Managing Knowledge Entries

Depending on your security role permissions, you can do any or all of the following within the knowledge bank in ASM Core:

Users and Analysts can then:

Creating a Knowledge Entry

You can create knowledge entries from scratch, or clone a call to become a knowledge entry.

Before you start

To create a knowledge entry from scratch, you must have Author selected in the Options tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

To clone a knowledge entry from a call, you must have Clone from Calls selected in the Options tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

To assign a knowledge profile, you must have Author permissions for it in the Content Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

To assign a status, you must have Author permissions for it in the Content Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

  1. Display the New Knowledge Entry dialog box, in any of the following ways:
    • Select and then New, and from the submenu, select Knowledge.
    • Search for a knowledge entry, either using the standard search, or the knowledge admin search, and from the bottom of the Knowledge Search Criteria pane, select Add New if available. Alternatively, select from the toolbar in the Results pane.
  2. In the New Knowledge Entry dialog box, select and search for the type of entry you want to create. You can select from any of the available tiers. Base entry types are system defined. Further entry types can be created in the Knowledge Entry Types window. Double click to display the entry type in the Type field on the New Knowledge Entry dialog box.

    3. Do not create a separate knowledge entry for every call that is encountered. Rather, call knowledge entries should be used to represent typical calls on a particular topic. It is recommended that calls on similar topics be aggregated into a single entry.

  3. Select OK to display the Knowledge Entry Details window. The fields and sections displayed will vary depending on the type of knowledge entry.
  4. Complete the details. Some of the sections may be collapsed, so you can only see the headings. To expand them to view the fields, simply click on the heading.

    5. Knowledge Ref Each entry within the Knowledge Bank has a unique reference number. This number is allocated by ASM Core and cannot be changed.
    External Ref External Reference number or ID for the Knowledge Entry. You can use this to assign an external reference number or ID to the entry.
    Status

    Select a status for the knowledge entry, which defines the level of visibility the entry will have.

    Knowledge statuses are defined in the Knowledge Statuses window. The statuses listed here are the ones to which you have access on the Statuses tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role. You can update entries that have a status to which you do not have access, but you can only change the entry’s status to one which you do have access.

    Values with a * in the Status field indicate a deleted status or one to which you do not have access.

    You can only moderate your own knowledge entries if you have Review Own selected in the Options tab of your Knowledge Management security role.
    Profile

    Profiles are defined in the Knowledge Profiles window.

    You can only select profiles to which you have access on the Content Access tab of your Knowledge Management security role.
    Entry Type This field is automatically populated with the entry type you selected in the New Knowledge Entry dialog box. Use the drop-down list to display all available entry types, and double click on one to select it if you wish to change the entry type. This will automatically update the window and load the fields for the selected entry type.
    Type The issue type that you want to link to the knowledge entry.

    Select and select the issue type. You can select from any of the available tiers. These are defined in the Type Tiers window.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.
    Created By The person who created this entry.
    Owner The person who has responsibility for this entry.
    Next Review The date on which this entry is due for review. The default review period is set in the Knowledge Bank Settings. You can change it by selecting and picking another date, or and selecting a different time. Alternatively, you can type the date and time.

    Depending on Knowledge Bank settings, contributors and/or creators are notified by email when an entry is due for review.
    Expires The date on which the knowledge entry is to expire. Select and pick the date. Select to pick a time. Alternatively, you can type the date and time.

    After this date, the knowledge entry will not be listed in knowledge search results. However, it will still be listed in Knowledge Admin Search results.

  5. The fields displayed in the bottom half of the window depend on the type of entry you have selected. You may need to scroll down to see them all. Complete them as necessary.
    6. ClosedIf you have selected Abstract as the base Entry Type, provide the Abstract information.
    Title Type a Title for your knowledge entry. This is a mandatory field.
    Format

     

    		 Select the format in which you want to publish your knowledge entry. If you switch from HTML to Plain Text, you will get a warning that HTML formatting you may have applied will be lost.
    The default format is set in the System Settings.
    Abstract Type the details of the knowledge entry in the text area provided.

    When HTML content from a document or web page is pasted into a knowledge entry, some information is removed from the content. This information includes scripts, objects, applets, absolute positioning, images, and input elements.
    Additional Information Expand the Additional Information section to add more information to the knowledge entry.

