Knowledge Management roles

Release version: Australia

Updated March 11, 2024

2 minutes to read

Summarize

Summarized using AI

Summary of Knowledge Management roles

This document outlines the various roles available in ServiceNow's Knowledge Management application as of the Australia release (updated March 11, 2024). These roles define permissions and responsibilities for managing knowledge articles, workflows, and user groups within the platform. Understanding these roles helps customers assign the right access levels to users, ensuring effective knowledge management and governance.

Show full answer Show less

Key Roles and Their Responsibilities

Administrator [admin]: Configures knowledge workflows, properties, forms, and dashboards. Should be granted cautiously and only when specialized roles do not suffice.
KCS Candidate [kcscandidate]: Entry-level role for users familiar with Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) basics. Comes as a subordinate role without special permissions.
KCS Contributor [kcscontributor]: Can create or validate knowledge articles in their product area without needing review, and can author and approve articles for wide visibility.
KCS Publisher [kcspublisher]: Experienced authors who create external-facing articles following KCS standards.
Knowledge [knowledge]: Enables users to contribute to the default knowledge base and access the Knowledge application menu. This is a fulfiller role; requesters have limited interaction capabilities.
Knowledge Administrator [knowledgeadmin]: Performs all administrative tasks related to maintaining the Knowledge Management system across knowledge bases except scoped ones.
Knowledge Domain Expert [knowledgedomainexpert]: Responsible for conducting AQI surveys, writing, editing, reviewing articles, and monitoring the health of knowledge bases.
Knowledge Group Manager [knowledgegroupmanager]: Manages membership of ownership groups, assigns or reassigns feedback tasks within the group but cannot change group managers.
Knowledge Group Member [knowledgegroupmember]: Part of ownership groups managing knowledge articles, with rights to approve, assign feedback tasks, and edit articles within their group’s scope.
Knowledge Manager [knowledgemanager]: Manages knowledge bases by defining categories, pinning articles, and approving article changes. Assigned automatically to users managing specific knowledge bases.

Practical Considerations

Most roles include subordinate roles that grant necessary baseline permissions.
The administrator role provides broad configuration capabilities but should be used sparingly to avoid excessive permissions.
Group managers can control group membership and task assignments but cannot reassign managerial roles, maintaining controlled governance.
Roles are designed to support the Knowledge-Centered Service methodology enabling structured creation, validation, publishing, and administration of knowledge content.

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.