A practical guide to knowledge articles, topic pages, microsites, and employee communications.
Introduction
Whether you're migrating from a legacy intranet, consolidating employee portals, or improving an existing implementation, one of the most important decisions is how to organize and present employee content.
ServiceNow Employee Center (EC) and Employee Center Pro (EC Pro) offer several options, from knowledge articles and taxonomy-driven topic pages to microsites, news, and targeted communications. Although these experiences can sometimes look similar, they solve different problems.
This guide helps you choose the simplest, most maintainable option for each use case.
Content Feature Comparison: What Should You Use?
Start with the employee's goal. Is someone looking for an answer, browsing related resources, or receiving a time-sensitive communication?
| Feature | Best used for | Example use case | Typical availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge articles | Policies, instructions, FAQs, and troubleshooting | How to request parental leave | EC |
| Standard taxonomy topic pages | Grouping related services, articles, and resources | Pay & Benefits hub | EC |
| Enhanced topic pages | Combining taxonomy-connected resources with editorial content | New hire onboarding destination | EC Pro |
| Microsites / rich content | Curated, visually engaging experiences for initiatives or journeys | Open enrollment campaign | EC Pro |
| Announcements | Important updates requiring visibility | Planned system outage | EC; publishing options vary |
| Actionable banners | Messages with a clear employee action | Complete required training | EC Pro |
| News articles | Organizational updates and employee stories | Leadership announcement | EC Pro |
| Events | Promoting scheduled employee activities | Company town hall | EC Pro |
Feature availability depends on licensing, installed applications, configuration, and ServiceNow release. Confirm specific entitlements before planning an implementation.
Where you can publish content (widget names)
| Content type | Supported widgets |
|---|---|
| Banner | Content Experiences |
| Banner | Welcome Banner (CD) |
| Calendar | Event Calendar |
| Event | Upcoming Events (CD) |
| Image-based link | Quick Links (CD) |
| News article | News Feed |
| News article | Featured News |
| Rich content | Rich Content (CD) |
| Rich text | Announcements (CD) |
| Styled content | Content Experiences |
| Styled content | Styled Content (CD) |
| URL | Information Links (CD) |
| Video | Video Carousel (CE) |
How These Features Work Together
Think about Employee Center in three layers:
- Content is what employees need: knowledge, catalog requests, links, and communications.
- Unified Taxonomy organizes related content into employee-friendly topics rather than organizational silos.
- Presentation determines how that information appears: topic pages, rich content, banners, and other supported experiences.
Reusable content is organized through taxonomy and presented through the employee experience.
Examples: What Does Each Experience Look Like?
1. Knowledge Articles
Use when: Employees need an authoritative answer, policy, or set of instructions. Keep articles focused, clearly titled, and easy to scan. Avoid using a long knowledge article as a substitute for a hub of unrelated resources.
2. Topic Pages
Use a standard topic page to bring related articles, services, and links together, such as a Pay & Benefits hub. Use an enhanced topic page when the same destination also needs curated messages, images, videos, or other supported communications.
Build topics around employee tasks and needs. Start with the standard experience, then enhance it only when richer content provides clear value.
3. Microsites and Rich Content
Use when: A campaign, initiative, or employee journey benefits from its own curated destination-for example, open enrollment with deadlines, FAQs, links, and supporting media. Connect it to taxonomy when it represents an ongoing employee need; a temporary campaign may not need a permanent place in the main navigation.
Keep layouts consistent and avoid rebuilding content that already exists as reusable knowledge or services.
4. Employee Communications: Announcements, Banners, News, and Events
These features address different communication needs:
- Announcements: Bring important updates to employees' attention, such as scheduled maintenance.
- Actionable banners: Highlight a message with a next step, such as completing mandatory training.
- News: Share editorial updates, leadership messages, and employee stories.
- Events: Promote activities with a particular date or schedule, such as a town hall.
Use clear headlines, relevant audience targeting where supported, and expiration or review dates. Keep evergreen policies in knowledge management rather than duplicating them in news.
Content Strategy and Leading Practices
Choosing a feature is only one part of the decision. Sustainable employee experiences also require thoughtful content architecture and governance.
- Organize around employee needs. Use a unified taxonomy that employees recognize rather than simply reproducing departmental structures.
- Reuse content whenever possible. Maintain one authoritative article or resource and associate it with the relevant topics.
- Start with out-of-the-box capabilities. Customize when there is a demonstrated need, not just to make each page look different.
- Define content ownership. Assign reviewers, publishing responsibilities, and review dates before launch.
- Manage communications throughout their lifecycle. Use appropriate scheduling, targeting, and expiration controls where supported.
- Design for accessibility and discoverability. Use clear headings, descriptive links, meaningful alternative text, and straightforward language.
Preparing Content for EmployeeWorks and AI-Driven Experiences
As ServiceNow's employee experience offerings evolve, strong content foundations remain valuable. EmployeeWorks Web App combines conversational assistance with structured navigation and discovery, making content quality and organization important considerations.
Prioritize clear, focused knowledge articles; consistent taxonomy; removal of duplicate or outdated content; and content that is not unnecessarily dependent on custom page layouts.
Important: Reusable content and taxonomy investments do not mean that custom Employee Center widgets, layouts, or microsite presentations automatically transfer to EmployeeWorks Web App. So it is best to stick to OOTB where possible. Validate supported capabilities and any migration requirements for your target release.
Final Takeaway
The goal isn't to use every feature. It's to choose the simplest experience that helps employees find information, complete tasks, and stay informed.
Before creating a new page or piece of content, ask: Is this an answer, a collection of resources, a dedicated campaign, or a communication? Can existing content be reused? Who will maintain it?
Those questions lead to a more intuitive, scalable, and maintainable Employee Center.
Additional Resources
- Employee Center Pro Overview
- Employee Center Topic Pages
- Dynamic Topic Pages
- Rich Content
- Content Publishing
