Many IT teams start strong with a knowledge base, only to watch it become outdated, inconsistent, and unused. This post explores why maintaining internal documentation is so hard, the cost of outdated information, and strategies for keeping your IT knowledge base accurate—without overwhelming your team.
A well-maintained knowledge base can be the backbone of efficient IT support—but for many teams, it quickly becomes a source of frustration. Articles get outdated, links break, screenshots no longer match interfaces, and no one knows who’s responsible for maintaining what. Before long, your knowledge base is cluttered, stale, and underused.
So why is keeping documentation up to date such a nightmare?
1. It’s No One’s Job… But Everyone’s Problem
In many organizations, internal documentation is a shared responsibility. Unfortunately, this often means it’s no one’s top priority. System administrators, helpdesk staff, and IT managers are focused on resolving tickets, deploying tools, and maintaining uptime—not rewriting how-to guides.
2. IT Environments Change Constantly
Operating systems get updated, tools get replaced, and settings change overnight. What was accurate six months ago might now be completely wrong. If your knowledge base doesn’t keep pace with your environment, users start to ignore it—and you lose the benefits of self-service support.
3. Most Knowledge Base Software Is Just a Fancy Text Editor
Even the most popular platforms give you a blank page and expect your team to create and maintain content manually. There are no built-in workflows for updates, reminders, or alerts when documentation needs review. It’s a static system in a dynamic world.
4. Writing Support Articles Isn’t a Core Skill for Most IT Teams
Technical staff are hired for their ability to solve problems, not write training content. Expecting them to write well-structured, user-friendly help guides in their spare time is unrealistic—and often leads to inconsistent quality.
How to Make Maintenance Easier
Keeping your knowledge base accurate doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Here are ways to simplify the process and reduce the burden on your team:
1. Use Prewritten, Professionally Maintained Articles
Instead of writing everything from scratch, start with a library of professionally written guides that cover common IT tasks—like VPN setup, MFA, password resets, and printer issues. Services like Kandbe offer these out of the box and update them as software changes.
2. Assign Ownership and Review Cycles
Each article should have a clear owner who’s responsible for reviewing it quarterly (or more often, if needed). Use tags or metadata to track when each document was last reviewed.
3. Make Updates Lightweight and Fast
Don’t rely on full-on word processors or bloated wikis. A streamlined editing interface makes it easier for team members to make quick updates without formatting headaches.
4. Track Usage and Archive What’s Stale
If an article hasn’t been viewed in 6+ months, it may be obsolete—or just poorly titled. Either way, regular usage audits help you decide what to update, delete, or merge.
5. Set Triggers Based on Change Events
When you roll out a new version of a common tool (e.g., Microsoft Teams or Zoom), schedule a documentation review at the same time. Connect KB maintenance to system lifecycle events.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining an internal knowledge base will always require effort—but it shouldn’t be overwhelming. With the right processes, ownership, and tools, you can keep your IT documentation current, useful, and worth the investment. And when paired with a platform that provides up-to-date, ready-made content, the burden drops significantly.
If your team is tired of fighting with outdated guides and writing documentation from scratch, it may be time to rethink how you manage your knowledge base.