Functional Overview for
Business Decision Makers
Application Template: Knowledge Base
Description of Template
The Knowledge Base application template for Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 helps team
members upload and tag documents so that others can more easily find and learn from these documents. The
template can be utilized in a ‘top-down’ approach, where a centralized knowledge department ‘pushes down’
relevant content to the rest of the business.
Or, the template can be used in a ‘bottom-up’
approach, where knowledge is captured by all
users as a normal part of doing business which
can then be disseminated to others within the
organization. All documents and articles in the
Knowledge Base can have keywords associated
with them and can also link to related
documents, standardizing and simplifying the
process of locating relevant information.
Sample Activities Performed in this Application Template
The following examples show the various ways Microsoft anticipates this template will be utilized in a typical
organization. If you wish to add additional features, please ask your IT provider to research Microsoft Office
SharePoint Designer 2007.
Jeff Low is Lucerne Publishing’s knowledge base manager, responsible for ensuring knowledge is shared among
users in his company.
Among other things, Jeff uses the Knowledge Base template to help users find
information that is relevant to their daily jobs. When Jeff first created the Knowledge Base site, he made a list
of keywords that he could assign to documents to help users find documents and articles more easily. Since this
site is used by the financial teams as well as the product development and technology publishing teams at
Lucerne, Jeff created three keywords: Annual Reports, Product Development and LOB Applications.
Last night, Jeff found a new article, Small IT: Small Business Services. Since this article will be mostly of interest
to the technology publishing team, he adds the keyword “LOB Applications” to the document. This will allow
team members to list only documents that have to do with LOB Applications during their document search.
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Earlier, Jeff had uploaded documents on Small IT that
might also be interesting to users reading the Small
Business Services document. He makes it easier for
users to find these articles by linking ‘related’ articles
together.
When a user finds the Small Business
Services article, they will also find other articles on
Small IT.
Users can go to the Knowledge Base site
and search for documents related to LOB Applications
and Small IT. The results will show all relevant items
plus articles that are marked as related to those
returned in the search.
Though in this example, all new documents are uploaded by a central manager, this template can also be setup
to enable uploading of new documents by all users, making it a bottom-up system.
About Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is technology in Windows Server® that offers an integrated
portfolio of collaboration and communication services designed to connect people, information, processes and
systems both within and beyond the organizational firewall. Now available at no additional charge, the
technology provides a platform for developing Web-based business applications. Application Templates provide
out-of-the-box scenarios to address the needs of specific business processes.
More Information
For more information on the technologies described in this article, please visit:
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0:
http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint
Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services:
http://www.microsoft.com/sharepointapps
The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are
fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, email address, logo, person, places, or events is intended
or should be inferred.
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This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
www.microsoft.com/sharepointapps