Why are KB article version "valid to" dates set to the year 2100?

[DSAnderson]

Our company is using the knowledge base with versioning in place. We've noticed that since upgrading to New York, a peculiar behavior in the "Valid to" date is occurring.

• When creating a new KB article, the valid to date is set for one year out from the date of creation. This is the behavior we want, as authors are expected to review articles once a year.
• When checking out an existing KB article to update, the valid to date sets to January 1, 2100. An informational message displays that the valid date has been updated. 

I opened a case with ServiceNow and they seem to say this is expected/designed behavior. I looked at the code behind the "Checkout" UI action and it appears to be written in there to update the date. My plan is to create a copy of this UI action, revise the statement that changes the valid to date, deactivate the OOB button and activate my custom copy.

Here's my reason for posting:

1) the code replacement is a bit of a stretch for me, so if anyone can point me in the right direction of an example of how to grab the current system date and add 365 days to it, I would appreciate the help.

2) anyone else think that resetting the new version's date to nearly eighty years out is kinda odd? Or is that just me? 

[Lokenath Chakra · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I am a product manager of the ServiceNow Knowledge Management.

You do not need any customization. We added a new field called "Article Validity" to the knowledge base in New York (if you do not see the field on the knowledge base form, just add it to the form by changing the form layout). This field helps you dynamically set the valid_to date.

It takes number of days as input. In the above screenshot, the article validity of the knowledge base is set to 365 days. So all articles created or checked out in the knowledge base will have their valid to set to 365 days from the date of creation. 

You can even set a different article validity for each knowledge base, if needed, for your process requirements. 

Regards,

Lokenath Chakraborty