{"id":11360,"date":"2026-03-17T10:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elicitonline.com\/poka-ez-go-manualmaster-and-elicit-what-is-the-difference\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T13:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:20:45","slug":"poka-ez-go-manualmaster-and-elicit-what-is-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elicitonline.com\/en\/poka-ez-go-manualmaster-and-elicit-what-is-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Poka, EZ GO, ManualMaster, and ELICIT: What is the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Poka, EZ GO, ManualMaster, and ELICIT: What is the difference?<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n <\/path>\n<\/svg><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Knowledge management tools all promise the same thing: capturing knowledge, supporting operators, and accelerating training. But how do they actually differ? And which problems do they solve for you? We discuss three well-known solutions (POKA, EZ GO, and ManualMaster) and compare them with ELICIT. <\/strong><\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

First of all: the different types of \u2018knowledge\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are two fundamentally different types of knowledge in a factory: explicit knowledge<\/strong> is what you can write down. Work instructions, checklists, ISO procedures, step-by-step manuals. This knowledge already exists; it is just not yet digital, or it is fragmented across folders and systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experiential knowledge<\/strong> is what resides in the minds of your best people. The decision rules that a senior operator applies in a split second: \u201cIf the temperature moves like this and the sound sounds like that, then I do this.\u201d That is not recorded anywhere. It has never been written down. And it is exactly the knowledge that leaves when someone retires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to determine which knowledge you want to capture. This determines which knowledge management tool is suitable for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is important to determine which knowledge you want to capture. This determines which knowledge management tool is suitable for you. <\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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ManualMaster: When compliance and document management are your priority<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

ManualMaster is a Quality Management System built for organizations that need to maintain ISO certifications, require audit trails, and want control over document versions. Think of pharmaceutical companies, food safety environments, and manufacturing companies with heavy compliance requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it does well: managing procedures, version control, facilitating audits, CAPA workflows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to choose this? If your primary challenge is compliance, document management, and ISO processes. Not if you want to prevent experiential knowledge from walking out the door when an expert leaves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EZ GO: When you want to go from paper to digital<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

EZ GO (formerly EZ Factory) helps factories transition from paper checklists and SOPs to digital work instructions. Mobile-first, user-friendly, and co-developed with operators on the floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it does well: digitizing paper forms, supporting 5S audits, making standard tasks accessible to operators. In short: EZ GO makes existing instructions accessible. It does not extract expertise that is still in people’s heads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to choose this? If your floor still largely works on paper and you want to make that transition to digital standardization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poka: When you are looking for a broad connected worker platform<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Poka (now part of IFS) is an enterprise platform for the digital workplace in production. It offers work instructions, communication tools, skills tracking, forms, and analytics. Large organizations such as Nestl\u00e9, Bosch, and Danone use it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it does well: distributing existing content, supporting operators with digital instructions, tracking skills, and standardizing processes at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to choose this? If you have a large production environment, want to professionalize your digital workplace, and already have good content that you want to scale. Not if your primary problem is that expert knowledge is at risk of being lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Poka, EZ GO, and ManualMaster have one common starting point: you provide the knowledge, and they make it accessible. They are built for knowledge that has already been captured. ELICIT is not. <\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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ELICIT: When the knowledge itself is the problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

ELICIT extracts the experiential knowledge that has never been written down from the minds of your experts and makes it usable for everyone on the shop floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This happens through a structured interview process with your most experienced employees. An ELICIT knowledge analyst asks the questions that experts never ask themselves: not \u201cwhat do you do?\u201d but \u201chow do you decide? What signals do you see? When do you deviate from the standard? What do you do when things go slightly differently?\u201d In 3 to 5 interviews, the analyst captures that decision logic in a knowledge system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That knowledge system is not just documentation. It is an interactive model, containing the mindset of your best expert, available to everyone in the organization. And that essentially means you help every employee think and act like your most experienced expert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to choose this? If you are dealing with one or more of these situations: <\/p>\n\n\n\n