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Knowledge-centered support

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Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) is a methodology and a set of practices and processes that focuses on knowledge as a key asset of the customer/technical support organization. Development began in 1992 by the Consortium for Service Innovation;[1] a non-profit alliance of support organizations. Its premise is to capture, structure, and reuse technical support knowledge.

KCS seeks to:

  • Create content as a by-product of solving problems, which is better known as within the ITIL incident management process, as well as the problem management process. As support analysts capture information related to an incident, they create knowledge that can be reused within the support process by other support analysts as well as customers with access to a self-service knowledge base.
  • Evolve content based on demand and usage. As people interact with the knowledge base within the incident management process, they must review it before delivering the knowledge to a customer. If they discover the need to correct or enhance the knowledge, they will fix it at that time or flag it for another person to fix if they do not have the access authority to the knowledge. Under this model, knowledge is evolved just-in-time based on demand instead of just-in-case. This lowers the cost of knowledge management.
  • Develop a knowledge base of an organization's collective experience to-date. New knowledge capture within the incident management process is an experience resulting from one interaction. The knowledge has not been validated or verified beyond the initial incident. Thus the initial knowledge is not as trusted in this state, which is referred to as Draft knowledge. It is not until reuse occurs that trust is improved. At some point the knowledge will be marked as trusted and either Approved for internal use or Published for self-service. The knowledge base under the KCS methodology includes knowledge that is at different states of trust and visibility. The collective experiences to date challenges the traditional thinking that all knowledge in a knowledge base must be perfect, validated, and highly trusted.
  • Reward learning, collaboration, sharing and improving. The culture of the organization must change to recognize the value of an individual based on the knowledge they share that enables the organization to be more effective and efficient.

With over 20 years in development and over $50 million invested, KCS has been tried and tested by early adopters that include 3Com, Oracle, Novell, Rockwell Automation, Compaq (now HP), VeriSign and BlackBerry. KCS is endorsed and evangelized by HDI, an association and certification body for technical service and support professionals.[2]

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is recognized as lacking a knowledge management strategy necessary to a service desk. Knowledge Management was not a defined process in ITIL v2. With the release of ITIL v3 in June 2007, Knowledge Management was defined as a required process. However, ITIL v3 does not provide sufficient detail and scope necessary to implement knowledge management. KCS compliments the ITIL framework by providing a strategy for capturing, structuring, and reusing knowledge within the service desk. Service management requires that knowledge be leveraged within incident management and problem management. Knowledge management also impact the request management, change management, and release management process within ITIL. KCS is a prescriptive methodology that defines how to integrate knowledge management within the support organization.

History

Development began in 1992 by the Consortium for Service Innovation;[1] a non-profit alliance of support organizations. Its premise is to capture, structure, and reuse technical support knowledge. Initially it was known as Solution Centered Support and was renamed to acknowledge the methodology as best practices in knowledge management.

In 2003, HDI partnered with the Consortium for Service Innovation to promote the learnings and experiences of the Consortium's members to the market. Working together, they captured this information into a three day workshop: The Knowledge Management Foundations: KCS Principles course now known as KCS Principles.[3] Since that time, hundreds of companies have been learning about and implementing Knowledge Centered Support within their environments.

In 2005, the Consortium for Service Innovation introduced the KCS-Verified[4] program for knowledge management software vendors. There are a number of popular software applications verified to enable the KCS best practices to learn more about KCS Verified products. This program defines the functional requirements that software vendors must implement to successfully enable KCS. Implementation is then verified by KCS certified at one of levels, "Aligned"[5] or "Verified".[6] Program implementation is enabled through experts through the Consortium for Service Innovation or other certified practitioners.

In 2006, the Consortium updated KCS to version 4.1 and published the Practices Guide.[7] Version 5.0 and 5.1 were published in 2011. Version 5.3 was published in 2012. They continue to evolve KCS through the experiences of their members and other companies that share their personal stories.

In 2007,[8] HDI introduced the KCS Principles Certification[9] that allows individuals to demonstrate their knowledge of the KCS methodology and how to implement it.

In 2010, The KCS Academy was formed as an outreach company of the Consortium for Service Innovation. Development of the KCS Certified Publisher exam began and became publicly available in 2011. Additional certifications for the various KCS-advocated roles will be available through The KCS Academy in the future.

In 2013,[10] HDI introduced the Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals Certification, now known as the KCS Foundation Certification[11] that allows individuals to demonstrate their knowledge of the KCS methodology. This certification is designed for organizations that want everyone on their team to have a fundamental understanding of KCS as a foundation for adopting the knowledge management best practices that integrate with various service management processes.

In June 2014,[12] AXELOS and HDI jointly published a whitepaper on the Synergies between ITIL and KCS. While KCS and ITIL were developed independently, guidance on how these best practices together can enhance service management processes is helping support organizations to improve their operations.

References

  1. ^ a b "Consortium for Service Innovation". Serviceinnovation.org. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  2. ^ "Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) Homepage". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  3. ^ "KCS Principles". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  4. ^ "The KCS Academy » Tools". Serviceinnovation.org. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  5. ^ "Get Aligned". The KCS Academy. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  6. ^ "Get Verified". The KCS Academy. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  7. ^ "KCS Version 5.3 : Knowledge-Centered Support Practices Guide" (PDF). Serviceinnovation.org. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  8. ^ "New HDI Support Center Director Certification, Online Delivery of HDI Support Center Analyst Certification Training and HDI Knowledge Management Foundations: KCS® Principles Certification". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  9. ^ "KCS Principles Certification". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  10. ^ "KCS Principles Certification". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  11. ^ "KCS Foundation". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  12. ^ "HDI and AXELOS Release Cobranded Whitepaper on the Synergies of ITIL and Knowledge-Centered Support". Thinkhdi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
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