowledge management system that aligns with your content, access, collaboration, security, integration, and analytics requirements. 

Prioritize platforms that enable seamless authoring, review workflows, personalization, and mobile-responsive self-service access for employees. 

Step 8: Communicate the rollout 

For organization-wide adoption, keep employees informed and excited ahead of the knowledge base launch. 

Share previews of the platform and content at team meetings. Send out teasers of upcoming features. Offer incentives for contributing content. 

Step 9: Track usage and engagement 

Leverage built-in analytics within the knowledge management system to track and optimize content performance. 

Monitor page views, search queries, content ratings, likes, and comments to identify popular topics and gaps. Keep iterating and expanding the knowledge base. 

HR Knowledge Management Examples 

Some examples of how HR knowledge management delivers high value: 

Employee Onboarding

Onboarding is a prime candidate for a knowledge-driven approach. Standardized checklists guide new hires through required activities as they ramp up. FAQs provide quick access to policies. Training videos and e-learning modules let them get up to speed on systems and processes. 

Leaves and Attendance 

Self-service access to leave policies, calendars, entitlement calculators and request forms streamlines tedious admin for HR. Employees can check eligibility, submit applications, and track status without assistance. 

Employee Directory 

A searchable org directory with skills profiles and contact info saves employees time hunting for the right person to help with specific tasks or questions. 

HR help center 

A self-service portal with FAQs, user guides, and HR contact options for common employee queries boosts productivity for both HR and employees. 

HR checklists 

From offboarding procedures to compliance steps during mergers and acquisitions, checklist templates within the knowledge base guide HR teams to effectively execute complex tasks. 

HR audit preparation 

Quick access to historical policy documents, past audit reports, compliance data, and HR manuals accelerates audit prep and response. 

Choosing the Right HR Knowledge Management Software 

The right technology platform is crucial for impactful HR knowledge management. Here are key features to look for when evaluating options: 

Intuitive interface 

The HR knowledge base needs to be extremely user-friendly – both for HR teams authoring content and employees accessing information. 

Secure access controls 

Granular permissions to control viewing and editing of different content types based on profiles. 

Powerful search 

Must quickly surface relevant HR documents and data based on keywords, tags filters, and other parameters. 

Seamless collaboration 

Allows multiple reviewers and editors to provide feedback and updates to knowledge base content. 

Process automation 

Workflows for content submission, review, approval, and publishing ensure consistency. 

Accessibility 

Mobile-responsive interface for consumption across desktops, tablets, and smartphones. 

Customizability 

Options for branding, theming, taxonomies, and metadata models as per business needs. 

Integration 

Ability to integrate with existing HR systems like ATS and HRMS through APIs. 

Analytics 

Actionable insights from system usage data help continuously refine and optimize the knowledge base. 

Get Started with Beyond Intranet for Your HR Knowledge Management 

Hopefully, this guide provides you with a comprehensive overview of formulating and executing an HR knowledge management strategy for your organization. 

While the problem might seem daunting initially, a phased approach focused on the highest-impact knowledge processes and deploying the right technology can set you firmly on the path to success. 

Beyond Intranet offers a powerful, enterprise-ready HR knowledge management platform tailored to complex organizational needs. With cutting-edge features like: 

• Customizable HR knowledge base templates 
• Collaborative authoring, review, and approval of workflows 
• Personalized self-service access for employees 
• Usage analytics for continuous improvement 

Beyond Intranet accelerates HR’s transition to data-driven, strategic advisors while unlocking productivity for employees across the organization. 

Book a demo today to explore how Beyond Intranet can transform HR knowledge management for your business. 

