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Practice 6: Process Integration
These techniques aim to remove friction from integrating tools and processes used in the Solve Loop.
Tooling integration helps responders move quickly through the necessary functions with a minimum number of screens and clicks. The workflow is a real-time problem solving and knowledge capture process; the tools, navigation, and infrastructure used to support the process must be real-time as well. Once the initial workflow is defined, it must continually be improved based on experience - and available tools!
Continuous Improvement for the Whole System
The closed loop nature of the workflow makes it easier to monitor and maintain its effectiveness. This is done by continually sharing best practices. Gathering the best practice feedback must be part of the continuous improvement process. Because KCS articles are effective for procedural information, many organizations use their knowledge base to collect information about the KCS workflow or the content standard. Questions and issues about the workflow, the tools, or the content standard are captured as articles in the knowledge base (often marked as internal use only).
For example, if we are seeing many incomplete or duplicate articles, then we most likely have a workflow problem. The most common cause of duplicate KCS articles is a breakdown in the problem solving process; people are not searching before they create (search early, search often). It is the role of the KCS Coaches and Knowledge Optimizers to investigate these kinds of issues and work to improve the level of understanding of the KCS Practices across the organization. Occasionally management can be the source of unwanted behaviors by putting the wrong metrics and goals in place (more on this in the Performance Insight section), or by not revoking KCS permissions when an individual's performance slips below acceptable levels. A system of continuous improvement is critical to sustain the practices and must involve the KCS Coaches, Knowledge Optimizers, and managers.
Early in the adoption phase of KCS, coaches play a critical role in refining the workflow, because they are receiving direct feedback from the knowledge workers. As the adoption matures, the organization must establish a way to manage a continuous improvement process. This is often done through a KCS Council (see Performance Insight for descriptions of these roles and responsibilities).
This continuous improvement can affect both the process and the content quality itself. For example, a software company may ask a Knowledge Domain Expert to focus on using knowledge management tools to monitor search strings, KCS articles found and considered, and the incident record, to understand the KCS article process. With this insight, the Knowledge Domain Expert will be able to create high value Evolve Loop content.