The Connection Between Document Management and Knowledge Management

Many products claim to be knowledge management products. Among the various product families that claim this "honorable" title are document management products. What's behind this? Does everyone who manages documents manage knowledge?

The truth can be told - these products do assist in knowledge management, and this occurs on two levels:

At the basic level, it turns out that one of the important types of knowledge existing in organizations is "where is what located?". The ability to navigate existing documents is extremely important, since:

1. RE-USE capability relies on locating documents that describe a need similar to the new need, selecting the most appropriate one, and using it as a basis for the new need.

2. Increasingly, knowledge is being documented in writing under various circumstances. White Papers, R&D discussion summaries, and travel summaries are just examples of accumulated knowledge that, in the past, would have remained only in employees' heads, and today exist in the computer network. The application of this knowledge is a key aspect of knowledge management.

The ability to easily locate documents - both at the individual employee level and at the department and organizational levels - is vital for effective knowledge management. Without addressing a simple and fundamental problem like document navigation, there's no point in advancing to solve the more difficult problems in knowledge management that are more attractive and appear glamorous and suitable for our many skills." And if we've passed this stage, and the ability to navigate existing documents exists, we can utilize document management tools at an additional, more complex level:

Alongside document management, most tools (at least in their newer versions) also enable managing knowledge items that don't constitute a document or other file on the computer. Knowledge items can be external, such as an internet site address related to the managed topic, /or internal knowledge items, such as tips and skills related to this topic.

There are several document management products on the market. Still, it's recommended to remember that not only is selecting an appropriate tool important, but equally important is how the tool is implemented in the organization (building an appropriate taxonomy).

So, let's get to work.

---

Want to learn more about document & content?

Here are some articles you might find interesting:

• Central Knowledge Farm - The Knowledge Warehouse

• Knowledge Management in Small Organizations? Possible

• Has content become a secondary component of websites?