How to choose between worknote and comment when attaching knowledge articles

[DanielE_L_]

Hi everyone,

In our organization, we're looking to enhance the flexibility of how knowledge articles are attached to incidents and requests. Specifically, we want to provide users with the option to choose whether the article should be attached as a worknote (internal) or as a comment (visible to the end user) at the time of attachment.

The reason for this is that different teams within our organization have varying needs for visibility - some articles are meant for internal use only, while others should be shared with the requester.

So far, I haven't found a built-in way to enable this choice directly within ServiceNow. Has anyone had experience with this or knows of a configuration or customization that allows for such an option?

Alternatively, if this isn't directly possible, is there a way to set up different rules or conditions, perhaps based on which knowledge base the article originates from? We have internal knowledge bases specific to certain teams, and external knowledge bases visible to all employees in the organization.

Any guidance or suggestions would be appreciated!

[Mark Manders]

The functionality was introduced to show end users the information they need to resolve the issue, so by default 'external'. Because of that they introduced the ability to check on who can/can't see a certain article, so you don't attach it when an end user doesn't have access to it.

A solution could be that you add knowledge blocks for internal use to the article, so you can just put it into the comments and the user looking at it, sees different information.

The question does rise: why would you add a knowledge article for internal use to a ticket raised by an external user? Using the article to resolve it, makes sense, but having it in the ticket doesn't really. 

[DanielE_L_]

Thank you for your response! That clarifies why the default behavior is to attach articles as visible comments to end users. 

In our organization, we're relatively new to Knowledge Management and are following the KCS (Knowledge-Centered Service) framework. One of the key reasons we attach internal knowledge articles to tickets, even if they aren't meant for the end user, is to track how these articles are being utilized by our teams. By attaching them to incidents or requests, we can monitor the "use count" and gather data on which articles are most effective in helping our teams resolve issues. 

This also supports our continuous improvement efforts within the KCS framework, as it helps us identify which articles need updates or enhancements based on how frequently they are used. Furthermore, it provides valuable insights for reporting and analysis, allowing us to see patterns in common issues, identify areas for further training, and even measure the impact of certain articles on problem resolution times.