ITIL - Knowledge Management

According to ITIL, Knowledge Management is the process responsible for

gathering, analyzing, storing and sharing knowledge and information within an
Organization. The primary purpose of Knowledge Management is to improve
Efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge.
The ability of an organization to deliver high-quality Service to its customers
significantly depends on the skills of the staff involved in providing the Service,
the degree of understanding of relevant situations, and the awareness of
handling options and the ensuing consequences.
On the other hand, the quality and significance of this technical knowledge
depends on its accessibility and availability to the Service staff.
As mentioned already, knowledge is data. In ITIL, data is non-interpreted basic
data. You can only turn data into information for customers after you break
down and understand the data. You will need internal or external experience
and ideas to transform information into knowledge. You can then move
knowledge to the next stage, which is wisdom.
The aim is to make the technical knowledge accessible to all participating
Service team with the help of a Service Knowledge Management System
(SKMS). The basis of an SKMS is the Configuration Management System (CMS)
and the underlying Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
Overview
Each organization strives to deliver a quality Service or process. However, this
is achievable only if you have complete knowledge of the Service or process.
You also need to ensure that you share your knowledge with other staff and
customers to help resolve Incidents and errors promptly and efficiently. This
required you to capture and store important data systematically and in a
manner that is understood by all who need to use it. You can retrieve and
analyze this data to gain knowledge and wisdom, which enables you to make
informed decisions and improve Service quality. This set of activities, in which
you capture, store and reuse data and information is known as Knowledge
Management.
Knowledge can be anything, such as stakeholder identity, Risk, expected
performance level, resource details and schedule. The quality and importance
of knowledge depends on the accessibility, quality and method of continuously
updating the knowledge source and data for staff.
Knowledge Management is a process that is used throughout the entire Service
Lifecycle. It is not only critical during the transition stage, but it also influences
and supports other stages. It involved activities to make data and information
easily available and accessible.

8.1 Purpose, Goal, Objectives and Scope

Purpose
To ensure that the right information is delivered to the appropriate place or
competent persona at the right time to enable informed decisions.
Goal
To improve the quality of management decision-making by ensuring that
reliable and secure information and data are available throughout the Service
Lifecycle.
Objectives

Enable the Service Provider to be more efficient, improve the quality of

Service, increase satisfaction and reduce the cost of Service

Ensure that staff have a clear and common understanding of the value
that their Services provide to customers and the ways in which benefits
are realized from the use of those Services

Ensure that, at a given time and location, Service Provider staff have
adequate information on:
o
Who is currently using their Services
o
Current stated of consumption
o
Service Delivery constraints
o
Difficulties faced by the customer in fully realizing the benefits
expected from the Service
Scope
Knowledge Management is a whole lifecycle-wide process in that it is relevant
to all lifecycle sectors and, hence is referenced throughout ITIL from the
perspective of each publication. It is dealt with to some degree within other ITIL
publications but this chapter sets out the basic concept, from a Service
Transition focus.

8.2 Business Value of the Process

Value of Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management is very important in the Service Transition phase
because one of the key elements being transitioned is relevant and appropriate
knowledge.
It is an excellent method because it enables individuals and teams to share
data, information and knowledge about the IT Service. It has proven to increase
revenue, save costs and improve customer satisfaction. It is important for

organizations to share knowledge of all aspects of an IT Service across all

stages of the Service Lifecycle. It is recommended that you create a single
Knowledge Management system to manage knowledge.

Knowledge Management in Service Transition

Introduce and apply new approaches to control and manage knowledge

during Service Transition

Improve knowledge transfer, which helps in effective Service Transition

Train stakeholders on new or changed Services

Record and document the errors, faults and Workarounds detected

during Service Transition

Capture details during the implementation and testing phases

Refer to existing documentation on Service development, testing and

training

Conform to legislative requirements, such as SOX and standards such as

ISO 9000 and ISO/IEC 20000

Help in decision-making on sharing information with the management

For the Service Transition team to acquire knowledge of the Service, it could
consider spending time with the development team, take part in the testing, or
be with the business as they receive the "transitioned" Service.

8.3 Basics of the Knowledge Management Concept and

an Effective Knowledge Management Strategy
The DIKW Model
You can use the Data-To-Information-to-Knowledge-to-Wisdom (DIKW) structure
to explain Knowledge Management. In the DIKW informational hierarchy; each
layer adds some attributes over the previous ones.

