KCS Practices v5 Certification Workshop for Developers Presented by the Consortium for Service Innovation Greg Oxton

KCS Practices v5 Certification Workshop

for Developers

Presented by the Consortium for Service Innovation

Greg Oxton

04/21/23© Copyright 2006-2012

www.serviceinnovation.org

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Introductions

• Name

• Brief description of your responsibilities

• Experience/observations about knowledge?

• Questions about KCS? Or, Knowledge Management?

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Workshop Agenda

• Day 1 – Building some context and the KCS Practices Customer’s view of support? (Funnel to Cloud) KCS practices overview Content is king! Article concept and data structures Roles and responsibilities (rights and privileges) Workflow and the ideal user interface Functional requirement and scenarios

• Day 2 – Getting into the detail Performance measures and metrics (reporting requirements) Leadership and motivation Adoption practices and roadmap Summary The certification exam

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Consortium for Service Innovation

Non-profit alliance of support organizations• Develops, nurtures, and evangelizes KCS• Addressing challenges facing the industry• R&D, new business strategies, and cross-

industry perspectives

Board of Directors includes support executives from AIG, Avaya, BMC, Cisco, HP, Oracle, Sage and Venifii.

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Consortium Members• ACI Worldwide • Alcatel-Lucent • Allscripts • ATG • AutoDesk • Avaya Inc. • BMC Software, Inc. • Brightidea • Brocade • Celgene • Cisco • Compuware • Consona • DB Kay & Associates • Dell • Deutsche Bank• Eagle Investment Systems • eBay Ltd. • GE Global Research • Genesys (Alcatel-Lucent) • Harland Financial Solutions • Hewlett-Packard• inContact, Inc.

• InQuira • Intuit • Juniper Networks• Knowledge Accelerators • Landmark Graphics • Mentor Graphics • Microsoft • Novell • Omgeo • Oracle • Quest Software • Red Hat • Research In Motion • RightNow Technologies • Rockwell Automation • Salesforce.com • SAP Business Objects• SDL Language Weaver• Servigistics• Stone Cobra • Sun Microsystems • Symantec Corporation• Xerox • Yahoo!

Here’s the thing…

• No organization has been successful with KCS because of their tools

• All successful adoptions of KCS have been in spite of the tools!

• Why? – KCS is very different (non-linear, not hierarchical)

– KCS is about people: their beliefs, understanding, buy-in and behavior

– KCS is about problem solving and collaborative learning ... not about managing cases (the case is becoming irrelevant)

– The tool is an enabler (and most tools are not good at it)

– There is a huge opportunity – tools that makes it easy and obvious to make good judgments and… do the right thing

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Why do Companies have a Support Organization?

List 2-3 high level goals or objectives

for support

Support from the Customer’s Point of View

Or…. the evolution of support

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The Role of Support Changes • Support becomes

– Resolution experts for new, complex problems (NOT KNOWN!!!)

– AND the facilitators of connections (the network)

• Connect people to content• Connect people to people• Based on:

– Context, Need, Legitimacy (identity and reputation)

• Knowledge is the enabler– Content (the collective experience)

– People profiles, identity, reputation

• Customer’s success is the goal• Collaboration is the key

Support is a Network!

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Key Points

• The value support creates cannot be measured in support– The value of support is leveraged through knowledge and it is

realized by customers (in the cloud) and by product design and development

• The customer support experience is indirect1. The support experience is a key driver of customer loyalty2. The support experience is not happening with the vendor’s

employees or agents

• We need a new leadership model for the “organization as a network”

• And, we need a new measurement model with a more holistic view of the customer experience

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Why KCS?

• Solve Cases Faster– 50 - 60% improved time to resolution

– 50% increase in first call resolution

• Optimize Use of Resources– 70% improved time to proficiency

– 20 - 35% improved employee retention

– 20 - 40% improvement in employee satisfaction

• Enable Self-Service Strategy– Improve customer success with self-help on the web

– Customer self-service success (25%-66%)

• Build Organizational Learning

– Actionable information to development about customer issues

– Incident reduction due to root cause removal

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Two Examples of KCS Benefits

• Internet security services, high volume environment– Time to resolve from 7.0 min to 5.5 min (-28%)– Customer SAT+ 28%– Time to proficiency from 3 months to 1 month (-66%)

• Software Support– Time to relief -50%– Time to proficiency from 6 month to 1 month (-83%)

