Document repository for content connected to Knowledge articles

[Lori L]

As we create our HR knowledge content for HRSD, we have cases where we want to provide a link to view the full policy (without making the full policy a knowledge article) or to share content from a 3rd party (perhaps a benefits brochure as a PDF).

A significant amount of our employees will access HRSD via NOWMobile and/or on a personal device as they are field sales & service or plant/ warehouse employees. We seem to run into different hurdles related to version control and/or security access as we consider different options.

How are others handling storage of content such as full policy documents or PDF files to ensure version control and a good employee experience?

[Claude DAmico]

Within Knowledge Management, there are three levels of control you can make use of.

1. Knowledge Bases
2. Knowledge Articles
3. Knowledge Blocks

Each of these levels allows for setting User Criteria for access so you can separate however you want such as having separate knowledge bases for different groups of employees, separate knowledge articles in a single knowledge base with the same type of information but only accessible to those who it applies to, and separate knowledge blocks same as articles but is the content that goes into the articles.

Let's make a specific use case though in which we have a single HR knowledge base that we want to have accessible to both the FS&S and P/W employees and want to keep the number of knowledge articles to a minimum.

Knowledge Base:

• One knowledge base labeled "HR" is accessible to both FS&S and P/W employees. User Criteria for Can Read contains these sets of employees.

Knowledge Article:

• Knowledge articles have the same titles for the the same types of policies such as "PTO Polices" and are not duplicated (e.g. one article for all PTO Policies for all employees.) Leave User Criteria unset so all who have access to the knowledge base have access to the articles. Add any boilerplate language needed to the body of the article that applies to all employees.

Knowledge Block:

• Knowledge blocks contain the actual content employees need, such as the link to the respective document download/viewing location and additional information that applies to them specifically, with User Criteria set to separate who sees which knowledge block. Documents can be attached to the block itself as well.
  • Example:
    • HR (base) --> PTO Policies (article)
    • Body: "Link(s) to the respective policy:"
      • <insert knowledge block for FS&S current year> (User Criteria only allows FS&S employees to view)
      • <insert knowledge block for FS&S previous year> (User Criteria only allows FS&S employees to view)
      • <insert knowledge block for P/W current year> (User Criteria only allows P/W employees to view)
      • <insert knowledge block for P/W previous year> (User Criteria only allows P/W employees to view)
• When it comes time to make changes, remove the oldest/unneeded block from the article body and create/add a new block with the new year's updated policy. The old block can be retired, archived, or whatever your document control policy directs.

Article versioning is another feature you could make use of. https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/rome-servicenow-platform/page/product/knowledge-management/concep... 

In any case, I think there are two important groups of people to get feedback from:

• Content managers - Which method provides the least amount of work/is least complicated but provides the best experience in the end?
• Content consumers (employees) - What is your opinion on this experience?

There are several ways to do this, but I hope some of this information helps with your decision-making process!

[Lori L]

Thank you for your response. We understand the concepts you shared. Perhaps our issue is unclear. We are struggling with where to house documents that are not knowledge articles or blocks but may be referenced or used in other ways. 

For example:

1. Full policy access - May create knowledge blocks or articles which are in short, digestible components; yet we want to provide an easy way for an employee to view the full policy. Do you create the full policy as its own knowledge article? Or, do you have the policy reside somewhere else and link to it? If linking to the policy, what repository is being used to house the full policy document?
2. PDF brochure of a benefit offering, or something similar. It's not a knowledge article or knowledge block on its own. Yet, we would want to provide easy access to it from the knowledge article. Where do these types of PDF documents reside?

[Wendy25]

Hi Lori.  Generally, we ask content contributors to keep knowledge articles at 3 pages or less in length.  Anything longer, should be a link or attachment.  That said, we have a mix including links within knowledge articles to other knowledge articles, links in knowledge articles to SharePoint repositories, and documents attached to knowledge articles.  It really depends on your needs.  For HR specific content, most policies include a summary in the article body and a link to the complete policy (usually a PDF) that opens a new window to the SharePoint site where the original policy is stored. 

Because we are a global organization, we use User Criteria (in the Can Read field of Knowledge record) to restrict at the article level so users who are based in India, for example, only see knowledge articles/policies that relate to their location.  I hope this helps!

[Lori L]

Thank you! These are the types of options we are exploring.  I hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of follow up questions.

1. Do you have any challenges with employees being able to access the content that is housed in SharePoint if they are doing so via their personal device?
2. For documents you attach to an article (rather than link), where are you housing the attachment documents?