Knowledge Management Portal: Definitive guide with examples (2023)

What is a knowledge management portal?

A knowledge management portal is a digital platform that contains all information about a company, including work policies,POE, employee data,internal Documentation, and more.

Establishing a structured knowledge management portal helps all employees in all departments access correct and up-to-date information. Find answers quickly by topic, business type, or service action. Consistently provide quality information on the KMS website that every member can find and share, with everything the business needs in one place.

The knowledge management portal, on the other hand, is a safe epicenter that provides customers with support and useful information. Knowledge management portals typically include aknowledge basewith classified information about a company's products and services, including tutorials, guides, and frequently asked questions. Self-service elements in knowledge management portals can improve the customer experience.

Contrary to what you might think, a KMP is much more than a digital tool for storing and sharing knowledge. We will discuss this further on in the article.

But first, let's look at the different types of KMP.

Also see: What is knowledge management explained in 10 minutes

Types of knowledge management portals

In this section of the article, we cover the three types of knowledge management portals:Internal, external and mixed.

1. Internal knowledge base, also called private knowledge base

As the name suggests, an internal knowledge base is like an internal encyclopedia that provides employees with the information they need to do their jobs.

Isinternal knowledge basecontains confidential information such as company policies, work dynamics, internal processes and much more. Different teams within an organization may maintain their own internal knowledge bases tailored to their needs, but the ideal practice is to develop a centralized knowledge base populated with information from across the organization to break down barriers and further business goals .

For example, here is an excerpt from a private knowledge base for Document360 created for HR:

Source: Document 360

Only employees with access can see this private knowledge base.

2. External knowledge base, also called public knowledge base

In contrast to the internal knowledge database, your employees and customers can access an external knowledge database. It contains valuable information about your product and services that can help customers overcome any challenges they face while using your product/service, more like a self-service guide.

An external knowledge base contains information such as:

• Details of your product/service
• Product Features and Functions.
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Order, shipping details, billing and more

Customers can consult your external knowledge base to learn more about your product and overcome the challenges they face while using it. This helps reduce the need to always speak to a service representative in your organization.

A great example of an external knowledge base would be the Netflix Help Center. It contains information on everything a customer might need when using your platform, including payments, plans, and account issues.

Those:Netflix

3. Mixed knowledge base

Some knowledge bases can function as both internal and external knowledge bases.

A blended knowledge base is great because it serves as a virtual space for your employees and customers to access the information they need, when they need it.

The Document360 knowledge base has a hybrid access configuration that allows part of your knowledge base to be public and other parts private to collaborators.

Benefits of the knowledge management portal

Let's look at some of the benefits a knowledge management portal can bring to your business:

Support a collaborative work environment

The knowledge management portal promotes a collaborative work environment by providing employees with a platform to exchange ideas and knowledge. It also helps employees seamlessly collaborate on projects and stay on the same page.

Reduce training costs

Employee training is expensive. According to the 2022 Training Industry Report byTrainingsmagazin, it costs companies an average of $1,207 to train a new employee. The report also shows that it takes approximately 62.4 man-hours to train one employee, i.e. H. more than a week and a half of work hours to train an employee.

One of the benefits of knowledge management portals is the reduction in training hours and costs. KMPs minimize training time and costs in several ways:

Your employees can be taught how to use the knowledge base instead of becoming familiar with all your products and services (which takes less time and money).
KMPs guide their employees to the answers to their questions whenever they hit a hurdle, saving managers the time and effort of repeating the same answers.

KMPs reduce training time and costs for experienced employees by rolling out new updates across the organization.

The knowledge bases containemployee handbooksshared with new hires so they can become familiar with company policies and information while learning at their own pace.

encourage self-learning

Knowledge management portals give employees 24/7 access to valuable company information and make self-learning a continuous process. Like most companies, there isn't enough time or resources to train their employees 24/7, but that doesn't mean employee learning has to stop. With KMPs, employees can become independent self-learners.

Improve team efficiency

Instead of creating and risking materials for each departmentinformation silosKMPs provide a platform for all team members in your organization to learn and collaborate. This benefit improves team efficiency by eliminating duplicate tasks and encouraging communication and collaboration.

Customer self-service for companies

Many customers prefer to solve their problems themselves, so self-service is the best option. An easy-to-search and navigate external knowledge management portal can help customers solve fundamental problems themselves.Reducing the scope of your support ticketand increase yoursCustomer knowledge about your product.