Who uses knowledge management tools

knowledge management software is used by all kinds of organizations, no matter their size or industry. It helps teams communicate better and work together more efficiently, which is especially important for remote, distributed, and global teams. Here are some examples of how different departments use knowledge management software:

• HR departments keep track of employee onboarding, training, policies, and performance metrics.
• Customer service teams create a knowledge base of FAQs, best practices, and customer feedback for easy access.
• Sales teams capture and share customer insights, market trends, and competitive intelligence to improve sales performance.
• IT departments document IT assets, configurations, and incidents, as well as provide self-service support and automate workflows.
• Marketing teams manage brand assets, marketing campaigns, and content calendars, and analyze customer data.
• Legal departments store and retrieve legal documents, precedents, and regulations, and manage contracts and compliance.
• Education and training organizations design, deliver, and assess online courses and certifications, and share educational resources.
• Non-profit organizations organize volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries, and measure social impact and sustainability goals.

Why You Need Knowledge Management Software

I’ve got some details on why you absolutely need knowledge management software for your business. First off, it’s a crucial tool for storing, organizing, and accessing information in a structured way. This makes it super easy for your team to collaborate, boost productivity, and reduce errors, leading to better decision-making and business outcomes.

The best part? knowledge management tool also improves customer experience by providing timely and accurate information. That means no more scrambling around to find answers to customer inquiries. You’ll have all the info you need at your fingertips, making it a breeze to streamline your operations and deliver top-notch service.

Knowledge management software is a must-have for businesses looking to optimize their operations and achieve their goals. It’s the secret sauce that helps you manage data like a boss and stay ahead of the competition.

So, make sure to choose the best sharepoint knowledge base that fits your business needs and goals. And hey, if you need a demo, Beyond Intranet’s got you covered!

Benefits of Knowledge Management Software

Here are 10 benefits of the best knowledge management software, like Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software:

1. Say Goodbye to the Information Mess: The software helps you keep all your important information in one place, so you don’t have to go on a wild goose chase every time you need something. This means less frustration and more time for fun stuff (or work, if you prefer).
2. More Time for Netflix: With knowledge management software, you can find the right information faster, which means you can finish your work on time and have more time for Netflix (or any other leisure activity of your choice).
3. Happier Customers: By providing accurate and timely information, knowledge management software helps you improve customer service, leading to happier customers and more repeat business.
4. Make New Employees Feel at Home: With the help of the software, you can create awesome training materials that will make new employees feel welcome and get up to speed quickly.
5. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Knowledge management software makes it easy for team members to collaborate, no matter where they are located. This leads to better teamwork, more creative solutions, and better outcomes.
6. No More Duplicates: With knowledge management software, you can avoid creating duplicates or outdated information. This means less confusion and more time for important tasks.
7. Save Money, Save Trees: By going digital, you can reduce paper-based systems and cut down on the number of tools you need. This saves you money and makes you an eco-friendly hero.
8. Scalability for the Win: Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, the software can be scaled to fit your needs. This means you won’t have to worry about outgrowing the system.
9. Stay Compliant (and Out of Trouble): With the software, you can stay compliant with regulations and standards by ensuring that employees have access to the latest policies and procedures.
10. Be the Boss: By using the best knowledge management software, like Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software, you can gain a competitive edge and be the boss of your industry.

So, if you want to have a more organized work life, impress your customers, make new employees feel at home, and have more time for Netflix, the best knowledge management software is the way to go. 

A Knowledge Management Software, offers a range of benefits to businesses, including improved collaboration, productivity, decision-making, customer experience, and compliance, among others. 

By centralizing information management, reducing errors, and streamlining operations, organizations can gain a competitive advantage and achieve their goals faster.

Features to Look for in Knowledge Management Software

When it comes to choosing the best knowledge management software, it’s important to look for specific features that will help you get the most out of your investment.

First and foremost, a centralized knowledge repository is essential. This is the foundation of any knowledge management system and makes it easy to store, organize, and access information. And let’s be honest, nobody wants to waste time digging through countless folders to find what they need!

Next up, search capability is key. We’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to find a specific piece of information, only to be met with irrelevant search results. With advanced search functionality, you can quickly and easily locate what you need without pulling your hair out.

