Configuring custom article types

The following article types are provided by default:

• FAQ
• How To
• Known Error
• Problem Solution

If the out-of-the-box article types do not fulfill your requirements, you can create a new article type. To create a custom article type, plan for the following:

• Name and description of the article type (description is shown to the user when selecting an article type), such as Troubleshooting
• Fields that are required to create or view the knowledge article
  You can add out-of-the-box and custom fields to the Knowledge Article page for a custom article type. For example, for the Troubleshooting article type, fields can be Issue, Resolution.
• Fields of the knowledge article that you want to show in Self Service
  You can show the same fields on the New Knowledge Article (or Knowledge Article details) page and Self Service. The same fields are shown when a staff member searches for information in Global Search.

To create a custom article type in BMC Remedyforce, perform the following actions:

1. (Optional) If you want to use custom fields in the article type layout, add the fields to the Knowledge Article object. For more information, see Salesforce Help.
   For the custom fields that you want to show to clients in Self Service, ensure that client profiles (such as ServiceDesk Client) have read only access to the fields. 
2. Create a page layout for the Knowledge Article object with the fields that you want to show on the New Knowledge Article (or Knowledge Article details) page. You can also use an existing page layout.
3. Add the article type.
4. Configure the fields shown on the Knowledge Article page in Self Service.

To show knowledge articles with custom article type in Self Service, add the Display in Self Service field on the Knowledge Article page and select the field. The knowledge article is displayed in Self Service 2.0 when it is published.

To configure custom article types

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
2. On the Home page, click the Manage Objects tile, and from the menu, select Create and Edit Objects.
3. On the Create and Edit Objects page, from the Object list, select All Custom Objects.
4. On the Custom Objects page, in the Label column, click Knowledge Article.
5. To create a page layout, perform the following actions:
   1. In the Page Layouts section, click New.
   2. In the Page Layout Name field, enter a name of the page layout and click Save.
      BMC recommends that you give the same name to the page layout as that of the article type to enable you to identify the correct page layout for an article type. 
   3. Drag the fields that you want to the Knowledge Article Detail section.
   4. Click Save.
6. To create a custom article type, perform the following actions:
   1. In the Record Types section, click New.
   2. In the Existing Record Type list, ensure that Master is selected.
   3. In the Record Type Label field, enter a name for the article type, such as Troubleshooting.
   4. In the Description field, enter the description.
   5. Select the Active check box.
   6. For the profiles of the users to whom you want to show the article type, select the Enable for Profile check box, and click Next.
   7. On the Step 2. Assign page layouts page, select the page layout that you have created for the article type.
      The fields specified in the page layout are shown to the users who create, edit, or view a knowledge article in BMC Remedyforce.
7. To configure fields to be shown in Self Service for the custom article type, perform the following actions:
   1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
   2. On the Home page, click the Application Settings tile, and from the menu, select Global Search.
   3. On the Global Search page, click Manage Record Type Fields.
       
   4. From the Record Type list, select the article type that you have created.
   5. From the Available Fields list, select the fields to be shown in Self Service, and click the right arrow.
   6. For the fields that you want to copy to the Resolution field of the incident or problem records, select the check box under the Copy to Resolution column.

   7. (Optional) To select an icon for the article type, in the Record Type Icon section, click Browse.

      Note

      To enable clients to view the selected icon in Self Service, ensure that you assign Read permission to the Salesforce Document object to the client profile (ServiceDesk Client) by navigating to Setup > Manage Users > Profiles.

   8. Click .

The following table lists the mapping of fields that is done when a staff member creates a knowledge article from an incident, problem, or change request:

The following video (5:25) shows you how to create a custom knowledge article type.

 https://youtu.be/NpXuXT2nERk