Mitarbeiterin im Kundencenter als Imagebild für Wissensdatenbank mit MS SharePoint für Energieversorger

Introduction to knowledge management for a municipal utility company

We developed a knowledge management system based on MS Sharepoint for the customer center of a municipal utility company in a large city in northern Germany. This ensures that all service employees have the same level of knowledge, e.g., regarding fault reports or offers, and can respond to customer inquiries more quickly.

Shortcuts to the project

The municipal utility company has its own telephone service department at several locations, which advises callers. At each of the locations, the clerks try to answer incoming inquiries using the same information and to the highest possible standard. The amount of information available is very large, ranging from fault reports and offers to general information. The goal is to ensure that information can be retrieved quickly and in a structured manner. To this end, we have developed a tool that gives employees central access to all information. In addition, all information can be stored with keywords, making it easy to find.

Imagebild Person am Rechner für Case MS SharePoint für Auftragsmanagement eines Energieversorgers

Agile project implementation

In various workshops with the law firm's management and specialist departments, a prototype was developed, which was further refined over the course of the project. We used Microsoft SharePoint as the basis for the system. SharePoint was completely adapted to the customer's needs.
After the metadata was entered, the information was automatically made searchable in various categories and woven together into an interactive manual using a wiki structure.
In addition, we created an application for immediate notification of the clerks: When critical information is received (e.g., “water pipe burst” or “fraudsters on the loose”), all clerks are automatically notified by a pop-up message on their computer.

At a glance

Controlled storage of information with metadata within a SharePoint.
Dynamically prepared view of the information in a tree-like overview. The same information can appear in different leaves of the tree.
Extension of the automatically generated view with manually maintained additional information in the wiki.
Extension of the search to external systems (i.e., fault reporting systems or Internet sources can also be searched).
Distribution of notifications when critical information is received.
Easy retrieval of information.

To the original report

Thorsten Haase

Technology & Consulting

thorsten.haase@hec.de

+49 421 20750-100

Ulf Mewe

Innovation & Consulting

ulf.mewe@hec.de

+49 421 20750-223