Data
Data is a set of discrete facts about events. Most organizations
have databases or Service Management and Configuration
Management tools/systems to store data in a structured format.
Knowledge Management helps

Record accurate data

Analyze data

Synthesize data

Transform data into information

Identify and collate the relevant data and corresponding

resources
Information
o
It provides contest to the data. Information is mostly stored in
semi-structured formats in documents, e-mail and multimedia
elements. Knowledge Management enables you to manage
o

information efficiently to ensure that relevant information is captured,

easily accessible
Knowledge
o
It is context-based and composed of the experiences, ideas and
insights of individuals and the results of the analysis of data and
information. Knowledge is dynamic and you can create new
knowledge by synthesizing existing knowledge. Knowledge
Management enables you to transform knowledge into a reusable
format and use it as input to enhance decision-making processes in
organizations
Wisdom
o
It is your final judgment, which you create using your knowledge
and experiences. It deals with the future, and you can apply this
wisdom to deal with day-to-day operations

SKMS
An SKMS helps reduce Service maintenance costs, increasing the efficiency of
Operational Management procedures. It also helps reduce the possible Risks to
the Service. You must ensure that you align all the training and knowledge
material with the business perspective. You can include

The terms used in the business and how they map to IT terminology

The business processes and their dependency on IT

The business Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and other documentation

and contracts that will be affected because of the Change in the Service.
Service Desk analysts can use this information to facilitate the process of
controlling and managing the Service after transition
SKMS, Configuration Management Database and Configuration
Management System
The SKMS is concerned with knowledge but a lot of data supports this
knowledge. This data will be held in a central logical repository or the CMS and
CMDB. The SKMS is a broader concept that covers a much wider base of
knowledge, including information about:

Staff experience

Records of peripheral matter, such as weather and user behavior

Requirements of suppliers and partners

Typical and anticipated user skill levels

Knowledge Management Activities

Knowledge Management strategy

Knowledge transfer

Data and Information Management

Knowledge Management Strategy

An organization must have a Knowledge Management strategy, which should

address:

The governance mode

Organizational Changes underway and planned and consequential

Changes in roles and responsibilities

Establishing roles, responsibilities and ongoing funding

Policies, processes, procedures and methods for Knowledge Management

Technology and other resource requirements

Performance measures
In a knowledge Management strategy:

An overall strategy for Knowledge Management is required. Where there

is an organizational approach to Knowledge Management, initiatives within
Service Transition, IT Service Management, or other groupings should be
designed to fit within the overall organizational approach

Capture and maintain the identified knowledge

An organization must use an overall strategy for Knowledge Management. The
strategy should fit within the overall organizational environment.
Each organization has a unique environment with a different purpose, culture,
size, skills and experience. Consequently, each organization will have a
different set of needs and issues that you need to address using a Knowledge
Management strategy. This strategy must aim to address the real needs and
issues of the organization.
A plan for capturing relevant knowledge and the consequential information and
data that will support it also needs to be in place.
Knowledge Management Steps
The steps to deliver a Knowledge Management plan include:

Assist an organization to identify useful knowledge

Design a systematic process for organizing, distilling, storing and

presenting information in a way that improves people's comprehension in
a relevant area

Accumulate knowledge through processes and workflow

Generate new knowledge

Access valuable knowledge from outside sources

Capture external knowledge and adapting it - data, information and

knowledge from diverse sources, such as databases, Websites, employees,
suppliers and partners
Knowledge transfer
Effective knowledge transfer is very dependent on the individual receiving the
information (knowledge transfer is more than sending e-mail). The traditional
method of transferring knowledge was through classroom training and
documents. In addition, in most cases, you impart training to a representative
of a department, and this person the passes on the knowledge to other team
members.

During the Service Lifecycle, an organization needs to focus on retrieving,

sharing and utilizing their knowledge through Problem solving, dynamic
learning, strategic planning, and decision-making. To achieve this, knowledge
needs to be transferred to other parts of the organization at specific points in
the Lifecycle. Many of the Service Management processes will link into this, for
example, allowing the Service Desk to have optimum knowledge and
understanding of the point for any Service Transition into support:

Learning styles

Knowledge visualization

Driving behavior

Seminars, Webinars and advertising

Journals and newsletters

Value of Improved Knowledge Transfer

You can determine the value of improved knowledge transfer and the benefit it
has on staff by analyzing the:

Incidents and lost time categorized as "lack of user knowledge"