    This field is only visible when viewed in ASM Core. It is hidden when viewed from the Self Service Portal. It can be used to record information that may be too sensitive or technical for the public, such as references to legislative information.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
    ClosedIf you have selected Call as the base Entry Type, complete the following fields to provide the description and solution.
    Title

    A Title for your knowledge entry. This is a mandatory field.
    Format Select the format in which you want to publish your knowledge entry. If you switch from HTML to Plain Text, you will get a warning that HTML formatting you may have applied will be lost.

    The default format is set in the System Settings.

    Description

     

    		 A description of the problem or incident that led to the call being raised, and the environment in which the problem occurred.
    Solution Expand this section if necessary, and then describe the solution to the issue. If your knowledge entry is in HTML format, you can include links, images and so on.
    Additional Information

    An additional section in which you can provide information which may be helpful but is not vital to the solution.

    This field is only visible when viewed in ASM Core. It is hidden when viewed from the Self Service Portal. It can be used to record information that may be too sensitive or technical for the public, such as references to legislative information.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
    ClosedIf you have selected Directory as the base Entry Type, provide the path and directory details.
    Title Enter the title for the physical directory. The value entered in this field is only visible on the Knowledge Administration search window. Knowledge Search window results for Directory knowledge entries will show the title of the individual documents in the specified directory; one Knowledge article per document.
    Path

    Use the drop-down list to select the folder you wish to be indexed for Knowledge Bank searches. The root of the path corresponds to the directory \Knowledge within the ASM System path.

    To create other repositories, simply add them to the path.
    For example, to create a document repository for technical documentation, add a “technical” subdirectory to the Knowledge directory (\Knowledge\technical) and then create a directory knowledge entry pointing to \technical.

    To create document repositories linked to different profiles or types, create separate repositories in the Knowledge directory and then create a Directory knowledge entry for each one in the knowledge bank. For each entry, set the desired profile or type.
    Index Sub Directories

    Select Yes to enable indexing of sub-directories. The index process will search across all Text, PDF, and Word documents in the selected directory and its sub-folders.
    Notes Additional explanatory text. Information in this field is only visible from the Knowledge Administration window.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
    ClosedIf you have selected FAQ as the Entry Type, provide the question and answer to be displayed.
    Question Type in the question. This is a mandatory field.
    Format Select the format in which you want to publish your knowledge entry. If you switch from HTML to Plain Text, you will get a warning that HTML formatting you may have applied will be lost.

    The default format is set in the System Settings.
    Synopsis

     

    		 An elaborated summary of the question. This appears beneath the question in knowledge search results and helps readers determine if the FAQ is relevant to their issue.
    Answer Expand this section if necessary.

    Type the answer to the question. If the format is set to HTML, you can format your text and add images, etc.
    Additional Information Expand the Additional Information section to add more information to the knowledge entry.

    This field is only visible when viewed in ASM Core. It is hidden when viewed from the Self Service Portal. It can be used to record information that may be too sensitive or technical for the public, such as references to legislative information.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
    ClosedIf you have selected KCS as the base Entry Type, provide the description, cause and resolution details.
    Question Type in the question for the KCS. This is a mandatory field.
    Format

     

    		 Select the format in which you want to publish your knowledge entry. If you switch from HTML to Plain Text, you will get a warning that HTML formatting you may have applied will be lost.

    The default format is set in the System Settings.

    Description Describe the issue or scenario.
    Cause Expand this section if necessary and type the underlying reason for the issue.
    Resolution Expand this section if necessary and type the steps involved in resolving the issue.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
    ClosedIf you have selected Known Issue as the Entry Type, provide details of the issue and workaround.
    Title Type in a title for your knowledge entry. This is a mandatory field.
    Format

     

    		 Select the format in which you want to publish your knowledge entry. If you switch from HTML to Plain Text, you will get a warning that HTML formatting you may have applied will be lost.

    The default format is set in the System Settings.

    Problem Type the details of the problem that was reported.
    Workaround Expand this section if necessary and type the workaround for the issue.
    Additional Information Expand the Additional Information section to add more information to the knowledge entry.

    This field is only visible when viewed in ASM Core. It is hidden when viewed from the Self Service Portal. It can be used to record information that may be too sensitive or technical for the public, such as references to legislative information.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
    Closed If you have selected Website as the base Entry Type, provide the URL and specify the indexing details.
    Title Enter a title for the website knowledge entry. The value entered in this field is only visible on the Knowledge Administration search window. Knowledge Search window results for Website knowledge entries will show the title of the individual web page(s) of the website address specified in the knowledge entry; one Knowledge article per web page.
    URL

    Type the URL or website address you wish to index for Knowledge Bank searching. This is a mandatory field.

