Ownership groups best practices

[Olga_B]

Hi everyone, 

we are currently exploring options to use ownership groups instead of individual authors being responsible for the articles' maintenance and I have a few questions in this regard: 

1. Is ownership group defined on the KB or KBA levels, is there an option to consider?

1. We have different business departments who are using knowledge management app and not all of them are ready to use ownership groups, if the glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabled  property is activated - is it mandatory to use ownership groups on all articles regardless of the knowledge base it is created in?

2. When article is created and ownership group is not assigned, will publish and approval workflows defined for that KB still be applicable?

3. When glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabled property is enabled what is required to be done with already defined workflows on the KB level?

[Satishkumar B · Accepted solution]

@Olga_B 

1. Ownership Group Definition:

   • Level of Definition: Ownership groups can be defined at the Knowledge Base (KB) or Knowledge Article (KBA) levels. This allows you to have flexibility in managing article ownership.
   • Option to Consider: You can decide to apply ownership groups broadly at the KB level for all articles or set specific ownership groups for individual KBAs if needed.

2. Impact of glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabled Property:

   • Mandatory Usage: If the glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabled property is activated, it is not mandatory for all knowledge articles across all knowledge bases to use ownership groups. Departments that are not ready to use ownership groups can continue as usual, while others can start using them.
   • Selective Application: This property enables the use of ownership groups, but it does not enforce them across all KBs unless you configure the specific KBs to require them.

3. Behavior When Ownership Group is Not Assigned:

   • Workflows Applicability: If an ownership group is not assigned to an article, the publish and approval workflows defined for the KB will still be applicable as per usual. The presence or absence of an ownership group does not override the workflows unless explicitly configured otherwise.

4. Impact on Existing Workflows:

   • No Immediate Changes Required: When you enable the glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabledproperty, there is no immediate need to modify existing workflows at the KB level. The existing workflows should continue to function as they were before the property was enabled.
   • Future Considerations: However, if you intend to incorporate ownership groups into your workflows (e.g., requiring approval from an ownership group), you may need to update your workflows to include these new conditions.

This approach provides a flexible transition to using ownership groups without disrupting current operations and workflows.

please mark my response is helpful 👍and accept the solution ✅if it helps you

[Olga_B · Accepted solution]

Thank you @Satishkumar B this is very helpful! Follow-up question , if possible, when ownership group is configured on the KB level - will the field appear for configuration only after property is enabled? will additional steps be required to update the KB form layout? Thank you in advance!

[Paul Curwen]

System Property 'glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabled' controls whether Ownership Groups are enabled/available for Knowledge Articles NOT Knowledge Bases according to the documentation:  https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/yokohama-servicenow-platform/page/product/knowledge-managemen...

Note: That System Property 'glide.knowman.ownership_group.enabled' will be there for new installations and for existing installation may require the following plugin to be installed:  Knowledge Management Advanced plugin (com.snc.knowledge_advanced) 

I would also say that it would be bad practice to even attempt to set this at Knowledge Base level as you may as well not bother using them and leave duties to the Owner and Manager(s).

Not sure if anything has changed since some of the above comments, but as of Yokohama Ownership Groups are not something that can be added to a Knowledge Base even they are activated. It is not on the table and cannot be added to the form without customisation.