# What is a company wiki?

A company wiki is a shared collection of linked pages explaining how a business works. It holds policies, procedures, decisions and practical reference information so employees can find answers without asking a colleague. Unlike a public encyclopedia, a company wiki usually restricts access and gives named people responsibility for keeping important pages current.

Updated 7 November 2026

## What does a company wiki do?

A company wiki turns useful knowledge into pages that colleagues can search, link and maintain. Its job is to preserve an answer beyond the conversation in which someone first gives it.

Consider a made-up furniture workshop. The founder knows which finishes need extra drying time, how to request a replacement part and why the business stops accepting certain custom orders. A new employee cannot discover those rules by looking at a folder of product photographs. Written explanations make the reasoning available when the founder is away.

Links connect related answers without repeating them. An order-preparation page can link to the packaging procedure, which links to the current materials list. Change the materials list once and the procedure still points to the right place. [MediaWiki's links guide](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Links) documents internal links as a basic way to connect wiki pages.

## What belongs in a company wiki?

A company wiki should contain information that stays useful across several jobs or conversations. Temporary working notes can live elsewhere until someone turns them into a reliable explanation.

| Content | Example in a furniture workshop | Why keep it? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Policy | Which custom orders the workshop accepts | Gives people a consistent rule |
| Procedure | How to inspect a finished table | Makes a repeatable job teachable |
| Decision record | Why a particular finish is discontinued | Preserves the reason behind a choice |
| Role guide | Who approves a replacement part | Makes responsibility clear |
| Onboarding | A new employee's first-week reading | Reduces dependence on memory |
| Reference | Packaging sizes and supplier details | Keeps frequently needed facts findable |

Write confidential information for a defined audience. An instruction to ask the operations manager for access is useful; a pasted password is inappropriate. A wiki also needs boundaries around employee records and customer details, rather than assuming every internal page belongs in everyone's search results.

## How is a wiki different from a shared drive or handbook?

A wiki organises explanations through pages and links; a shared drive organises files. A handbook describes a collection of guidance, which a team can maintain using wiki software or another publishing system.

The distinctions describe purpose and structure rather than mutually exclusive products. A drawing belongs in a file store. The page explaining which drawing is approved, how to use it and who can change it belongs in the wiki, with a link to the drawing.

A [knowledge base](https://mojobase.ai/learn/what-is-a-knowledge-base) is a library of answers for a particular audience. A company wiki is often an internal knowledge base. A customer help center serves a different audience and should contain only information approved for customers, even when its articles start from internal guidance.

## How should you organise the first pages?

Organise a company wiki around the questions people actually ask, with a short home page that points to the most useful answers. An elaborate hierarchy makes a small library harder to browse.

For the workshop, sensible starting groups are People, Orders, Making and Delivery. A page called "How do we pack a dining table?" is easier to recognise than one called "Operational fulfilment framework". Search should not depend on employees remembering internal terminology.

A practical starting sequence is:

1. Collect recurring questions from recent work.
2. Choose the questions that interrupt someone most often.
3. Write one clear answer per page.
4. Link each page to the relevant procedure or reference.
5. Put the most common starting points on the home page.
6. Ask a new colleague to find and use an answer without coaching.

Treat that last step as a test of the writing and navigation. If someone searches for "damaged leg" but the only page is called "component remediation", change the language or add a useful cross-reference.

## Who keeps a company wiki accurate?

Every important wiki page needs someone responsible for checking its accuracy, even when several people contribute. Editing access and authority to approve a business rule are separate decisions.

Set the owner according to the work: the person responsible for packaging owns the packaging procedure. Review dates can follow how quickly information changes. A supplier reference may need attention whenever a supplier changes; a stable explanation of company values has a different rhythm.

Keep the date of the last substantive review separate from the date of a spelling correction. [Notion's wiki documentation](https://www.notion.com/help/wikis-and-verified-pages) describes page ownership and time-limited verification, illustrating how software can make responsibility visible.

History helps explain a change or recover an earlier version. [MediaWiki's tracking guide](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Tracking_changes) distinguishes revision history from a view of recent changes across a wiki. Neither a history log nor a recent timestamp proves that the underlying rule is correct; someone still needs to check it against current practice.

## How can you tell whether the wiki helps?

A useful company wiki lets people complete work with fewer clarifying questions and fewer conflicting answers. Page count measures the library's size, not its usefulness.

Choose a few practical checks. Can a new hire find the packaging procedure? Can two employees independently explain the same replacement policy? Does an absence still stop a routine order? Watch for repeated questions that existing pages fail to answer.

Archive obsolete guidance and redirect readers to its replacement where possible. Copying the same rule into several pages creates extra maintenance and makes contradictions more likely. When AI searches the wiki, clear ownership, sources and access rules matter because a fluent answer can otherwise conceal an outdated instruction.

## How does Mojobase provide a company wiki?

Mojobase's company wiki is the [Handbook](https://mojobase.ai/handbook): linked pages organised in collections, with owners, review dates, Draft or Approved status and revision history. The AI answers questions from pages the person may read, citing the page and section and showing the answer's approval status.

Ask, "What is our packing procedure for a large table?" or ask the AI to update a procedure from supplied evidence. AI changes are recorded with their sources and can be undone; approving pages and publishing remain actions for a person. Keeping the Handbook beside email, documents and tasks gives the AI business guidance in the same place as the work it supports. Connected agents reach it through [Mojobase's MCP server](https://mojobase.ai/mcp). For a wiki many teammates author together, compare the options in [Confluence alternatives](https://mojobase.ai/alternatives/confluence) and [Confluence vs Notion](https://mojobase.ai/compare/confluence-vs-notion).

## Further reading

1. [Notion Help: Wikis and verified pages (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.notion.com/help/wikis-and-verified-pages)
2. [MediaWiki Help: Tracking changes (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Tracking_changes)
3. [MediaWiki Help: Links (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Links)

## Questions people ask

### Is a company wiki public?

A company wiki is usually private to employees and selected collaborators. A business can publish some information separately, but internal procedures, personal information and confidential decisions need access rules appropriate to their audience.

### Can everyone edit a company wiki?

Editing rights depend on the wiki's permissions. Some teams let every employee contribute; others restrict changes to owners or editors. A wiki can still use linked, searchable pages while reserving policy approval for a smaller group.

### What is the difference between a company wiki and an intranet?

A company wiki focuses on shared written knowledge. An intranet is a broader internal website that may also contain announcements, employee directories, forms and links to business systems. A wiki can be one part of an intranet.

### Does a small business need a company wiki?

A small business benefits from a wiki when recurring questions, onboarding or absences expose knowledge held by one person. Start with a few useful pages rather than documenting every activity before anyone needs the information.

### Should passwords go in a company wiki?

Keep passwords and recovery codes in a dedicated password manager with appropriate access controls. A wiki can explain how someone requests access and who approves it without containing the credentials themselves.

## Related

- [The best knowledge base software for small teams](https://mojobase.ai/blog/best-knowledge-base-software)
- [Handbook](https://mojobase.ai/handbook)
- [Documents](https://mojobase.ai/documents)
- [What is a knowledge base?](https://mojobase.ai/learn/what-is-a-knowledge-base)
- [What is an SOP?](https://mojobase.ai/learn/what-is-an-sop)
- [What is a help center?](https://mojobase.ai/learn/what-is-a-help-center)
- [The best Trainual alternatives for a small business (2026)](https://mojobase.ai/alternatives/trainual)
- [Onboard new clients without the busywork](https://mojobase.ai/use-cases/client-onboarding)

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Source: https://mojobase.ai/learn/what-is-a-company-wiki · Updated 7 November 2026