Document management is also important, allowing you to manage all types of documents like PDFs, Word documents, images, and videos. Plus, you want to make sure your sensitive information is secure with features like access control and permissions.

Collaboration tools are also a must-have in today’s fast-paced work environment. Whether you’re working on a project with a team or just need to share knowledge with others, the right software will make it easy to collaborate effectively.

And of course, you want software that’s easy to use and customizable to your organization’s needs. With a user-friendly interface and the ability to integrate with other software applications like Microsoft Office, Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software checks all the boxes.

So, whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, investing in the best knowledge management software can help you streamline your operations, boost productivity, and stay ahead of the competition. And with Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Solution, you can do all that and more!

Guide to Pick Best Knowledge Management software

here are some tips to help you pick the best knowledge management software:

1. First things first, figure out what you actually need and want from the software.
2. Do some good old research and compare different software providers to find the best fit for your needs.
3. Look for software that has a user-friendly interface that doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out.
4. Consider security features because you don’t want your sensitive information leaked like a faulty faucet.
5. Look for software that can play nice with other tools you use, like Slack or Trello.
6. Check out reviews and ask for recommendations from other folks in the industry to hear about their experiences.
7. Make sure the software has data analytics to help you measure your success and track progress.
8. Obviously, cost is a factor so compare pricing with the benefits you’re getting.
9. Lastly, look for a provider that offers training and support because let’s be real, we all need a little help sometimes.

By keeping these tips in mind, you’ll be able to find the best knowledge management software for your organization, and keep your team organized and efficient.

What I Looked at to Find the Best Knowledge Base Software

There are certain factors that one should consider. Here are some of the aspects that I looked at while searching for the best knowledge base software:

1. Features: I looked at the features of each software and how they aligned with my organization’s requirements. Features such as searchability, customization, and collaboration capabilities were some of the things I paid attention to.
2. User Interface: A user-friendly interface can go a long way in encouraging adoption and ensuring ease of use. I paid attention to the design and layout of the software, including how easy it was to navigate and find information.
3. Integration: Integration capabilities with other tools, including project management software, was important to ensure seamless communication and information-sharing.
4. Security: Since knowledge management software often contains sensitive information, it was essential to ensure that the software was secure and had features such as access controls and data encryption.
5. Support and training: I also considered the level of support and training provided by the vendor, including the availability of resources such as user guides and online support.
6. Cost: Finally, I evaluated the cost of each software and whether it was within my organization’s budget.

When considering all these factors, Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software stood out as the best knowledge management software for my organization. The software ticked all the boxes in terms of features, user interface, integration, security, support and training, and cost.

Why Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software is the Best?

Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software is the best because it offers an array of features that make managing knowledge easy and efficient. With Beyond Intranet, users can create and manage content, collaborate with team members, and streamline their workflows.

One of the key features that sets Beyond Intranet apart is its integration with Microsoft SharePoint. This allows users to leverage the full power of SharePoint’s capabilities while also benefiting from Beyond Intranet’s additional features and functionalities.

Additionally, Beyond Intranet’s user-friendly interface and customizable templates make it easy to use and adapt to any organization’s unique needs. And with 24/7 customer support and a commitment to continuous improvement, Beyond Intranet ensures that its software is always up-to-date and responsive to user feedback.

Overall, Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software stands out as the best option for organizations looking to streamline their knowledge management processes and increase collaboration and efficiency among team members.

Conclusion

In short, knowledge management software is a great tool for any organization that wants to improve knowledge sharing, learning, and innovation. And if you’re looking for the best knowledge management software out there, Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management Software is definitely worth checking out. It’s easy to use, customizable, and scalable, and it’s built on SharePoint, which is a powerful platform for collaboration and knowledge management. Check out the demo here.

