Our latest user story blog post is by Rebecca MacLeod, Solicitor at Anderson Strathern. In this blog, Rebecca talks about the functions and guidance within our Knowledge Base. 

The Knowledge Base went live in mid-2017. In the beginning, the cupboard was rather bare; now it is replete and well worth repeated visits. I have been looking through it recently, partly with a number of general questions in mind. They follow, with answers.

What is the Knowledge Base?

The Knowledge Base gathers all of the Keeper’s guidance for anyone external to the organisation (most usually, solicitors). It is separate to the Keeper’s internal guidance for which the target audience is – obviously – her staff. By contrast, the information and guidance on the Knowledge Base focuses on addressing the questions and providing the information most commonly required by solicitors and others using the Keeper’s services.

What does the knowledge base contain?

The Knowledge Base went live in May 2017 and is most definitely an improvement on the immediately previous situation, where the Keeper’s guidance appeared to be scattered throughout the website: the thrill of map-less exploration was certainly outweighed by the prospect of never finding one’s way back to something useful.

By contrast, the Knowledge Base is functional. The highest level of indexing has only four entries: land and property registration; other registration types; using our service; and, fees. Selecting one of these presents a further list, and so on until the index gives way to the destination.

Does the Knowledge Base just cover the Land Register or other aspects of the Keeper’s work as well?

Other work is covered. For example, under “other registration types”, appears “crofting” and “Register of Deeds guidance”. The first is self-explanatory; the second is intriguing, but is, in fact, merely a reference to the Books of Council and Session. Some information about recording in the General Register of Sasines is also given. But mostly – and for obvious reasons – the Knowledge Base relates to the Land Register or derivative aspects thereof.

Guidance, Tools, and Tutorials

The Knowledge Base strapline is “All our guidance in one place”. But beneath that appears a reference to “guidance, tools and tutorials”. “Tools and tutorials” sound attractively interactive. Imagine my disappointment, therefore, not to be able to locate anything of the sort. It transpires that these elements of the offering are currently aspirational. There is no great shame here: the Knowledge Base could hardly be described as impoverished without them. The Keeper’s staff welcome suggestions for development in this direction.

Is the Knowledge Base interactive at all? Is there an opportunity to ask questions or to give feedback?

A number of pages (including some of the index pages) have the option to give feedback – positive or negative – at the bottom. Making accompanying comments is also possible. Giving feedback presents an opportunity to be able to shape the Knowledge Base into the form of greatest utility.

Who maintains the Knowledge Base?

For the substantive content, this is done by the policy team at Registers of Scotland. Site maintenance is separate, and is the domain of the digital team.

What will it contain in the future?

There are no immediate plans for future content, but suggestions for additions and improvements are welcome.

Find out more!

If you would like to write a blog on your experience of using one of our services, please get in touch.

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