Best Practice: KM / Retire obsolete Knowledge articles to archive

Statement of Best Practice

The Knowledge Management process incorporates regular audit and review cycles to ensure that our published Knowledge Base (KB) content is current and relevant, and informs internal and external users.

  • Archival Process:
    • Articles removed from publication: If a published article is determined to be abandoned, outdated, or invalid, the article will be retired to the archive, where it will be stored for a period of six to twelve months, depending on the age of the article or the status of the supported service/asset. Expired articles will be automatically retired to archive at the 30th day past the next review date
    • Draft-articles removed from primary repository: If a draft-article is determined to be abandoned, inadequate, inaccurate, or a replicate of an existing published article, the draft-article will be rejected and moved to the archive, where it will be stored for a period not to exceed six months 
  • Lifecycle Management:
    • Archived articles will be purged after six to twelve months, depending on the age of the article or the status of the supported service/asset
    • Archived draft-articles will be purged within three to six months of creation or rejection

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Reason for Practice

  • To provide our self-service users with current and valid Knowledge content that is comprehensive and accessible
    • To provide our support teams with the information they need to solve repeat user-issues in less time
  • To provide our internal users with current and valid Knowledge content on group- and organizational-level processes, standards, procedures, and management tasks to continuously improve services

Entities Affected by Practice

  • Knowledge Management practice owner is responsible for maintaining the currency of KB content and the health of the archive
  • Service Owner or Owning Group Manager is accountable for the user experience and the currency of related KB articles
  • Subject-matter Expert is responsible for the review of KB content and the retirement of outdated, obsolete, or invalid content 

Responsibilities

  • Knowledge Management practice owner issues monthly reports of content due for review by the Service Owner or Owning Group Manager  
  • Service Owner or Owning Group Manager executes or delegates currency review to those responsible and is accountable for the completion of the task
  • Subject-matter Expert maintains the accuracy and currency of a group's articles

Related Assets, Links, Tools, and Documents

 

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