Knowledge Base allows building your library of articles providing 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.
Only articles are displayed on the Self-Service Portal (SSP).
Knowledge Base allows categorizing the content on different levels and arrange articles in a particular order to navigate through them easily in the Self-Service Portal (SSP) consists of five elements:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
Content Database (Content DB) | helps to arrange knowledge base into several greater sets of articles. It is the most general and wide section of the KB and may be called the first level. |
| Content Category | provides an additional level (second) 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 the second level. |
| Content Item Class | defines classes of content items and access to them. It may be referred to as the third level, yet, it does not depend on any of the previous KB sections. That is, it may contain items from any content DB and any content category. |
| Content Item | works as a storage for such KB items as articles and known errors. |
Knowledge Base Category (KB Category) | sets hierarchical order of articles and categories, allows nesting articles. There are no limitations for nesting levels. + через RL можно создавать статьи именно в этой категории, что удобнее |
Role required: admin, knowledge_admin.
User Roles
+ knowledge roles (после публикации бранча)
Create a Content DB
Content Databases are designed for storing the Knowledge Base content items.
Within the Knowledge Base Dictionary, you can establish the following storages:
- IT Service Catalog containing service descriptions and SLA documentation that are necessary for the Service Catalog Management purposes
- Known Errors Database used in Problem Management.
Role required: admin.
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 description
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Y | The name of the content database appropriate to its purposes. |
| Description | Y | Additional information about the content database. |
| Responsible Group | Y | Define a group responsible for the content DB. |
| Responsible Person | Y | Define a user responsible for the content DB. |
Create a Content Category
Content Categories determine the way items stored in the Content Databases.
Role required: admin.
Create a Content Category following the steps below:
- Navigate to KB Dictionary → Content Categories.
- Click New and fill in the form.
Click Save or Save and Exit to apply the changes.
Content Category form description
Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Y | Content category number. This field is populated automatically. |
| Name | Y | A name of a content category appropriate to its purposes (ex. Article for service SLAs and descriptions, Known Error for keeping KEDB records). |
| Description | Y | Additional information about content categories. |
| Content DB | N | Select a content database from the list to bind a category with some database previously created. |
Create a Content Item Class
Content Item Class defines the content item purpose (SLA, OLA, UC, Service Description, Known Error, etc.) and application area (external/internal).
Role required: admin.
Create an Item Class 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 description
Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Y | The name of the content item class appropriate to its purposes (SLA, OLA, UC, Service Description, Known Error, etc.). |
| Description | Y | Additional information about the content item class. |
| Object Category | Y | Specify the field with one of the following options:
|
Before starting your work with SimpleOne ITSM
Create the following Content Item Classes used for specifying the External specifications:
- SLA
- Service Description
- Request Description
- User Self-Study.
Create the following Content Item Classes used for specifying 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.
A good practice is to configure content item class records in a developer instance. After the necessary configurations applied, create a configuration pack to transfer the content item class to the main instance.
You can create the following Knowledge Base objects in the main instance:
- Content DB
- Content Categories
- KB Categories.
Create a Knowledge Base Category
Knowledge Base Categories define the tree of articles on the portal. It is the KB Category that divide sets of article from each other. Add categories to group articles.
[SCREENSHOT]
+ можно создавать статьи через RL
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.
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number | N | The unique number of the 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 a 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 a group responsible for this KB category. |
| Responsible Person | Y | Define a person responsible for this KB category. |
| Content Item Class | Y | Define a content item class to which this category is related. Please note that the item class defines access to the category and its elements (articles and child categories). If the category contains an article of the external item class, it will not be displayed. |
| 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 according to the Content Item Class field value. |
Create a Content Item
In SimpleOne, each service documentation has a set of a specification which, in turn, are divided into external and internal ones. The Knowledge Base contains these service specifications as Content Items.
Role required: admin. == затестить, может ли knowledge_admin создавать Cont Item
General Guide
To create a Content Item, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to Knowledge Base → Content Items.
- Click New and fill in the fields.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Before creating the KB content items, make sure you have configured the Knowledge Base Dictionary.
Create a Service Description
This is a service description, informative, and related to the company infrastructure.
To create a Service Description, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to Knowledge Base → Content Items.
- Click New to open the form.
- Fill in the form and specify the following fields:
- Content DB – select the Service Catalog option.
- Content Type – select the Article option.
- Content Item Class – select the Service Description option.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Create a Service SLA
This specification is for SLM-relevant parts related to this service (indicators, etc.). It describes various aspects of service quality, like maximum requests handling time, and others.
- Navigate to Knowledge Base → Content Items.
- Click New to open the form.
- Fill in the form and specify the following fields:
- Content DB – select the Service Catalog option.
- Content Type – select the Article option.
- Content Item Class – select the SLA, OLA, or UC option.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Publish a Content Item
You can publish Content Items to make them available for various purposes.
To publish it, follow the steps below:
- Enter the Content Item record you need.
- Select Published in the State field.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Form Description
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Y | This field is populated automatically and contains an item unique identifier generated automatically. |
| Name | Y | Name of the content item. |
| Content DB | Y | A database as a content item storage. |
| Content Category | N | The category of the content item. |
| Content Item Class | Y | Specify your content item with one of the following options:
See the Create a Content Item Class article to learn more. |
| 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:
|
Published at | Y | The time the content item was published. This field is populated automatically. |
| Responsible Group | Y | Specify a group responsible for the content item. |
| Responsible Person | Y | Specify a 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. |
| Object Category | N | Automatically filled with the Internal or External option according to the Content Item Class selected. |
| Owned by | N | Automatically filled with the service owner name according to the service selected. |
