Rename a knowledgebase

[Tam_Mailley]

Hi,

I am in the process of recategorizing our existing Knowledgebases that I inherited and am looking to streamline and cut out unrequired KB's and categories. 

I am wondering the best way to do this. 

• Is it best to set up the new KB's with the new categories and transfer articles into them or can the KB's be renamed and then the new index set up within?
• What impact would this have on the articles based on the fact we have version control enabled.
• Can the old categories be removed once all articles have been moved over to a new one?

Thanks for your time. 

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Tam_Mailley 

I am wondering the best way to do this. 

• Is it best to set up the new KB's with the new categories and transfer articles into them or can the KB's be renamed and then the new index set up within?

Atul: If you ask me, I will recommend to set up new KB's, reason in old KBs you need to spend more time for analysis, if count is more

If by mistake any wrong kB deleted will be an issue.

Create new KB. help you set up as per the latest standard and you can use the past learning.

• What impact would this have on the articles based on the fact we have version control enabled.
• Can the old categories be removed once all articles have been moved over to a new one?

Atul: Yes, you can delete it. 

[Vickie Runyon]

As a SNOW admin, I'm always concerned when the word "Delete" is used for anything in ServiceNow. Typically, deleting records of any kind is not recommended due to the many related records and cascading effects of deleting. SNOW typically has other options available to remove the data from view.  

In this case, KB articles are typically not deleted but are Retired - meaning they are still in the system and can be re-published if needed, and can still be seen by the Knowledge Manager and SNOW Admin, but are not visible to anyone else.

Likewise, Knowledge Bases are also not deleted but can be set to inactive, retaining the information but making it invisible to all but admins. And can be resurrected (made active again) if needed.

If records are deleted, they are gone forever - and will leave abandoned related records in their place. In the case of KB articles, that might be Incidents where the KB article was attached.

I am in the middle of a similar effort, taking articles from an older KB and refreshing them into a new format and a new KB. Eventually, the old KB will be set to inactive just like other KB that we have replaced in the past.

I am also taking advantage of the Retire Replacement feature that I have mentioned in a couple other community posts to specify the new article when retiring the old article - redirecting any saved links from old article over to the new article.

[Tam_Mailley]

Hi Vickie,

My understanding is that all versions need to be shifted before we can disable the old Knowledgebase. Once done and disabled this removes the visibility of the KB but does it also remove access the old Category options?

IE when creating a new article?

Thanks

[Vickie Runyon]

Each Knowledge Base has its own set of categories - they do not overlap even if they are named the same. For example, the category Outlook in KB 1 and Outlook in KB 2 are two different categories in the underlying data scheme.

So, when creating KB articles in a new KB, you will need to create a new set of categories for that KB. 

And, when you deactivate a Knowledge Base, the categories associated with that KB are also made unavailable.