What should a knowledge management portal include?

We've seen some of the benefits of knowledge management portals; Now let's look at some of the features that a strong knowledge management portal should include:

Dynamic search functions

An effective KMP should offer dynamic search capabilities that reduce the time your employees and customers spend searching for information.

Take a look at the Elementor Help Center powered by Document360:

Font: Elementor See more

Users can use the search bar to find important information and reduce processing time.

Internal shared use or public shared use

Before choosing a KMP, make sure you are not limited to one portal type. You should be able to create internal knowledge management portals for your team as well as external KMPs for clients.

collaboration features

A robust knowledge management portal must have a collaboration feature. It's not just about seeking information; Your employees must be able to share information and learn from other employees.

Workflow-Management

A powerful knowledge management system should include options to create, document, monitor, and manage the workflows needed to help you create quality content for knowledge portals.

analyzes and reports

Another important feature to consider when choosing a knowledge management portal is analytics and reporting. You need to know which knowledge base articles work best and which need improvement. You should also be able to see all user searches and reviews, broken links, and author activity.

Also read our article aboutKnowledge Management Metrics

Accessibility

Every knowledge management portal should be accessible on all devices so that your employees can quickly navigate and understand information regardless of the screen size. In addition, the pages should be easy to navigate on all devices and the loading times should be as short as possible.

For example, take a look at the Whatfix customer support knowledge base:

Fonte: Whatfix

The screenshot above was taken on a mobile device. As you can see, the pages are easy to view and accessible as if they were on a desktop computer.

If you are looking for knowledge base software that includes all of the above features and is available at a great price, give Document360 a try. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

How to evaluate a knowledge management portal

user friendliness

The work of your knowledge management portal goes beyond hosting relevant information; You want to be sure that your employees and customers can find and use your information.

If your employees and customers find it difficult to navigate and use your knowledge portal, they will stop using it. This negates any benefits of a knowledge management portal that helps employees and customers find the information they need.

A good way to determine the usability of your KMP is to decide whether or not to provide options for interactive or sticky articles. Pinned articles are the typical Word document or PDF file. It contains all the important information, but the reader must face the stress of going through the entire document to find the necessary information.

Interactive articles allow readers to access the information they need. If your KMP only has options for stuck parts, its usability is questionable.

functionality

Each knowledge management portal software has different functionalities. And to be honest, not all features are created equal. For example, Document360 does a great job of providing users with powerful knowledge management portals. These portals have various features, including:

• deep analysis
• public and private sharing
• The ability to manage many different knowledge management software from one portal (each with their own brand and domain)
• Strong security with Enterprise SSO, 100% cloud-based architecture, database encryption, SSL, auditing and more.
• Location
• storage unit

Click here for more information about the Document360 Knowledge Management Portal.

Accessibility

The location of your knowledge management portal is very important; Therefore, it must be placed in a place accessible to its customers and employees. Many companies place their knowledge portals on their website or in their own customer service center. For example, Upwork has hosted its knowledge base in a dedicated customer support center.

Your KMP should also be responsive and accessible from any device. When you use Document360 for your knowledge base, you don't have to worry about accessibility as this is done automatically for all content.

efficiency

One of the best ways to measure the effectiveness of a knowledge management portal is by employee effectiveness. A robust knowledge management portal can help the entire organization collaborate and increase the productivity of any team.

KMPs also help managers manage their teams and projects appropriately by sharing documents, providing feedback to employees, helping with communication between different teams, and organizing training; KMPs play a very important role in team efficiency and productivity.

Suppose there are still information silos and a drop in employee productivity and efficiency after investing in a knowledge management portal. If yes, there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Also read: 7 challenges and solutions for knowledge management

How Document360 can help you set up your knowledge management portal

Document360 is easy-to-use software designed to create well-organized knowledge base platforms. The software is trusted by many leading brands such as Mcdonalds, Elementor and Harvard University.

Features of our knowledge management systems:

• User-friendly interface for creating internal and external knowledge bases
• analyzes and reports
• Easy to use markdown editor
• SSL everywhere, 100% cloud-based architecture and auditing
• Dynamic search functions

But that is not all; They can also be tailored to your needs. So why wait? Use these systems to make the most of your organization's knowledge.

Would you like to provide your employees and customers with valuable information and save time at the same time?Sign up for a 14-day free trialfrom Document 360 today.