Azure has a unique service offering aptly named “Azure Search.” This is a search-as-a-service cloud solution that lets you add a rich search service to your apps. This feature is a programmable search engine with intelligent search behavior that powers the search bar on your website, application, or documents. It’s also a managed search service that runs on all applications, whether they are in the cloud or on premise. You access your server and software data via an Internet connection to Microsoft’s data center rather than having costly hardware onsite.

At Beyond Intranet, we are using the power of Azure Search on some of our SharePoint add-ins like Knowledge Management. This add-in is basically a huge digital library where you can continuously add, create, and share crucial corporate information like policies and procedures, FAQs, project documents, and more. Here your team can also continuously sort, share, and search for knowledge within high-level security measures. It is really important to have an extremely powerful search tool available for our customers so they can complete faster and more accurate searches in no time.

We chose Azure Search Service because it has several business benefits which other search options do not provide. Let us understand how Azure search has a preference over others here:

1. Easy to Install

The first and probably biggest reason to choose Azure is the ease and convenience of installation that comes with it. All you have to do is create an instance, create search indexes, and start using it right away.

2. Flexibility

Azure delivers an appreciable level of flexibility by giving you the option to have functionality as required. You pay for what you need, and you can integrate it with your existing technology. Azure search works well on any kind of application hosted anywhere. This means you can use it on an application that runs on Azure cloud platform, any on premise datacenter, or even ones that run on other cloud platforms.

3. Cost Effective

Investing in new infrastructure is always a large investment of capital expenditure. With Azure this is no longer an issue. Instead of replacing your servers every five years, you essentially rent your server from Microsoft for a smaller monthly cost making it an operating expenditure like Office 365. You also don’t have to consider the cost of heating, cooling or powering your servers anymore because Microsoft will do it all for you.

4. Suggestive Search

Azure Search offers a variety of search options. When integrated with any system, Azure Search gives you suggestive, auto-complete and auto-corrective, or fuzzy search results. These various types of searches allow businesses to increase efficiency, productivity of people working on them by getting results in less time, and maintain better accuracy.

5. Updates

In Azure, the software updates are automated. Moreover, it is updated in real-time, so the infrastructure and applications are always up-to-date. Thus, it helps businesses grow faster while reducing their carbon footprint.

6. Security

Microsoft services are known for their commendable security aspects, and the data on Azure is protected no differently. The data centers have two-tier authentication, proxy card access readers, hand geometry biometric readers, and a global incident response team. Thus the likelihood of hacking is greatly reduced.

7. Agility

Azure is fast in terms of deployment, operation, and scalability. This gives a competitive advantage to companies that adopt Azure, as it is the most up-to-date cloud technology and the infrastructure and applications could be made agile.

8. Compliance

Azure is built around the privacy and security demands of businesses. Microsoft provides the most comprehensive set of compliance offerings of any cloud service provider. If you are from industry domains such as Law or Finance, you can be confident that your stored data is compliant with regulations.

9. Back Up and Disaster Recovery

Backing up your data to the Cloud is both cost-effective and smart. The disaster recovery capabilities of Azure, including regional/global failover options, rolling reboots, and the hot/cold standby modes, provide a stronghold against disasters.

10. Analytics Support

Azure has built-in support to analyze data and derive insights which help in managed SQL services, Machine Learning, Stream and Cortana Analytics, allowing you to make smarter business decisions that lead to new opportunities.

So after exploring all the benefits of Azure Search Services, it isn’t hard to imagine how implementing a sound cloud transformation strategy with Azure within your business can bring about meaningful growth and value.

We have used this search in our SharePoint collaborative tools such as Knowledge Management – Enterprise Plus version. Just download the add-in and experience for yourself the miracle of this exceptional search tool!

Is your company information scattered all over the organization making it difficult to manage and search for the right information at the right time?
Does your support staff face difficulty in gathering the correct solution for their customer’s problems which have been addressed in past but not documented and saved properly?
Does every new employee who joins your organization find it difficult to get all of the policy documents and procedures in one place, making their first day difficult?
Or when your key employees are out of the office or leave the company, does valuable company knowledge go with them?

