Knowledge Base allows you to build your article library in the Self-Service Portal (SSP) providing the necessary information for users: instructions, service descriptions, release notes, etc. Here, you can store articles for users with specific roles and public articles for any authorized user.
You can give access to your knowledge base to unauthorized users
Role required: admin, knowledge_admin.
Knowledge Base allows categorizing the content on different levels and arranging articles in a particular hierarchy to navigate through them easily. Knowledge Base contains five essences:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
Content Database (Content DB) | It helps to create separate knowledge bases which in their turn are arranged into several sets of articles. It is the most general and wide section of the KB and may be called the basic section. This element is not displayed on the portal page. It serves for inner categorization. |
| Content Category | It provides an additional level of categorization for content items (articles, known errors). It stands for a more specific and narrow KB section in comparison to Content DB and may be called general section. This element is not displayed on the portal page. It serves for inner categorization. |
| Content Item Class | It defines classes of content items and access to them. It may be referred to as a subsection, yet it does not depend on any of the previous KB sections. That is, a content item class can contain items from any content DB and any content category. This element defines what articles will be displayed to agents and users without roles. It also helps categorize KB items. |
| Content Item (article) | It works as a storage for such KB items as articles and known errors. The Self-Service Portal (SSP) displays only articles. Known Errors and other content items are only available through the agent interface. These elements contain data as they are in text form. |
Knowledge Base Category (KB Category) | It sets hierarchical order of articles and categories, allows nesting articles and sorts them into something that can be called folders. There are no limitations for nesting levels. This element defines the appearance of the Knowledge Base on the portal page.
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In the screenshot above you can see the Knowledge Base portal page. To build it, the following steps have been done:
- Content DB has been created. It is called Company Knowledge Base. Along with this knowledge base you may need to build a separate KB for other needs.
- To categorize articles within the knowledge base, three Content Categories were added:
- General information
- Process description
- Change protocols and checklists.
- To restrict access to specific articles, two Content Item Classes were used:
- Processes protocol – internal specifications, custom class.
- User Self-Study – external specifications, out-of-the-box SimpleOne class.
- To structure the portal knowledge base page, the following KB categories were created:
- Change Implementation
- Process
- Change Advisory Board (CAB).
The example knowledge base has the following structure:
Two articles without a KB category, i.e., they belong to the root folder of the KB:
Article Content Category Content Item Class About IT services General information
User Self-Study (external) Company structure Process description User Self-Study (external) Change Implementation is a KB category that may be referred to as a first level folder. There are two articles:
Article Content Category Content Item Class Conditions for changing services Change protocols and checklists Process protocol (internal) Change suggestion General information
User Self-Study (external) Process is a KB category that is a second level folder, child category to the Change Implementation KB category. There are two articles:
Article Content Category Content Item Class Change implementation process (stages) Process description Process protocol (internal) Quality checklist Change protocols and checklists Process protocol (internal) Change Advisory Board protocol is a third level folder, child category to the Process KB category. There is one article:
Article Content Category Content Item Class CAB protocol Change protocols and checklists Process protocol (internal)
Please note that Content Category is not equal to KB Category: one KB Category may contain articles with different Content Categories. Yet in some cases they can be closely connected to each other. This depends on the structure you build.
Content Item Class is independent of Content Category or KB Category.
User Roles
Knowledge base articles are displayed to all authorized users if the content item class is External.
Users with the following roles can access Internal articles:
- admin
- ITSM_agent (and its related roles such as problem_manager, incident_manager, etc.)
- service_owner
- service_catalog_manager
- knowledge_admin
- knowledge_agent
See the Role Structure article to learn more.
Content DB configuration
Content databases are designed to store knowledge base content items. It is the most general and wide section of the KB.
For example, you can establish the following storages:
- IT Service Catalog containing service descriptions and SLA documentation that are necessary for Service Catalog Management purposes.
- Known Errors Database used in Problem Management.
To create a content DB, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to KB Dictionary → Content DB.
- Click New and fill in the fields.
Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Content DB form fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Y | Name of the content database appropriate for its purposes. |
| Description | Y | Additional information about the content database. |
| Responsible Group | Y | Define the group responsible for the content DB. |
| Responsible Person | Y | Define the user responsible for the content DB. |
Content Category configuration
Content categories help arrange items in the content DBs. They provide the addition of new groups of articles within one content DB.
Create a content category by following the steps below:
- Navigate to KB Dictionary → Content Categories.
- Click New and fill in the fields.
Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.
