Knowledge management vs. document management

What's the right choice for you? Which one is the best?

The debate between knowledge and document management is an age-old one. While both systems enhance productivity and elevate the employee experience, they serve different purposes. Read on to learn more about knowledge and document management and find out the differences between the two.

Definitions 

What is document management? 

Document management is the process of storing, sharing, and tracking documented information within the organization. The main aim of document management is to ensure easy retrieval of documents within seconds. Document management systems (DMS) involve searching, versioning, and maintaining explicit knowledge in different formats like PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and more.

What is knowledge management? 

Knowledge management is a more holistic and broader approach that involves storing, sharing, organizing, and distributing organizational knowledge. Knowledge management systems (KMS) not only store important information, but also create collective knowledge that can be accessed by all. Knowledge management aims to empower employees by facilitating the exchange of information and collaboration.

Features 

What are the basic features of a document management system? 

Document management maintains important information like procedural documents and company policies. Some key features to look for in a document management system are:

• Streamlined management and storage that enables easy access to documents.
• Powerful search capabilities that enables quick retrieval of documents.
• Wide array of software integrations.
• Set access permissions for specific users to edit and authorize documents.

What are the basic features of a knowledge management system? 

Knowledge management aims to maintain formal and informal information that everyone in your organization can access easily. Some key features to look for in a knowledge management system include:

• Knowledge creation and sharing with strong collaboration among the users.
• Accommodate growing number of users and repository of knowledge.
• Robust search and wide categorization that helps in finding the most relevant information.

Benefits 

What are the benefits of having document management in your organization? 

Document management systems enhance the organization of official documents in your organization. It not only streamlines workflows within the organization but also increases productivity because less time is wasted in searching and retrieving information.

Document management enhances document security by providing strict access to specific individuals, especially for sensitive and significant data. Lastly, it plays a role in improving collaboration and boosting information accuracy.

What are the benefits of having know ledge management in your organization?

Knowledge management systems offer several benefits, such as preventing information loss due to employee turnover and bettering employee onboarding by presenting them with knowledge collected from existing employees. It enhances the team's decision-making process because of simplified information sharing.

Knowledge management develops a culture of continuous learning among your employees. This enhances teamwork, promotes the exchange of ideas, and leads to innovation and growth in your organization.

Key differences between knowledge management and document management

While knowledge management and document management are used synonymously, they have certain key differences that make them unique, which are discussed below.

Uses 

Document management is a centralized storage of documents in different formats like Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, and more. You can store and organize documented information with a DMS.

Knowledge management is an information repository that aims to prevent knowledge loss due to employee churn. Capture and create collective knowledge for your organization with the help of a KMS.

Purposes 

The main aim of document management is to ensure easy retrieval of important documents by all employees. Using a DMS enhances productivity because less time is wasted searching for the right information.

On the other hand, having a knowledge management system encourages employees to innovate more because all kinds of information is consolidated in one place. It empowers employees and aims for the growth of your organization.

Types of information 

Explicit and structured information is stored and organized within document management. Formal information is documented for easy access with a document management system.

Knowledge management stores both tacit (personal know-how that is often experiential and subjective) and explicit (logical information that is usually recorded) information. No information is lost or hard to find when there is a KMS in place.

Scope 

Document management focuses solely on tracking and accessing information, which in turn streamlines workflows and processes. Knowledge management has a much broader scope because it not only stores information but also plays a role in knowledge sharing, innovation, and decision-making. On the whole, document management is a critical component of knowledge management.

Approaches 

True to its name, document management leans towards a document-centric approach where the priority is information accuracy and organization. Knowledge management, on the other hand, takes a knowledge-centric approach that aims to bring organizational resources together to create informed and innovative decisions.

Tools and measurements 

A document management system has certain prominent features like version history, access permissions, search functionality, and so on, while a knowledge management system has features like a collaborative editor, extensive sharing capabilities, compliance measures, internal links, and more.

Similarly, there are different measures to track the success of the two. You can track DMS using document retrieval time, document accuracy, and user adoption rates, while you can track KMS using other aspects like read acknowledgement, use of internal links, edits and feedback from collaborators, and many more.

In a nutshell, document management is the way to go if you want to store and access all of your procedural documents in one place, while knowledge management is the right choice for using information to solve issues at work.

Wrapping up 

Although knowledge management and document management are used interchangeably, they both serve different purposes as discussed here. Every organization must understand their own requirements to determine the right fit for their documentation needs.