What is knowledge management?
Knowledge management is the coordinated set of practices an organization uses to develop, share, apply, retain and retire the knowledge it needs to operate. ISO 30401, the international standard for knowledge management systems, sets requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, reviewing and improving such a system. It covers people, processes, technology, governance and culture, not only document repositories or search tools.
By the Knowledge Foundry editorial team. How we write and check these pages
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Key takeaways
- ISO 30401:2018 is the requirements standard for knowledge management systems; a revised edition is at draft international standard stage as at September 2026.
- ISO 30401 describes knowledge development as acquisition, application, retention, and handling of outdated or invalid knowledge.
- It also describes how knowledge is conveyed and transformed: human interaction, representation, combination, and internalisation and learning.
- ISO 9001 separately requires organizations to determine and maintain the knowledge needed to operate processes.
- Training is one channel of knowledge management; it depends on the knowledge being accurate and current.
What does knowledge management cover?
Knowledge management covers how an organization creates, captures, shares, uses and retires the knowledge its people need to make decisions and do their work. It includes explicit knowledge, such as procedures and records, and tacit knowledge, such as expert judgment.
ISO 30401:2018, published in November 2018 by ISO technical committee 260, sets requirements and provides guidelines for establishing, implementing, maintaining, reviewing and improving an effective management system for knowledge management in organizations. It applies to any organization regardless of type or size. As at September 2026, a revised edition, ISO/DIS 30401, is at draft international standard ballot and is expected to replace the 2018 edition. Details below reflect the 2018 edition.
What are the components of a knowledge management system under ISO 30401?
ISO 30401 sets out knowledge activities in two groups and expects the organization to support them with enablers. Practitioners Prieur and Belloni summarize clause 4.4.2 as four knowledge development activities and clause 4.4.3 as activities for conveying and transforming knowledge, which draw on Nonaka and Takeuchi's SECI model.
| Activity | What it means | Where training fits |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Bringing in new knowledge from inside or outside | Analyzing new obligations or methods before content is built |
| Application | Using knowledge in work and decisions | Practice and assessment on real tasks |
| Retention | Keeping knowledge available when people move on | Capturing expert knowledge in structured form |
| Handling outdated or invalid knowledge | Identifying and retiring knowledge that is no longer correct | Withdrawing and replacing out of date training |
| Human interaction | Sharing through conversation, mentoring, communities | Coaching, supervision, on the job training |
| Representation | Making knowledge explicit in documents, models, media | Procedures, work instructions, learning content |
| Combination | Integrating knowledge from different sources | Frameworks and curricula that connect topics |
| Internalisation and learning | Individuals absorbing knowledge into practice | Learning design and assessment |
Around these activities, ISO 30401 uses the common structure of ISO management system standards: context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation and improvement. That means a knowledge management system has a policy, assigned roles, documented information, monitoring and a cycle of review, in the same way as a quality or compliance system.
How does knowledge management relate to ISO 9001 organizational knowledge?
ISO 9001 includes a requirement on organizational knowledge (clause 7.1.6 in the 2015 edition), which Prieur and Belloni describe as knowledge "necessary for the operation of its processes and to achieve conformity of products and services". Organizations must determine that knowledge and keep it available. ISO 30401 goes further by specifying a whole management system for knowledge. An organization certified to ISO 9001 already has part of the foundation, and the new sixth edition, ISO 9001:2026, was published in September 2026.
How is knowledge management different from training or a knowledge base?
Training is one way to convey knowledge to people; knowledge management governs the knowledge itself, including whether it is correct and current. A knowledge base is one tool within knowledge management, used to store and retrieve explicit knowledge.
The distinction matters in regulated organizations because training built on unmanaged knowledge inherits its errors. When procedures change but training does not, the result is knowledge drift. A knowledge graph is one technical way to represent how concepts, procedures and obligations relate. For choosing between tools, see knowledge base vs LMS, and for retaining expertise see capturing subject matter expert knowledge.
How does Knowledge Foundry approach this?
Knowledge Foundry applies knowledge management principles to training: it defines the concepts, relationships and provenance for a domain first, then generates and assesses learning against that structure. Outdated knowledge can then be traced to every learning element that depends on it.
Frequently asked questions
Is ISO 30401 certifiable?
Yes. ISO 30401 is a requirements standard, so an organization can be audited against it by a certification body. Certification is voluntary. Organizations should check whether their chosen body is accredited for ISO 30401 and how the upcoming revision will affect transition.
Is knowledge management the same as information management?
No. Information management deals with data and documents as assets: storage, classification, retention and access. Knowledge management also covers how people learn, share expertise and apply judgment. The two overlap in documented knowledge such as procedures.
What is the difference between tacit and explicit knowledge?
Explicit knowledge can be written down, such as a procedure or a rule. Tacit knowledge is held in people's experience and judgment and is harder to express. Knowledge management uses interaction, mentoring and structured capture to make some tacit knowledge explicit and to keep the rest available.
Who owns knowledge management in an organization?
ISO 30401 expects top management to show leadership and assign roles and responsibilities. In practice, ownership is often shared between a knowledge or information lead, process owners and L&D, with governance defining who approves and retires knowledge.
Sources
- ISO 30401:2018 Knowledge management systems: Requirements, International Organization for Standardization
- ISO/DIS 30401 Knowledge management systems: Requirements, International Organization for Standardization
- Integrating an ISO 30401-compliant Knowledge Management System with the processes of an Integrated Management System, Prieur and Belloni, arXiv (2025)
- ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems: Requirements, International Organization for Standardization
- ISO 9001 (2026 edition) Quality management systems: Requirements, International Organization for Standardization
This page is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Check the primary sources above and obtain advice for your circumstances. See our editorial standards.