Knowledge blocks for HR knowledge management
Summarize
Summary of Knowledge blocks for HR knowledge management
Knowledge blocks in HR Service Delivery enable ServiceNow customers to simplify knowledge authoring and consumption by using reusable, user-criteria-secured content pieces within knowledge articles. These blocks allow HR organizations to present personalized content to employees based on their user attributes, improving relevance and reducing content management overhead.
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Key Features
- Reusable content blocks: Create and insert modular knowledge blocks into articles, which can be managed independently.
- User criteria-based visibility: Control block visibility so users only see content relevant to them, enhancing personalized knowledge delivery.
- Support for multiple knowledge bases: Enable knowledge blocks feature per knowledge base for flexible use.
- Content types: Blocks support text and images by default, but do not display attached files.
- Integration: Custom search or article viewers require integration with knowledge blocks APIs to maintain content relevance in custom implementations.
- Activation: Enabling knowledge blocks activates Knowledge Management Advanced, which includes article versioning; however, versioning can be disabled if not needed.
Practical Use Case: Location-Specific Holiday Calendars
Knowledge blocks enable HR to efficiently manage location-specific holiday calendars within a single article. This method:
- Reduces HR workload by centralizing updates into one article instead of multiple location-specific articles.
- Improves employee experience by automatically filtering holiday information relevant to their location, eliminating irrelevant content.
Implementation Considerations
- Knowledge blocks must be enabled by a knowledge administrator or manager for each knowledge base.
- Knowledge blocks are not supported in wiki-type articles.
- For custom search or viewer applications, integrate with the knowledge blocks API to ensure user criteria-based content filtering functions correctly.
You can use knowledge blocks with HR Service Delivery to simplify knowledge authoring for writers and knowledge consumption for readers.
Knowledge blocks are reusable pieces of content secured by user criteria that you can add to knowledge articles in a knowledge base. The user criteria controls which users can read or not read the block content in an article or search, enabling users to more easily view content that is relevant to them.
How to use knowledge blocks
To use knowledge blocks, a knowledge administrator or manager must enable the knowledge blocks feature for each knowledge base in which the blocks will be used.
Enable knowledge blocks for each knowledge base
Knowledge contributors can create knowledge blocks and insert them into articles in a knowledge base:
- Create a knowledge block
- Add knowledge blocks to a knowledge article
- Preview a knowledge article with knowledge blocks by user or date
Knowledge block content can be read or not read in an article or search based on user criteria set at the knowledge base and knowledge block level. See Select user criteria for a knowledge block for more information.
Holiday calendar with location-specific knowledge block content
You are part of an enterprise HR organization that maintains a company knowledge base. You want to create a holiday calendar so that employees know which days of the year are company holidays. Since the company has multiple locations and holiday dates vary based on where the employee is located, there are several ways that you could create the knowledge article.
One way is that you could create a knowledge article for each location, with an article for Location A, Location B, and so on.
- Pros: simplified consumption. Employees have a single article to search for and read.
- Cons: more work for HR. HR has multiple articles to manage and update for each location where the company has employees.
Another way is that you could create a single knowledge article that includes sections for each location.
- Pros: simplified authoring. HR has a single article to manage and update.
- Cons: more work for employees. Employee must scroll through and disregard extraneous content to find the section in the article that pertains to them.
With knowledge blocks, you can create a single knowledge article with location-specific block content secured by user criteria. This approach helps to reduce the workload for both HR and employees. As an HR agent, you have a single article to manage and update. Employees have a single article to search for and read, with the user criteria ensuring that they only view content that is relevant to them.
If you are using a custom search or knowledge article viewer
If you are using a custom search or knowledge article viewer with your application, you should integrate it with the appropriate knowledge or knowledge blocks API. (Integration is only necessary if you are using a custom search or knowledge article viewer.)
Integrating a custom search or knowledge article viewer with knowledge blocks
Activation information
To use knowledge blocks in your application, you must activate knowledge blocks. For information on what components are installed with the feature, see Components installed with knowledge blocks.