{"id":3344,"date":"2021-07-23T09:33:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T03:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betterdocs.co\/?p=3344"},"modified":"2023-10-25T12:15:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T06:15:10","slug":"invest-internal-knowledge-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betterdocs.co\/it\/invest-internal-knowledge-base\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Invest In Internal Knowledge Base For Your Company?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having<\/span> an\u00a0internal Knowledge base<\/b><\/a> is the most effective way to provide all team members with the information they require, including knowledge of the products, procedures, etc. With modern technology, creating <\/span>internal documentation<\/b> for your company is now a matter of minutes. It is one of the trendiest tools to nurture employee performance and boost productivity. But why should you invest in your company’s internal knowledge base? To get to the answers, start reading.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"internal<\/span>What Is Internal Documentation?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Whether you manage your own company or work for a software or SaaS company, you might have heard of internal documentation or knowledge base<\/strong>. Similar to what you normally find the knowledge base for most of the tech-related products, eCommerce stores, LMS websites, on their websites. In the case of internal documentation, it is only accessible to restricted users<\/strong> and not for everyone on the internet. Let\u2019s explore what is meant by internal documentation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can define<\/span> internal documentation<\/b><\/a> as a centralized library of internal documents stored, shared, and accessible by your team members. It can be compared with your company’s own Wikipedia. You’ll find most of your company’s benefits, onboarding process, workflows, etc. in your internal knowledge base<\/strong>. It is easy to search and quickly find answers to the questions posed by your employees if your employees can organize the information hierarchically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Types of Internal Documentation You Can Create<\/b><\/h3>\n

Based on your company structure, goals, and objectives, you can create certain types of internal documentation. That will help you as well as your team members to get a detailed and clear idea about your company, product, business, and so on. Based on popularity, we are mentioning <\/span>top internal documentation types<\/b><\/a> that you can create for your company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"internal<\/span>A Guide For Better Onboarding Process<\/b><\/h3>\n

An internal document such as this serves as a guide for your new hires to familiarize themselves with your work processes. It can also be used by existing employees to brush up on their knowledge in specific areas. A company\u2019s policy manual includes information about its HR processes, organizational structure, top-level employees, and much more, providing valuable insights for selecting the best applicant tracking software<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowledge Base For Team Structure<\/b><\/h3>\n

If any internal documentation about your company’s team structure, how each department is interconnected, and how your team works, is included, it is often also called “team documentation”<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can use this knowledge base to document everything your team has been working on. Among other things, it includes meeting notes, department goals, and project reports.<\/span><\/p>\n

Documentation For Complex Processes<\/b><\/h3>\n

This type of internal knowledge base allows you to document all the steps you need to take to complete the task from beginning to end. Step-by-step instructions are provided to ensure that a process is completed as smoothly as possible. When your employees are familiar with all the standard work processes through the internal knowledge base, they are less likely to make mistakes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Internal Documentation For Projects<\/b><\/h3>\n

When you want to store down your specific project details, process, research, and so on, that internal documentation will be called project documentation. Throughout the entire life cycle of a project, everything at every stage is included. This internal documentation describes the project guidelines, timelines, deliverables, team members, and the resources required for the members\u2019 successful completion of the project.<\/span><\/p>\n

5 Advantages Of Investing In Internal Documentation For Your Company<\/b><\/h2>\n

Now that you know what internal documentation or internal knowledge base is, you might be wondering: would it be worthwhile to create internal documentation and invest in it? In order to make a better decision, let’s find out the <\/span>advantages of investing<\/b><\/a> in your company’s internal documents:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fast And Effective Training To Team Members<\/b><\/h3>\n

To run your company smoothly, you need to brief and train your new members about your company, projects, projects, and so on. You can easily avoid wasting money and time in <\/span>creating in-house training material<\/b> for your team members. If you invest in an internal knowledge base, then you can run fast and effective training. \"internal<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, whenever you enroll new employees to your company, to get them into productivity and a part of your team, it\u2019s important to train them about your company work process, products, methods, culture, etc. internal documentation can be the best onboarding tool to nurture your new team members.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep Your Team Up-To-Date With New Changes & Integrations<\/b><\/h3>\n

