Knowledge Management roles

Release version: Yokohama

Updated March 11, 2024

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Summary of Knowledge Management roles

The Knowledge Management roles in ServiceNow Yokohama release provide a structured set of permissions tailored to various responsibilities within the Knowledge Management system. These roles enable users to contribute, manage, and administer knowledge articles and workflows efficiently according to their expertise and organizational function.

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Key Roles and Their Capabilities

Administrator [admin]: Full configuration capabilities including knowledge workflows, properties, forms, and dashboards. This role should be granted sparingly when specialized roles suffice.
KCS Candidate [kcscandidate]: Users understand basic Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) principles; foundational role without additional permissions.
KCS Contributor [kcscontributor]: Can create and validate articles within product areas without needing review, and may author articles for broad visibility.
KCS Publisher [kcspublisher]: Experienced authors who create external-facing, KCS-standard articles.
Knowledge [knowledge]: Enables contribution to the default knowledge base and access to the Knowledge application menu. This is a fulfiller role, not for requesters who can only view and comment.
Knowledge Administrator [knowledgeadmin]: Performs all administrative tasks except for scoped knowledge bases. Can make system-wide changes.
Knowledge Domain Expert [knowledgedomainexpert]: Writes, edits, reviews articles, and monitors knowledge base health through AQI surveys.
Knowledge Group Manager [knowledgegroupmanager]: Manages membership within ownership groups, assigns and reassigns feedback tasks but cannot change group managers.
Knowledge Group Member [knowledgegroupmember]: Part of ownership groups with rights to approve and edit articles, assign feedback tasks, and work collaboratively.
Knowledge Manager [knowledgemanager]: Manages specific knowledge bases by defining categories, pinning articles, and approving content changes. Role is assigned automatically for knowledge base managers.

Practical Considerations

Each role often includes subordinate roles that grant the necessary permissions to perform their tasks effectively. For instance, knowledge roles are included as subordinate roles in many specialized roles to ensure consistent permission hierarchies. The roles do not list associated groups, indicating flexibility in assignment based on organizational needs.

ServiceNow customers should assign these roles based on the specific responsibilities users have within their Knowledge Management processes, ensuring least privilege principles and clear separation of duties to maintain system integrity and content quality.

These roles are available for the application

Table 1. Roles details
Role	Description	Contains roles	Groups with this role	Special considerations
Administrator [admin]	Administrators can configure knowledge workflows, set knowledge properties, and manage knowledge forms and dashboards.	sn_templated_snip.template_snippet_admin sn_employee.admin taxonomy_admin sn_ace.ace_user	None.	Note: Avoid granting an admin role when more specialized roles are available.
KCS candidate [kcs_candidate]	Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) candidates understand the basics of Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS). Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
KCS contributor [kcs_contributor]	Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) contributors can create or validate knowledge articles in their product areas without being reviewed by a knowledge coach. They may also author and approve articles for broad audience visibility. Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
KCS publisher [kcs_publisher]	Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) publishers are authors who are well versed in KCS standards and create more external-facing articles. Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
Knowledge [knowledge]	Users with the knowledge role can contribute to the default knowledge base and access the Knowledge application menu. The knowledge role is a fulfiller role and not a requester role. Requesters can view, comment, and give feedback to the knowledge articles. However, a requester cannot create or edit articles.	None.	None.	None.
Knowledge administrator [knowledge_admin]	Knowledge administrator can perform all the administrative tasks associated with maintaining the Knowledge Management system. User selected as a knowledge admin can make changes to all the knowledge bases except the scoped knowledge base. Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
Knowledge domain expert [knowledge_domain_expert]	Knowledge domain experts perform AQI surveys on articles and can write, edit and review knowledge management articles. A knowledge domain expert keeps track of the health of knowledge base. Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
Knowledge group manager [knowledge_group_manager]	Knowledge group managers can add or remove members in ownership groups managed by them. They cannot change the manager assigned in their groups. The manager can only be reassigned by the knowledge administrator. Knowledge group managers are assigned feedback tasks by default. They can reassign tasks to another group member, or group members can assign a feedback task to themselves. Knowledge_group_member role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
Knowledge group member [knowledge_group_member]	Knowledge group members are part of an ownership group that can be associated to knowledge articles. They can approve knowledge articles, assign feedback tasks to themselves and work on them as well as edit any knowledge articles that their ownership group is assigned to. Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.
Knowledge manager [knowledge_manager]	Knowledge managers perform administrative functions for the knowledge bases they manage defining categories, pinning important articles, and approving changes to articles. Users selected as managers of a knowledge base receive this role automatically. Knowledge role comes as a subordinate role.	None.	None.	None.