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Change the ratio of Support Cost to Revenue

$

Total Revenue

Time

Expected Support Costs

Actual Support Costs

AdditionalProfit

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The Principles of KCS

KCS is a methodology and a set of practices and processes that focuses on knowledge as a key asset

of the support organization. KCS seeks to:

Create content as a by-product of solving problems Evolve content based on demand and usage Develop a KB of our collective experience to-date Reward learning, collaboration, sharing and improving

KCS is not something we do in addition to solving problems…

KCS becomes the way we solve problems

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The Evolution Of KCS

The KCS journey started in 1992 with a simple premise:

• To capture,• Structure, and• Re-use support knowledge

With 20+ years in development and over $45 million invested, KCS has been successfully implemented by companies like 3Com, Oracle, Novell, and VeriSign.

Knowledge – What is it?

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Knowledge…

•Knowledge is information upon which we can act

–We learn through interaction and experience–We never stop learning–Our knowledge is never 100% accurate or complete–We validate it through use

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Body Parts?

Jot down all the body parts you

can think of that are spelled with three letters… “PG rated”

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3 Letter Body Parts – 19!

• Arm• Leg• Eye• Ear• Hip• Lip• Gum• Jaw• Toe• Lid (eye)

• Cap (knee)

• Pit (arm, knee) • Rib• Gut• Rod (eye)

• Sac (shoulder)

• Fat• Bud (taste)

• Bum (UK only)

What about?FootKneeHeelTooth

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Leveraging Knowledge

• KCS is a methodology and a set of practices and processes that focuses on knowledge as a key asset to your organization.

• KCS seeks to:– Create content as a by-product of answering

questions

– Evolve content based on demand and usage

– Develop a KB of our collective experience to-date

– Reward learning, collaboration, sharing and improving

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B

Double Loop Process?

B: Evolve Loop•Organization level•Processes across many events

A A A A

A: Solve Loop•The event level•Answering questions

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KCS Practices

KnowledgeArticle

Capture

Structure

Reuse

Improve

SolveLeadership &Communication

PerformanceAssessment

Process Integration

ContentHealthEvolve

Process and Change

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Keys to Successful Adoption

• Content standard

• Identify KCS Roles and Responsibilities (licensing metaphor), Coaching

• Workflow/process map

• Configuring Salesforce Knowledge

• Performance assessment

• Leadership

• Strategic framework

• Communications plan

• Adoption roadmap

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Content Continuum – the Scope of KCS Co

nver

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Case

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Supp

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(art

icle

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Prod

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anua

ls

Confi

gura

tion

Gui

des

InformalDynamic

FormalStatic

InputKCS

Improvements in Products & Services

Input

Melissa

can you make purple circle a-loop content and arrows b-loop content?

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Knowledge Articles

• Solve Loop articles:– Created and improved in the workflow using the Solve Loop– If it is worth answering it is worth having in the knowledge base– “Just-in-Time” content– Structure, context and good enough

• Evolve Loop articles:– Created by Knowledge Domain Experts– Based on patterns and tends of the Solve Loop content and/or the observations

of the Knowledge Domain Expert(s) • Closeness or relatedness of articles in the KB that are being reused• Gaps in the content • High value content• Resolution paths; a collection of linked articles that address generic

symptoms• Processes or procedures documented through a collection of articles that

are linked together • Frequently used, new problem, new product, value of customer, severity

– Structure, context and frequency

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The Pattern of RediscoveryTime Value of an Article

NumberOr

Frequency

Time

30 days

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Article Concept

• KCS seeks to create findable, usable information in the knowledge base

• We call the collection of information an “Article”

• An article is more than the answer or fix

– Problem/question

– Environment

– Fix/answer

– Cause/metadata

• Articles have a life cycle, they go through different states

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Data Objects for Support

•Company•Contact info•Event history•Entitlement•Severity•SLA mgmt•Workflow, status•Ownership

•Problem/question•Environment•Diagnostic steps

What we needWhy we need it

•Resolution•Cause•Create date•Modify date•Reuse count

•Issue•Cause•Change•Product/doc•Status•Owner•History

Incident/case

KnowledgeArticle Change/Bug

Manage the events Capture, reuse what we learn

Act on what we know

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Many to Many Relationships

Incident/Case Article Change/Bug

Links Links

Links

Links

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Establishing A Good Template

The problem/question What is the questioner trying to do? What are they asking? What part of the experience is undesirable?

