One of the key goals of knowledge management is to ensure that staff have the information they need, at the time they need it. What has often been overlooked is that effective search can play a key role in meeting this need, beyond just allowing staff to ‘find stuff’.

Implementing a good search solution can help knowledge managers build their understanding of staff needs, can raise the visibility of key information, and can help staff to better understand what they are looking for.

These uses will be explored in this briefing, with the overall goal of prompting knowledge (and information) managers to take a second look at search.

Mundane search

Search is often implemented as a ‘second thought’ within organisations. First the intranet or document management system is installed, and then search is added to help users ‘find stuff’ within the growing repository of information.

In many cases, search is deployed out of the box, with little (or no) extra effort put into customising or improving its effectiveness. Worse, no attention is given to the search on a month-by-month basis. This ‘mundane’ search provides only modest value to the organisation. Worse, poor search can be a major cause of staff frustration.

[CM Briefing 2005-21, read the full article]