Knowledge Base: How to create a Knowledge Base Article for Purdue IT

Overview

This article is for Purdue IT technicians who have access to create articles in the Knowledge Base. For technicians who do not have KB access, see “How do I submit knowledge base articles in TDX?”

If you'd like access to create your own KBs, see the information found on the Purdue IT webpage: https://it.purdue.edu/services/knowledge-base.php

Team lead technicians should also see, “Roles and responsibilities of Knowledge Base Team Leads”

Instructions

1. Sign into service.purdue.edu and select the “Knowledge Base” tab.

2. Click on the ‘+New Article’ button.

3. Complete the fields: 

   1. Category = Choose from the available category structure; do not create a new category. If you believe a new category is warranted, email itservicemanagement@purdue.edu and make a request. 

   2. Leave the ‘Order’ as 1.0; do not click the "Pin Article" check box. 

   3. Subject = Article Title. Articles intended to be a team-specific internal article should start with “Internal “Team Name” Article:”; articles intended to be internal to all Purdue IT should start with “Internal Purdue IT Article:”

4. In the “Body” field, add your article content. Use available templates for formatting or to insert text options.
   
   Note about adding images: Before adding images to an article, consider if they are truly necessary. Screen shot images can change frequently as services/devices are updated and may not reflect the user’s experience. If you believe the images are necessary, be sure to include alternative text to make the images accessible (See, “Internal Purdue IT Article: Web Accessibility best practices for images on websites).

To add images, see Internal Purdue IT article: How to add image to TDX Knowledge Base article.

5. If this is a public facing article, include the “Still need help?  Click the 'Purdue IT Request' button to start a ticket.” Further instructions regarding this step are listed below in Step 11.

6. In the Article Summary field, summarize the article. This is the description uses will see when searching for articles.

7. In the “Tag” field, search for product name (if applicable) and add.

8. Check “Notify Owner of Feedback”

9. In Internal Notes, add any notes that you want technicians to see, but not customers. Note: In TDX, internal notes are limited to 4000 characters and cannot use rich text, meaning no hyperlinks; if you need to include a link, use the full URL address.

10. If the article is complete; click the “Save” button, this will save the article as a draft it is not yet visible to other users.

11. The article draft is now available for submission, however, please consider the following:

    1. If (in previous step 5) your article includes ““Still need help?  Click the 'Purdue IT Request' button to start a ticket.”  you will need to link the article to the service button.

       1. Click the “Edit Article” button and then open the “Related Services” tab.

       2. Click the “+ Add” button

       3. Select the appropriate Service.

       4. Select the related service. Typically this is the same name as the related service followed by the word ‘request’.

       5. Click Save

       6. On the Related Services table, click the “No” option under “Display Request for Service Button” which will change to “Yes”

       7. This step is now complete.

2. How to create Internal team-only article permissions. (“Purdue IT Internal” articles do not need to follow this step; team leads will have instructions on how to approve IT-all articles)

   1. Click on the permissions tab

   2. Uncheck the “Inherit permissions” box

   3. Uncheck the “public” box

   4. Check “Allow ONLY the associated groups below to view this article.”

   5. Enter names of TDX groups who can view this article.

   6. Click Save.

12. In the "Next Review Date" select a future date when article should be reviewed. Standard practice is to set it one year into the future, however, if the information is likely to change before then, select an earlier date. Do not set the review date more than a year into the future - this ensures that articles are being reviewed at least annually. Only users with KB Contributor access or higher can set the review date; other users won't be able to see this option.

13. Return to the article by clicking the article title at the top of the page. Review the article by using the Checklist for Internal and Public-Facing Knowledge
     
14. If the article is ready for submission, select “Submit Article”.  Copy the URL of the article and send an email to your team lead, letting them know the article is available for review; they will approve for addition to the knowledge base or reject submission if article is incomplete.
     
15. If you do not have a team lead to notify about your article, or if you are the team lead and the article needs published to the public knowledge base, please use this form to create a ticket that notifies ITSMO that a knowledge base article is waiting for approval or publication: Click here to submit a notification to ITSMO that your knowledge base article needs published or approved.  

For additional questions about creating a knowledge base article, click the Purdue IT Request button to submit a question to the IT Service Management Office.

Additional options 

When creating an article in TDX, there are template options available to provide more visual cues than just stanard text. 

Options can be found under "template" drop down menu on the text editor, and conclude options such as: 

The click able button feature allows you to insert a button into the the main body of an article. After inserting the template, you can edit the button by right clicking on the text, selecting "edit link" and then insert the desired url and text. The button can also feature a font-awesome icon, by opening the "source" html button, and editing the html to include a new font awesome icon. 

Still need help?  Click the 'Purdue IT Request' button to start a ticket.