The environment Products, model, rev levels involved What has been altered in the environment

The fix/answer How to fix the problem Answer to the question

The cause The underlying reason(s) for the problem

Metadata Article state, date created, reuse count,

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KCS ArticlesA Simple Structure

Incident/call record• Customer called about a

problem installing a NIC. Cannot get the system to recognize the NIC after reboot. Did not order the card from us, it is a 3Com NIC. Reviewed network settings and could not find anything wrong. Customer has meeting and would like a call back tomorrow am.

• Talked to Bob about NIC card problem, he is running Win 7 on a HP and he needs the latest driver for Win 7. Bob asked to leave the call open until he downloads driver.

Article

Problem:• Network card not recognized

Environment:• Installed new network card• 3Com network card, model 300X• Windows 7• HP Pavilion

Fix: 1. Download latest driver for Network

Card 300X from 3Comwww.3com.com/drvrs/NIC

2. Follow the installation instruction on the 3Com site.

04/21/23

http://www.3com.com/drvrs/NIC

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KCS Structure – Customer Service

Incident/call record notes[time_stamp] Mrs. Jones called, she is concerned about their bill being too high. Asked her for the details and what she was comparing it to. Electric usage/rate compared to last year, same month.

Described the rate increase of 8% last quarter. Mrs J is reporting a 25% increase year over year for last month.

Asked Mrs J has anything changed in her home? She didn’t think so…

I checked the online system to see if usage had been for Mrs J had been updated.

KCS ArticleProblem:•Increase in bill year over year•Complaint about high bill•Too expensive

Environment:•Electric service•Actual monthly bill (not averaged)•San Mateo county, CA

Fix: 1. Validate increased consumption vs increase in rate, see rate history at www.utility.com/ratehist 2. If consumption increase check list for common sources of increase LINK. 3. If a result of rate increase see “customer explanation of rate increase” at www.utility.com/mkt1037

http://www.utility.com/ratehist

http://www.utility.com/mkt1037

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Creating a Healthy Knowledge Base

• Content Standard tailored to the environment Article quality criteria, aligns with audience needs Examples of a good article Article states, life cycle Metadata

• Content migration process Articles are improved through reuse

Articles that are being reused should be visible to a larger audience

• Article Quality Index (AQI)– Random sampling and scoring of Articles

– Feedback to the players

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Article Life Cycle • Work in Progress—incomplete; problem or question has

been captured but the resolution is not known. • Draft—no confidence in this answer due to lack of

customer feedback or any other use of this article.• Approved—the article is considered complete and

reusable. It has been created by a certified KCS expert or reviewed by a coach, and there is confidence in the resolution.

• Published—the article is ready for customer or end-user consumption.

Depending on the situation, there are additional states a article may go through:

• Technical Review—someone has created a article, but they are not confident in the technical accuracy, regulatory compliance, quality, structure or relationship to other articles.

• Rework—a article has been flagged as confusing or incomplete.

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Possible Article Life Cycles

Draft

Approved

Published

TechnicalReviewRework

WIP

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Article Characteristics

• The state of an Article defines its visibility• Articles evolve over time based on demand and

usage• As people find and use Articles they should be

improving them• “Flag it or fix it” has to be part of the organization’s

culture • People have to take responsibility for the content they

interact with

An Article is complete only when it is obsolete

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Article Quality Check List

• Defines a good Article• Items that can be scored• The list of items may change over time• Basis for the random sampling of articles• Scores go to team members and

management

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Article Quality Index

• Sample and score articles• Start simple - The big six

– Duplicate article– Complete problem/environment/cause/fix description

and types– Content clarity—Statements are complete thoughts not

sentences– Title assigned reflects article content for easy

recognition– Valid hyperlinks– Properties set appropriately

• Evolve the score card based on experience


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Mature KCS Environment

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# Articles having this

type of problem 13 32 21 13 13 8 25 12 0 1 5 3 9 21


Article Content Attributes

Article creator

Articles

Reviewed

Too thin

Duplicate

Incomplete

Compoun

d

Mixed Enviro

n. With

problem

Environ. Not

to standard

Fix not

complete or usabl

eWordy

Too specific

Cust. can

't see Ref

.

