Knowledge Base software

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Oriphix

523 posts

Ultimate Geek

#160636 14-Jan-2015 10:38

Anyone know a good knowledge base software? (will be used in the IT field)

Something we can add pictures and how to instructions?

nedkelly

659 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#1213638 14-Jan-2015 10:45

What about a wiki?
My previous company ran a wiki on a spare server for heaps of knowledge articles and commonly used installers.

Lias

5589 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1213646 14-Jan-2015 10:55

In before SharePoint :-P

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

nzkc

1571 posts

Uber Geek

#1214627 14-Jan-2015 11:12

nedkelly: What about a wiki?
My previous company ran a wiki on a spare server for heaps of knowledge articles and commonly used installers.

+1. Was my thoughts exactly. Depends what your exact requirements are. If you want something that a helpdesk person can work through and follow (potentially filling in information) as you go then you'll want something else. But if its a general search/find thing you're after then a wiki is the way to go.

solival

160 posts

Master Geek

#1214716 14-Jan-2015 12:45

It depends on your requirements. For relatively small companies wiki will be enough. Personally I use dokuwiki. I like its design, syntax, and tree-like data organization.

Oriphix

523 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1215708 15-Jan-2015 22:27

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback.

We are getting SharePoint 2013 so we might just get a wiki on that, will probably work out better to keep the documents in one place.

I just hope it does search inside the documents as well and not just the title. As that was one of the main reasons I was looking at program.

I did find Atlassin which gives me the function to search inside documents and other functions.

https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence

The price wasn't bad either around $49 p/m for 10 users, might re-visit this if the SharePoint doesn't pan out.

mrdrifter

576 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1215807 16-Jan-2015 08:29

Oriphix: Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback.

We are getting SharePoint 2013 so we might just get a wiki on that, will probably work out better to keep the documents in one place.

I just hope it does search inside the documents as well and not just the title. As that was one of the main reasons I was looking at program.

I did find Atlassin which gives me the function to search inside documents and other functions.

https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence

The price wasn't bad either around $49 p/m for 10 users, might re-visit this if the SharePoint doesn't pan out.

If configured correctly SharePoint 2013 will index the contents of standard document types (HTML, Office files and PDF). If you are simply using the wiki and or content pages all information within these will be indexed for search as well.

If you are already implementing SharePoint then it isn't very difficult to add an additional knowledge base site. I wouldn't recommend standing up a SharePoint server if this is the only content being kept on it. In fact I would recommend looking at Office 365/SharePoint Online as a first option.

solival

160 posts

Master Geek

#1215811 16-Jan-2015 08:35

Good choice.
Both solutions are very scalable, so having them you'll be able to rise enterprise and it still will be enough.
Historically we didn't work with MS products, so can tall only about Confluence. It's definitely worth a try. As a software developing company we worked with stack of their products: Confluence, Jira, and (only started) greenhopper. They are very configurable for probably any knowledge management and even more. For example, we organized almost all processes workflows in Jira (sales, client management, bug tracking, features implementations, etc).
So, try Confluence :)