Knowledge Management Systems

Thanks Michael, appreciate your feedback. I understand that this system you are using requires lots of manual tailoring and folders creation, is my understanding correct ?

Well it depends on which method.

For SharePoint, this isn't necessary, however, you do have to create metadata categories for the types of documents you'll have. When a user adds a document to the library, they will have to assign it the correct metadata headers. This allows all documents to be in one folder, but they can be sorted using metadata filters.

In terms of google drive, this does require pre-defining a folder structure, and maintenance on that. In any case, you won't get away from having to plan your taxonomy of documents and data. That is necessary, and creating the structure for the information storage will also be manual, and it will require maintenance.

I find that when people don't use the folder structure on my volunteer projects, it is easiest to set an appointment with them, where we can review the folder structure and functionality that is available to them. Same is true with SharePoint. If this becomes cumbersome, it may be worth creating a role, whose responsibility it is to ensure the tool/s are being used properly. This role has to be filled by someone who is customer service oriented, and can be both professional and personable while training people how to use the tools.

I was referring to Google Drive (I apologize for not being specific). Yes, so my understanding is correct that it requires lots of manual efforts and maintanence. It could be useful for small to medium size projects but do you think it will be as efficient for large ones ?

In the company I used to work for, we had a whole department for this ss I mentioned earlier prior to this comment (Check it Out)

I don't think it makes sense for a large organization, which has budget for a deployment of SharePoint or some other document management system.

No matter which tool you use, you won't get away from the manual work. The taxonomy has to be defined and the taxonomy structure has to be manually created and maintained.

However for larger organizations, the ability to sort and search documents based on filters, metadata, and keywords is incredibly valuable. Similar functionality is severely limited in a folder structure.

I don't think you're going to be able to avoid manual creation and maintenance of the taxonomy and its structure, but finding relevant documentation will be easier in something like Joomla, SharePoint, Google Sites, etc...

Alternately, if you can move away from creating documents all together, you could simply run a wiki site. This does not allow for power point or spreadsheets though.

Try to use SharePoint with some useful site templates:
Enterprise Wiki
Publishing Portal
Team Site

What's more important is, you may need to use SharePoint Design to customize the site template as a Knowledge Sharing platform

SharePoint adds value for you, especially it can control the change of knowledge documents, and staff can identify the expert of specific knowledge domain (if you have established SharePoint community site). Therefore, staff can always ask the right question to the right person!

Hope it is helpful to you!

Auros (Formerly E2KS), Sharepoint and DOORs can be very good tools for system and knowledge management. Important is how well it is used proactively. You need really good success stories and marketing to convince employees to use knowledge through these tools appropriately. Also measurable performance indicators can be set to understand how much value does it add.

This post is a good example of why discussion categories are bothersome. Normally, this should have been posted under Knowledge Management, not Project Management Central.

Let's do away with these arbitrary, cumbersome silos.