KCS 7.14 Managing Knowledge Article Quality – Knowledge Centered Support
The 4th Technique of the Content Health Practice is Managing KCS Article Quality.
As the organization gets started with KCS adoption, the KCS Coach plays a major role in the quality of the knowledge base content by reviewing the Support workflow activities and the knowledge articles stored in the knowledge base in light of the Content Standard. In a Mature KCS environment the dependency on the coaches diminish over time when support analysts have demonstrated competency and quality adherence in creating find-able and usable articles. To achieve this level of competency, it requires a competency program to ensure that people understand the KCS program and Content Standard.
5 Elements Of KCS Article Quality
There are 5 elements that contribute to KCS article quality;
- Article quality index or AQI which is a single key metric that reflects the quality of the knowledge articles stored in your knowledge base,
- Licensing and coaching model which we’ll discuss in further detail in the following blog articles,
- Content standard guide which we’ve covered previously in technique 3 of the content health practice,
- Balanced performance assessment model which we will cover in practice 7 performance assessment and finally,
- Flagging it or fix it when an article is found that needs attention the user should either fix it at the time it’s noticed or flag it to be fixed later this has been covered previously in the improved practice of the solve loop,
Common Metrics
These above mentioned metrics can vary from one organization to another but the most common ones are:
- Duplicate article; is there an identical or almost identical article in the knowledge base that existed before this one was created (this is a critical part of the AQI)
- Completed fields; did they enter the problem or issue the environment cause and resolution fields with suitable descriptions and types
- Content clarity; are the statements captured in the knowledge article complete thoughts not complete sentences
- Title content; does the title reflect article content for easy recognition
- Valid hyperlinks, and
- Metadata accuracy
Now all of these quality metrics are rolled up into a single article quality index score which is usually displayed as a percentage. Qualified reviewers (usually a mix of KCS coaches and knowledge domain experts) participate in regular knowledge sampling of KCS articles from the knowledge base, while the KCS articles are selected randomly (its recommended having a sample from each individual).
The 6 metrics mentioned above have proven to be helpful for most organizations, it’s important to start simple, and we must resist the temptation to over engineer the AQIspreadsheet. As the organisation matures there are different metrics that can be used as well as introducing different weightings for each metric. We will cover additional quality elements, metrics scenarios, weighting results, analysis and sampling techniques in our in other deep dive articles in the future, but in the meantime if you’d like further information be sure to refer to the KCS practices guide
————————————————————————————
Content as shown in KCS Version 5.3 Knowledge-Centered Support Practices Guide (2012) S3 [15.1-5]. KCS v5.3 was written and edited by Melissa George, David Kay, Greg Oxton, Rick Joslin, Jennifer MacIntosh, and Kelly Murray.
————————————————————————————
FREE ONLINE VIDEO BOOK/TRAINING COURSE
The entire suite of KCS topics is available in one location for FREE via my KCS video book/training course. These are designed to guide interested people through the entire repertoire of KCS concepts and practices, as well as provide evidence of understanding for those involved in a Knowledge Centered Support program of work or implementation. All you need to is register!
————————————————————————————
Written By Paul Jay
Subscribe to my Youtube Channel
Access the KCS YouTube Playlist
Follow Me On:
https://twitter.com/KCS_Evangelist
https://www.facebook.com/jayplq
Contact Me:
