Create and Manage Knowledge Base Articles

As an administrator or analyst, you can edit articles, or can add attachments, permissions, and relationships to the knowledge article. You can add relationships by relating CIs, Organizations, and Categorizations for CIs to a Knowledge article. You can view the options to edit and add attachments, permissions, and relationships only after creating a KB article. KB articles that are marked as News/FAQ category are visible as announcements in the Knowledge Management Workspace of analysts and end users. You can view the last modified date of the announcement and who last modified the announcement. Only active announcements are displayed in the Self-Service user interface.

Verify the following prerequisites before creating a KB article or announcement:

• The KB article categories are configured and the category that you want to use is in the Active state.
• The CCTI categorization exists if you want to relate the KB article to a CCTI.
• Organizations are configured if you want to relate the KB article to an organization.
• Support groups and roles are configured to assign permissions for the KB article.
  For more information about creating and managing KB articles, see Create and Manage KB Article Categories.

Follow these steps:

1. Create Knowledge Article: To create knowledge article, navigate to WORKSPACES> SERVICE DESK> Knowledge Management.
2. On the Actions menu, click Create New.

3. Specify the following details and click Save.
   Article Title: Specify the name of the symptom.
   Symptoms: Specify the characteristic of the issue. Using the rich text editor you can format the text as required.
   Cause: Specify the cause of the symptom.
   Resolution: Specify the resolution of the symptom.
   Expires On: Specify the expiration date of the article. The Expires On field specifies the date and time the article is available to the users, once it is approved. On reaching the expiration date and time, the article becomes unavailable.
   Article Owner: Specify the owner of the KB article.
   Compliance Owner: Specify the compliance owner of the KB article. If you add any information that is related to compliance, use this field to assign the owner of that information.
   In Compliance Review: Select Yes, if the article is in a compliance review.
   Article Category: Stores the knowledge-base article content that comprises of troubleshooting information, for quicker resolution of support requests. For example, FAQs and news.
   Categorization: Specify the CCTI(Class, Category, Type, Item) combination for which this solution was required.
   Set as Sticky Article: Enables the solution article to stick to the top of a solution category. The allowed values are as follows - 0: Non-Sticky Solution, 1:Sticky Solution.
   Note: When you select the Set as Sticky Article option, the articles are visible at the top of the list of KB articles in the Knowledge Management workspace. 

4. Add Attachments: Use the Attachments section, and create an attachment, or use existing global attachments for the KB article. You can also use the drag and drop feature, which allows you to attach five files at a time. 

   Note: The application supports several file types, like compressed, executable, image, mail massage, office documents, portable documents, system/application logs, text, database, and web files. You can also use attachments to record relevant legislation information. Your articles can also include URLs to objects such as Configuration Items, Known Errors, Incidents, Problems, or Change Request tickets.The articles can also include URLs to additional information from event management systems, availability data, other external sources, or web sites.The application does not restrict the types of files that can be attached.

5. Add Permissions: Use the Permissions section, and select the users, groups, and roles that can access this KB article. Select the contacts, groups, and roles that you want to add. The selected users appear under the Users section. The selected support groups appear under the Groups section. The selected roles appear under the Roles section.
   Note: The application automatically assigns access permissions for each new article to tenant administrator, KB administrator, and Public support group. Users with roles KB Administrator have access to the Edit Article action. You cannot modify these permissions.
6. Add Relationships: You can relate the KB article to one or more of the following items:
   
   • Relate Organization: Relate one or more organizations to the knowledge article. You can search by organization or sub organization and relate it to the Knowledge article.
   • Relate Configuration Items: Relate one or more configuration items to the knowledge article.
   • Relate Categorization for CI: Relate one or more CCTI categorizations for CI to the knowledge article. 
7. Click Save.
   Note: When you save the article, the application generates a unique identification number and appends it at the beginning of the article title.
8. Approve KB Article: Click Actions, Approve and Publish to approve the KB article.
   Note: While creating an article, you can also add URLs to objects in external applications in that article.

Adding Image to the KB Article

Using the rich text editor, you can add images or videos in the KB article. If you want to add an external image link, you must upload it to a website before embedding. 

Follow these steps to add an image in the KB article.

1. Navigate to WORKSPACE> Knowledge Management
2. Click Create New on the Actions menu. The New Article page is displayed.
3. Click the  icon from the toolbar in the rich text editor. The Insert Image window is displayed.
4. Select one of the options from Image Type. For external images, use the URL option and for local images, use the File option.

• URL: Selecting this option enables the URL field. Specify the website link in the URL field.
• File: Selecting this option enables the File field along with a Browse button. Click Browse to insert an image which is saved in your computer.
• Use Image Dimensions: If this check box is selected, the actual image dimensions are retained.
• Width: This field is enabled only if the Use Image Dimensions check box is cleared. Specify the required image dimensions in pixels. For example, 800x600.
• Click Insert.

The image is embedded in the KB article.

Adding Video to the KB Article

Using the rich text editor, you can add videos in the KB article. We have provided two scenarios about adding videos from YouTube and Vimeo:

• Scenario 1- Adding a video from YouTube.com

1. Go to https://www.youtube.com.
2. Select the required video from YouTube.
3. Click .
4. Click Embed.
5. Copy the URL.
6. Switch to the Intelligent Service Management application.
7. If you are in the rich text editor, click the  icon. The Insert a Video Link window is displayed.
8. Paste the URL in the URL field.
9. Click Ok.
   
   The video is embedded in the KB article.

• Scenario 2- Adding a video from Vimeo.com

1. Go to https://vimeo.com.
2. Select the required video from Vimeo.
3. Click . The Share this Video window is displayed.
4. Click Embed.
5. Copy the URL from the Embed field.
6. Switch to the Intelligent Service Management application.
7. If you are in the rich text editor, click the  icon. The Insert a Video Link window is displayed.
8. Paste the URL in the URL field
9. Click Ok.

The video is embedded in the KB article.

Additional Actions for Knowledge Articles

Click the Actions menu at the top of a knowledge article to view the additional actions that are available. These actions include:

• Edit Article: Select this action to modify the article that is currently open.
• Set as Expired: Sets the current article as expired.
• Set as Retired: Retires the current article
• Set as Draft: Sets the currently open article to the draft state. Use this option to reset published articles as draft.

• Send mail:  Sends an email notification to an individual or group of users.  Select a communication template, add recipients list, update message body and Subject as required. Click Send to send notification.

You can edit the article to change the ownership and ticket relationships of the article.

This video provides more information about using rich text editor, to explicate the cause, symptom, and resolution in a KB article.