Knowledge Architect

What is a knowledge architect?

A knowledge architect oversees the implementation of a company's knowledge architecture. This person also manages the lead of the architecture team to identify, organize, and provide company-wide access to disorganized sets of information. This is done using knowledge base software. 

A knowledge architect continuously audits and re-evaluates the knowledge needs of users and employees within their company. They conduct regular audits to determine what knowledge an organization has, where knowledge is stored, and what users want to know. Knowledge architects also work with a knowledge manager to develop processes for creating, capturing, storing, and using knowledge to identify the technology required to make this happen. 

What is knowledge architecture?

Knowledge architecture is a framework created by a knowledge architect which turns disarrayed data into an understandable form. 

It helps companies connect data from various sources, often mainly scattered, and turn it into a form that allows higher-ups to make more informed decisions. 

What does a knowledge architect do?

A knowledge architect outlines the knowledge processes and discovers technology requirements for creating, using, and organizing their knowledge assets. Organizations should explicitly define who is responsible for owning and handling knowledge management. 

Companies typically assign a knowledge architect for a particular type of knowledge. Their responsibilities are to be vocal about knowledge management, educate the organization, map knowledge and use organizational and technological resources in the knowledge architecture. 

Since the refinery process takes longer, it needs to be carefully handled. This ensures that the knowledge repository is helpful for everyone in the organization.

Benefits of knowledge architecture

Right from removing delays and breaking siloed communication, a knowledge architecture comes with many benefits such as:

• Allows workers to pass along information without delays. Every organization loses long-serving employees. In this situation, the employee’s information needs to get passed on to the next to help them understand how things are done. A good knowledge architecture allows data to stay in a single knowledge repository, allowing new workers to kickstart their work without hassle.
• Makes sense of data. Understanding resource data is vital for every organization. Maintaining historical data and ensuring strong data quality helps companies understand where things are heading in the future. This helps them know how to make better decisions to reach goals. 
• Breaks silos. Manipulating data into a single, cohesive view makes it more accessible. This way, every person in the company can be aware of what others are doing. Knowledge architecture helps break silos and mitigates the wait usually involved when a person in one department wishes to understand information about someone in another department. 

Example of a knowledge architecture

Knowledge architecture uses resources such as repositories  to manage, refine, and make knowledge available in a readable form. 

• Knowledge repository: A knowledge architect must create knowledge structures that provide context so readers can understand the content.
• Knowledge viewing: The knowledge repositories' content will vary depending on the kind of knowledge is stored and the context of their use. To make viewing easier, knowledge architects design schemes to link knowledge units. Repositories need to record important and meaningful content, categories, definitions, processes, actions, etc. For example, a sales playbook, cold calling one-liners, elevator pitch decks, and more are examples of knowledge units contained under a "sales" content repository.
• Knowledge refinery: Knowledge needs to be refined once it’s in the repository. This process has three steps: 
  • Content is gathered from multiple internal or external sources
  • The content goes through a refinery process, which means it has to be edited, indexed, sorted, or re-categorized 
  • The content is stored and a mechanism must be created for easy retrieval. This makes it easy for the content in the repository to be more accessible. 

Role of information technology in knowledge architecture

Information technology (IT) provides a seamless experience for architects to create a proper flow of knowledge. IT helps capture, organize, and refine knowledge and even provides means to make it more accessible. 

IT tools, such as knowledge base software, offer a robust environment to store heaps of knowledge data, index them, create custom views, and more. IT systems may also integrate tools like sentiment analysis to help organizations interpret customer feedback, employee surveys, or support interactions stored within knowledge repositories.

Parts of knowledge architecture

A knowledge architecture contains different components such as managing knowledge, knowledge systems, and means to analyze it. 

Below are the different parts of a knowledge architecture: 

• Managing knowledge: Knowledge management documents case studies, learnings, playbooks, development notes, and more . This helps individuals find what they are looking for in one place. The goal of knowledge management is to collect all the data so that companies can organize and present it in a meaningful way.
• Knowledge systems: Knowledge systems allow users to access the data. Finder systems and search capabilities enable users to find what they’re looking for. While they can be built in-house, knowledge systems could also be in the form of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Discussion about systems begin with storage. Most organizations begin with structured query language (SQL) datasets, which allows users to search relational data. Application program interface (APIs) also help dictate how the data should be accessed, so that users can begin analyzing it. Clear system integration and standardized data access also make it easier for teams to conduct performance benchmarking and evaluate progress against defined organizational goals.
• Analysis: Algorithms and methodologies help users process and analyze information. While some organizations use a specifically built solution, some use commercial options. A knowledge architecture provides companies with a framework that helps users process data and higher-ups make better decisions for an organization.

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