Average diagnosis and repair time for faults fixed in-house

Incidents related to new or Changed Services fixed with the help of

knowledge base
However, Knowledge Management might not be totally responsible for the
improvement of these attributes, but good Knowledge Management should
influence trends in these areas.
The performance of the support team after the transition determines the
quality of the knowledge transfer. A more proactive method is to get feedback
from your team after the training to check their understanding. You can do this
with the help of questionnaires or tests.
Techniques to Transfer Knowledge
You can also use other, appropriate techniques to transfer knowledge. Some of
the techniques you can consider when transferring knowledge are:

Learning styles
o
Each person learns in a different way, and you must ensure that
you use the most suited method to transfer knowledge. For example,
some people may want hands-on experience for learning while some
may learn better with simulations and under supervision. The
learning styles may vary based on the age, culture, attitude and
personality of learners. IT staff must ensure that they consider these
points when sharing knowledge with other departments, such as
graphic designer, sales teams and marketing

Knowledge visualization

You can use diagrams, images, photographs and storyboards to

improve knowledge transfer. This helps you focus on actual learning
based on the experiences, attitudes, expectations, perspectives and
values of staff members. You can also use animations to enhance the
knowledge transfer. For example, you can use animations to explain a
change in the hardware location even when there is no change in
functionality
Driving behavior
o
Knowledge transfer helps you ensure that the staff are able to
deliver in all situations and under pressure, you can implement some
procedures for the team to follow to ensure consistency and for the
required escalations. These procedures also enable you to identity
their appropriateness and determine deviations, if any. Some
examples of such procedures are Change process models and Service
Desk scripts.
Seminars, Webinars and advertising
o
You can also share knowledge by conducting seminars. These
formal gatherings can enhance and improve knowledge with multiple
people providing valuable input. It is possible to use Webinars or
Internet and intranet portals to share knowledge. In addition, you can
retain this information online for subsequent use. Advertising helps
you share knowledge in an interesting way. People will look at
advertisements on Services or processes and try to implement them
at their workplace
Journals and newsletters
o
You must establish regular communication channels between
departments and locations. This helps in knowledge transfer in
smaller chinks that are easier to retain and absorb. You can design
these journals and newsletters to target specific teams or make them
globally acceptable and distribute them at periodic intervals to share
knowledge and information
o

8.4 Data and Information Management

Knowledge rests on the management of the information and data that
underpins it. Organizations must establish data and information requirements
and define the information architecture. They should also establish data and
information management procedures and carry out evaluation and
improvement plans. Using the SKMS, they should collect store data and
information. Organizations also need to provide Service to customers across
time zones, work cycles and geographies, which requires good knowledgesharing across all locations and time periods of Service Operations.
Steps to Effective Data and Information Management
Step 1
The first step is to consider how data is to be used. To understand this, you
must ask yourself the following questions:

What knowledge is necessary based on what decisions must be made?

What conditions need to be monitored (changing external and internal
circumstances, ranging from en-user demand and legal requirements,
through to weather forecasts)?
What data is available (what could be captured as well as what could be
rejected as infeasible)= this input may trigger justification for expenditure
or changes in working practices designed to facilitate the capture of
relevant data that would otherwise not be available
What is the cost of capturing and maintaining data, and the value that
data is likely to bring, bearing in mind the negative Impact of data
overload on effective knowledge transfer?
What are the applicable policies, legislation, standards and other
requirements?
What are the intellectual property rights and copyright issues related to
the data?

Step 2
The second step is to consider if the data:

Conforms to legal and other requirements, for example, company policy

and codes of professional conduct

Is made of defined forms of data and information that are available in a

fashion that is easily usable by the organization

Is current, complete and valid

Is disposed of, as required

Is available to the people who need it when they need it

Step 3
The third step is to establish data and information requirements by:

Establishing the designated data and information items, their content

and form, together with the reason, for example, technical, projects,
organizational, Service Management process, agreement, operations and
information. Data is costly to collect and often even more expensive to
maintain; so, only what is needed should be collected and only when
needed

Encouraging the use of common and uniform content and format

requirements to facilitate better and faster understanding of the content
and to help with consistent management of the data and information
resources

Establishing the requirement for data protection, privacy, security,

ownership, agreement restrictions, rights of access, intellectual property
and patents with the relevant stakeholder

Defining who needs access to what data and information as well as when
they access it, including the relative importance of it at different times. For
example, access to payroll information might be considered more

important in the day before the payroll is run than at other times of the
month
Considering any Changes to the Knowledge Management process
through Change Management

Steps to Define Information Architecture

You should define and appropriate information architecture to manage data and
deliver relevant information to everybody. The key steps to define the
information architecture are:

