Over the course of my career in knowledge management, I’ve had the rewarding experience of serving as a mentor to others in the field, or wishing to enter the field. In this series of posts, I answer questions posed to me as if I were a mentor. If you would like to submit questions for me to cover in this series, please send them to stangarfield@gmail.com.
Which KM metrics matter?
Answer: Here are four sets of meaningful metrics for knowledge management. Each one has its own acronym: STATS, SIRCL, SAFARIS, and PATCH. Metrics can be measured over a month, a year, or for all time.
1. STATS
Each of the individual metrics listed below can be reported, and composite metrics can be derived that combine the individual numbers into a single indicator. This indicator can be a composite percentage where 100% is the ideal, directional arrows showing up/down/neutral, or green/yellow/red status lights.
Survey Results
Conduct regular employee satisfaction surveys and report on the results. For example, the percentages for each of these responses on overall satisfaction with the KM program:
- Very Satisfied
- Satisfied
- Dissatisfied
- Very dissatisfied
Threaded Discussions
These metrics can be used for individual communities of practice, for all communities, for individual Enterprise Social Network (ESN) groups, and for the entire ESN.
- Percentage of target population that subscribes to notifications for at least one community’s threaded discussions
- Number of new threads
- Average number of replies to each thread
- Percentage of queries or requests receiving replies
Artificial Intelligence
Have your GenAI chat tool ask for feedback after each interaction is completed.
- Percentage of feedback that is positive
- Percentage of the total user population using AI tools
- Percentage of GenAI responses that provided content from the KM environment
- Number of business processes that have been augmented or totally automated
Tagged Content
This can be applied to repositories, knowledge bases, content libraries, and threaded discussions.
- Percentage of items having one or more content tags
- Number of tags assigned to one or fewer items (this should be close to zero)
- Number of tags appearing to be redundant or minor variations (this should be zero)
- Percentage of searches that are for metadata
Search Effectiveness
This can be applied to enterprise search, specialized or localized search, or searches from GenAI.
- Percentage of feedback that is positive, either from within search or from the employee satisfaction survey
- Click-through rate (this should be high)
- Abandoned search rate (this should be low)
- Percentage of searches that result in a best bet or AI summary link being clicked
Examples
Here is a mockup from ChatGPT of what a hypothetical KM metrics dashboard might look like, using composite metrics:
Here is a mockup from Claude:
2. SIRCL
Share
- Percentage of target population that posts in communities
- Percentage of target population that contributes content to repositories
- Number of new contributions to repositories
Innovate
- Percentage of target population that participates in innovation jams
- Number of new ideas contributed to idea management system
- Percentage of contributed ideas that were implemented
Reuse
- Percentage of content that is tagged with “I reused this”
- Number of new threads in the Reuse Stories thread or ESN group
- Percentage of “yes” answers to employee satisfaction survey question “Were you able to reuse content from a repository or community?”
Collaborate
- Percentage of target population that belongs to at least one community
- Percentage of target population that uses at least one collaborative team space
- Percentage of “yes” answers to employee satisfaction survey question “Are you satisfied with your ability to use the available tools to collaborate effectively?”
Learn
- Percentage of “yes” answers to employee satisfaction survey question “Did you learn something useful from a community, a repository, or the e-learning system?”
- Number of users completing courses in the e-learning system
- Percentage of users successfully passing completion exams for e-learning courses
3. SAFARIS
Share
- Percentage of all ESN members who share information
- Number of posts to share information
- Percentage of questions sharing posts that receive a like
Ask
- Percentage of all ESN members who ask a question
- Number of posts to ask a question
- Number of posts to ask a question that receive a like
Find
- Percentage of all ESN members who seek a resource
- Number of posts to seek a resource
- Number of posts to seek a resource that receive a like
Answer
- Percentage of all ESN members who answer a question or respond to a request
- Number of posts to answer a question or respond to a request
- Percentage of questions and requests that receive a helpful response
- Percentage of answers and request responses that receive a like
Recognize
- Percentage of all ESN members who recognize, praise, or thank a colleague
- Number of posts to recognize, praise, or thank a colleague
- Percentage of posts of recognition, praise, or thanks that receive a like or a reply
Inform
- Percentage of all ESN members who work out loud
- Number of posts to inform about current work and planned work locations
- Percentage of working out loud posts that receive a like or a reply
Suggest
- Percentage of all ESN members who suggest improvements or innovations
- Number of posts to suggest improvements or innovations
- Percentage of suggestions that receive a response from a possible implementor
4. PATCH
Use the metrics shown above to measure a Communities of Practice program.
Resources
Guidelines
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