Knowledge article search

Simple search

When creating a case, the Summary text box is a mandatory field on the Create Case page. After the case is saved, the Summary text box is the input for simple search for knowledge articles. The search results are displayed on the Resources tab of the case. You can pin or unpin knowledge articles from the search results to the case. The pinned knowledge articles are displayed at the top of the search results. 

Out-of-the-box, the Resources tab only displays published articles. However, an administrator or a case business analyst with the Knowledge Coach functional role can modify the status of articles that should be displayed.

You cannot filter the search results in a simple search. To apply filters, you must perform an advanced search.

Advanced search

Agents can use the advanced search option to filter the results of a simple search or to run a new search by using filters. The advanced search enables agents to narrow down the search criteria by applying filters. This search option is available on case, knowledge article, and quick case.

To perform an advanced search, click Advanced search options and complete the following steps:

1. Enter the keywords in the search field.
2. (Optional) To search by using filters, click the filter icon and select the filters.
   The following filters are available out-of-the-box:
   
   • Status
   • Knowledge Set
   • Site
   • Operational Category Tier 1
   • Region
3. Click Apply.

The administrator or a case business analyst with the Knowledge Coach functional role can modify the out-of-the-box filters as per the business requirements.

You can also pin an article to associate it with a case. The pinned knowledge articles are displayed at the top of the search results after you reload the screen.

For more information, see Modifying-simple-and-advanced-search-for-knowledge-articles.

Search tuning parameters

BMC Helix Business Workflows provides enhanced search functionality that is based on search tuning parameters. The parameters ensure that when agents search for a knowledge article by using keywords from a record, they get articles with which the keywords match the best.

The following search tuning parameters enhance the search functionality:

• Weights—Provide relevance to fields in different records such as cases, case templates, knowledge articles, and knowledge article templates. From a record, when an agent searches for a knowledge article with a keyword, the search functionality looks for the matching keyword in the fields of that record. Article with a higher weight field with which the keyword matches, is displayed at the top.
  The weights are mapped with Title and Keyword fields in the records. Following are the available range of weights for these fields:

  • Title Weight Range—4-10
  • Keyword Weight Range—2-7 or 8

  Out-of-the-box, the Title field has a weight 4.0 and Keyword field has weight 2.0. The administrator or a case business analyst with the Knowledge Coach functional role can modify the weights for the fields as required.

  Example

  Consider the following example:

  From a case Applying for benefit policy, a case agent searches for an article with keywords as benefit policies. There are two articles, Article A and Article B, that are related to this case. In Article A, the keyword benefit policies matches with the Title field. In Article B, the keyword benefit policies matches with the Keyword field. Because the title field has a weight 4.0, the Article A is displayed at the top in the search results.

• Exclude list—Consists of certain terms that the search ignores to narrow down the results. For example, an agent searches for an article with keywords issues with the outlook application and the exclude list contains the as an exclude term. The search ignores the exclude term the, and displays articles with only issues with outlook application. BMC Helix Business Workflows provides an out-of-the-box exclude list that the administrator or a case business analyst with the Knowledge Coach functional role can modify.

For more information about the search tuning parameters, see Modifying-search-tuning-parameters.

Searchable fields on knowledge articles

When a knowledge article is published, the contents of the article are read-only except the fields in the Knowledge Metadata section. The following fields in the Knowledge Metadata section are used for performing knowledge search:

• GUID
• Operational Category
• Knowledge set
• Article status
• Title
• Content ID
• External use -Yes/ No
• Keywords
• RTF fields on the knowledge article
• Attachment fields
• Region

Special characters for Full Text Search

You can include the following special characters to enhance your simple and advanced search: