Essential Knowledge Management


 

Table of Contents

Contact the KM Team with any questions by email or Webex Teams: km-webteam@umd.edu

ServiceNow Ownership Group members will learn to search, create, and edit articles. We will also cover how to edit a service catalog entry. This will be bare-bones information to prevent those new to ServiceNow, Knowledge Management, and especially both, from becoming overwhelmed.

Instances

Instances are copies of ServiceNow environments. Check your browser URL to make sure you are in DEV or TST.

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PROD

This is the live, published version of itsupport.umd.edu.
https://itsupport.umd.edu/agent 
https://itsupport.umd.edu/itsupport  

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DEV

This is where new features are developed. This instance resets every 90-120 days.
https://dev-itsupport.umd.edu/agent 
https://dev-itsupport.umd.edu/itsupport 

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TST

This instance is for testing ServiceNow updates to ensure things will function when it updates to PROD. It is often the best place to explore, test, and experiment without any repercussions.
https://tst-itsupport.umd.edu/agent
https://tst-itsupport.umd.edu/itsupport 

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Knowledge Bases

Knowledge Bases each have a different audience and workflow. For more information, see the Knowledge Base Merge article.

In TST, check out an article and explore.

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Portal view vs Agent view

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Portal view

Searching

  1. Go to itsupport.umd.edu/itsupport. Log in.
  2. Enter a search term under How may we help you?
  3. Use the search result tabs to narrow down the search results.
    • Knowledge shows articles only.
    • Services show service catalog entries.
    • Catalog Items show any forms (typically for requesting services and features).
    • All.

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Portal view articles

This is a quick way to access an article.

NOTE: Share the article using the Copy Permalink link at the bottom of the article. Copying the URL from the browser search bar is not a permanent link and will not work long-term.

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Portal view article editing shortcut

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Portal View Service Catalog editing

Edit service from the catalog entry.

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Agent View

Article searching

  1. Start at itsupport.umd.edu.
  2. Login. Click on your initials at the top right of the window.
  3. Select Agent View from the drop-down menu.
  4. In the Filter Navigator search bar on the left, enter knowledge > Edit or Articles > Edit.
  5. In the Search bar at the top, search for an article to get to the same editing form you access through the portal view.

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Article editing

You can't edit articles in portal view, it only offers another way to agent view editing.

These instructions on editing an article cover:

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View article versions

You can view previously published versions of articles in the portal view.

  1. From a portal-view article, click Latest Version on the upper left of the article.
  2. From the drop-down, select an outdated version to view.
    example image of showing past versions using the drop down

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Creating an article

  1. In agent view, enter Article in the filter navigator.
  2. Select Create New under Knowledge > Article.
  3. Select a Knowledge Base.
    • IT Support.
    • IT Internal.
  4. Select a template.
    • Standard is an open-ended template with a single field. Ideal for transcribing existing documentation into ServiceNow.
    • How To is ideal for explaining how to do a particular action. There’s an introduction field and an instructions field.
    • Question & Answer is designed to handle a question with a question field and answer field. These aren’t FAQ articles and are typically aimed at single questions.
    • Issue & Solution is a template for handling knowledge created from incidents.
  5. Click the Next button.

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Ownership Group field

Adding a group to this field triggers an approval process for this article. You must be in the Ownership Group to instantly publish a new or edited article. Those in the Ownership Group must approve edits submitted for publication by outsiders.

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Complete the article form

The article form typically refers to the fields above the article's body fields. These are the administrative component of articles.

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Add content to your articles properly

See the ServiceNow Article Style Guide for instructions on:

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Article State

State and Confidence field equivalencies

Confidence field

Is it published?

Work in progress

No

Validated

Yes

Not Validated

Yes

Archived

No

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A mention of KCS

Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) is a request-driven way to create support documentation that uses concise templates answering a single issue to maximize searchability and reduce clutter. The KCS template is used in both the IT Support and IT Internal Knowledge bases. For more information, see Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) Essential Training.

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Retire articles

When articles are no longer relevant, necessary, or accurate, you may wish to retire the article entirely. In order to do so, follow these steps:

NOTE: Once an article has been retired, you will not have the ability to un-retire that article. In order to have it un-retired, you'll have to request it by reaching out to the Knowledge Management team via email km-webteam@umd.edu .

  1. On the desired article, Click the Actions drop down menu, and select Edit Article
  2. Click the Retire button in the upper right hand corner.

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