Hyperlink incorrect

Audience Incorrect

Status incorrect

Type

incorrect

Al 93.7% 41 5 1 0 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 5

Beth 88.2% 41 0 1 7 2 5 2 7 4 0 0 0 0 3 3

Chuck 77.6% 7 0 3 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2

Dave 98.5% 37 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Ed 75.2% 15 1 3 2 4 3 4 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1

Fran 100.0% 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Grace 94.1% 41 4 4 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 0

Hector 99.2% 56 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

Irene 89.8% 7 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

Joe 95.6% 49 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 6

Kim 87.5% 49 1 15 9 0 1 1 12 2 0 0 1 0 0 1

Article Quality Index: “Sufficient to Solve” Survey Results

Summary of the Findings

Customers want to know:• What we know• As soon as we know it • And how confident we are in it

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Strategies for Legacy Content

• Start with an empty KB (really)– Don’t migrate existing, unstructured content that

is not in the customer’s context into the KCS KB

• Two types of legacy content to consider– 1) content that is not being maintained– 2) content that is being maintained

• Both should be “searchable”– Pull valuable “un-maintained” content into the

KCS KB based on demand– Link to valuable “maintained” content from KCS

articles (don’t duplicate content)

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When should you link?

• When do you link to an external resource?

If the article is…– Findable by the search engine– In a maintained repository– If the requestor can access it– If it matches the requestor’s context


8704/21/23

KCS KB Context Sensitive Index

ProductspecsLegacy

Support Content Technical White

Papers

Formal Customer Pubs

Searchable but notMaintained (goes away)

Pull valuable contentinto articles based on demand

Searchable andMaintained content

Create links to existing, maintained content

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Content standard

• Identify KCS Roles and Responsibilities (licensing metaphor), Coaching

• Workflow/process map

• Configuring Salesforce.com


• Leadership




• Next steps

KCS Roles

Licensing Model

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KCS User Development

KCS knowledge, competencydefines system rights and privileges

See www.thekcsacademy.net/kcs

Knowledge Domain Expert(Evolve Loop content & domain focus)

Coaches(people focus)

KCS Candidate

KCS Contributor

Licensed to Contribute/Modify

KCS Publisher

(Licensed to Publish to web)

http://www.serviceinnovation.org/kcs

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KCS Candidates

• KCS Candidates– Create draft articles– Flag it – can put Approved or Published articles

into a Rework or Technical Review state (depends on the workflow)

– Can view all Approved or Published articles – Can view Draft articles as long as they:

• Are in their area of expertise (varies by organization)

• Were created in their level of support (varies by organization)

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KCS Contributors

• KCS Contributors– Can put Draft articles into an Approved state – Can view all Draft, Approved and Published

articles

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KCS Publishers

• KCS Publishers– Can put Articles into Published state if:

• Early in the KCS evolution; The reuse count is 3 or greater (# varies by organization)

• Later in the KCS evolution: The support analyst is confident in the article

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Knowledge Domain Expert

• Responsible for creating Evolve Loop content based on articles created in the Solve Loop

• Health of a general knowledge domain• Domain expertise• Profound understanding of KCS

Techniques for Picking Coaches

• Assign KCS coach roll to technical leads – low success rate

• Management picks coaches – marginally successful

• Let the people pick who they want to be their coach – reasonably successful

• Use organizational/social network analysis to identify coach candidates – highly successful

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Organizational Network Analysis

019 012

004010

026

030

018

014

027023

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009024

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025

003

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033

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017

“Strong” connections*:– Average: 5.74– Coaches: 8.875– Successful Coaches: 11– Unsuccessful Coaches: 5.33

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Coaching Best Practices

• Coaches are part-time (50%)• During the adoption phase a ratio 1:8 coaches to

support analysts • Coaching per individual 2-3 hours/week• Time to become KCS Contributor: 6-8 weeks• Managers must enable coaching – the challenge

is finding time…

Process and Integration

Support the Solve LoopStructured Problem Solving

Seamless Technology Integration

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Workflow Techniques

• Structured problem resolution Starts with customer Listen and collect customer context Search early, search often

• Tools must support the KCS process• Seamless Integration of tools

Call tracking/CRM, chat, email, web submit with Knowledge Base

• Closed loop feedback

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KCS – Structured Model

• Seek to understand before you seek to solve– Understand the customer issue (question or problem)– Understand what we collectively know about the question– “search

early, search often” (don’t re-solve questions that have already been answered)

Literal Diagnosis Research

Knowledge Base

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KCS – Structured Problem Solving Model

Literal Diagnosis Research

• Listening skills

• Capture the issue in their words

• Search

• Reasoning skills

• Verify/interpret the symptoms and environment

• Search

• Analytical skills

• Reference design docs, lab work

• Search

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Structured Problem Solving

Admin Look-up

Knowledge Base

CRM/Tracking

ResearchAnalysis Admin

Anatomy of a Question – Managing the Conversation

Sample Workflow

Support Request

CollectIncident data

Create Incident?

