This documentation supports the 21.3 version of BMC Helix ITSM: Smart IT.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Knowledge-Centered Service user roles and permissions


This topic provides information about the default available actions for the different KCS user permissions, when a KCS user uses the Smart IT  interface for knowledge management. A KCS user can only search and view knowledge articles by using the Knowledge Management application accessed from Mid Tier.

To log in to Smart IT, Knowledge users must have IT Agent permissions and one of the knowledge permissions such as knowledge admin, knowledge user, knowledge submitter, or knowledge viewer. Also, users with KCS permissions can only access the Search Article option from the BMC Helix ITSM.

KCS permissions

Privileges

KCS Candidate

KCS Contributor

KCS Publisher

KCS Coach

Comments

Viewing

View in-progress articles

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✅️

All KCS users can view knowledge articles that are in In Progress status.

View draft articles

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All KCS users can view knowledge articles that are in Draft status.

View in-review articles

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All KCS users can view knowledge articles that are being reviewed.

View published external articles

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You can view articles that are published to the self service users (external users of Smart IT such as BMC Service Request Management users) 

View published internal articles

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You can view articles that are published internally but not yet made available to the self service users.

View closed version

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Closed articles are not displayed in the search result. To view a closed article, you must use the filter in the Smart IT Knowledge Console, and select the Closed Version check box. Alternatively, you can open an article and select the version number of the closed article from the version list.

View retired articles

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Retired articles are not displayed in the search result. To view a retired article, you must use the filter in the Smart IT Knowledge Console and select the Retired check box.

View cancelled articles

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Cancelled articles are not displayed in the search result. To view a cancelled article, you must use the advance filters in the Smart IT Knowledge Console and select the Cancelled check box.

View articles waiting for approval

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You can view articles that are in the Publish approval and Retire approval status, and in the Cancellation approval state.

View relationships

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View Categories

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View Revisions

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View Timeline

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View Usage

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The reuse count indicates the number of tickets linked to a knowledge article. The reuse count is seen in the list of articles displayed under Recommended Knowledge when you search for articles from a ticket or Smart Recorder.

Editing

Create a new article

✅️

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All KCS users can create knowledge articles.

Edit In Progress

✅️ (only their own)

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✅️

✅️

All KCS users, other than KCS Candidate, can edit their own and other's articles that are in In Progress status. Note that they must be assigned to articles written by other authors.

KCS Candidates can edit only their articles.

Edit draft

✅️ (only their own)

✅️

✅️

✅️

All KCS users, other than KCS Candidate, can edit their own and other's articles that are in Draft status. Note that they must be assigned to articles written by other authors.

 KCS Candidates can edit only their articles.

Edit in-review

✅️ (only their own)

✅️

✅️

✅️

All KCS users, other than KCS Candidate, can edit their own and other's articles that are in review. Note that they must be assigned to articles written by other authors.

 KCS Candidates can edit only their articles.

Edit published


✅️

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✅️

Except KCS Candidates, all KCS users can edit published articles. If you make minor edits, the version of the published article remains the same, whereas major edits create a next version of the published article.

Edit closed version




Closed versions of knowledge articles are not available for editing.

Edit retired





Retired versions of knowledge articles are not available for editing.

Edit cancelled





Cancelled versions of knowledge articles are not available for editing.

Edit waiting-for-approval





Knowledge articles that are in Publish approval or Retire approval status are not available for editing.

Permissions for performing various KCS functions

Depending upon the KCS permission, a KCS user can perform different functions on knowledge articles until the article is in a particular status. The following table lists the actions that KCS users can perform on articles in different states:

Article status in Smart IT

In progress

Draft

SME review

Optional review-1

Optional review-2

Publish approval

Published (Internal use: Yes)

Published (Internal use: No)

Retire approval

Retired

Cancellation approval

Cancelled

Closed

Comments

KCS Candidate — Assignee

Create relationships

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Flag articles

✅️

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✅️

✅️

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✅️

✅️

✅️


✅️




Unflag articles

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Take ownership of articles1

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Assign ownership of articles2

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Add comments

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Progress an article to next stage

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Apply visibility group to an article

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✅️

✅️










Add metadata attachments to articles

✅️

✅️

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KCS Candidate — Non-assignee

Create relationships

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Flag articles

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✅️




Unflag articles














No permissions

Take ownership of articles1














No permissions

Assign ownership of articles2














No permissions

Add comments

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Progress an article to next stage














No permissions

Apply visibility group to an article














No permissions

Add metadata attachments to articles














No permissions

KCS Contributor

Create relationships

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Flag articles

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Unflag articles

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Take ownership of articles1

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Assign ownership of articles2

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Add comments

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Progress an article to next stage

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Apply visibility group to an article

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Add metadata attachments to articles

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KCS Publisher

Create relationships

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Flag articles

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Unflag articles

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Take ownership of articles1

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Assign ownership of articles2

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Add comments

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Progress an article to next stage

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Apply visibility group to an article

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Add metadata attachments to articles

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KCS Coach

Create relationships

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Flag articles

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Unflag articles

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Take ownership of articles1

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Assign ownership of articles2

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Add comments

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Progress an article to next stage

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Apply visibility group to an article

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Add metadata attachments to articles

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✅️




Perform assessment related operations

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Only a KCS Coach can create, edit, and delete AQI assessment question sets.

Only a KCS Coach can assess articles.

1 and 2 - The Assignment availability option in the People record must be set to Yes for you to take ownership of articles, and also for the person whom you want to assign ownership of articles.

KCS user permissions for changing knowledge article status

This table provide details about permissions granted to each KCS role to change the status of knowledge articles in the article lifecycle.

Status Change from

Status Change to

KCS Candidate

KCS Contributor

KCS Publisher

KCS Coach

In Progress

Draft

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️

Draft

SME Review

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Optional Review 1

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Optional Review 2

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Publish Approval

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Cancelled


✅️

✅️

✅️

SME Review

Draft

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Optional Review 1

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Optional Review 2

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Publish Approval

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Cancelled


✅️

✅️

✅️

Optional Review 1

Draft

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


SME Review

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Optional Review 2

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Publish Approval

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Cancelled


✅️

✅️

✅️

Optional Review 2

Draft

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


SME Review

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Optional Review 1

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Publish Approval

✅️

✅️

✅️

✅️


Cancelled


✅️

✅️

✅️

Published

Retire Approval


✅️

✅️

✅️

Retired

Cancelled


✅️

✅️

✅️

Important
  • KCS Candidate who is an assignee of the article can move articles from one status to another. KCS Candidate who is not an assignee of the article cannot change article status.
  • A KCS Contributor, KCS Publisher, and KCS Coach can cancel an article, irrespective of the article's current status however, they must follow a proper approval process.
  • To approve publish and retire articles, permissions are configured in the Knowledge Management. It requires support group membership and the functional role of Knowledge Approver.