    Ensure that you enter the full address; e.g. http://www.thecompany.com. ASM Core will index files of types configured on the Web File Extensions window in Text Retrieval Settings in System Administration.

    Only website addresses commencing with http:// are considered valid for this field. If https:// or www. is used then a warning will appear on Save: "The URL you have entered is invalid. All URLs must be preceded with either http:// or https://."

    Below the URL field, options for selecting the depth of indexing are displayed. ASM Core will perform the indexing based on the address you specify.
    Traversal Depth

    There are three options for configuring the traversal depth. These determine the level of indexing that you want to apply for your knowledge entry.
    Index start page only

    Select this option for ASM Core to index only the URL you specify. If you don’t supply a filename in the web address, ASM Core will index the default main page that the web-server supplies (this is usually index.htm, but could also be default.htm or something similar).

    Only one associated Website Knowledge entry will be returned in the Knowledge Search window.
    Index n Levels

    ASM Core will index pages it can find in the domain you specify, but will only travel as many links away as you specify in this field.

    The Knowledge Search window will return as many associated knowledge entries as it finds web pages in the specified URL and traversal depth. The Knowledge Admin Search window will return a single entry (this one).
    Index all linked pages within domain

    ASM Core will index all web pages it can find under the specified URL, within that domain. It will search through subfolders, but not leave the original domain you specified (so in the above example, it might find www.thecompany.com/support/docs.htm, but wouldn’t find www.anothercompany.com/info.htm, even if it was linked from the above file).

    The Knowledge Search window will return as many associated knowledge entries as it finds web pages in the specified URL and traversal depth. The Knowledge Admin Search window will return a single entry (this one).

    Some large operations may split their services across multiple servers with similar domain names, such as www1.xyz.com and www2.xyz.com. ASM Core is only capable of recognizing the domain you specify and thus cannot find pages on other servers.
    Notes

    Additional explanatory text. Information in this field is only visible from the Knowledge Administration window.
    Linked CMDB Items

    Expand the Linked CMDB Item section to search for and select the CMDB Items to which you want to link the knowledge entry.

    Knowledge entries can be linked to the same types and CMDB items as a call. This will result in Analysts being alerted to potentially helpful Knowledge Bank material from the call window. If the call is dealing with the same service and type, the Related Knowledge section of the Service window is populated to indicate potentially helpful material.

    Select the Include Deleted checkbox to include all removed and/or deleted CMDB items in the list.

    Select Add to display the CMDB Item Search window, in which you can search for a CMDB item. Double click to select the item you want to link. If you are linking several items, select .

    Once the items are displayed in the Linked CMDB Items table, you can view an individual item by selecting it and then selecting Open, or unlink it by selecting it and then selecting Remove.
  6. When you have completed the details, select Save. The Save window appears. Complete the details.

    7. Minor Update The first time a knowledge entry is saved, this option is disabled.
    Review Required

    Select this option if you want this entry to be reviewed by another Analyst who has access to the entry and permission to review it. 

    Once you select this option, it is disabled until the entry has been reviewed.

    People viewing this entry from Knowledge Search results, will see the message “This entry has been flagged for review” at the bottom of the information pane.
    Reviewed

    This option is not available when first saving a knowledge entry. It becomes available after a knowledge entry is saved with Review Required check box selected.

    The analyst reviewing the entry can select this option to indicate that the review on the entry has been completed. When this option is selected and the entry is saved, the Review Required check box will become unselected.
    Status The value displayed in this field is inherited from the Entry Details window. However, you can set a different status by selecting the required value from the list.

    To display the entry on the Self Service Portal, the selected status must have the Publish to Self Service Portal option selected on the Knowledge Statuses window. If moderation is enabled for the Knowledge Bank, it must also have the Moderated option selected on the same window.
    Rating

    This option is unavailable when first saving a knowledge entry. The text is grayed out and the drop-down list disabled. Contributors cannot rate their knowledge entries. Therefore, if you create or contribute an update to an entry, it is not possible to rate that entry.

    If you are reviewing or editing an entry, you can select a rating for the entry only if you want to make a minor update to the entry. If you leave the Minor Update option unselected, you automatically become a contributor for the entry, and hence cannot assign a rating to it.
    Comments Use this field to add any other relevant comments about the entry. These comments are only visible in Knowledge History window of the knowledge entry.

  7. Select OK to publish the entry. The window closes.

How External Knowledge Content is Indexed

Each knowledge entry is either an Internal or an External entry. Internal knowledge entries are those that are stored in the database, such as Abstracts, FAQs, Call, KCS structured entries, and known issues. External knowledge entries point to an external location – a physical directory (file) or a website (web page), where knowledge entries are located. External articles are discovered by the ASM Core Indexing Service and returned in knowledge searches. An external knowledge entry may be linked to several external articles.

ASM Core indexes external information using the following processes:

  • External entries returned in the Knowledge Search results window do not display punctuation marks. Punctuation marks are ignored, except hyphenated words which are treated as a single word.
  • The indexing process tries to extract metadata from the document in order to make search results more informative. Web pages, Word, and OpenDocument format documents generally have a "title" metadata field that is used as the page title. If the title metadata field does not exist or is empty, the document file name is used instead (this is the case for PDF documents). Some file types also have a "subject" metadata field which is used as the document thumbnail. Where this field does not exist or is empty, the first 100 characters of the document body are used instead. Some websites assign all pages the same title. In this case, all indexed pages are stored with that same title.
  • The indexing service schedules a scan to detect changes to external websites. All the external documents associated with this website are marked as needing to be rescanned. The indexing service then sends an HTTP request to the index start page. If the web server responds with a 200 response (this means that the web page exists), the indexing service checks to see if the page has changed by looking at the time of the last change made on the page. If the page has changed, the indexing service needs to scan the page again.
  • The indexing service does the above for each URL. If the link is bad (that is, it returns a non-200 HTTP response), it marks the web page as deleted in ASM Core. If the link is working, it checks to see if the page has changed, and then in turn checks each URL to see if they are bad. The indexing service checks outwards until it finds no more links or reaches its depth limit (configurable on the Website Details window).
  • When ASM Core has finished searching for changes, any web pages that are marked as still needing to be scanned will be marked as deleted in ASM Core. This is because any remaining unscanned pages are from links that are no longer used from the parent web page. As no links from the parent web page point to these web pages, these pages are no longer considered relevant or required.

Knowledge Admin Search for Knowledge Entries

The Knowledge Administration window enables you to search for knowledge entries that you may not be able to locate using the standard Knowledge Search option. You can search for and view knowledge entries you are permitted to view and edit. They can be of any status, including those set to unmoderated and flagged for review. You can also restore deleted entries.

Knowledge Administration is not the same as Knowledge Bank administration, which is primarily restricted to system administrators and enables them to configure the settings for the Knowledge Bank module.

Before you start

You must have Editor selected in the Options tab and Editor selected for the Knowledge Profile of the entry in the Contents Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

  1. Select , and then Admin.
  2. From the Admin menu, select the Knowledge Bank option.
  3. This window is divided into two panes. You select the criteria for the search in the left pane, and the results are displayed in the right pane. You can apply as many filters as you wish (some of the fields require you to select a check box for that criteria to apply).
  4. Complete the details in the Knowledge Search Criteria pane as necessary:

    5. The Options section includes the following search options:
    All Select to search for all types of knowledge entries.
    Abstract Select to search for entries that have the type set to Abstract
    Call Select to search for entries that have the type set to Calls.
    Directory Select to search for entries that are Directory type
    FAQ Select to search for entries that have the type set to FAQ.
    KCS Select to search for KCS knowledge entries.
    Known Issue Select to search for knowledge entries that are Known Issues.
    Website Select to search for knowledge entries that are websites.
    Active Select to search for knowledge entries that have the status Active (that is, entries that have not been deleted).
    Deleted Select to search for knowledge entries that have been deleted.
    Moderated Select this option to search for knowledge entries that have statuses with the Moderated flag enabled in Configuring the Knowledge Bank. Moderated entries are visible internally.
    Not Moderated Select to search for knowledge entries that have statuses with the Moderated flag not enabled.
    Published Select to search for knowledge entries that have statuses with the Published To Self Service Portal flag enabled in Admin Knowledge Statuses. Published entries are visible in the Self Service Portal.
    Not Published Select to search for knowledge entries that have not been published to the Self Service Portal.
    Expired Select to search for knowledge entries that are expired. These entries contain a past date in the Expiry field.
    Not Expired Select to search for knowledge entries which have not expired.
    Review Required Select this option to search for knowledge entries that have the Review Required option selected.
    Review Not Required Select to search for knowledge entries that do not require review.
    Contributor Select to search for knowledge entries for which the selected Analyst is a contributor.

    If you do not have Editor permission through your security role, this field displays your name and is grayed out. You can only search for those entries for which you are a contributor.
    Include Unclaimed Select to search for knowledge entries cloned from calls that have not been edited yet. These entries are termed “Unclaimed” because a contributor is not associated with them. This option returns all entries without contributors.
    Partition Select to search for knowledge entries that have been created in the selected partition. This list displays only those partitions to which you have access.
    Include Deleted Field Values Select to include deleted field values in your search. Selecting this option updates the selected fields with values that have been deleted for those fields. For example, if you are searching for a knowledge base entry by Created By, and you select Include Deleted Field Values, the Created By list will be updated to display Analysts that were created and subsequently deleted. You can then select a deleted value from the list, and conduct your search

    The Knowledge Article Criteria section contains fields that allow you to search on the following criteria:
    Created By Search for an Analyst who created the knowledge entry and use this person as the criteria for your search.
    Search Text Select this criterion to search for Knowledge Entries by typing in words or text the entry may contain.

    The following options are available for text searches:

    You can choose between All Words and Any Words.

    You can choose between Exact, Related, Logical and Regular Expression.
    All Words Returns knowledge entries with words that match all the search text. However, it does not take into account the sequence of the words specified.
    Any Words Returns knowledge entries with one or more words that match the search text.
    Exact

    Returns knowledge entries in which the body text contains any or all of the search text words, but not necessarily in the same order.

    This type of search does not include an exact phrase search. To search for an exact phrase, the words for which you are searching must be specified within quotation marks.

    Nor will it retrieve text that has another form of the word or a synonym. For example, if you specify “Join” in text box, the search will not retrieve “Joined” as a match.
    Related Returns knowledge entries that contain synonyms or words that are similar to the search text. For example, if you search on “Cloning”, the search will locate entries such as “clone” and “cloned”.
    Logical

    Same behavior as Exact, however uses the SQL Server text searching engine instead of the ASM text search engine. Both require the ASM Indexing Service to be running.
    Regular Expression Returns knowledge entries with regular expressions associated with the search words, including wildcard characters such as an underscore (_) to represent one character or percentage (%) to represent zero or more characters.

    Wildcard characters are ignored if the Regular Expression option is not selected.

    Usage of regular expressions is specific to the database engine you are using: SQL Server or Oracle. Regular expressions are limited to searching for individual words and therefore exclude any punctuation and white space specified in the search text. The regular expression wildcard characters that ASM Core supports include:

    %to search for any string of zero or more characters.
    Use of this character at the beginning of a word by which you are searching is not supported. Furthermore, if using ‘%’ in the middle of a word, you should ensure that you always put ‘%’ at the end also. For example, col%r% will return color, colour
    _Any single character
    []Any single character within the specified range. For example, in the range [a-f] or in the set [abcdef]
    [^]Any single character not within the specified range. For example, not in the range [^a-f] or not in the set [^abcdef]

  5. You can add further search criteria by selecting at the top of the Knowledge Search Criteria pane and configuring your search criteria.
  6. After you have specified your search criteria, select Search. All knowledge entries that match your search criteria are displayed in the main pane. (You may like to adjust the column widths to see all of the columns.)
  7. If you do not find the entry you are looking for, you can create one by selecting Add New at the bottom of the Knowledge Search Criteria pane if available, or selecting from the top of the results pane.
  8. Select the entry you want to view by either double clicking in the relevant row of the browse table, or selecting the entry and then selecting . The details of the selected entry are displayed.

  9. Your system may be configured such that double-clicking an entity in the search results will open it in action mode, rather than review mode. If so, select the entity and then select to open the entry in review mode.

Other Search Criteria

You can configure the search criteria to add other fields associated with knowledge entities. Some examples of the fields you may add are described below.