When your team keeps growing and evaluating, it becomes harder to stay up to date about every project, change, minor details, and so on. But if you can invest in your company’s internal knowledge base, and maintain them from the beginning, then your entire team can stay up to date about your companies, new changes, integrations, and many more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ease Of Access To All Company Resources<\/b><\/h3>\n

Imagine you run a software service-related company, or have multiple running products like knowledge base plugin, social proof plugin, etc. No matter which tool you use to manage and run each project or product, you will need a centralized hub from where you can get updates of your company’s all resources at once. If you invest in your company’s internal documentation, then it can work as your company resource hub and all the team members can easily access them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Boost Knowledge Sharing Among Team Members<\/b><\/h3>\n

When your team members work together to find new solutions, lots of amazing and innovative ideas are generated. If your team can manage the internal knowledge base systematically, then it can work as a great medium for knowledge sharing. When your own company has internal documentation, it becomes easier to acquire knowledge about companies present status, new and ongoing projects, etc. without internal documentation, you would have to depend on other 3rd party tools and extra time to store info and share them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Companies That Effectively Scale By Using Internal Knowledge Base<\/b><\/h2>\n

Analyzing the advantages of internal documentation, hopefully, you got a clear idea of why you should invest in your company’s internal knowledge base.\u00a0 Mentioning some popular <\/span>giant ventures<\/b><\/a> that have upscaled company growth by introducing internal documentation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd30 Wistia<\/strong><\/a> used an internal knowledge base to scale their culture<\/strong>. Without internal documentation, the HR and admin team have to depend on multiple tools to educate and maintain the practice of Wistia culture. Also, onboarding new team members and getting them involved instantly to Wistia culture has now become way easier with internal documentation.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd30 Onboarding new members rightly is a crucial part of talent nurturing. <\/span>If you want to <\/span>run a successful onboarding program<\/b> then it will require a lot of manpower, and time. That\u2019s where <\/span>IMGE<\/b><\/a> brought innovation with the internal knowledge base. With IMGE internal documentation, they can easily run virtual onboarding programs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd30\u00a0Geckoboard<\/b><\/a> always believed that customer retention is the key to your company\u2019s growth. Geckoboard introduced internal documentation for upscaling their customer support<\/strong>. If your support executive is not from the technical background then it\u2019s a lengthy process to provide solutions to customers. To cut it short and save valuable time for everyone, Geckoboard has introduced internal documentation. Now support executives can look up solutions instantly from internal documentation, and upscale customer support. <\/span><\/p>\n

Must-Have Features For Your Internal Documentation Plugin<\/b><\/h2>\n

Before jumping to the guideline to create an internal knowledge base for your company, let\u2019s follow up on the must-have features for your company’s internal documentation. These features and the most popular practice among top companies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Multiple Categories To Manage Versatile Resources<\/b><\/h3>\n

As mentioned earlier, internal documentation is the hub house for all kinds of your company resources. To manage the internal knowledge base efficiently, you will have categories for documentations. So that at a glance your team member can go through the documentation. While creating internal documentation, make your tool has the option to <\/span>create multiple categories<\/b><\/a>. \"internal<\/span><\/p>\n

Restrict Access Based On User Role, Category, Documentation Type<\/b><\/h3>\n

Firstly, internal documentation is maintained for your company team members, not for customers. So you have to <\/span>restrict access<\/b> to your customers from your internal documentation. Similarly, you can make documentation accessible for certain user roles. So while creating internal documentation, make sure you can restrict user access to a certain knowledge base, user roles, categories, and so on. \"internal<\/span><\/p>\n

Analyze Every Documentation Performance WIth Insightful Data<\/b><\/h3>\n

The key factor of improvement and upscale is to analyze every data related to the internal knowledge base. How much your documentation is helpful, which types of documentation most team members follow, etc. Every type of data is important to make your internal documentation storage useful. Don\u2019t forget to enable <\/span>analytics for your internal documentation<\/b><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n