Guru Knowledge Base Overview
We're thrilled to introduce you to Guru, The New School's employee knowledge base! This centralized, easy-to-use tool collects and preserves institutional knowledge, policies, and procedures to assure New School team members from all backgrounds and work modalities can have equal access to our University's mission and standards.
Read on for common Guru questions to start your journey in the knowledge base.
What is Guru 
Guru is a knowledge management tool used to organize New School knowledge to give you centralized, searchable, human-verified information to support your team's day-to-day work functions.
TIP: Learn more about how community feedback identified the need for an employee knowledge base on our What is Knowledge Management? card.
Guru can be accessed using the web application (app.getguru.com) or Google Chrome browser extension after registering with your New School SSO credentials (see Logging Into Guru for assistance).
Guru contains all university policies, step-by-step instructions for university procedures, links to internal forms, FAQs, institutional announcements, and more. Some of our favorite features include:
- Search and find verified information in the New School database using the Ask Guru search engine.
- Summarize and translate information using Assist for Readers.
- Confirm information in the knowledge base is correct and up-to-date by reviewing each card's verification status.
- Pin and Favorite your most frequently referenced cards and collections for a customized knowledge dashboard.
Think of Guru as a living New School Wiki or Textbook, where institutional information is crowdsourced and verified by knowledgeable team members dedicated to monitoring and maintaining the pages where they have the most expertise.
Who Has Access to Guru
As of May 2024, all university faculty and staff including contingent consultants and temporary workers have access to Guru. All new faculty and staff automatically receive instructions to login using SSO credentials via a separate email from Guru (notify@getguru.com) at the time of hire.
Please note that students and student workers do not have access to Guru. If you need to share information in Guru with students or student workers, please visit the Export or Share Content card for sharing options.
What Information Is Stored and Maintained in Guru
The New School piloted Guru in 2023 with our Business & Operations (B&O) units including Human Resources, Information Technology, Finance & Business, Buildings & Campus Operations, and Campus Safety.
Information Stored in Guru
Examples of Guru content include:
- Important policies such as the Student Records Privacy Policy (FERPA) and Conflicts of Interest Policy.
- Workday job aides like the popular View & Print W-2 Form card.
- Step-by-step instructions for internal processes like updating your email signature.
- Resources for employee onboarding including the Welcome Guide and New Hire Checklists.
- Timelines and roadmaps such as the Performance Management Timeline.
Maintaining Information in Guru
All cards in Guru are given an expiration date called a Verification Interval, which automatically marks cards as unverified when card content has not been updated within a reasonable timeframe. All Guru authors are expected to maintain their cards on or before the Verification Interval to assure information within their department is up-to-date.
When to Use Guru
Guru is designed to be your go-to resource for all internal information, policies, and instructions.
Answer Common Questions
You can search Guru's human-verified knowledge content to answer your common inquiries and share cards when you're answering questions from other New School colleagues.
Verify University Knowledge
All staff and faculty have the ability to comment and request verification on cards if you believe information to be out of date or in need of review,
Update Institutional Knowledge
Advanced permissions are granted to staff members who are responsible for creating and editing cards within each unit and/or department to ensure accuracy. Cards can be created for common questions and procedures, and regularly maintained to share up-to-date information with team members.
TIP: An orientation is provided to all new authors, but ongoing training sessions are also available year-round to assist with any content creation questions you may have.
How to Use Guru
Visit our Getting Started with Guru training curriculum for a comprehensive overview of Guru Tools and Training.
Guru Training and Project Assistance
Review the Guru Training and Working Session Calendar for a listing of New User Training Sessions held each month, and advanced tutorials for system authors. If none of the current sessions suit your schedule, you can follow the training card to receive alerts when new sessions are added.
Custom Guru Consultation
Wondering how Guru can be utilized within your department? Invite us to your next team meeting if you’d like a customized strategy session! We’re happy to provide a virtual tour, introduce Guru functionality, and answer questions.
Questions?
Contact Sam Gravity, Knowledge Content Manager.