CollectProblem Info

CollectEnvironment Info

Found Article?

IncidentName:Company:Phone #:Time Zone:Contract #:Incident #:

Information

Environment:Related products:Release/Version:

Prob/Question:

Workflow Comments

No

Search KB

No/maybe

Article (at this point you have a WIP article in the KB)

No/maybe - Other articles may give you ideas on questions to ask to refine the search

YesRefine

For non-incident work follow existing process

Sample Workflow

Search KB

Give Customer article

Modify article

Found Article?

Incident notes

Information

Update existing article with relevant new information and save.

Notes or comments about incident

Workflow Comments

Escalate

No

Refine Search Updating the WIP article

Escalate the WIP Article

Refine: collect more info on Problem and or the environment

Incident wrap up

Yes

Analyst must have confidence in the article.

KCS candidate modifications must be reviewed by their coach

Provide the answer or fix

Sample Workflow

Escalate

Review Articleand Incident

Modify Article

Refine and Search KB

Found Article?

Article: Analysts has a view of the problem and what interaction has occurred with the KB.

Information

Update problem or environment information

Workflow Comments

No

Problem solving, getting additional information from the customer, running diagnostic aides

Follow existing the organization’s closure process

YesProblem analysis and research

Develop fix/answer

Based on analyst experience they may search the KB with additional information

Incident closureCustomer contact

process

Update the Fix/answer in Article

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Prototype of an Integrated Interface

Contact Name

Company

Problem/Question:

Incident history/notes9:12 15.08.04: Open Incident9:13 15.08.04: Problem entered

Svc LevelSeverity

T ZonePhone # Lang

Environment: Engage KB

Recent Inc.

Incident # Special Instructions/Alerts

Collaborate

Link Article

KB window Copy

Mdfy

Flag

Meta

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Prototype of an Integrated Interface

Contact Name

Company

Problem/Question:

Incident history/notes9:12 15.08.04: Open Incident9:13 15.08.04: Problem entered

Svc LevelSeverity

T ZonePhone # Lang

Environment: Engage KB

Recent Inc.

Incident # Special Instructions/Alerts

Collaborate

Link Article

KB window Copy

Mdfy

Flag

Meta

Knowledge Management App CRMApp

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Prototype of Closed Incident

Bob Kostus

NBC

Problem/Question: Install network card Network card not recognized

Incident history/notes15:12 15.08.04: Open Incident15:13 15.08.04: Problem entered15:15 15.08.04: Bob did not order the NIC card from us. 15:18 15.08.04: Reviewed net settings w/Bob 15:20 15.08.04 Bob has to go to a meeting, scheduled call back for tomorrow am.15:20 15.08.04: Incident set to Pending15:20 15.08.04 Call Back scheduled for 08:30 15.08.04 08:45 16.08.04: Incident assigned=ADotson08:51 16.08.04: Talked to Bob, proposed fix08:53 16.08.04: Bob rqsted cust. Pending08:54 16.08.04: state=custpend

Status = ClosedS - 2

Eastern+1.212.555.1212 English

Environment:3Com network card, model 300XWindows 98Compaq Presario

#0912150804 Agent – Amy Dotson

Article ID

Fix: 1. Download latest driver for Network Card 300X from 3Com www.3com.com/drvrs/NIC2. Follow the installation instruction on the 3Com site

Re Open

http://www.3com.com/drvrs/NIC

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Technology to Support KCS KCS Verified Criteria

• Article object– Supports distinction between problem content and environment content

• Search engine granularity: – Search problem content against problem content– Search environment content against environment content

• Ability to link/point/relate incidents to articles and articles to incidents

• Article visibility management• Article state• Search arguments are preserved as the basis for a new article• Reporting and metrics

To find out which products are certified or to get a detailed list of requirements and scenarios, visit the Academy web site at www.thekcsacademy.net/tools.

http://www.serviceinnovation.org/kcsverified

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Seamless Technology Integration

• Search—The ability to search the knowledge base leveraging information in the incident record to launch or refine the search

