Best practices for managing Knowledge Feedback requests

[StephLindorff]

Though there is a lot of potential, there's not a lot of muscle to the Knowledge Management module straight out of the box. What have you done to enhance knowledge management - workflows added, configuration options turned on, etc.

Thanks!

Stephanie Lindorff
Ecolab Global Knowledge Manager

[SimonDunsmoor]

We are building a very similar system for our Go-Live in August.   We are using the "leave Feedback" functionality of the system to create a task sent to KM.   We capture the person's name as a submitter and then determine if the comment is worthy of use via a SME.   If no, then we close the task as rejected and they get a canned response plus whatever the closer adds into the comment section.   If the comment is valid for updates, we make the updates, and close the task as updated.   This sends a thank you notification and any notes that the closer adds.

We also have a process to keep Knowledge Base Authors from publishing/editing KAs that they don't "own" as defined by a Group Owner in the KD record.   Which this occurs an approval task hits our queue and we view/farm our for review and approval.  

[StephLindorff]

Simon Dunsmoor - looking forward to hearing out it turns out in August.   You'll have to give us a full report!

[jeffblancato]

FWIW -- we're in the same boat, @Simon Dunsmoor. I've asked our devs to look into the feasibility of a custom-built solution that would closely follow what you've described. Essentially, our approach hinges on feedback generating some form of "beefed-up" feedback record (maybe a "KTask".. still TBD), allowing us to act on the feedback (route it, get it clarified, measure, etc.) however we see fit.

As far as giving the knowledge base user an indication of new vs. resolved feedback, we've found that resolved feedback a) adds visual "noise" to a KBA if there's a lot of it, and b) can be confusing to the reader if there's a reference to content that no longer appears in the article. We don't want to simply purge resolved feedback altogether, since the appearance of comments suggests a "healthy" and functional knowledge process/culture. Considering that, I'm hoping our engineer gurus can come up with a way to both designate resolved feedback as such, and also allow the reader to show/hide toggle the Feedback "pane" as a whole. A fella can dream

Overall, we're finding that feedback sometimes needs to be handled in a somewhat Request Fulfillment-ish manner, so I'm hoping to get more robust underlying functionality built to give us that flexibility. It's looking like others might agree - maybe that speaks to the desire for new OOB functionality in an upcoming release...!    

[StephLindorff]

Jeff Blancato - I completely agree about the tension between too much Feedback "noise" and the perception that the KA is part of a continuous cycle of improvement.   The only solutions I've found are manual and kludgy.

I also agree that knowledge work should generate tasks (I like "ktask") that can be assigned to the Owner.   Feedback should also, out of the box, have Work Notes and the ability to send/receive Additional Comment emails.

[katherinejones]

At this point the KM lead only responds to Feedback records that contain text.   If it's just Helpful yes/no we do nothing with it at this time.

I just had dev add the email function, Work Notes, and activity history to the form.  

I plan to have a couple standard email templates created. One to respond to those whose feedback is "I need help installing X" .   This one would e in the form of   "...unfortunately this is not the right path for that... contact the Service Desk (or the Service Catalog if I know that is a self-serve option and they will assist you.

Another standard email would be in the form of "Thanks for the feedback.   I would like to gather more information or gain a better understanding of what you shared in your feedback.   Please reply to this email (I assume the response will be attached to the Knowledge record??? with the best time to work directly with you.   "

A third email would be in the form of "Thanks for the feedback on KBxxxxx.   We have made the change you recommended.   Take a look again at your earliest convenience and let us know if you feel further updates are still needed."

If I need to work with someone else such as the author, owner or a SME, I just put the details into the Work Notes so that at least there is a trail of activity documented.

My next step is to add some type of State (open/closed) or Status (New, WIP, Resolved) field to the Knowledge form so that I can filter on what still must be addressed.   If it's just Helpful yes/no we would immediately set this to closed/resolved.   Has anyone gone this route and wished they had gone simpler (open/closed) or with more options (New, WIP, Resolved)??

As we mature we look forward to adding the equivalent of KTASKS so that they can be assigned to the right owners and SMEs.