bulk translation of knowledge article using localization

[Priyansh_98]

Hi,

I have a requirement in localization, where if a user is publishing an article then after publishing an article 5 translation tasks (in 5 different languages) should be created, and after creating a translation task these all should get published automatically.

can we automate this process completely in the system? 

as of now, I am able to create translation tasks automatically after publishing an article. but after creating a translation task I tried to create an artifact under the localization framework and used auto translate >> auto publish workflow in configuration but it is not working in ServiceNow documentation Also it is not clearly mentioned that we can automate the process for auto-translation and auto publish of knowledge articles, can we do this or not ?

please help me with this. i am trying to configure it but it is not working.

[Alex Coope - SN]

@Priyansh_98,

So, ootb with regards to translating KB articles there are some things that can be automated and somethings that can't, and potentially somethings that might be considered best practice to maybe not.

In the Tokyo release we brought in KB article translation into the Localization Framework (previously it was managed via "Translation Management" which lacked some of the more advanced features benefited with the Localization Framework. 

Firstly, to set up KB article translations with LF, there is this page on Docs. 

Currently, (and irrespective) of what "workflow" is chosen in the "settings" for Articles in LF, the creation of the tasks is manually actioned either via the list view on the [kb_knowledge] table or in the source article you want to translate from.

However, it is possible to trigger the task creation via a Business Rule (for example on said [kb_knowledge] table under your specific necessary conditions, like latest KB article in English to then generate subsequent translation tasks):

This is just an example function, based on a prototype Record Producer I've made for a future demo I'm making:

function make_tasks(artifact, source_rec) {
    var lfApi = new LFTranslations();
    var result = lfApi.requestTranslations(
        artifact.toString(),
        [source_rec],
        [producer.target_language.id.toString()], {
            "sourceLanguage": "en"
        }
    );
}

^ This function is expecting the name of the "Knowledge" artifact and the sys_id of the source KB article. You would also need to potentially either add a 3rd parameter to factor in your target languages or loop through this function per target language you desire.

The last part is that when LF states you are "publishing" the translations, this terminology is in the generic sense as it also applies to any other artifact LF uses. With regards to KB articles it's "publishing" a "draft" article which is then governed by the Workflow associated to the KB the article resides in. So, if you leverage "instant publish" and you populate the necessary pre-requisits for that workflow then you should be ok (e.g. due date etc),

With regards to my comment about maybe not blindly auto-publishing translations, it comes down to the quality of "Machine Translations", which depending on the content type could introduce some problems. E.g. it might be fine for FAQ's, IT etc, but might not necessarily be an ideal level of quality for CSM and Customer facing content or HR. It's not unheard of for generic Machine Translations to either be incorrect or even offensive due to lack of content.

To learn more, we have a Workbook on our CSC page here and we have a megathread here,

Many thanks,
kind regards