How to Use Ninety's Knowledge Portal

The Knowledge Portal serves two purposes. First, it's a learning hub where your team can work through content provided by Ninety, including a full EOS Toolbox™ covering the core tools of the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®). Second, it's a documentation platform where your organization creates and maintains its own processes, policies, and training materials. Both purposes live in the same tool, accessible from Knowledge in the left navigation.

Two modes: Learn and Edit

The Knowledge Portal has two modes, toggled in the upper right corner of the page.

• Learn Mode is the default view when you open the Knowledge Portal. All users on all plans can use Learn Mode to browse content, mark subtopics and tasks complete, track personal progress, and create To-Dos and other items from topics.
• Edit Mode is where content is created and maintained. Edit Mode is available to companies on the Thrive plan and to users with Manager or higher permissions. To enter Edit Mode, click Edit on the Learn/Edit toggle in the upper right corner.
   

If the Learn/Edit toggle is not visible, either the company is not on the Thrive plan or the user's role is below Manager.

How the Knowledge Portal is organized

The Knowledge Portal uses a four-level hierarchy:

Category → Collection → Topic → Subtopic → Task

• Categories are the top-level folders: 90 Resources, Company, and Process. Categories are fixed and cannot be created, renamed, or deleted.
• Collections are the primary organizational folders inside each category. You create collections to group related topics together. For example, a "Sales Core Processes" collection inside the Process category might hold topics for each of the sales team's recurring workflows.
• Topics are the main content pages inside a collection. Each topic has its own editable page where you can write documentation, embed media, and attach files. Topics can contain multiple subtopics.
• Subtopics break a topic into major sections or steps. Each subtopic has its own content page.
• Tasks are the most granular level, representing specific sub-steps within a subtopic. Tasks are useful when a step has detailed requirements that deserve their own documentation.

EOS best practice

For documenting Core Processes (the handful of repeatable workflows that define how your company delivers value), the Knowledge Portal hierarchy maps naturally to the EOS 3-Step Process Documenter. Use one collection per department or function, one topic per core process, subtopics for each major step, and tasks for detailed sub-steps.

The 90 Resources collection

The 90 Resources collection is provided and maintained by Ninety. It includes two sub-collections.

The Ninety Learning Hub is a curated collection of topics to help your organization get more out of EOS® Powered by Ninety. Current topics include:

• Introduction for Leadership: an orientation to Ninety's tools for senior leadership teams.
• Onboarding Guide for New Users: EOS Powered by Ninety: a 90-day self-paced onboarding program for new Ninety users. Assign this topic to new employees to get them up to speed on both EOS and the Ninety platform. See the dedicated help center article for full details.
• Company-Wide Rollout: guidance for expanding Ninety beyond the leadership team.
• Additional Resources: a library of supplementary content to support your EOS journey.
• The EOS Process®: an overview of the recommended meeting flow for getting your leadership team started on EOS.
• Six Key Components®: a primer on the foundational components of the EOS Model®.
• EOS Training: The 5-5-5: a simple framework for evaluating team members.
• EOS Training: The Assistance Track™: guidance on how leaders can support team members who need help performing at their best.

The EOS Toolbox™ is a curated library of learning content covering the full set of core EOS tools. Current topics include:

EOS Model®, The 5 Leadership Abilities, V/TO®, The Accountability Chart, The People Analyzer®, GWC®, Rocks, The Meeting Pulse®, Level 10 Meeting®, The Issues Solving Track®, Scorecard, Delegate and Elevate®, LMA®, Clarity Break™, Quarterly Conversations, The 5 Rules, 3-Step Process Documenter®, 8 Cash Flow Drivers™, The Trust Builders®, and Kolbe A Index™.

The 90 Resources collection cannot be edited. It is available to all users on all plans in Learn Mode.

Creating and organizing your own content

Creating and editing content in the Knowledge Portal requires the Thrive plan and Manager or higher permissions. To begin, click Edit on the Learn/Edit toggle.

Creating a collection

1. Click Knowledge from the left navigation.
2. Click Edit on the Learn/Edit toggle.
3. Click Create Collection.
4. Click Edit Collection image to choose a banner image.
5. Click the Process or Company tab to assign it to a category (or leave it under All Categories if no category is selected).
6. Write a name for the collection.
7. (Optional) Write a brief description.
8. Set the collection's visibility (see Collection visibility below).
9. Click Create Collection.

Creating a topic

1. Open a collection in Edit Mode.
2. Click Add Topic.
3. Name the topic and add an optional description.
4. Click Add Topic.
    

Creating subtopics and tasks

To add a subtopic, open a topic in Edit Mode and click + Add new subtopic on the left side of the screen. To add a task to a subtopic, hover over the subtopic and click the plus sign that appears.
 

Assigning owners

Each topic can have an assigned owner who is responsible for keeping the content current. To assign an owner, navigate to a topic in Edit Mode and click the pencil icon below the topic's title.
 

Editing content

Open any topic, subtopic, or task in Edit Mode to access the text editor. The editor supports rich text, images, tables, hyperlinks, embedded media (via URL), and file uploads. Content saves automatically as you type, but use the Save Changes button when it appears after editing the content body.
 

Collection visibility

Collections have three visibility states that control who can see them.

• Draft. The collection has not been shared with any teams. It is visible only to the creator and to users with Owner or Admin permissions. Draft collections display a Draft badge on their tile. This is the default state for new collections.
• Private. The collection has been shared with specific teams. Only members of those teams (plus Owners and Admins) can view the collection. Private collections display a Private badge.
• Published. The collection is visible to all users in the organization. To publish a collection, toggle Make Collection Public on in the collection's details. Once published, only the creator can revert it to Private.
   

To update a collection's visibility after creation, go to Edit Mode, hover over the collection tile, click the ellipsis, and select Edit details.

Uploading files and attachments

You can attach files to any topic, subtopic, or task in the Knowledge Portal. To upload a file:

1. Click Knowledge from the left navigation.
2. Click Edit on the Learn/Edit toggle.
3. Open the topic, subtopic, or task where you want to add the file.
4. Drag and drop the file into the content editor, or click the attachment icon in the editor toolbar.
5. Click Save.

Supported file types: PDF, DOC/DOCX, PPT/PPTX, TXT, JPG/JPEG, and PNG. For best performance, keep individual files under 5 MB.

For video content, paste a URL or embed from Loom, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, or SharePoint. The Knowledge Portal is not a video hosting platform; embedding a link keeps the portal fast and focused on documentation.

To display external content inline (so it renders inside the topic page rather than appearing as a clickable link), use the Embed Content option in the editor toolbar and paste the content's shareable URL. This works for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and other embeddable content. The result is a mini browser window showing the content directly on the page.

To insert a plain clickable link to an external URL, use Insert Link or Embed URL in the editor toolbar. These options insert a hyperlink or URL reference in the body of the topic, but they do not render the content inline. If you paste a Google Doc URL into Embed URL and see only a clickable link rather than the document itself, switch to Embed Content instead.

For full guidance on file types, best practices, and external linking, see Adding Files and Attachments to the Knowledge Portal.

Assigning topics as To-Dos

You can assign any topic, subtopic, or task to team members as a To-Do directly from the Knowledge Portal. This is the primary mechanism for structured onboarding and training: build the content once, then assign it with due dates each time someone needs to complete it.

To assign a To-Do from a Knowledge topic:

1. Navigate to the topic, subtopic, or task you want to assign.
2. Click the ellipsis on the right side of the item's row.
3. Select Create To-Dos from the dropdown.
4. Choose whether to assign the topic alone or the topic with all its subtopics and tasks.
5. Select a team, a due date, and the users to assign.
6. Click Create Multiple To-Dos.

You can also create Issues, Rocks, Headlines, or Cascading Messages from the same ellipsis menu.

Tracking team progress

Managers, Admins, Owners, and Coaches can monitor their teams' progress through Knowledge Portal content. Progress tracking is available in Edit Mode.

To view team progress:

1. Click Knowledge from the left navigation.
2. Click Edit on the Learn/Edit toggle.
3. Click a collection tile to open it.
4. Use the Team dropdown to select the team whose progress you want to review.
5. Click the progress icon on a topic's row to open a panel showing the completion rate for each team member.
6. Click the icon next to a subtopic's title to see which team members have completed it and which haven't.

Team Members (Managees) can mark subtopics and tasks complete in Learn Mode by checking the box next to each item. Their progress saves automatically and can be paused and resumed at any time. Observers cannot mark items complete.

For full details, see Tracking Team Learning in the Knowledge Portal.

Printing and exporting Knowledge Portal content

You can export any topic, subtopic, or task to a PDF directly from the Knowledge Portal. This works in both Learn Mode and Edit Mode.

To export a topic, subtopic, or task to PDF:

1. Open the topic, subtopic, or task you want to export.
2. Click the PDF icon in the upper right corner of the content window.
3. The content loads as a PDF in a new browser tab.
4. Save or print the PDF from your browser as needed.
    

For more information, see Printing and Exporting Knowledge Portal Content to PDF.

Viewing the Knowledge Portal during a meeting

You can open the Knowledge Portal without leaving a meeting in progress, making it easy to reference process documentation or training content in context.

