Tacitous
Purpose-built organisational Knowledge Management
Capturing experience, connecting expertise, developing organisational learning, preserving critical knowledge and enabling reuse.
Compare Knowledge Management platforms
Information Management is not Knowledge Management.
Your organisation already has somewhere to store documents, exchange messages and retrieve information. But where does it capture experience, preserve critical expertise, learn from mistakes and connect the people who know?
Tacitous brings practical Knowledge Management methodologies together in one purpose-built platform.
Knowledge management without enterprise disruption. Keep your existing information systems. Introduce structured Knowledge Management where it creates value.
Built for Knowledge Management. Not adapted for it.
Three products, three different purposes
These products are not identical alternatives. SharePoint manages information. Dgroups supports community communication. Tacitous provides integrated tools for capturing, connecting, developing, preserving and reusing organisational knowledge.
Microsoft SharePoint
Information management and enterprise content collaboration
Intranets, team sites, document and content management, lists, granular permissions and search, within Microsoft 365.
Dgroups / Groups.io
Email-based community communication
Mailing lists and group discussions with moderation, searchable archives, hashtags and, on Premium, files, wiki, calendar, polls and databases.
Platform comparison
Compare what’s included, not what could be built.
SharePoint and the wider Microsoft 365 ecosystem can be used to build Knowledge Management solutions, and many organisations do. This comparison separates what each product supplies as standard from what needs custom development, additional applications or integrations.
- Built in
- A purpose-built capability included in the product.
- Core strength
- What the product was primarily designed to do.
- Available
- A documented native capability, possibly on a particular plan or in a companion app from the same vendor.
- Partial
- Some relevant functionality, but not the same complete KM method or workflow.
- Additional implementation
- An equivalent needs custom development, integrations, additional applications or bespoke workflow configuration.
- Not documented
- The vendor’s published documentation does not establish an equivalent native capability.
- Different focus
- The product serves a different primary use case.
| Capability | TacitousPurpose-built organisational Knowledge Management | SharePointInformation management and enterprise content collaboration | DgroupsEmail-based community communication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communities and collaboration | |||
| Built in | Partial | Core strength | |
What it is. Public, managed and private communities with discussions, Learnings, announcements, a library, calendar, FAQs, links, polls and members. Why it matters. Practitioners need a home where questions get answered and what they know stays findable, connected to the organisation’s expertise. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Partial | Core strength | |
What it is. Discussion topics and threads inside each community, organised under expertise categories, with helpful answers marked. Why it matters. Conversation is where much tacit knowledge first appears. Linking it to an area of expertise brings in the people who know. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Available | Available | |
What it is. Community polls with two to ten options and an optional closing date. Why it matters. A quick way to test opinion in a community before a decision or a review.
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| Built in | Available | Not documented | |
What it is. Timed quizzes in a community, with points, one attempt, explanations after closing, leaderboards and a participation report. A quiz can link to a related Learning. Why it matters. Turns shared knowledge into active learning and shows how well it has landed. See it in Tacitous
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| Structured knowledge capture | |||
| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Learnings that record what happened, why it matters and what to do next time, with optional approval, ratings, feedback and version history. Why it matters. Stops teams repeating mistakes, because the lesson is reviewed, findable and linked to the people who know the subject. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. The second Learning type, with the same structure, review and reuse tracking as Lessons Learned. Why it matters. Spreads proven approaches across teams and sites instead of leaving them with one team. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. A structured review: what was expected, what actually happened, the results, what went well and what did not and why, what to repeat and what to do differently, with owned and dated actions. Why it matters. Completed work informs the next piece of work, instead of the review ending as an unstructured meeting note. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Records a facilitated Knowledge Café: facilitator, attendees, conversation points, critical issues and closing questions, tagged to expertise categories. Why it matters. Insights from a group conversation are kept and connected to the subject, rather than lost when the session ends. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Knowledge Retention and Transfer records guide a structured conversation, from a Role Introduction and Conversation Points to a Closing Question with advice for a successor. Why it matters. Preserves expertise at risk of being lost through retirement, turnover or organisational change. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Records the question, what was decided, the rationale, alternatives considered, assumptions, risks, where it applies and when to review it. Why it matters. People who inherit a decision can see why it was made, not only what was decided. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Partial | |