• Link—The ability to link an existing article to an incident and to retrieve information from the article to populate the incident record, such as the resolution

• View—The ability to quickly view an article that has been previously linked to an incident

• Modify—The ability to update existing articles in the process of reuse (reuse is review)

• Create—The ability to add an article to the knowledge base from information in the incident record

• Collaborate—The ability to identify subject matter experts related to the problem and quickly contact them through email or chat

Summary of Functional Requirements

• Links to additional content types• Migrating from other content source to KB (forum etc)• Search enhancements• Handling duplicates• KDE tools• Capturing in the workflow• Processing of customer feedback on KB articles• Integrated user interface• AQI integration• Collective ownership• Team based metrics and additional reporting• Functional self-assessment worksheet (link)

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http://www.serviceinnovation.org/included/docs/cert/verified_v5_selfassess_worksheets.xls

Demo Scenarios

• Scenario 1: Self-Service to Incident• Scenario 2: Self-Service with Feedback• Scenario 3: Internal Reuse • Scenario 4: Internal Fix-it• Scenario 5: KCS Candidate Creates • Scenario 6: Report and Merge Duplicates• Scenario 7: Administration• Scenario 8: Publication of• Scenario 9: Reporting

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http://www.thekcsacademy.net/tools/get-verified/

KCS Verified Information

http://www.thekcsacademy.net/tools/get-verified/

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Content standard

Identify KCS Roles and Responsibilities (licensing metaphor), Coaching

Workflow/process map

Configuring Salesforce Knowledge


• Leadership




KCS Workshop

Getting it Done!Day 2

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Name the 8 KCS Practices

And, what is in the middle?

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KCS Practices

KnowledgeArticle

Capture

Structure

Reuse

Improve



Process &Integration

ContentHealthEvolve

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Performance Assessment

• KCS competency model– License metaphor that links to user rights

and privileges (KCS Candidate, KCS Contributor, KCS Publisher, KCS Coach, Knowledge Domain Expert)

• Performance model– Performance drivers (motivators)– Leading indicators (activities)– Business results (outcomes)

• Rewards and recognition– Acknowledge accomplishments– Acknowledge the creation of value in the KB

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Performance Drivers

• Alignment of purpose• Alignment to values• Involvement• Understanding• Attention• An issue of leadership

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Leading Indicators

• The activities that are necessary to produce the results

• Tasks and events• Examples

– Talk time, Hold time– # Articles created– # Articles reused– Competency development– Participation rate

Don’t put goals on activities

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Results/Outcome

• Align to business objectives• Examples

– Revenue/Profit– Customer loyalty/satisfaction– Employee retention & loyalty – Customer success on the web

Performance Assessment

A Scenario – Who is Creating Value?

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Exercise

You have been engaged as a consultant to assess the KCS program in a company…

1. Review the data2. Determine what questions you would like to ask a

support agent, a KCS coach and management3. Conduct the interview4. Develop recommendations5. Report your findings

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# Articles having this

type of problem 13 32 21 13 13 8 25 12 0 1 5 3 9 21

Article Quality index

Article Content Attributes

Article creator

Articles

Reviewed

Too thin

Duplicate

Incomplete

Compound

Mixed

Enviroon. With problem

Environ. Not to

standard

Fix not

complete or

usable

Wordy

Too specific

Cust. can't see

Ref.

Hyperlink incorrect

Audience

Incorrect

Status incorrect

Type incorrect

Al 93.7% 41 5 1 0 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 5

Beth 88.2% 41 0 1 7 2 5 2 7 4 0 0 0 0 3 3

Chuck 77.6% 7 0 3 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2

Dave 98.5% 37 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Ed 75.2% 15 1 3 2 4 3 4 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1

Fran 100.0% 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Grace 94.1% 41 4 4 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 0

Hector 99.2% 56 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

Irene 89.8% 7 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

Joe 95.6% 49 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 6

Kim 87.5% 49 1 15 9 0 1 1 12 2 0 0 1 0 0 1

How can we support the Managers in dealing with the complexity and

ambiguity of a knowledge centered environment?

Too Much Data!