To open the Knowledge Portal during a meeting:

1. Start or join a meeting using the Meetings tool.
2. Click View Tool at the bottom of the agenda panel.
3. Click Knowledge from the list of tools.

If your team regularly reviews Knowledge Portal content during meetings, consider adding it as a custom agenda section. Go to Meetings > Agendas, open the agenda, click Add Custom Section, and paste the URL to the specific collection, topic, or the Knowledge Portal homepage.

For full details, see Viewing Knowledge Portal Content During a Meeting.

How the Knowledge Portal connects to other tools

Accountability Chart® Skills. On the Thrive plan, leaders can link Knowledge Portal topics, subtopics, or tasks to the Skills and Competencies associated with each Seat on The Accountability Chart. This connects learning resources to career development and succession planning. See Accountability Chart Skills.

Level 10 Meeting®. The Knowledge Portal's in-meeting access feature makes it easy to pull up process documentation or training material during a Level 10 Meeting without leaving the meeting view.

Rocks. You can create Rocks directly from a Knowledge Portal topic using the ellipsis menu. This is useful when reviewing a process that reveals a gap that warrants a quarterly priority.

Issues. Similarly, you can create Issues from any Knowledge Portal topic, subtopic, or task to flag problems surfaced during documentation or training review.

To-Dos. Assigning Knowledge Portal content as To-Dos is the primary way to make onboarding and training trackable for both the team member and their manager.

User permissions for the Knowledge Portal

Editing content in the Knowledge Portal requires the Thrive plan. Learn Mode is available on all plans, including Free.

• Owners, Admins, and Coaches: can view, create, and edit all Knowledge Portal content (Thrive plan required for editing); can track team progress; can manage collection visibility; can view Draft collections they didn't create.
• Managers: can view content in collections shared with their teams; can create and edit content (Thrive plan required); can track progress for their teams.
• Team Members (Managees): can view content in public or shared collections; can mark subtopics and tasks complete; cannot create or edit content.
• Observers: can view content in public or shared collections; cannot mark items complete.

For the full permissions reference, see User Roles and Permissions.

What's in the Knowledge Portal

The articles below cover each feature and workflow in detail.

Using the Knowledge Portal: A complete guide to navigating the Knowledge Portal in Learn Mode and Edit Mode, including how to mark content complete, browse collections, and assign To-Dos from topics.

Creating and Editing Content in the Knowledge Portal: How to create collections, topics, subtopics, and tasks; assign owners; edit content; manage collection visibility (Draft, Private, Published); and understand who can see and edit your content.

Documenting Your Processes with the Knowledge Portal: A step-by-step guide to documenting your organization's Core Processes in the Knowledge Portal, including a fully worked example of a sales process collection. Explains when to document a process, how to structure it, and how to use it for training and onboarding.

Adding Files and Attachments to the Knowledge Portal: Supported file types, size limits, how to upload files to topics and subtopics, when to link externally instead of uploading, and best practices for managing attachments over time.

Tracking Team Learning in the Knowledge Portal: How Managers and above can monitor team progress through Knowledge Portal content, including how to view completion status by topic and subtopic for each team member.

Viewing Knowledge Portal Content During a Meeting: How to open the Knowledge Portal during a meeting without leaving the meeting view, and how to add Knowledge Portal content as a permanent agenda section.

Printing and Exporting Knowledge Portal Content to PDF: How to export any topic, subtopic, or task to a print-ready PDF from Learn Mode or Edit Mode.

Accountability Chart Skills: How to link Knowledge Portal content to the Skills and Competencies associated with each Seat on The Accountability Chart, supporting career development and succession planning. Requires the Thrive plan.

Frequently asked questions

I don't see the Edit toggle. Why?

Two things can prevent the Edit toggle from appearing. First, your company must be on the Thrive plan to use Edit Mode. Second, your user role must be Manager or higher. If you're on Thrive and have a Manager role but still don't see the toggle, try a hard refresh (Cmd + Shift + R on Mac, Ctrl + F5 on Windows) or log out and back in.

Why can't my managers see a collection I created?

New collections default to Draft status, meaning they're only visible to the creator and Owners, and Admins. To share the collection with your managers, switch to Edit Mode, hover over the collection tile, click the ellipsis, and select Edit details. From there, select the teams that should have access, or toggle Make Collection Public to share it with the entire organization.

Will I lose my Knowledge Portal content if I downgrade from Thrive?

No. Your content stays in your account and remains visible in Learn Mode. After downgrading, you'll no longer be able to create or edit content until your subscription returns to the Thrive plan.