Applies to:
SharePoint Online and On-Premises 2013/2016/2019 Service Request Applications/SharePoint Server Subscription Edition

Description

Knowledge Base (KB) is a repository of information to solve the frequently occurring issues.  It also has data from resolved Tickets so that users can refer to this information if they are facing a problem that has been solved before.

KB articles are available in the backend site for the staff users and in the portal site for the end users.

This article describes features of KB articles in Crow Canyon service request applications, that is, IT Help Desk, Facilities, Request Management and Customer Service applications.

Detailed description

KB articles in Ticket’s list:

1. KB suggestions are based on Issue Type selection in Ticket’s list forms:

KB articles are organized based on Category and Issue Type. In new Ticket/Request form, KB articles are shown based on selected category and issue type. Users can see the relevant articles and their issue may get resolved without even filing the Ticket.

Tickets:

Portal Ticket:

2. ‘‘Related KB Articles’ in Tickets form:

• Related KB Articles:

In Tickets form, KB articles are shown in “Related KB Articles” listing in “Knowledge Base” tab. These articles are for the technicians in the backend site. When resolving the Ticket, staff members can select the relevant articles as per the resolution of the Ticket. This creates an association between the problem listed in the Ticket and the article that was used to resolve it. This increases the rating for the article in “Knowledge Base” list when the Ticket gets closed. And this association is used by NITRO bot to show the most relevant and rated articles for the issues mentioned by users in the bot chat.

• Create KB Article:

If there are no existing articles matching with the issue in the Ticket, the technician can check “Create KB Article” box to indicate that a KB article is required for this Ticket. When a Ticket is closed, the article is automatically created with information in the Ticket.

Note: The KB article gets created as a list item in “Knowledge Base” list based on the mappings specified in “Configuration” list. To know more details about KB mappings, refer: “General Configuration” link in Application Administration workspace.

Knowledge Base list

KB articles can be created directly using “New KB Article” quick launch link under Tickets. Below is the KB form.

Columns used in the KB form:

• Category: This column is used to group the articles in “Articles by Category” section on “Search Knowledge Base Articles” page.
• Issue Type: This column is used to filter the articles based on the issue type selection in Tickets form.
• Rating: This column is used to show “Top Rated Articles” in “Search Knowledge Base Articles” page.
• Show in frequently used KB Articles: This column is used to show the articles in “Frequently Used Article” section in the “Search Knowledge Base Article” page
• Target Audience: This column is useful to separate the articles based on the target audience (external/internal).

There can be a requirement to have certain KB articles only for staff and not to show them to end users. This can be done by restricting these articles from appearing in the portal site. For this, item level permissions can be configured on KB articles based on target audience.

Refer to this article to configure item level permissions on KB Articles using NITRO Workflows.

Search Knowledge Base Articles Page

‘Knowledge Base’ is a quick way to search KB Articles. This is configured as a top navigation link in the site as shown below:

We can search articles directly by entering a keyword, category, issue type or title in the search box.

• Frequently Used Articles:
  This section is useful for articles that are relevant for frequently occurring issues. Enabling “Show in frequently used KB Articles” will show the KB articles in this section.

• Top Rated Articles:
  Articles are rated automatically according to their usage in resolving Tickets. The top-rated articles are those that are frequently used in resolving Tickets. KB articles will be shown on page based on the KB rating.

• Articles by Category:
  KB articles will be grouped based on category. In this section we find count of articles under each category.