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Radar Charts“A Value Footprint”

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

Avg Cases Handled

Avg TTR

Participation Rate

Citations

Article quality

Customer Sat

Hector

Team/Goal

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Radar Charts“A Value Footprint”

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

Avg Cases Handled

Avg TTR

Participation Rate

Citations

Article quality

Customer Sat

Kim

Team/Goal

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Key Measures

Key metrics are:– A combination of:

• Leading and lagging indicators (activity and outcome)• Quantity and quality • Individual and team

– Leading indicators (activities) are compared to team average (not a goal)

– Lagging indicators (outcomes) have goals– “Value Footprint” ; radar charts

• All measures are normalized to 1 (1=team average for activities or the goal for outcomes)

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Setting the “one value”

• Knowledge contribution – Article Quality Index, individual (based on sampling and

scoring, 1 = team goal)– Citations, individual (others use of articles, # per month, 1 =

team avg.)– Customer satisfaction (index = of % cust. use web 1st X %

success)

• Process and Operations– Cases handled, individual (# of cases handled/month, 1=

team average)– Average time to relief, individual (average minutes to provide

relief/answer, 1 = team average, note this inverted; greater than 1 = better than avg, less than one = worse than avg)

– Participation rate, individual (% of cases closed with article in KB identified (new sol or reused sol), 1 = team average)

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Summary Performance Assessment

• Align individual and department goals to the higher level company goals (strategic framework)

• Use the license metaphor to manage and encourage proficiency– Value those with their license

– Remove licenses when performance or quality drops

• The players must have visibility to the measures

• Assessing the creation of value requires a comprehensive view– Trends in leading indicators

– Results in key outcome areas

– Article Quality Index (AQI score)

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Summary Performance Assessment

• Distinguish indicators for activities from measures for outcomes

– Look at trends for the activities (not goals)

– Create goals for the outcomes

• “Triangulate”

• Conversations with support analysts must focus on the behavior, process, and understanding, not on the numbers (otherwise the numbers become meaningless)

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Triangulation

Tren

ds in

Act

ivity

Results/Outcom

es


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Content standard




Performance assessment

• Leadership




Leadership and Motivation

Motivators – what really motivates people?

The power of alignment

Strategic Framework

Teamwork/collaboration

Communication

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Exercise - Motivation

• Motivation on a spectrum • Inspired ----------------------- Apathy

• Think about a time when you were inspired …

• Write down the characteristics that contributed to that feeling?

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Frederick Herzberg; One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?, Harvard Business Review, Jan 2003

What Motivates People?

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Motivation Exercise

• How does KCS impact

– Achievement?

– Recognition?

– The work itself?

– Responsibility?

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A Compelling Purpose?

• Known by all

• Bigger than “self” – Not self referencing

• Brief, clear, concise

• Elicits an emotional response

• A value proposition

KCS Benefits Calculator

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KCS Benefits – The Big 4

1. Improved problem solving process• This is the area of benefit we use for

the ROI

2. Reduced time to proficiency• New people • New technologies/products

3. Increased customer success on the web

4. Improved products and product documentation

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1. Improved Problem Solving Process

• Concept – Questions fall into two categories known and new

– What we do to improve time to answer known is different from what we do to improve time to answer new

• KCS will increase the % of questions we answer as known as well as reduce to the time to answer known.

– Answer a question once, use it often • The model calculates improved capacity based on

increasing the % handled as known and reducing the time to handle known (we do not try and calculate a benefit from answering new)

A Strategic Framework

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Strategic Framework

• What are the company goals or initiatives with respect to:– Customers/users– Employees – Business performance

Strategic Framework

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Components of the Communications Plan

• Identify the audience(s)• Key messages for each audience

– WIIFM (what’s in it for me)• KCS Q&A/FAQ

– Objections• Elevator pitch – KCS in 10 seconds• Vehicles/medium for delivery• Plans and activities for engagement and

socialization– Project plan, timeline

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Content standard




Leadership

Strategic framework

Communications plan


• Configuring Salesforce Knowledge

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Content standard





Leadership

Strategic framework

Communications plan


Phases of Adoption

• Assumption:– 1st Adopt KCS in the support center– 2nd Deliver knowledge through self-service model

• Phase1 – Planning and Design• Phase 2 – Adoption

– Training

• Phase 3 – Proficiency– Coaching and learning

• Phase 4– Leveraging the Knowledge Base– Deliver knowledge through self-service – Improve the environment/products based on the KB– Good knowledge practices changes everything!


