Link Catalog Items to Knowledge article

[angela_benway]

In knowledge there is the attached tasks and affected products options. These, if turned on, will show if the knowledge article has been attached to any tasks recently or if this article is associated with any products. I want to do something like that but attach Catalog items to the article. This is so a user can look at a knowledge article and see the Catalog Items that use that article as a procedure. I know there is something like this in Crossfuze but we do not want all of the other features and just want to add this to our knowledge articles. Has anybody done this or have any advice?

[tltoulson]

Hi Angela,

I have in fact done exactly this.   My method used convention over configuration.   Basically instead of a field or table directly linking Catalog Items to Knowledge Articles, I used a Categorization/Naming Convention in the Knowledge Base.   Here are the steps I used:

1.   I created a special topic/category for Procedures, these were exclusively used for Procedures that would link to the Catalog

2.   I used a naming convention on Articles where the KB Short Description / Title of the article matched the name of the Catalog Item (Or 'Procedure: ' + catItemName or some other predetermined structure)

3.   Personally, I used a Business Rule on the Request Item table to find a matching Article using GlideRecord and add it to the attached knowledge related list

4.   I created a UI Macro that queried the attached knowledge and displayed a link for that article.   I then used a Formatter to add the UI Macro to the Request Item table, displaying the Knowledge Link to the Procedure on the form.

I also made this work for Catalog Tasks as well.   There are a few different methods you could use as replacements for the above steps (dedicated field linking Articles to Catalog Items, dedicated field linking procedure to a Req Item / Task, custom m2m table linking Procedure KBs to Catalog Items, UI Action instead of UI Macro, etc) but the basic principles are the same:

1.   Provide a way for Catalog Items and their Request Items to identify Procedure KBs

2.   Provide a way to click a link or action to open the KB View for the Procedure

This is a VERY useful tool especially for training new staff, providing evidence of procedures for audits, complex procedures that are difficult to remember, or procedures performed infrequently enough that they are difficult to learn.

I hope this information has helped.   Please let me know if there is any other information that might help you.

Edit:   The reason I specifically chose the above method over the alternatives was that this approach minimizes customization.   It requires no additional custom fields or tables and uses the ServiceNow provided methods of Attaching Knowledge using supported customization options (Macro/Formatter and Business Rule)

[angela_benway]

This is really helpful thank you! I have started the process but what I'm stuck on is the UI Macros and Formatters. For what you have on your system, do the links show up where the most recent tasks and attached products show up? I am just having a hard time trying to duplicate those areas so I have an area specifically for my catalog items. I'm also interested in how this looks on the knowledge article for you.

[tltoulson]

Hi Angela,

Basically, there is no visible difference on the Knowledge Article or the Catalog Item.   If I had a Catalog Item named "New Employee Onboard" for instance, I would also have a Knowledge Article in a specific topic named "New Employee Onboard".  

The business rule on the Request Item table looks up KBs by the name of the Catalog Item and adds the article to the Attached Knowledge related list.

The UI Macro formatter resembled the Related Links UI Action section and listed the links to any attached articles.

I would take a screenshot and show you but I did it on a system with a previous employer.