Wikis in Sharepoint

A Wiki, which in the Hawaiian language means “quick”, is a website that allows visitors to easily add, remove or edit content on the site, often without the need for registration. Content on the site is often ‘policed’ by a community of contributors, who have the capability of editing inappropriate or incorrect information. The most powerful element of Wiki sites is the ease of creating and editing web sites, enabling non-technical users to wholly participate in knowledge sharing or collaboration efforts through Wiki sites. Within Windows SharePoint Services, a wiki site also enables the capability of viewing versions of a wiki site entry, along with when changes were made and who made those changes. Users have the capability of ‘rolling back’ to a previous version if updates are considered incorrect or inappropriate. Users with Full Control permissions, often administrators of the wiki site, also have the capability to tightly control who has the capability to edit wiki site entries, choosing to allow only a certain group of users to edit a wiki entry, while allowing everybody else to read the wiki site.

I've been talking to organizations about the power of Wikis for over a year but a have had to explain the entire concept of wikis in detail. I chanced upon an interesting video the other day that did an excellent job of explaining Wikis to the non-technical user. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO.

Idea for using Wikis in Retail:

Wikis were originally used by businesses as a primary knowledge sharing tool for employees within the corporate firewall. However, with the simplicity of wiki technology enabling mainstream adoption by users on the public Internet, Wikis are beginning to evolve from a corporate knowledge management system into a place for general collaboration. Topics such as meeting agendas, marketing documents or other internal documents such as official job descriptions, can be created by a mix of team members from within a company or external vendors and consultants. The uses of Wikis within the business environment are varied and could be considered a solution whenever a business need calls for multiple users collaborating openly on a single set of text documents.

1. Collaboratively create a Store Operations Manual with input from Store Managers
2. Collaboratively create a Crisis plan in the event of a natural disaster/emergency. This could be an excellent way to gather ideas/knowledge for re-use.
3. Collaboratively maintain and create an employee training guide.
4. Share and fine tune best practices across stores

... the list could go on. Feel free to comment and add your ideas.