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Benefits

Time

Phases 1 3 4

Capacity

CustomerSuccess

InternalOperational

InternalAnd External

2

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Phase 1 – Planning and Design

• Executive sponsor buy in• First draft of KCS adoption deliverables

– Strategic framework– Content standard– Workflow – Technology map– Performance assessment model– Communications plan– Adoption road map

• Establish baseline measures


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Phase 2 - Adoption

• Wave 1 (pilot), testing and tuning all the foundation elements

• Key focus and indicators– Ratio of known to new incidents– Participation rate

• % of incidents closed with article linked

– Article Quality Index• Sampling and scoring articles

– Competency profile• % of support analysts at KCS Contributor and

KCS Publisher


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Phase 3 - Proficiency

• Reuse rate exceeds create rate (critical mass in the KB)

• KDE role and Evolve Loop content• KCS Adoption team becomes the KCS

Council • Key focus and indicators

– Cost per incident – Resolution capacity– Percentage first contact resolution– Time to proficiency for new employees and new

technologies


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Phase 4 - Leverage

• Leverage the knowledge– Promote self-service– Influence development

• Key focus and indicators– Support cost as a ratio to users/revenues/licenses

– Customer loyalty• Renewal rate: new product or upgrade adoption rate, willing

to refer others

– Customer satisfaction• Speed to resolution: first call resolution

– Employee satisfaction and loyalty• Employee turnover rate


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Phase 4 – Leverage (cont)

• Self-service use • Self-service success

• Issues resolved without assistance

• Ratio of known to new incidents• Product Improvements

– Number of Requests for Enhancements (RFEs) – % accepted by product development

• Time to cure – Remove the cause from the environment

• User time to adopt new products or upgrades• Cultural health – collaboration health


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Key Roles for the Adoption

• Executive sponsor• KCS Champion – program lead• KCS Adoption support team

– Support analysts (own the workflow and content standard)

– Coaches and KDEs– IT Liaison– Management representation (own the

communications plan and performance assessment)

• Early adopters

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KCS Adoption – it starts with a foundation

Performance Assessment Workflow

Content Standard Adoption Strategy

Strategic Framework Communications Plan

Foundation

Adoption Wave I

AdoptionWave II

Time

Evolution

Team Measures KCS CouncilKnowledge Domain Eng

Adoption ModelWho is most likely to be Successful?

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Vis

iona

ries

& In

nova

tors

Ear

lyM

ajor

ity

Late

Maj

ority

Lagg

ards

Start with these people

Typical KCS Adoption TimelinePage 1

Weeks

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

AssessmentDesign Session

Wave I training

Wave I

KCS Adoption Team

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Typical TimelinePage 2

Weeks

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

KDE

Coach training

Wave II training

Wave I

KCS Adoption Team

Wave II

Technology update

Management training

Wave III

Wave III training

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Critical Success Factors

• Executive commitment• Coaching

– Selection – Time to coach– Coaching yourself out of a job

• Measuring the right things– Who is creating value - triangulation– Not activity-based measures

• Deployment attitude– Just a tool vs. an organizational change

• Aligning to demand

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Most Common Points of Failure

1st and 2nd line Managers Management not taking ownership

Ineffective coaching program

Workflow and Content Standard Not having the support analysts own and design the

workflow model and content standard

Metrics Continuing to use the “old” transaction based metrics

instead of the “new” value based metrics

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Observations on Knowledge

• It is not pristine … it is messy• It is not static …….it is dynamic• It is as much about context as content• It is not about technology….. It is about people,

values, connections, interactions and flow• Integration in the workflow is hard … But worthwhile • Knowledge is the by product of experience and/or

interaction (Livia Wilson) • We don’t know what we know …. Until someone

asks us …. (Dave Snowden)• Knowledge is personal

… business, generally is not.

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Mindset/Mental Model Shifts

Old model• Knowledge Engineering• Knowledge from a few • Individual ownership• Just-in-case • Perfection• Management• Linear, production line

processes • Activity based

performance assessment• Individuals

New Model• Integrated approach - KCS• Collective experience of many• Collective ownership• Just-in-time • Sufficient to solve• Leadership• Double loop processes (Solve

& Evolve)• Value creation based

performance assessment • And…Teams

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KCS Practices

KnowledgeArticle

Capture

Structure

Reuse

Improve



Process &Integration

ContentHealthEvolve

KCS is not something we do in addition to solving problems…

KCS becomes the way

we solve problems…

Reference material at www.serviceinnovation.org/kcs

http://www.serviceinnovation.org/kcs

Documents

KCS Practices v5 Certification Workshop for Developers Presented by the Consortium for Service Innovation Greg Oxton