Created Date From / Created Date To You can use these fields to select a date and time range for the search to represent the duration in which the entry was created. Other date fields you can configure include: Moderated Date, Reviewed Date, Expiry Date, Updated Date, Published Date or Next Review Date
Knowledge Ref Select to search for a knowledge entry by its reference number. Note that this is a numeric field, and therefore you will not be able to specify letters or other characters in this field.
Call No Select to search for a knowledge entry by the Call No. This will return all entries that are linked to the specified call number.
Entry Type Select to search for knowledge entries by a selected Entry Type. Select the required entry from the list. Entry Types other than the system ones are defined by the system administrator.
Profile Select to search for knowledge entries based on their profile. Select Equal to search for knowledge entries where the entry’s profile is the same as the profile selected. Select Equal + Below to search for knowledge entries within the profile you have specified as well as knowledge entries within the lower tiers for the profile.
CMDB Item Select to search for knowledge entries related to the specified CMDB item. Using the search function
Call Type Select to search for knowledge entries by the Type specified in the knowledge entry. Select Equal to search for Knowledge Entries matching the Call Type selected. Select Equal + Below to include lower tiers for the selected type.
Created By Use this option to search for knowledge entries based on the Analyst who created the entries. Using the search function
Updated By Use this option to search for knowledge entries based on the Analyst who last updated the entries. Using the search function
Moderated By Use this option to search for knowledge entries based on the Analyst who changed the status of the entries to one that has the Moderated flag enabled. Using the search function
Published By Use this option to search for knowledge entries based on the Analyst who changed the status of the entries to one that as the Publish To Portal flag enabled. Using the search function

Knowledge Entry Details Window

The Knowledge Entry Details window displays the configuration details of the knowledge article, the text for the knowledge entry, as well as statistics and linked items.

Depending on the permissions on your Knowledge Management security role, you will be able to edit and review the knowledge entry, provide feedback, and modify items linked to the entry.

The knowledge entry details window contains three sections: The Explorer Option, the Entry Details, and the Information Panel.

Knowledge Entry Information Panel

Status

This informs the reader if the entry is a “New Knowledge Entry”, “Active” or “Deleted”. It does not correspond with the status field displayed on the knowledge details screen.

This value cannot be manually selected by analysts.
Review

This indicates whether the entry has been flagged for review.

Created By, Created At, Updated By, Updated At, Published By, Published At, Reviewed By, Reviewed At.

These fields show the names of the Analysts who created, last updated, published and reviewed the entry, as well as the date and time when the action was performed.
From Call

The call number that the knowledge entry is cloned from, if the knowledge entry was created by cloning from a call. No value is shown if it was not.
Hit Count

The number of times the entry has been viewed.
No of Rating Responses

The number of people who have rated the entry for its quality and content.
Feedback Rating

The overall rating of the entry in terms of quality and content.
Call Referrals

The number of calls linked to this entry.
Help Factor Knowledge entries can be displayed when logging calls via the portal (Suggested Knowledge) and ASM Core (Matching Panel). This field shows the number of times the entry contained sufficient information for the analyst/user to close a call.
Contributors

The Analysts who have made a major update to the entry
Partitions

The partitions that the entry is accessible from.

Reviewing a Knowledge Entry

A knowledge entry can be saved as “Review Required”. When the entry is viewed in 'read' mode, the message “This entry has been flagged for review” appears at the bottom of the information pane.

Assuming you have the appropriate permissions in your Security Role, you can review the contents for accuracy and usefulness, change the entry to 'edit' mode, make necessary changes, and then flag it as reviewed.

Before you start

To review other Analysts’ knowledge entries, you must have Review and Editor selected in the Options tab and Editor selected for the Knowledge Profile of the entry in the Contents Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

To review knowledge entries which you have created or contributed to, you must have Review Own selected in the Options tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

Statuses you can select in the Knowledge Entry details are determined by the settings in the Statuses tab in your Knowledge Management Security Role.

  1. Search for the entry, selecting Review Required as one of the search criteria.
  2. When the knowledge entry details are displayed , select from the toolbar.
  3. Modify the required details on the Details window.
  4. When you have finished, select Save. The Save window appears. Complete the details.

    5. Minor Update Select this option to indicate that the changes to the entry were minor such as spelling corrections or adjustments to review or expiry dates. The credit for the entry is attributed to the original author.

    If you are making significant changes, leave this unselected to save the change as a “major update”. The credit for the entry is now attributed to you as the Analyst who made the changes. You will become a “contributor”. The system displays a warning that you may not be able to review this entry.

    Review Required This option is grayed out until after the entry is saved with the Reviewed check box selected.
    Reviewed Select this option to indicate that the review has been done.

    When this option is selected and the entry is saved, the Review Required option will be deselected.
    Status The value displayed in this field is inherited from the previous window. However, you can set a different status by selecting a different value from the list.

