Managing KCS article states

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • Manage the readiness of KCS articles and comply with regulated information using KCS article states.

    For information about the KCS article states, see KCS v6 Practices Guide.

    For information about all the KCS roles, see Knowledge Management roles.

    Activation information

    Activate the Knowledge Management KCS Capabilities plugin (com.snc.knowledge_kcs_capabilities) to enable the use of KCS roles (kcs_contributor, kcs_publisher, and kcs_candidate) and metadata fields for the KCS article state (governance and confidence). For more information, see Activate Knowledge Management KCS Capabilities.
    Note:
    If you are not an admin and has either kcs_contributor or kcs_candidate roles, you cannot retire an article.

    Article confidence

    The confidence state of an article indicates where the article is in its life cycle. Only users with the knowledge_coach, knowledge_admin, kcs_contributor or kcs_publisher role can modify the value of the Confidence field.

    For articles existing before the Knowledge Management KCS Capabilities plugin (com.snc.knowledge_kcs_capabilities) was activated, the Confidence field is automatically set to None.

    If an article is created after the Knowledge Management KCS Capabilities plugin (com.snc.knowledge_kcs_capabilities) is activated, the Confidence field is automatically set based on the workflow state of the article.
    Table 1. Article workflow states and confidence values
    Workflow state Confidence field value
    Draft, Review, or Scheduled for publish Work in Progress
    Published
    • Validated: For articles published by users with the knowledge_coach, kcs_contributor, or kcs_publisher role.
    • Not Validated: For articles published by users with a role other than knowledge_coach, kcs_contributor, or kcs_publisher.
    Pending retirement or Outdated Same as in the Published workflow state.
    Retired Archived

    Article governance

    The governance state of an article indicates which users can manage articles specific to a regulatory requirement, either experience based or compliance based. Users with contribute access to a knowledge article can modify the value of the Governance field.