Is a SharePoint Knowledge Base an effective Knowledge Management System?

SharePoint is certainly used as a Knowledge Management (KM) solution due to its integration with Microsoft 365 and its broad feature set. However, KPSOL often hears from customers that there are a number of weaknesses in configurability, user experience and ongoing maintenance.

An effective knowledge management solution should allow for ease of setup and ease of use, which means good document capture and governance and easy to find documents and answers. Good document capture also incorporates the ability to classify and structure information effectively.

From a SharePoint perspective, if you already use Microsoft 365, have strong IT admin and are very document centric, SharePoint can indeed be used to manage your information. But true Knowledge Management means understanding your knowledge demand through insights and the capture of tacit knowledge to ensure your knowledge base organically grows. A SharePoint knowledge base does not support these essential aspects of KM and can therefore sometimes be no more functional than a file repository.

From a search perspective, a SharePoint knowledge base needs to be heavily tagged with customisation required from a technical resource to improve searchability, which is out of the box with a Knowledge Management system. The user experience can be clunky, with inconsistent design and a non intuitive interface. Knowledge Management solutions should allow for tailored layouts for users, which are simple to configure by the end user.

Built-in analytics are limited in a SharePoint knowledge base, especially for tracking knowledge consumption, engagement and contribution patterns, requiring integration with Power BI or third-party tools for deeper insights.

SharePoint is often not an ideal solution for Knowledge Management because it is primarily designed for document storage rather than dynamic knowledge sharing. Its search capabilities are limited, making it difficult for users to quickly find relevant or contextual information. The SharePoint knowledge base platform also requires significant configuration and IT support to effectively structure and maintain knowledge, which can be a barrier for many organizations. Additionally, SharePoint lacks intuitive tools for capturing tacit knowledge, facilitating collaboration, or supporting informal knowledge exchange—key components of a successful KM system.