Team Knowledge Manager Role and Functions

Context

The Team Knowledge Manager will author, edit, and review articles part of the knowledge base. This article explains the Team Manager Role within Atlas/Knowledge base.

Team Knowledge Manager Role

The Team Knowledge Manager will author, edit, and review articles part of the knowledge base. The Team Knowledge Manager will work with internal resources to gather technical information in the form of written content and appropriate screenshots and publish these as knowledge articles for our end users.

What Does the Role Entail?

• Create in-depth user guides, FAQs, technical overviews, and documentation by using different tools to perform various tasks and produce top-notch content. 
• Test the documentation and articles for accuracy and consistency.
• Extensively use Atlas tickets and Team Dynamix KB Reports to manage technical documents' continuous life cycle, including draft, review, and publishing phases. 
• Identify problem areas and proactively contribute to their improvement.  

Knowledge Article Content

Creating In-Depth User Guides, FAQS, Technical Overviews, and Department Content

• Identify the purpose and scope of your technical documentation before planning your content.   
• All technical writing project starts with research. It also includes reading existing resources and guides; doing a short audit of what you have and what you may need from other team members. 
• We have a specific KB format to draft articles for Atlas. Most user guides technical overviews articles must include the following sub-sections. 
• Purpose: This explains the scope of the article and who the end consumer is.  
• Explanation: This section is the body of your article. It can include a detailed description of the topic, solution for an issue, or how-to directions, along with pictures for more clarity.
  • Example: KA 258 
• Some FAQs and department content can be written in Q&A format, such as the examples given below: 
  • KA 263
  • KA 36 
• We use Grammarly to ensure that our language is consistent with no spelling errors or sentence fragmentation. Grammarly will detect if we have used any superfluous words or built sentences with repetitive words. Also, pay attention in accepting Grammarly’s suggestions. Some of the suggestions can alter the meaning of the sentence. So, be mindful! 

• Similarly, another tool we use is SnagIt. It is an editing tool that allows writers to add supporting graphics by clicking appropriate screenshots and editing them to explain the technology or instruction better. You can find more about SnagIt here.
• The screenshots or pictures should have alt text. Please use the UTD content editor's accessibility for better understanding.
• Lastly, consistent, polished, and professional documents will help the users build a positive brand image of the OIT; following the set format is necessary! 

Testing Document/Article for Accuracy and Consistency

• Make sure the statements are verifiable – Imprecise language and ambiguity in the workplace can lead to dangerous misapplication of technology.  
• Make sure the statements are simple, specific, and meaningful – One must never forget the golden commandment of technical writing is thou shall not assume. The writer might think they are obvious, but you must be keenly aware of your audience's knowledge level. It is vital to write simple and effective content. 

For Example: 

Before: We need to act on the suggestions that the supervisors offer us 
After: We need to act on the supervisor’s suggestions. 

• Avoid flowery language – One of the telling signs of directness in technical writing is the vocabulary a writer uses. You must be mindful of using the right words to describe the right situation. Writing unnecessarily complex sentences may be tempting because it makes you seem smart, but the message can be unclear. Use jargon only when it improves the quality of the message. 
  • Ascertain (determine and learn) 
  • Terminate (end) 
  • Employ (use) 

Usage of Team Dynamix KB Reports 

The team has the following KB Reports under TeamDynamix (In priority order): 

1. Published expired articles– This list is given utmost priority, as it will display all the articles owned by the team, which are public-facing but have expired. This means the review date set for the article has passed.  
2. Published expired articles– This list is a subset of published expired articles which are owned by your group.
3. Non-published expired articles – This list displays incomplete/draft articles with an expiration date owned by your group.
4. Articles pending approval– It includes articles that need to be approved to become customer-facing. All articles that writers edit will be submitted into the system as a draft that requires approval. The supervisor or the team manager will work on this list. 
5. Articles w/o a review date– Articles missing a review date will reflect on this list. The Technical Writing Student Supervisor or Service Desk Manager can keep an eye out for articles written by everyone in your department who has forgotten to add a review date. It is an essential factor that helps the team keep all the articles updated on time.