    To display the entry on the Self Service Portal, the selected status must have Published to Self Service Portal selected on the Knowledge Statuses window. If moderation is enabled for the Knowledge Bank, it must also have the Moderated option selected.
    Rating

    You can select a rating for the entry only if you want to make a minor update to the entry.

    If you leave the Minor Update option deselected, you automatically become a contributor for the entry and hence cannot provide a rating as creators and contributors are prevented from rating their own knowledge entries.

    Comments Use this field to add any other relevant comments about the entry. These comments are only visible in Knowledge History window of the knowledge entry.

  5. Select Ok to save the changes. You are returned to the search window and the details are saved.

Updating a Knowledge Entry

Once a knowledge entry has been saved, it can be updated in a number of ways, including changing the status and updating the information it contains, as well as adding, changing or deleting objects attached to the entry.

Before you start

To update a knowledge entry created by someone else, you must have Editor selected in the Options tab and Editor selected for the Knowledge Profile of the entry in the Contents Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

To view, update, and delete objects attached to a knowledge entry, you must have Object View, Object Update, Object Delete selected in the Options tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role.

Statuses you can select in the Knowledge Entry details are determined by the settings in the Statuses tab in your Knowledge Management Security Role.

  1. Search for the entry.
  2. When the details are displayed , select from the toolbar.
  3. Modify the required details on the Details window.
  4. When you have finished, select Save. The Save window appears. Complete the details.

    5. Minor Update Select this option to indicate that the changes to the entry were minor such as spelling corrections or adjustments to review or expiry dates. The credit for the entry is attributed to the original author.

    If you are making significant changes, leave this unselected to save the change as a “major update”. The credit for the entry is now attributed to you as the Analyst who made the changes. You will become a “contributor”. The system displays a warning that you may not be able to review this entry.

    Review Required

    Select this option if you want this entry to be reviewed by another Analyst who has access to the entry and permission to review it. 

    Once you select this option, it is disabled until the entry has been reviewed.

    People viewing this entry from Knowledge Search results, will see the message “This entry has been flagged for review” at the bottom of the information pane.
    Reviewed If you are updating the entry as part of a review, select this option to indicate that the review has been done. If you want the updated information to be reviewed, leave the box deselected.

    When this option is selected and the entry is saved, the Review Required option will be deselected.
    Status The value displayed in this field is inherited from the Entry window. However, you can set a different status by selecting the required value from the list.

    To display the entry on the Self Service Portal, the selected status must have the Publish to Self Service Portal option selected on the Knowledge Statuses window. If moderation is enabled for the Knowledge Bank, it must also have the Moderated option selected.
    Rating If you are reviewing an entry, or making a minor update, you can select a rating for the entry. If you leave the Minor Update option unselected, you cannot provide a rating as creators and contributors are prevented from rating their own knowledge entries.
    Comments Use this field to add any other relevant comments about the entry. These comments are only visible in Knowledge History window of the knowledge entry.

  5. Select OK to save the changes. You are returned to the search window and the details are saved.

Deleting a Knowledge Entry

Before you start

You must have Editor selected on the Options tab and access to the knowledge profile in the Content Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role to delete a knowledge entry.

    1. Select , and then Admin.
    2. From the Admin menu, select the Knowledge Bank option.
  2. Select the entry you want to delete in the browse table, and select . The entry disappears from the browse table.

  3. If you want to view the entry before you delete it, select it in the browse table and then select . When the details are displayed, select , and then .

You can restore deleted entries if necessary, following the instructions below.

Restoring Deleted Knowledge Entries

Before you start

You can only undelete knowledge entries from within the Administration Search window.

You must have Editor selected on the Options tab and access to the knowledge profile in the Content Access tab of your Knowledge Management Security Role to restore a deleted knowledge entry.

  1. Search for the knowledge entry, deselecting the Active and select the Deleted search criterion. Add any further search criteria you wish to use to filter the search results.
  2. Select Search to display the results in a browse table. (You may like to adjust the column widths to see all of the columns.)
  3. Highlight the entry you wish to undelete in the search results and select .

    If you wish to review the entry before undeleting it, select the entry you wish to undelete. When the details are displayed, you will see a banner across the top of the window informing you that the item has been deleted. Select the Undelete link in the top right corner.
  4. The banner disappears from the list and if you return to the window containing the search results, selecting Active and deselecting Deleted, you will see the entry is restored.