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Output: the KCS Article
The KCS methodology is organized into three components:
- KCS article: structured knowledge, the output
- The Solve Loop: the reactive process
- The Evolve Loop: the reflective and continuous improvement process
Delivering timely, findable, usable knowledge to the audience looking for it is the goal of KCS. The Practices and techniques in the Solve Loop focus on reusing, improving, and if it doesn't exist, creating knowledge articles as a by-product of responding to requests: knowledge work. The Practices and techniques in the Evolve Loop focus on learning from a collection of Solve Loop events and the patterns of knowledge reuse in the Solve Loop.
Knowledge is the by-product of interaction. To make knowledge relevant and findable, it is captured and structured during the request-response interaction and in the context of the requestor. In KCS, we want the knowledge workers to use the knowledge base as the first resource in seeking a resolution to an issue. The act of searching captures the request and the environment in which the issue occurs. A KCS article captures the requestor's issue (in their own words) and the environment, as well as the resolution from the responder. The article can also capture the responder's experience of resolving the issue. Once captured, KCS articles are improved over time based on demand and usage as described by "reuse is review." This knowledge maintenance life cycle continues indefinitely as the knowledge evolves.
The KCS Article
The KCS article is the content created using the KCS methodology. Articles can be used for many different types of content including a simple question, a complex problem, or a procedure. KCS articles have a little bit of structure, and they integrate the perspective of three groups: the requestor, the responder, and the organization.
- The requestor's perspective includes their experience of what is happening as well as information about the environment relevant to their situation. The issue statement is the requestor's view of what is happening. It is captured in their words and phrases so that we have a record of their context.
- The responder's perspective is captured in the resolution and cause (if appropriate).
- The organizational perspective is represented in metadata with information such as the article state, the date created, number of times the article has been used, modification history, and the date last modified.
The intent of the article is to connect these perspectives so that we have a full view of the question being asked (and how often) and the answer delivered (and what version). While in many cases a KCS article is a standalone object with designated fields, advancing automation tools and capabilities open the door to new possibilities.
The Content Continuum
Every organization has a broad spectrum of content that contains valuable, reusable information. KCS provides a methodology and set of practices for consistently capturing information in a way that is both structured enough to be useful, and dynamic enough to suit a rapidly changing environment. In addition to drawing from many content sources and creating a context-sensitive knowledge base for daily use, KCS processes generate new material that may reference existing content and feed into other business content like product designs, marketing plans, field training, and documentation. KCS Principles may be helpful in maintaining many types of content, but KCS articles are not intended to be a one-size fits all content type.