What it is. Improvement ideas with the expected benefit, member ratings and comments, and verified savings recorded separately from estimates. Why it matters. Good ideas are recorded, rated and followed through with evidence of benefit, instead of being lost in a workshop note. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. The discussion author or a community manager selects contributions from a discussion and turns them into a Lesson Learned or Best Practice that links back to its source. Why it matters. Valuable answers outlive the thread and become structured, reviewed knowledge. See it in Tacitous
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| Expertise discovery | |||
| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Governed expertise categories, each with Designated Experts, showing the people, Learnings, records, communities and library resources connected to it. Why it matters. Find the right expert or existing knowledge on a subject in one place, instead of asking around. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. An interactive view of every expertise category and the experts and knowledge connected to it. Why it matters. Shows where the organisation’s expertise sits, and where it is thin, at a glance. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Start from a question, a person or a subject and follow the links to Designated Experts, Learnings, communities and library resources. Why it matters. People reach the knowledge and the colleagues they need through the organisation’s own expertise structure. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Profiles showing designated expertise, skills, endorsements, Ask Me About topics and the person’s contributions. Why it matters. Connects each person to the knowledge they have contributed and the subjects they can help with. See it in Tacitous
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| Knowledge activation and reuse | |||
| Available | Additional implementation | Partial | |
What it is. A scheduled email that selects recent approved Learnings, discussions, quizzes and polls for each member, with links back to the original knowledge. Why it matters. Brings captured knowledge back into circulation and encourages people to return and take part. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Members record where they applied a Learning and what happened, and reviewers can validate the reported benefits. Why it matters. Shows which knowledge is actually used, and the value it creates. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Additional implementation | Not documented | |
What it is. Discussions show related Learnings and people who may be able to help, based on expertise categories and skills, respecting what each person can see. Why it matters. Connects a question to existing answers and the people who know while it is being asked. See it in Tacitous
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| Governance and continuity | |||
| Built in | Not documented | Not documented | |
What it is. A tenant-level package of chosen knowledge domains in documented JSON and CSV files with stable identifiers and checksums, approved and generated by the Platform Administrator. Why it matters. Your organisation’s knowledge remains yours, in a structured form other systems can read. See it in Tacitous
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| Built in | Core strength | Available | |
What it is. Each organisation has its own tenant. Public, managed and private communities, roles and per-person checks govern who sees what, including in digests and the Knowledge API. Why it matters. Knowledge is shared as widely as it should be, and no further.
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| Built in | Available | Available | |
What it is. Administrative actions, profile privacy and consent changes, user access and Knowledge API calls are recorded. Why it matters. Administrators can show who changed what, and when.
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| Information and support infrastructure | |||
| Different focus | Core strength | Available | |
What it is. Storing, organising and managing documents and content across the organisation, including intranets. Why it matters. Most organisations already have this. Tacitous works alongside it rather than replacing it.
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| Different focus | Different focus | Core strength | |
What it is. Taking part in group discussion by email, with digests and moderation. Why it matters. Suits dispersed networks that work mainly from their inbox.
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| Different focus | Available | Not documented | |
What it is. Answering questions in natural language using AI over the organisation’s content. Why it matters. AI answers are only as reliable as the validated knowledge behind them.
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Select a capability to see what it does, why it matters and the notes behind each classification.
From conversation to organisational knowledge
Don’t just discuss knowledge. Capture it.
Many collaboration platforms allow people to exchange messages and search previous conversations. Tacitous goes further by enabling valuable discussions to be promoted into structured Learnings, helping organisations preserve experience beyond the original conversation.
Step 1 of 4
Community discussion
Any community member
A member asks how to hand over supplier knowledge before a planner retires. Colleagues reply with what has worked for them. So far, this is what any discussion tool offers.
Screens from Tacitous Next, captured from a local build with fictional demonstration people and content.
Practical KM methods, ready to use
Knowledge Management methods. Already built in.
Each method follows a recognised Knowledge Management practice, with a consistent structure and links to the expertise categories and people it concerns.
Lessons LearnedRecords what happened, why it matters and what to do next time, as a Lesson Learned or Best Practice tagged to an expertise category, with optional approval before publication.
The problem it addresses. Teams repeat mistakes because what one project learned sits in a report nobody else finds.
The knowledge value. Reviewed, findable lessons with ratings, feedback, version history and evidence of reuse.
