Knowledge management process is very hard to be managed by following certain standard business process management concepts. There was a lot written about business process management the previous year and also about the technologies that support it such as SOAP, BPMS and web services. However most of these tools, theories and processes refer to the methods of a highly planned nature. Basically the practitioners and theorists of BPM have focused on the highly planned processes like the administrative or industrial process of back office. These processes are very repeatable and standardised which produce consistent output which are also likely to be automated in end to end or part. All these processes are executed pretty similarly which make it easy to create a flowchart detailing all the sequence about the tasks that that are executed. There are also chances to formalize the rules of the business which guide decisions, generally based on the estimate of the same variables process.

Knowledge Based Processes

However recently there have also been other types so processes that have caught the attention of these process management experts. These are called as the knowledge-based processes or knowledge process management. Knowledge management process can be described as highly value added process in which accomplishment of the desired goal is mostly dependent on the skills, experience and knowledge of the individuals carrying out the process. A few examples can be like R&D, management or any new product development process.

The expert knowledge workers undertake these process by taking into consideration a number of inputs which is a wide set of formless information and data in order to perform all those difficult tasks and come up with complex decisions in a number of possible ways of doing the task. Each of these methods would imply a different level of risk and even possible benefits. They are individuals or dependents and it is impossible to automate them.  

A simple example for knowledge management process is to market a new product. Although there are same steps carried out every time when a new product is launched, the main difference is made by knowledge, experience and perception of the people who drive the knowledge management process to success.

The Process

In knowledge management process there would be several inputs to gain desired success. Some of the inputs would also be competitions, brand images, lifecycle stage of the market and the budget for knowledge process. You will have to make complex decisions during the process. You should know that there are a number of possible ways to get the process objective as you can leverage brand image or reach the planned sales or use some other process. Your each decision should imply different levels of risks which also offer potential benefits.  Apart from this there are three other main characteristics which make the knowledge process management much different from other highly structured processes.

Focus on Communication and not Automation

The key to improved knowledge process is the undoubtedly communicate the process definitions. This should be in the way how the company needs the process to be processed.

Implementation

You should make sure that the process is better implemented through gaining buy in rather than commanding directives. These are actually difficult to implement through discipline over other administrative human centric process. You will find great improvements if you totally focus on obtaining buy ins from people who care affected through the process of early expectation management, involvement, and communication. The fact is that most of the knowledge process workers tend to change their habits of working and they do not like following any written procedures as they feel it confines their creativity.

Process Definitions

The process definitions should be very high level descriptions and not inflexible workflows. The knowledge process can actually be just defined to a certain level of specifications and it becomes difficult to offer automated decisions or low level work instructions. As these cannot be formalised in process and detail it becomes rarely possible. In knowledge management process decisions are greatly subjective and also very complex to express in any formal language.

Therefore it is very important to continuously keep improving your knowledge processes and it can be done by creating a unique environment where in they can evolve. You can achieve this by coordination of varied disciplines like change management, knowledge management and expectation management. It is also important to establish a sufficient process of framework for the process. This process framework can include feedback mechanisms, process improvement techniques and methods and change estimate procedures that should be flexible so that they can incorporate improvements in a controlled way.

Most of the time knowledge management process is collaborative. When you perform a knowledge process collaboratively it can be possible that each task might be carried out through the most experienced, specialized and knowledgeable working in a particular and specific area.