Knowledge Management in the Organization

    One of the new requirements in ISO9001:2015, compared with ISO9001:2008, is the management of organizational knowledge, as specified in 7.1.6:

     To implement this requirement in an organization, one first needs to understand the concept of “organizational knowledge” here. It refers to the knowledge which is needed to carry out the quality processes effectively. From the point view of a process (shown in the below graph, cited from ISO9001:2015), the organizational knowledge can be classified into four types:

1. The knowledge of the input of the process, i.e. the information which determines how to take the actions. For example, when there’s a customer claim, the engineers need to know what kind of failure it is, how the failure occurred, etc., before determining what corrective actions can be taken;
2. The knowledge of how to and where to obtain the input. For example, in the above case of customer claims, the engineers need to know how to analyze the failure product to identify the cause of the failure;
3. The knowledge of how to carry out the process, i.e. the experience or skill needed to carry out the actions based on the information obtained. For example, in the above customer claim, after identifying the nature of the failure and the reason of occurrence, the engineers should know what corrective actions to be taken;
4. The knowledge of how to evaluate the outputs, i.e. the knowledge to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken. For example, in the above customer claim, the engineers should have the knowledge to determine whether the actions taken are effective. 

    Now let’s see what an organization should do to fulfill the requirement of Clause 7.1.6. We can rephrase 7.1.6 and list up the requirements there as the following:

1. Identify the knowledge needed;
2. Acquire and maintain the knowledge 
3. Share the knowledge to the persons in the organization who need them;
4. Repeat the above steps in case of changes.

Let’s discuss what should be done in each step.

1. Identify the knowledge needed
    Once the organization determines the processes in its quality management system (Determining the quality processes is part of the quality planning. Please see this article about quality planning), the organization should also determine the four types of knowledge needed for each process (and for each sub-process in some cases). Below is an example of knowledge identification for the document control process. The organization should do the same for all the other quality processes it has identified.

2. Acquire and maintain the knowledge
    After identifying all the knowledge needed, the organization then should determine which pieces of knowledge should be acquired and how they can be acquired. It is important to know here that “acquiring” means that the organization is gaining the knowledge for the first time. Nobody in the organization has such knowledge at this point. It is different from sharing of knowledge in Step 3. Sharing means the knowledge is made available to additional persons other than the ones who have acquired it.
    There are multiple ways for an organization to acquire a piece of new knowledge, e.g. sending someone to attend external training, hiring experienced and skilled employees, receiving feedback from customers, and analyzing the failures. The organization shall define clearly the ways and the persons who’re responsible to gain the knowledge.
    After acquiring the knowledge, the organization shall maintain it. Though it is not required in ISO9001:2015, it is always preferred to maintain the knowledge in a documented format, e.g. a written procedure, a training material in the format of PPT, etc. For such documented knowledge, the organization can follow the document and records control process to maintain the knowledge. The owner to maintain each piece of knowledge should be assigned.
Following the example in Step 1, the organization can determine how to acquire and maintain each piece of knowledge with the following template:

3. Share the knowledge to the persons in the organization who need them
    After the knowledge is acquired, it should be shared inside the organization with the persons who need it. Ways to share the knowledge include but are not limited to internal training, forums, meetings, email, intranet, etc. The organization should define clearly what knowledge should be shared, how it should be shared, and whom it should be shared with.
    Again, let’s use the document control process and see how to share the knowledge.

4. Repeat the above steps in case of changes
    When there are changes in the quality management system and its processes, the knowledge needed to carry out each process may change as well. In this case, Step 1 to 3 should be redone to update the knowledge and maintain its adequacy and validity. If necessary, the documented procedures, training materials or the documented records which have been established should be updated accordingly.

Some Additional Notes
    When determining whom the knowledge should be acquired by and shared with, the organization should link it up with employee training. As discussed in the other article, what trainings are needed for each post should be defined clearly in order that the employees can have the necessary competency to perform his/her duty. Defining of such trainings for each post must be consistent with the assigning of persons to acquire the knowledge or to be shared with the knowledge.