Dates posted: KMUG cafes - extra chance to meet up!

[jaimehonaker]

While we normally get to meet about 6 times a year in our Knowledge Manager User Groups, I've heard the request that you all would like to meet more often. And we love that! 

I brought up "Knowledge Cafes" (thanks @Maura for the name suggestion!) in both groups this week as shorter, less complicated sessions that we can plan in between our longer KMUG planned sessions. More discussion, fewer slides, and driven by you all (no guest speakers like our normal sessions). (thanks @Arnaud for that suggestion!) I'm thinking we keep these to an hour or less, and there won't be any emailed invites. Once we set some dates, I'll update this post with those dates, and Zoom links. I'll also create Save the Date events in this group for reminders. 

In the meantime, I'd love to start some conversation in the comments:

What topics do you want to drive a discussion about or what do you want to hear about? If you're willing to drive a discussion - please mention that in your comments. If you're interested in leading a discussion in response to someone else's comment, please leave a reply on their comment so we can match people to topics better. 

Looking forward to hearing what you think! 

Photo Cred: Unsplash/shawnanggg

Dates set for Upcoming Knowledge Cafes: 

• March 15 5:30pm - 6:30pm EST, March 17 8:00am - 9:00am EST
• May 24 5:30pm - 6:30pm EST, May 26 8:00am - 9:00am EST
• July 12 5:30pm - 6:30pm EST
• July 21 8:00am - 9:00am EST
• August 9 5:30pm - 6:30pm EST
• August 25 8:00am - 9:00am EST

Zoom link will be: https://servicenow.zoom.us/j/6806823963 and Save the Dates will be posted as Pinned Events in the KMUG two weeks prior. 

Remember to drop any topics in the below comments! 

Thank you!

[Aerin]

I would love to participate in something like this. Sometimes freeform discussion brings up the hints and tricks that a formal presentation misses. 

Being at the beginning of my SN KB journey, my questions might not be of interest for general discussion. I'm still at the point of trying to figure out the best way to set up the higher level architecture and my questions are like:

• can articles be moved from one KB to another?
• is there anything like search and replace functionality in a KB?
• how do portals work? can they pull from more than one KB?

But I will happily listen to discussion on any topic at this point, because I love to learn!

[Aerin]

Also, does the name KMUG make anyone else think that it needs swag?

[jaimehonaker]

@Lucas Vieites and I have been having this conversation! lol. 

[Melissa Hale]

I'd be interested to hear what worked/didn't work for folks on their SNow implementations. There's 'the way it should work' and the 'way it actually works'.

If veterans of SNow KM could share some insight while the newbies talk about their implementation plans, we could compare notes. 

[Jason Sturgeon]

We are all at different stages of our KM journey. I have never been a Knowledge Manager before but also do Service Portal and Service Catalog work. Your questions are good! 

• can articles be moved from one KB to another? Yes but there may be some side-effects from what I have heard. Perhaps another member could elaborate.
• is there anything like search and replace functionality in a KB? I want to know this too!
• how do portals work? It's complicated or at least can be. can they pull from more than one KB? Yes they can. You have many options like using the default /kb portal or creating your own, hence the first part of my response. Here's how to associate KBs with a portal: Configure knowledge bases for a portal
  https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/rome-servicenow-platform/page/product/knowledge-management/task/enable-search-on-all-kb.html

[Jason Sturgeon]

I'd love to see if we can come up with a best practices guide. Everyone seems to point to the communities which can be helpful and the guided set up which is also helpful but I feel like a gap remains. I'm thinking more of an outline or simple framework on what a successful implementation looks like.

[Michele27]

Count me in!!! I'm keen to hear how people are using the KM module and what best practices they follow, when managing articles throughout the lifecycle.

[Maura]

I think this is a great idea as well, I think it would be great to hear more about how everyone is using the tool as well as using the tool in relation to the broader knowledge management practice. Some initial questions that come to mind are:

• How do you handle requests for new knowledge articles?
• How does knowledge intersect with other process areas in your org? (incident, change, etc)
• At a high level, how are your knowledge bases set up (by audience, by topic, by product, etc)?
• How do you train your users on knowledge management? (articles, one-on-one, etc)
• How do you increase buy-in across the organization?

[Henrietta T]

Will there ever be opportunities to have times that aren't at 5am for folks on PT? I see evening/afternoons are an option, but again it's EST-centric.

[jaimehonaker]

There’s two for each set- one at 5:30pm EST, and one at 8am EST - just like our regular sessions. So the first one should be 2:30p your time if you’re PST? It’s only listed as EST because I am in EST and I post them and send all the invites. Unless I’m not understanding the question? 🙂