Quality in knowledge article creation

[RogueFader]

Hi. I was wondering what others do in regards to ensuring compliance from knowledge authors in regards to the quality of their articles they create.

Currently, we do have a guideline that font is a particular type and size, description is clear and easy to read, meta is added to help with searching for knowledge etc....

It seems that KBs come in for approval daily, where the font has been amended to their own personal preference and size. URLs are broken, attachments not included, meta missed etc etc....

Despite the fact we actually have a KB and sharepoint page which details how to create a KB, and this has been communicated and shared via Teams and training calls, it seems people don't want to read a KB on how to create a KB.

I've started to look at AQI, but to me this seems rather labour intensive on myside as it means I review all KBs after they've been published, I would like it if AQI was in place when knowledge was created so authors would be forced to check the content prior to publishing.

Is this something others have an issue with and how do you address is across the org consisting of multiple teams globally to ensure they follow guidelines.

Rant over..I need a tea.

Thank you

[hailm2]

To add, we incorporated our 'Author Office Hours' several years ago with great success.  We use each session to cover authoring tools/capabilities (such as, how to use hover text, or creating collapsible content etc.).  This is also a great time for us to refresh on our authoring standards. 

Each session has a new topic based off of our Authoring Playbook:

• Strategy
• Authoring Process
• Advanced Authoring
• Continuous Improvement
• Templates & Troubleshooting

[andreababch]

We started monthly Office Hours too this year with all IT to give tips on creation, use and searching, submitting knowledge gaps, etc. It really is helping to get the word out and see how knowledge works in the ticket cycle.

[Community Alums]

Hi RogueFader, regarding your authors not using the appropriate fonts and size, I just wanted to suggest removing the font selector in the text editor alltogether. Once there is no font-related markup in the article, you can then use CSS on the portal/page to set whatever your branding requires.

Another thing you can do is sanitize your HTML when saving the article, and even when users copy/paste content from another source (think MS Word, or another website).

This is all customizable by your admins.

If you remove the possibility of customization, you'll have fewer issues with compliance to your style guide.

Just my 2cts.

Kind regards,

Lucas Vieites

[paulclement]

I’ve used Article Templates and CSS to create a standard look and feel. I posted about it here : https://www.servicenow.com/community/knowledge-managers/have-you-achieved-a-more-branded-look-and-fe...

I’d also say, don’t be afraid to reject poorly written KBs with instruction on what needs to change. Once you get a standard in place it’s easier to say to people, ‘look, this is what we need it to look like’. And cover it in regular sessions you might have about knowledge creation.