Create and update a Service Management information model that helps

you deliver information in a flexible, cost-effective and timely manner

Define systems that enhance information sharing and maintain the

integrity of the data and information

Adopt existing, globally accepted data classification schemes that can be

changed according to your Service Management needs. If one does not
exist, you should design a data classification scheme that you can use for
Service Management across the organization
Establishing Data and Information Requirements
To establish data and information requirements, you must plan and implement
the Data and Information Management process according to the policies and
procedures of your organization. Often, data is collected without a clear
understanding of how it will be used. This might eventually lead to unnecessary
costs to the organization. As a result, you must consider some of the given key
points to establish data and information requirements:

Understand and document the type of data and information you need,
along with reasons to store this data, for example, technical, projects,
organizations,
Service-Management-process-based,
agreements,
operations or any other information. You must understand that it is
expensive to collect and maintain data, and you must collect it only when
required

Use consistent and common formats to enhance the understanding of

content

Define data protection, privacy, security, ownership, agreement

restrictions, rights of access, intellectual property and patent requirements
with the stakeholders

Define access rights to data and information and the importance of

these access rights at different times. For example, it will be more
important and appropriate if you access payroll information the day before
the monthly payroll rather than on any other day

Make any Changes to the Knowledge Management process by following

Change Management
Using Data and Information
Knowledge is based on the underlying data and information. To manage
knowledge well, you need to know how to use the data and information. For
this, you must know:

The type of knowledge necessary for decision-making

The type of external and internal conditions that need monitoring. The
conditions can vary from end-user demand to legal requirements to
weather forecasts
The type of data or information you want to capture and store in the
database and the type that you want to reject
The expense involved in capturing and managing data and the benefits
that this will bring to your organization. You must also consider the
negative impact the data overload might have on knowledge transfer
Policies, legislations, standards and other requirements
Intellectual property rights and copyright issues

Successful Data and Information Management

After understanding how to use data and information for Knowledge
Management, you must e clear about your expectations from successful Data
and Information Management. It will deliver:

Conformance with legal and other requirements, for example, company

policy and codes of professional conduct

Defined forms of data and information that an organization can easily

use

Current, complete and valid data and information

Data and information that you can dispose of, as required

The capability to share information and data with people, when required
Points to Consider when setting up Procedures and Requirements
Each organization also has to define Data and Information Management
procedures for the efficient functioning of Knowledge Management. Some of
the key points that you should consider when setting up these procedures and
requirements are:

Identify the Service Lifecycle data and information that you need to
collect

Define procedures to maintain the data and information and share it with
others who need them

Store and retrieve data and information

Allocate roles and responsibilities for the information you require from
other teams

Define access rights and authority to manage and maintain the data and
information. In addition, manage the information's security, integrity and
consistency

Define an appropriate backup and recovery system for the data and
information. This should include the re-establishment of the ability to use
the knowledge, not just the re-establishment of the database

Define the requirements to review with the changing demands of the

technology, organizations, policies and security

Define a system to deal with the collection and retention of data and
information

An organization can us these defined procedures to enhance its

performance
o
The organization can:

Define a system to capture, store and retrieve data from

relevant sources
Manage the storage and movement of data and information
according to the organization's legislation
Archive information in accordance with the Data and
Information Management plan and organizational policy

8.5 Importance of stakeholder groups within the IT

Service Management Organization
Service Transition Staff
It captures data that covers:

Details on the accessibility and adaptability of the Service, which you

can pass on via Continual Service Improvement (CSI) to Service Design

Possible corrections to the design during transition, which will make

subsequent transitions easier
They must record and analyze all the errors within a Service during transition.
They must document all knowledge of the Service, errors and Workarounds in
an easy-to-understand format and pass on the information to the Service
Operations staff.
The Service Transition staff capture relevant data and information throughout
the Lifecycle phases. They must complete this activity accurately.
Service Operations Staff
It consist of:

Frontline Incident Management staff:

o
They capture most of the data in IT Service Management. If this
team does not realize its role in Knowledge Management, Knowledge
Management will not be effective. In the past, support analysts of
often did not record their actions completely and resolved issues
without documenting them. They felt that documenting all solutions
could undermine their position in the organization. Understanding the
benefits of Knowledge Management should change this attitude and
make individuals realize the value of capturing and reusing
knowledge

Problem Management staff:

o
They are responsible for normalizing the captured data and for
developing and maintaining scripts that capture data within Incident
Management
Stakeholder groups
For Knowledge Management, it is crucial that you or anyone else using it
understand its benefits and uses clearly. Successful Knowledge Management
depend on all the people and stakeholders working around IT Service
Management.

