Certified Knowledge Management (CKM)

I just completed the certified knowledge management (CKM) program offered through Zavata (STI Knowledge). Going into the class, I wasn't sure what to expect, but after completing the course it was clear that this wasn't the KM certification for me. For someone developing a help desk knowledge base, this class and certification is great and did a good job of accomplishing it's objective. The class was well done, but did not match my definition of knowledge management or where I think KM is heading.

The focus of this program is around articles in a help desk support system (very structured content). To me this is only one part of a much larger KM puzzle. There was only limited mention of culture or collaboration. There was no mention of communities, blogs, wikis, etc.

There was also a significant number of terms that I had never heard of and assume they are only used in help desk KM. An example was the three types of knowledge (with my definitions provided):

• Shadow knowledge (information you need, but don't know where to find it)
• Passive knowledge (information people have, but don't know they need to share it)
• Compass knowledge (information that you need, and know where to find it)

Not to say there weren't a number of ideas I can use. The idea of applying help desk philosophy in our organization does have merit. I had put a number of ideas on the back burner that I may need to dredge up. The basic principles in building a knowledge base hold, however, the content in our knowledge base is much less structured.

One of my friends is enrolling in KM Pro's certification and I'll be interested in his feedback.