A Scalable Approach
As an Atlassian Solution Partner, Run by Ideas knows that Confluence is a powerful platform that enables companies to create, organize, and share information in a central location. Confluence is a web-based collaboration tool that allows teams to collaborate and share information in real-time. It offers a wide range of features, including document creation and editing, knowledge management, and project management. With Confluence, companies can easily create, share, and collaborate on content, which helps them stay organized and efficient.
What is it?
At its core, Confluence is a content management system (CMS) that enables teams to collaborate on content and share knowledge. However, it is much more than just a CMS. Confluence offers a value proposition that includes increased collaboration, knowledge sharing, and project management capabilities. This makes it an ideal platform for businesses of all sizes.
For startups and small businesses, Confluence is a cost-effective way to manage content and collaborate on projects. As businesses grow, Confluence scales with them, providing an enterprise-level solution for managing content and knowledge across teams and departments.
Developing a CMS Strategy for Confluence
To make it easy to navigate Confluence sites, it is essential to have a solid CMS strategy in place from the start. This involves defining how content will be organized, how teams will collaborate on content, and how information will be shared across departments. By having a clear strategy in place, businesses can avoid complex content and business issues down the line.
To implement a scalable, easy-to-use approach to Confluence, businesses should focus on creating a simple and intuitive navigation structure. This can be achieved by organizing content into categories and subcategories, creating a search function that is easy to use, and providing clear labels and descriptions for each piece of content. By making it easy to find and access information, businesses can improve collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams.
Using Jira and Confluence to Drive Business Improvements
Jira and Confluence are two powerful tools that businesses can use to drive improvements in their ability to drive business improvements.
Confluence has been used by NASA to manage knowledge for space missions. NASA uses Confluence to document its procedures and processes, as well as to collaborate on research and development projects.
Case Study: Project Management Repositories
A global consulting firm that specializing in digital transformation projects had been struggling to complete projects on time and within budget due to a lack of visibility into project progress and communication issues across teams. To address these challenges, the company decided to implement Jira and Confluence.
Jira was used to track project progress and identify bottlenecks in the company’s processes. By creating custom workflows and automating repetitive tasks, project managers were able to spend less time on manual tracking and more time on strategic planning. Jira’s real-time reporting capabilities allowed the team to quickly identify issues and take action to resolve them.
Confluence was used to centralize project-related knowledge and documentation. The team created a knowledge base in Confluence that included project plans, requirements, and documentation. The knowledge base was organized in a logical and intuitive way, making it easy for team members to find the information they needed quickly. By using Confluence, the team reduced the need for email communication and ensured that all team members had access to the most up-to-date information.
As a result of using Jira and Confluence, the firm was able to reduce project completion time by 25%, resulting in significant cost savings. The improved collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams also led to a more efficient and effective project management process, allowing the company to take on more projects and grow their business.
Case Study: Knowledge and Permissions
A financial services company with multiple departments and teams spread across different locations had been struggling to manage the growing amount of information and knowledge generated by its employees. The impact of this was a lack of consistency in documentation and difficulty in sharing knowledge across teams.
To address these challenges, the company decided to implement Confluence as a CMS for their internal knowledge base. The company created a centralized location for all their documentation, including policies, procedures, and training materials. By using Confluence’s robust permissions system, the company was able to control who had access to each piece of information, ensuring that sensitive data was only available to authorized personnel.
Confluence’s search functionality made it easy for employees to find the information they needed quickly, while the ability to comment and edit pages facilitated collaboration and ensured that information was up-to-date. The company also used Confluence to create templates for frequently used documents, ensuring consistency across departments.
As a result of using Confluence as a CMS, the organization was able to improve the efficiency and accuracy of its knowledge management process. The centralized location of information made it easier for employees to find what they needed quickly, reducing the time spent searching for information. The use of templates also ensured consistency in documentation, while the ability to collaborate on pages improved the accuracy and completeness of information.
Changing your Current Approach
Anyone can shift from disorganized CMS content to highly organized CMS content using Confluence as a CMS. The key is to have a clear content strategy, create a template library, establish a governance plan, and provide training for all users. With these elements in place, you can ensure that your content is organized, accurate, and up-to-date, making it easier for users to navigate and find the information they need. Below is a simple way to think about how to get there:
- Assess current content: Start by reviewing the current content in your CMS to identify any patterns of disorganization. Look for duplicated or outdated pages, missing pages, and inconsistent formatting.
- Develop a content strategy: Develop a clear content strategy that outlines the goals of your CMS and how you plan to organize your content. This includes defining your content types, outlining your content architecture, and setting up a governance plan to ensure that all content is up-to-date and accurate.
- Create a template library: Develop a library of templates that will be used for all new pages in your CMS. This will ensure consistency in formatting and make it easier for users to navigate through the content.
- Set up a governance plan: Establish a governance plan that includes a review process for all content. This process should outline who is responsible for reviewing and updating content, how often content should be reviewed, and what criteria should be used to evaluate the content.
- Organize existing content: Organize existing content in a way that aligns with your content strategy and architecture. This may involve creating new pages, updating existing pages, and deleting redundant or outdated pages.
- Train users: Provide training for all users on how to use the new CMS and how to create and update content. This includes training on the new templates, the review process, and the governance plan.
- Monitor and adjust: Monitor the effectiveness of your new CMS and make adjustments as necessary. This includes tracking user feedback, reviewing usage statistics, and evaluating the effectiveness of your governance plan.
Partnering with an Expert in Atlassian Confluence
Partnering with an expert in all things Jira, Confluence, and Agile can help organizations learn from the experience of others who have seen and done this many times over. With the right partner, businesses can leverage the power of Confluence and Jira to improve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and project management capabilities. Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise-level organization, Run by Ideas can help you create a scalable, easy-to-use approach to Confluence that will drive business improvements and help you stay ahead of the competition.