Operations and
Management.

Transition

staff

play

an

important

role

in

Knowledge

8.6 Process Measurement

Measuring Knowledge

Reduces the "user error" category

Reduces training costs in an organization

Reduces Incidents, Problems and errors

Improves customer experiences

Minimizes the transition time of Services

Reduces the duration of providing Early Life Support (ELS)

You may not be able to measure the value of knowledge; however, you must
analyze and measure how much better the organization is faring because of
Knowledge Management. This is important because it justifies the expenditure
involved in supporting Knowledge Management.
To measure the value of Knowledge Management, you can have different
parameters according to the perspectives of the business, customer or Service
Provider.
Let us now look at how Knowledge Management influences business and
satisfies customers.
Indicators Relevant to Business/Customers
Good Knowledge Management:

Reduces the "user error" category because of the targeted knowledge

transfer. It also reduces training costs in an organization

Reduces Incidents, Problems and errors, reducing resolution time

because of targeted training and the available information on appropriate
Workarounds

Improves customer experience by providing quick query resolution and

resolving queries without any additional support

Minimizes the transition time of Services and reduces the duration of

providing ELS
Effectiveness of Knowledge Management
You can judge the effectiveness of Knowledge Management by checking the:

Usage of the knowledge base, which you can measure by verifying the
number of accesses to the SKMS and the average time taken to find the
relevant information

Errors reported by the staff or detected during audit. If no errors are

reported, it implies that no one used Knowledge Management

Staff involvement in discussion forums to provide and share knowledge

and information
Level of information reuses, such as the reuse of existing procedures,
test designs and Service Desk scripts
Level of satisfaction within training courses, newsletters and Web
briefings

8.7
Relationship
Management

between

CSI

and

Knowledge

The Service Improvement Plan will:

Measure the usage of data, information management or data

transactions

Evaluate the importance and use of the data and information by using
the reports that the Knowledge Management team generated as the base

Identify unused and irrelevant data, information or users from the

knowledge base
Knowledge Management and continual Service Improvement (CSI) are closely
related. CSI depends on data that is collected about Services, overall Service
Management and individual processes. CSI needs the synthesis of the DIKW
model to determine what the improvements should be. As you are aware, the
data and information that supports Knowledge Management requires
continuous Changes and improvement.
The Service Provider must collect and store data from each Service Lifecycle
phase and use this data to improve the available knowledge, enabling wisdom.
In most organizations this data is captured, stored and used as information.
This information is converted into knowledge. You merge this knowledge with
the knowledge of others to share wisdom. This ultimately provides the
organization with the wisdom to take decisions for Service improvement. In
other words, with Knowledge Management, knowledge remains inside the
system and you can use this knowledge to take decisions and implement CSI.
This model of knowledge transformation is referred to as the DIKW model.
The potency of the DIKW model is a key ingredient for CSI. Without the insight
that comes with knowledge and wisdom, CSI would probably target the wrong
areas for improvement.
Knowledge Management Interfaces with Other Processes
The need to ensure that organizations understand the benefits of Knowledge
Management and enthusiastically embrace the benefits within the whole
organization is crucial to Knowledge Management. Specifically, effective

Knowledge Management depends on committed support and delivery by most,

if not all, of those working in and around IT Service Management.
Service Transition teams capture data of relevance through all Lifecycle phases
and so need to be aware of the importance of collecting it accurately and
completely.
Service Transition staff capture data and information:

Relevant to the adaptability and accessibility of the Service, as designed,

to be fed back via CSI to Service Design

Related to "course corrections" and other adaptations to the design

required during transition
An awareness and understanding of this data and information will make
subsequent transitions easier.

8.8 Roles and Responsibilities

Knowledge Management required effective and authoritative ownership, which
is provided by the Knowledge Management Process Owner.
The Knowledge Management Process Owner:

Designs, delivers and maintains the Knowledge Management strategy,

process and procedures

Ensures that the management process is compliant with the policies and
other processes of the organization

Architects the identification, capture and maintenance of knowledge

Manages information that is significant to the Services provided and that

is not available from any other source

Manages data and information to improve its exchange and ensures that
these are easily accessible to everybody, when required

Ensures that everyone recognizes Knowledge Management as a central

source of information and that there is no repeated information

Advises business and IT personnel on Knowledge Management issues,

such as policy decisions on storage, value and worth