Content Category form fields
Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Y | Content category number. This field is populated automatically. |
| Name | Y | Name of a content category appropriate for its purposes (for example, Article for service SLAs and descriptions, Known Error for keeping KEDB records). |
| Description | Y | Additional information about the content category. |
| Content DB | N | Select a content database from the list to bind the category with some database previously created. |
Content Item Class configuration
Content item class defines the content item purpose (SLA, OLA, UC, Service Description, Known Error, etc.) and application area:
- External – service external specifications are essential for a person with the end-user role.
- Internal – service internal specifications are available to the agent (also may be called the service owner) responsible for the task handling.
Good practice is to configure content item class records in a developer instance. After the necessary configurations are applied, create a configuration pack to transfer the content item class to the main instance.
Create an item class by following the steps below:
- Navigate to KB Dictionary → Content Item Class.
- Click New and fill in the fields.
Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.
Content Item Class form fields
Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Y | Name of the content item class appropriate for its purposes (SLA, OLA, UC, Service Description, Known Error, etc.). |
| Description | Y | Additional information about the content item class. |
| Object Category | Y | Specify the object category. Available options:
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Before starting your work with SimpleOne ITSM
Create the following Content Item Classes used to specify the External specifications:
- SLA
- Service Description
- Request Description
- User Self-Study.
Create the following Content Item Classes used to specify the Internal specifications:
- Incident Model
- Request Model
- Contacts
- Escalation Rules.
Content Item Class versions are stored in the VCS Records (sys_vcs_record) table for keeping the access settings. You can implement changes to unrelated instances using the configuration packs.
Knowledge Base Category configuration
Knowledge Base Categories define a tree of articles on the portal. The KB Category divides sets of articles from each other. Use categories to group articles.
To create a new KB Category, perform the following steps:
- Navigate to KB Dictionary → KB Categories.
- Click New and fill in the fields.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
KB Category form fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number | N | Unique number of KB Category. This field is populated automatically. |
| Name | Y | Define the name of the category to be displayed in the portal Knowledge Base. |
| Content DB | Y | Specify the content database to which the category is related. |
| Parent KB Category | N | Specify the parent KB category to create a nesting category. |
| Description | N | Enter a brief description of the category and articles it contains. |
| Responsible Group | Y | Define the group responsible for this KB category. |
| Responsible Person | Y | Define the person responsible for this KB category. |
| Object Category | N | This field defines access to the category according to the Content Item Class selected. If the Content Item Class is External, then the KB Category will be External.
This field is populated automatically after specifying the Content Item Class field value. |
Content Item configuration
In SimpleOne, each service documentation has a set of specifications which, in turn, are divided into external and internal ones. The Knowledge Base contains these service specifications as Content Items.
Before creating KB content items, make sure you have configured content DBs and content item classes.
Create an article
To create an article to be displayed on the SSP, perform the following steps:
- Navigate to Knowledge Base → All Articles.
- Click New and fill in the fields.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Articles in the Draft and Retired states are not displayed on the knowledge base portal page. To display them, change the state to Published.
Create a Service SLA
This specification is for SLM-relevant parts related to this service (for example, indicators). It describes various aspects of service quality, like maximum requests handling time, and others.
- Navigate to Knowledge Base → All Articles.
- Click New to open the form.
- Fill in the form and specify the following fields:
- Content DB – select the Service Catalog option.
- Content Item Class – select the SLA, OLA, or UC option.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Content Item Class form fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Y | This field is populated automatically and contains a unique item identifier generated automatically. |
| Name | Y | Name of the content item. |
| Content DB | Y | Reference to the content database. |
| KB Category | N | Specify the knowledge base category in which this content item will be displayed on the SSP. |
| Content Category | N | Category of the content item. |
| Content Item Class | Y | Specify your content item class. For example, Service Description. See the Create a Content Item Class section in this article to learn more. |
| Object Category | N | This field is populated automatically with Internal or External values after specifying the Content Item Class field. |
| Service | N | Select a Service from the list. |
| State | Y | The field specifies the actual state of your content item with one of the following options:
|
| Owned by | N | The field is filled in automatically with the service owner name according to the service selected. |
| Responsible Group | Y | Specify the group responsible for the content item. |
| Responsible Person | Y | Specify the person responsible for the content item. |
| Body | Y | Describe your content item using this text field. |
| Metainfo | N | Fill in the field with the metadata. |
You can add Related Incidents, Related Changes, and Related Problems fields to the form to see article related records. Refer to the Form Layout article to learn more.
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