Creating knowledge articles from SmartIT

Knowledge articles are a source of information that agents might require for incidents they work on. As a service desk agent, you can create knowledge articles that contain information about resolving an issue, your company's policies, and so on. With BMC Helix Innovation Suite Knowledge Management (ISKM), you can easily create, manage, and publish knowledge articles right within SmartIT. This means you get quick access to approved solutions without having to switch between different tools, making your work faster and more efficient.

To create articles with different types of information, you must use the available knowledge templates. These templates provide a consistent structure for different types of articles. 

Before you begin

Make sure you have completed the following tasks:

• Enable ISKM in MidTier or BMC Helix ITSM settings. For more information, see Configuring BMC Helix Innovation Suite Knowledge Management as a knowledge provider for BMC Helix ITSM.
• Disable the Innovation Studio navbar and enable the ITSM SmartIT navbar. For more information, see Configuring BMC Helix Innovation Suite Knowledge Management as a knowledge provider for BMC Helix ITSM.
• Confirm that you have one of the following Innovation Studio (IS) personas assigned and at least one knowledge permission:
  • Innovation Studio (IS) personas:
    • Knowledge Candidate
    • Knowledge Contributor
    • Knowledge Publisher
    • Knowledge Coach
  • knowledge permissions:
    • Knowledge Admin
    • Knowledge Config
    • Knowledge Submitter
    • Knowledge User
    • Knowledge Viewer

​​​​             For more information about the knowledge permissions, see Setting up roles and permissions.

• Verify that you can access BMC Helix ITSM Progressive Web Application (PWA).

To create a knowledge article

1. Log in to BMC Helix ITSM.
2. Navigate to Create New > Knowledge.
3. Select a knowledge template for the article. By default, the IT line of business is selected.
4. Preview the template and then click Use selected Template or select a different template.
5. On the Create Knowledge page, enter the article title in the Knowledge Title field and the content in the text box by using the DocEditor.
   
6. In the Knowledge Metadata section, specify the following fields:

Field	Description
Knowledge set	To associate a knowledge set with the selected template, select the required knowledge set from the list. Knowledge templates inherit the permissions from the knowledge set, and these permissions are applied to the article.
Company	Select the company associated with this knowledge article.
Author	The logged in user is selected by default.
Article locale	Select the language for the article.
Assigned group	Select the group to which the article must be assigned.
Assignee	Select the user to which the article must be assigned. The article inherits the access permissions from the selected group. To assign the article to yourself, click Assign to me.
Keywords	Add a keyword to the article. You can use this keyword to search for the article from an incident.
Operational category tier 1, 2, 3, 4	Select a category for the article. This classification is useful when you search for the article from an incident by using the Advanced search options and include the category values.
Product category tier 1,2, 3	Select a product category for the article.
Product name	Select the product this article applies to.
Model version	Select the model version.
Manufacturer	Select the manufacturer.
Region, Site, Site group	Select a region, site group, and site for the article. This information is useful when you search for the article from an incident by using the Advanced search options and select location values.
Business service	Select the business service supported or impacted by this article.
Attachments	To attach files to the article, click Attachment. The valid file size is 20 MB.

6. Click Save.

The view, edit, and search permissions of knowledge articles are inherited from knowledge sets. To change the permissions of the knowledge article, see To add or remove user access to a knowledge article.

After you create an article, the default status of the article is In Progress. As you work on the article, you can change the article status to reflect the progress on the article. For more information about article statuses, see Changing knowledge article statuses.

If required, you can send the article for an SME review by changing the article status to SME Review. For more information about SME Review, see Reviewing knowledge articles.

After the review and validation are complete, the knowledge publisher can publish the article. For more information about publishing the article, see Creating and publishing knowledge articles.

When the article has fulfilled its purpose, the knowledge coach can remove the article from the knowledge management console.

Troubleshooting

The following table lists possible reasons and resolutions if you encounter issues while creating or accessing knowledge articles.

Issue symptom	Issue scope	Resolution
You cannot see the Create Knowledge or Knowledge Console options in the Smart IT navigation bar.	For existing users, the CCS parameter Enable_IS_KM is set to False (F) by default. Therefore, these users cannot view the Knowledge Console.	Make sure that the following conditions are met: The CCS parameter Enable_IS_KM is set to True (T). You have the required Knowledge Management permissions. The BMC Helix Innovation Studio navigation bar is disabled. You have been assigned an Innovation Studio persona.
You cannot view an article in the knowledge management console.	The visibility of an article depends on its state and the permissions assigned to the agent.	Make sure that the following conditions are met: You have the required permissions to access the article. You have access to the relevant Knowledge Set.

Related topics

• Changing knowledge article statuses
• Reviewing knowledge articles