Taxonomy Topic Field Blank

[Joe85]

Has anyone experienced the Taxonomy topic in the Taxonomy_topic field being removed out after you checkout an existing article to make a new version or if you click 'translate' and create a new draft of an existing translated version?

What is odd to me is that the Taxonomy topic is still associated with the article even though it no longer shows in the Taxononmy_topic field. If I check the connected content table, the article is still listed and it comes up under the taxonomy topic on the portal. It is just the taxonomy_topic field that is blank. If I remove the article from the connected content table and associate it with the topic again, the taxonomy_topic field will repopulate with the topic.

I thought about removing the Taxonomy_topic field from the article forms since we have the connected content table added to the related table section. I just like using the taxonomy_topic field for reporting and sorting. Any thoughts on best practices?

Thanks

[Simon Midtvedt]

You're absolutely right that the Connected Content table (m2m table) is the actual mechanism for associating knowledge articles with taxonomy topics, while the taxonomy_topic field on the kb_knowledge table is a direct reference field primarily useful for sorting and reporting.

What you're experiencing—where the taxonomy_topic field goes blank after checking out an article or creating a translation—is likely due to the way ServiceNow handles article versioning. When a new version or translation is created, it's technically a new record, and certain reference fields might not persist unless explicitly carried over by the system.

Workarounds & Best Practices:

1. Rely on the Connected Content Table
   Since the Connected Content table maintains the correct associations, the missing value in taxonomy_topic shouldn’t impact functionality on the portal. If you're primarily using this field for reporting, you might consider building reports directly off the m2m_taxonomy_topic table instead.

2. Automation via Business Rule or Flow
   If keeping the taxonomy_topic field populated is important for reporting or filtering, you could implement a Business Rule or Flow Designer automation that:

   • Copies the taxonomy topic from the previous version when a new version is created.
   • Ensures that translations also retain the original taxonomy topic.

3. UI Policy to Hide the Field
   If the taxonomy topic is reliably managed via the Connected Content table, removing the field from the article form (or making it read-only) could avoid confusion.

Ultimately, the best approach depends on how you're using taxonomy topics within your portal and reporting structure. If it's purely for classification, leveraging knowledge categories might be a better alternative. If you still need reporting on taxonomy topics, ensuring proper automation to maintain the taxonomy_topic field could be beneficial.