(Untitled)

[1eyedkunt]

Anyone have any opinions/recommendations on knowledge management software for a small, non-web-based business? I know next to nothing about these things. We're looking for some kind of wiki-type thing that's cheap and easy to use and that we can use to organize data and share information.

Comments

[avulsionist]

TWiki has a free version... Low overhead for the server install too.

[1eyedkunt]

i'll check it out - thanks!

[incorpore]

EAMB uses the free (GPL) MediaWiki, it has immensely helped our internal communications and knowledge sharing (that used to be a huge problem). I don't know how difficult it is to set up and administer, but it's very easy to use.

[1eyedkunt]

huh - never would've though EAMB would need such a thing! Thanks for the advice!

[incorpore]

HA! My first two years in the band, I thought the disinformation and information withholding within the band was intentional, designed to keep us guessing, keep us on our toes (and to create an obvious hierarchy between the "knows" and the "Knows not"). Then they rolled out the wiki and I realized it was none of the above, they just didn't have a good way to get all the information to everyone.

It has become indispensible for big projects, like going to Europe, and also for smaller projects, like everyday booking.

[icarus88]

Heh heh, your earlier thinking mirrors how I once felt about the entire club "scene".

[icarus88]

From my friends in the corporate/software world (more as they chime in):

Mark to me:

We're using Twiki here. (http://twiki.org/) its open source and seems to be fairly robust. I just
use it, I've had no part in setting up or maintaining so I wouldn't be in a position to offer any
thing resembling advice beyond "this is what we use".

C Young to me:

A contractor friend used PBWiki for a while, it's simple and near-free. Not sure if she's still using it or something else now that she's back working for a firm though.

http://pbwiki.com/

Secure and all that.

[icarus88]

Lucy:

We have used citation management tools such as End-Note and Reference Manager to organize documents. The nice thing about these packages is that there is no size limit to the number of documents you can put in the database, they are searchable, they are designed for documents, and you can customize them. They run about $300, but if you can grab an older version.... You might check for decent freeware out there. This is the simplest and lowest end KM type tool I know of.

Both End Note and Ref Man have online training available for free. I have seen collections as large as 50,000 documents. The main thing is to decide up front on your organization scheme, and build in growth - eg, don't box yourself in conceptually. It gets messy when you try to migrate things later on.
Lucy

[icarus88]

Ray to Usual

[1eyedkunt]

awesome! thanks honey!