There's a reason you have an annual check-up at your doctor's office.
You have your annual physical exam to evaluate your health, catch any health concerns, and prevent future illness. You are taking care of your present and future health.
Your knowledge base also needs a routine exam (though it is more frequent than a medical exam). That's because growing companies are constantly changing. You add new policies or make changes to your existing procedures.
So, you need a plan to make sure your knowledge base continues to be healthy.
As the Director of Transformational Services at ScreenSteps — a knowledge base software company that helps employees be more efficient — I’ve worked with dozens of companies to revamp their knowledge base.
Together we've made guides more accessible, workflows easier to follow, and their knowledge base more reliable. Working with these companies, I’ve learned a few things about how to keep your knowledge base healthy.
So, how do you prime your knowledge base for optimum performance over time?
Watch this 3-minute video for five tips to help you maintain a healthy knowledge base that helps your end-users be consistent and efficient.
🔎 Related: What Makes a Good Knowledge Base? (12 Best Practices)
Policies, processes, and procedures are always changing in companies. Don't let your guides become outdated. Outdated guides unintentionally force employees to make mistakes.
When an end-user searches for a guide and discovers it holds inaccurate information, they learn not to trust your knowledge base articles.
Set a schedule to review and certify knowledge base articles. If your knowledge base software has a certification feature, this should be easy to schedule. If not, create a calendar with reminders to validate specific knowledge base articles on specific dates.
🔎 Related: 8 Tips for Keeping Your Process Documentation Up to Date
Don't make your end-users play hide-and-go-seek with your knowledge base articles.
Ideally, your employees will use your knowledge base to complete their day-to-day tasks. But, they can't do that if they can't find the articles they need.
Add alternative keywords to your knowledge base articles to make it easier for your end-users to find the information they are looking for. Learn more about improving knowledge base search results with these three tips.
Provide a way for your end-users to send you feedback. Because your end-users are following your guides daily, they will be the first to notice if something in your articles is outdated or inaccurate.
Many knowledge base software services provide a way for end-users to send feedback to the content creators. If not, you can designate a messaging channel or specific email address for feedback.
When end-users send feedback, be sure to listen and incorporate that feedback into the knowledge base articles. Clarify confusing points and update information. This will prevent unforced employee mistakes.
Get a pulse on the health of your knowledge base with user analytics. Every knowledge base software provider has different analytics and reports available. User analytics provide insights into:
Use these metrics and insights to help you make improvements to your knowledge base articles and provide more training to your employees.
Your knowledge base is the central hub for all of your company's knowledge. That means it should have an answer to any procedural question that your employee or customer may have.
As you review your knowledge base, you may notice that you are missing some of these answers. Identify which answers are missing and write a knowledge base article for those learning gaps.
Having a knowledge base is only as good as the quality of the content you include in it. You need a knowledge base that is as agile as your company.
A ScreenSteps knowledge base has simple yet powerful content creation tools to make it fast and easy to author and update your knowledge base articles. Content Certification reminds you to review specific articles so that you can maintain an accurate knowledge base.
Plus, end-users can quickly access the articles in as few as two clicks.
If you are looking for a knowledge base with agile tools that help you maintain a healthy knowledge base, watch the pre-recorded ScreenSteps demo videos below.