You can solve all these problems with one efficient knowledge-based software. Yes, we are talking about the

SharePoint based Knowledge Management solution by Beyond Intranet.

Our Knowledge Management add-in is a customized, digital library that is accessible to your employees, partners, customers or anybody else you’d like to have access permission. Users can search, share, add or access important company information whenever and wherever they want. This SharePoint based content collaboration tool can help teams adopt a modern communication strategy with which they can switch to continuous sorting, sharing and searching of knowledge in high-level security measures. This is important when streamlining your in-house critical education management system, as well as to making your customer support backbone even stronger.

Knowledge shouldn’t be stored solely on hard drives, where it can become outdated or irrelevant. Our Knowledge Management tool provides a central platform to keep your team’s work, organized, accessible, and up to date, making it easier to find the information you need to keep moving forward.

According to a study by Gartner, improving access to contextual knowledge for an employee reduces the support time by 20 to 80 percent, thus increasing the customer satisfaction rate. This also helps organizations reduce the cost of customer support by 25 percent or more when using appropriate Knowledge Management Products.

Beyond Intranet’s SharePoint based Knowledge Management enables an organization to store, create, maintain and share vital company information all within one easily accessible Knowledge portal. This portal is enriched with powerful features like:

1. Organization of data:

Easy organization of your company information into categories and subcategories such as departments, projects, individual tasks or all of them. Assign a category or subcategory administrator to manage knowledge assets, so you can easily control what is being posted and by whom.

2. Document repository:

it’s easy to save documents like text files, images, and spreadsheets. These documents can be attached to questions, answers or both. Versioning of the document is maintained to ensure the latest version is in circulation. Working as a robust document repository, this eliminates duplicate documents and helps employees maintain a single copy of the current document with all versions saved in the backend.

3. User level permissions:

User level permissions are yet another important aspect of BI’s Knowledge Management add-in. the KM administrator can create different groups of users with different role levels. Some can only view the K-assets, while others can ask questions. Category and subcategory administrators can approve and answer questions, allowing them to filter out unwanted questions and maintain company culture.

4. Robust Search Engine:

Another highly demanded feature of this tool is a robust Question and Answer search engine. This allows users to search specific keywords to pull up relevant Knowledge assets within seconds. Users can also search attached documents.

5. Personalization:

Use your company logo, theme and title to brand the KM tool and match it with your company culture.

6. The validity of K-assets:

Set expiry dates for your Knowledge assets, so they are removed when no longer needed. This takes of unnecessary loads from admins managing event based assets.

7. Automatic email notifications:

This is yet another vital feature of Beyond Intranet’s Knowledge Management. Administrators are instantly informed when a new question is posted by any employee or customer by an automated email. Similarly, staff and customers get a notification when a response to their question is sent through the portal. This helps in significantly improving delivery timelines and customer satisfaction.

8. Data Analytics:

Another highly demanded feature is reporting or Data Analytics. No software is complete if it does not show its adoption rate or statistics that managers can use to make informed business decisions. So here’s where our BI Knowledge Management tool plays a crucial role. Statistics not only show the tool’s user adoption rate, but they also provide information on which question is most asked by your customers. It allows you to understand the bottlenecks of your system and improve it.

9. Multilingual:

And Last but not least- its available in multiple languages or your own custom language. For ease of customers- we have provided 5 in-built languages like- English (United States), Dutch (Belgium), German (Germany), French (France) and Spanish (Mexico). Users can change their view of the tool in their custom language in just a few clicks.

Your organization is unique, so your Knowledge Management solution should be too. If there are specific customizations you’d like to see added to the current add-in, we’d love to hear about them! You can send your customization requests to contact@beyondintranet.com.

So, Let’s not wait and put our knowledge to work for you! Download the free trial of our Knowledge Management add-in now.