Operating
Knowledge StudioFor non-profits

Operating Knowledge Studio™

The engagement

A defined piece of consulting work, built and tested with the people who will use it.

Agree the work before it starts.

You and I agree the work, deliverables, acceptance criteria and fixed fee in writing before it starts. I organise the relevant knowledge and working context, configure the agreed AI-assisted workflows with your team, test them in use and hand over the setup and instructions.

One team and two recurring jobs is the proposed starting point. Fundraising tasks can be included where useful, or both jobs can support communications. A handoff between a programme owner and an editor is enough to test how people share and approve information.

You can bring one problem to the conversation.

Agree which sources and accounts can be used, who can access them, what stays out and where a person must decide. Personal case records, safeguarding records and private HR or medical records stay in their existing systems.

Your team may already use ChatGPT, Claude (including Cowork), Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or Grok. I assess the setup you have. The agreement names the selected tools and plans, permissions, connections and data boundaries. These examples do not promise equal features or privacy terms.

Illustration of a sponsor, knowledge owner and colleagues scoping work at a community-room table.
Illustration · Choosing the work together

The Operating Knowledge Engine™

Six stages take a team from a first conversation to a working setup it can maintain.

The stages run in order, though you will sometimes go back when something turns up. The first four organise your knowledge. The last two choose the jobs your team wants help with, set them up and test them. The method grew out of the funding knowledge work I do through Grant Resource Studio. Here it is applied to a wider range of charity work.

From first conversation to a working setup

Six stages run from Discover to Test and hand over. The controlled working space covers stages 2 to 4. Your workspace holds the result from Build onwards.

  1. 1Discover
  2. 2Review and capture
  3. 3Structure
  4. 4Build
  5. 5Set up workflows
  6. 6Test and hand over
Stages 2 to 4

Operating Knowledge Studio Content Workshop: you review drafts and approve what is accepted

Approved content moves across
Stages 4 to 6

Your workspace: you own the result

Notion, Google Drive, SharePoint, Confluence or another you use

After handover, people review changes before they are written back

The Content Workshop is where the build is done. Your workspace is where your knowledge lives.

1. Discover

Discover: choose the work and agree the boundaries

You and I agree which team and which jobs to start with, and which areas of the twelve-domain menu those jobs draw on. We agree which sources can be used, who can see them, who reviews the results and what stays out of any AI tool. You choose the workspace that will hold your knowledge. We agree what a useful result looks like and record a first scope.

2. Review and capture

Review and capture: decide what is current and write down what is not recorded

I review your existing documents and other material with the people who know the work, then reuse what is relevant to draft the initial content of your knowledge base. Your team checks the facts, reviews the drafts and approves what becomes accepted content. A source can hold an out-of-date figure or describe a programme that has changed, so we sort what is current from what is old and settle contradictions together. Practice that has never been written down is captured and checked. For policies, the knowledge base records a short description and a pointer to the authoritative document. The policy text stays where it is.

3. Structure

Structure: give each piece of knowledge a home

The agreed material is organised into the Orchestration Module, the organisation as a whole, the case for support and the areas of work you chose from the menu. Each area has a named owner. What has been accepted is kept apart from what is still a draft.

4. Build

Build: move the agreed knowledge into your workspace

The knowledge base is created in the workspace you chose. A working context is set up beside it to carry current instructions, decisions and pointers to sources. We agree how your AI assistant reaches both and who looks after them.

Where the build happens

Stages 2 to 4 take place in the Content Workshop, an online working space I built for preparing and reviewing knowledge. It brings drafts, feedback and a review and approval workflow together, with a change log so your team can trace updates. Your team checks the drafts and approves what becomes accepted content. The finished knowledge base is built in the workspace you choose and own, for example Notion, Google Drive, SharePoint or Confluence. The maintained structure matters more than the tool, and the agreement names the one we use.

I use the same workshop approach on funding knowledge builds. Its use across a wider range of charity work has not yet been run with a client.

5. Set up workflows

Set up workflows: choose the jobs, then design how each one runs

We confirm the scope of the project. For each area you chose, we pick the capabilities worth supporting, then the recurring jobs inside them. For each job we agree what starts it, what it draws on, what it produces, who hands it on, who approves it and how you will know it is done. We also agree what the assistant may prepare and what stays with a person. I then configure the agreed access and instructions with your team.

Two jobs is the proposed starting point. More jobs, or more areas, are scoped separately.

Choosing the work, one step at a time

Choose domains from the menu, then the capabilities that matter in them, then the recurring jobs to set up first.

  1. The twelve-domain menu
    See the twelve domains
    1. Strategy, leadership and organisational development
    2. Governance, risk and assurance
    3. Programmes and services
    4. Impact, evidence and learning
    5. Funding and income generation
    6. Partnerships and community relationships
    7. Communications, engagement and advocacy
    8. People and volunteering
    9. Finance and stewardship
    10. Resources, procurement and environment
    11. Digital, data and knowledge
    12. Organisational performance and improvement
  2. The domains you choose
  3. The capabilities that matter in them
  4. The recurring jobs you set up firstUsually two to start

6. Test and hand over

Test and hand over: use it on real work, then hand it over

Your team runs the chosen jobs on real work and tries one request that was not set up. We compare the results with the starting position and correct what falls short. At handover you receive the knowledge, working rules, change history, workflow instructions and tool setup, with a routine for reviewing changes. A colleague should be able to run the agreed work, reject a bad update and trace an accepted change.

Handover

Make it usable by a colleague.

Your team keeps the knowledge, working rules, change history, client-specific workflow instructions and agreed tool setup. The handover includes practical guidance for maintaining and extending them.

A colleague should be able to run the agreed work, reject a bad update and trace an accepted change. The internal method used to build it stays with me.

Your chosen providers charge for their tools. There is no separate Operating Knowledge Studio platform subscription. Further work is scoped separately.

Illustration of colleagues checking notes and passing an organised folder to its next owner.
Illustration · Checking the handover in use

Your team's part

A senior sponsor, a named owner, suitable access and time from the people who know the work. Your team decides which sources are current, approves accepted material and tests the setup.

My part

I help define the scope, prepare the relevant knowledge and working instructions, configure the agreed setup and work through the tests with your team. A shared index or dashboard is added only where it is useful.

Discuss a first scope.

The first conversation can begin with one recurring job or one problem with its information.

Book a knowledge base discovery call