An internal knowledge base (KB) is created by an organization strictly for team members to access private or confidential knowledge as needed. It should contain as much information and documentation as possible in order to help employees do their jobs with a minimum of interruption. 


While any group can have one, internal knowledge bases are usually used by companies to capture knowledge that employees need in order to properly do their jobs, and can include information on:

  • Company information — Office addresses, stock symbol(s), press contacts, and  websites
  • Benefits — Available perks, how and when to sign up, and open enrollment periods
  • Onboarding — What new employees should expect in their first weeks, what technology they’ll be issued, how things work, and who to go to for questions
  • Tech help — Full-service and self-service IT information, basic device security
  • Organizational structure — Chain of command, escalation procedures, and where teams belong
  • Calendars — Lists of company holidays and important dates
  • "In-the-know" information — Internal process updates (temporary or permanent), workarounds, company announcements

Information should also be captured at the team level for easy knowledge sharing within orgs. For example, customer support reps will need access to external FAQs and customer usage data; account management may need usage and finance data; engineering will need anonymized usage data but access to engineering-specific tools and information that require their own documentation.

Because of these overlapping and discrete needs, a company knowledge base should be flexible and expansive, stemming from a top-down knowledge management strategy, but with actual maintenance and article creation owned from the bottom up.