After Action ReviewsCapture what was expected, what actually happened, why outcomes differed and what should be improved, using a structured review rather than an unstructured meeting document. Agreed actions have owners and due dates.
The problem it addresses. Reviews held from memory at project close produce general observations that are hard to reuse.
The knowledge value. Completed work informs the next piece of work, with actions followed through.
Knowledge CafésFacilitate structured conversations, record important insights and preserve knowledge emerging from group discussions: the facilitator, attendees, conversation points, critical issues and closing questions.
The problem it addresses. The best ideas from a group conversation disappear when the session ends.
The knowledge value. Insights stay connected to their subject and to the people who took part.
Learn moreCritical Knowledge RetentionIdentify and preserve expertise at risk of being lost through retirement, employee turnover or organisational change. A guided conversation runs from a Role Introduction and Conversation Points to a Closing Question with advice for a successor.
The problem it addresses. Handover notes list tasks, but the judgement behind them leaves with the person.
The knowledge value. Successors inherit the reasoning, contacts and advice, not only the procedures.
Expertise ConstellationsShows every governed expertise category and, when one is selected, the Designated Experts and knowledge connected to it.
The problem it addresses. Nobody can see where the organisation’s expertise sits, or where it is thin.
The knowledge value. Leaders and members see the shape of organisational expertise at a glance.
Pathway to ExpertiseStart from a question, a person or a subject and follow the links to Designated Experts, Learnings, communities and library resources on the Expertise Map.
The problem it addresses. People do not know who to ask, so they ask around or start from scratch.
The knowledge value. A pathway to the knowledge and people you need, through the organisation’s own expertise structure.
Data / Exit Package
Your knowledge should remain yours.
Downloading files is not the same as taking your knowledge with you. Tacitous offers a defined, customer-facing Data / Exit Package: a structured export of the knowledge your organisation has built, at tenant level.
- Tenant Administrators choose the domains, such as Lessons Learned, Knowledge Retention and Transfer, After Action Reviews, Peer Assists and Decisions
- JSON files keep each record and its relationships; CSV tables open in spreadsheet tools
- Stable identifiers link related records, and SHA-256 checksums cover the files
- Approved and generated by the Platform Administrator. Private messages and sign-in credentials are never included
It supports archiving, continuity and migration, and reduces dependence on any one vendor. Other systems still need to map the files to their own structures.
See the Data / Exit PackageExpertise categories can also be exported as a knowledge graph in JSON-LD, Turtle or N-Triples.
Community Knowledge Digest
Bring knowledge back into circulation.
Captured knowledge only creates value when people use it. The Knowledge Digest is a scheduled email that brings members back to what their communities have learned.
- Surfaces knowledge already captured in communities: approved Learnings, new and active discussions, quizzes and polls
- Links directly back to the original knowledge in Tacitous
- Scheduled weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, every six months or on demand
- Each member only sees items from communities they are allowed to see
- Members can subscribe or unsubscribe at any time
Tacitous is not an email marketing or newsletter tool. Nothing is written by hand: the digest selects existing organisational knowledge for each reader. That is different from a discussion-list digest, which repackages recent messages. The Knowledge Digest is an optional capability, switched on for each organisation.
Knowledge management without enterprise disruption
Keep the systems you already use.
Tacitous adds structured Knowledge Management alongside your intranet, document management and collaboration tools. It does not ask you to replace them.
Read-only Knowledge API
Your own systems, such as an intranet, can show approved Lessons Learned and expertise from Tacitous, with permissions you control.
Knowledge APISharePoint connector pilot
A one-way connector that publishes approved Lessons Learned and Best Practices into a SharePoint Online list is in pilot.
IntegrationsSign in the way you already do
Members sign in with Microsoft, Google or an email link, and an organisation can start with a single community.
Plans and pricingComparison transparency
How we compared
Comparisons are based on publicly documented standard product capabilities. Features requiring custom development, additional applications or third-party integrations are distinguished from functionality supplied natively. Product availability may vary by edition, subscription and configuration.
Where a vendor’s documentation does not establish a capability, we say “Not documented” rather than claiming it is absent. If you think a classification is out of date, tell us and we will review it. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
Last reviewed: November 2026
Microsoft SharePoint
Dgroups / Groups.io
Capture experience. Connect expertise. Preserve what matters.
See how Tacitous would sit alongside the systems you already use. We will show you the platform with your own use case.