The 10 Essential Tasks of a Knowledge Manager

Nobody wants to think about knowledge management, but everybody needs it. Here are the basic things an organization should have covered as part of its KM system.

1. Establishing an information architecture for multiple user groups, permission levels, and knowledge sharing environments.

2. Maintaining the architecture, adding and removing people from user groups.

3. Locating and archiving institutional knowledge.

4. Establishing taxonomies, workflow systems, approval systems so that we know which documents are approved for release and who the audiences are for that release.

5. Ensuring compliance with reporting requirements.

6. Ensuring everyone can find the information they need quickly and that the most recent version is online.

7. Version control.

8. Upgrading the collaboration environment as new technologies come online.

9. Exploring efficient new technologies and incorporating them where practical.

10. Teaching users to use more advanced features associated with collaboration platforms, like mapping a drive, establishing a workflow, etc.

Dannielle Blumenthal, Ph.D., is a communications specialist in government, as well as a blogger and speaker on branding and social media. The views expressed are her own and do not represent a federal agency or the government as a whole. Follow her on Twitter at @oursocialfuture.

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