ServiceNow - Create a New Knowledge Article


Introduction

Knowledge Article Publication Lifecycle Workflow Diagram with "Create knowledge article" highlighted.

This knowledge article will provide instructions on how to create a new knowledge article in ServiceNow.

Note: Anyone can create a new knowledge article when a knowledge gap is identified, but only the Ownership Group is able to approve the Approval Request to publish the knowledge article.

When creating a knowledge article, the Service Owner for that service/application must be identified as the Ownership Group for the article.

Instructions

 

Please see our Knowledge Article Content Style Guide for more information on how to style your article.

 

BusIT Service Management is pleased to announce the implementation of an integration between ServiceNow Knowledge Management and Microsoft Word. As of December 8, 2022, knowledge authors may now use Microsoft Word to create articles for use in any ServiceNow Knowledge Base. This will allow for an alternative authoring workflow for knowledge that will benefit teams which require a high-degree of inter-team collaboration on documentation, or teams which manage documentation for other teams.

 

Table of Contents

 

Preferred Workflow: Using the ServiceNow Agent Interface

  1. Under Knowledge, expand the Articles submenu, select Create New, then select the appropriate Knowledge Base and Article Template and click Next.

    Select Knowledge Base and Article Template

    Select the appropriate Knowledge Base:

    Knowledge Base Content Viewership Contributors
    Information Technology Public Contains customer-facing knowledge that does not require a login to view, supporting our goal of empowering customers to find answers independently Visible to the public and unauthenticated users Staff with a SN ITIL role
    Information Technology Protected Contains customer-facing knowledge that requires login due to data sensitivity Michigan Medicine staff with a Level-2 account Staff with a SN ITIL role
    Information Technology Internal Contains knowledge accessible only by HITS and TSPs, such as support process maps, networking diagrams, firewall rules, emergency protocols, etc. HITS Staff and Trusted Service Providers (TSPs) Staff with a SN ITIL role
    MiChart Knowledge articles related to MiChart (Epic Systems) Michigan Medicine staff with a Level-2 account Staff with a SN ITIL role

    • Note: We also have some specialized knowledge bases for HR, Facilities, IA, etc. These may have more restrictions as to who can view the contents and contribute articles.

     

    Select the appropriate Article Template:

    • FAQ - This template is for single question/answer knowledge articles containing specific customer-asked questions and their accompanying answers.
    • How To - This template is used for general instructions/information, including step-by-step instructions, information on an established workflow, or additional information about the service. The majority of articles will use this template.
    • Landing Page - This template is used as an overview page for an application or service, from which internal articles regarding that application or service can be linked. Related articles should be added as child pages to the Landing Page.
    • KCS Article - This template allows for documentation of known issues/errors, along with any workarounds or recovery steps, or to convey knowledge which is conditional based on the environment.


  2. The new article record will open with the Knowledge base field pre-filled from the previous selection. Provide a Short description in the format of "(Service/Application) - (Article Topic)" - this field is required in order to save the Draft. Additionally, add the Category, Ownership Group (Assignment Group of the team that owns the service/application), and enter the article content into the fields provided by the article template.
    • The article will automatically populate your name in the Author field when you create a new article, but this can be changed to reflect a different person as the subject matter expert (SME) for the article who will be keeping it up to date.
    • Parent Article: This can be populated with the name of a parent article to establish hierarchy. E.g. This article on Create a New Knowledge Article is a child article of "Service Management - Knowledge Management," so that name is in the Parent Article field for this article.
    • Schedule publish date: If you enter a date here, after you Publish the article and it is Approved by the Ownership Group, the article will not publish to the Portal until this date/time occurs.

      Knowledge Article Record with How To Template applied. Category, Ownership Group, and Short Description field are located on the top half of the window; fields for entering article content are on the bottom half of the window.

  3. Click Submit to save the Draft.

     

    Alternate Workflow: Expand the Additional Actions menu by either left-clicking the hamburger icon in the upper left of the gray header or right-clicking anywhere along the gray header. Select Save and continue to Step 6. Open the context menu and click Save.

     

    Article Record highlighting the Submit button in the top-right of the window.

  4. To resume editing a Draft article, go to Self-Service > My Knowledge Articles.

    ServiceNow Navigation on the left-side of the client window, with My Knowledge Articles highlighted.

  5. Click on the Number of the article to resume editing. Note also, the Version of the article will have a decimal if it is an unpublished version (E.g. In the example below, this is version 0.01); published articles will not have a decimal (E.g. Version 1.0). There is also a Workflow at the far left, which is an indicator of the lifecycle stage of the article.

    List View of Knowledge Articles with the Number highlighted. By default, Number is the left-most column in the list.

    Clicking on the drop-down arrow to the left of the Workflow icons will show an expanded list of the Workflow, with explanation of the various stages.

    Expanded view of Workflow icons.

  6. After the initial Submit or Save of the article, a row of tabs will appear at the bottom of the article form.

    Related Articles and Related Items


    1. Select the Related Articles or Related Catalog Items tab to associate related knowledge articles or related catalog items with the knowledge article.

    2. Click the Edit button.

      Edit Button

    3. Use the filter to find the related article.

      Related Articles Filter

    4. Once highlighted, the article name (Short description) will appear at the bottom of the form.

      Short Description

    5. Click the right carrot button to move the article to the Related Articles List box on the right.

      Right Carrot Button

    6. Click Save.

      Save Button

  7. Click Update to save the article without submitting it for publication. It can be accessed again via steps 4 and 5 for further revision.

    Knowledge Article record with the Update button highlighted in the top-right of the window.

 

Alternate Workflow: Using Microsoft 365 Word Online

Caution: This alternate workflow has come caveats and limitations. The preferred method of creating knowledge articles is via ServiceNow. However, this workflow can be helpful for teams which require a high-degree of inter-team collaboration on documentation, or teams which manage documentation for other teams.

Please Note:

  • This integration only works with Word Online. The desktop client version of Word will not include the ServiceNow plug-in.
  • Whichever method is used to create a knowledge article is the way that article needs to be edited/updated. E.g. If an article is started in ServiceNow, it cannot be converted to a Word document and managed through the integration.
  • Adding a border to images in Word doesn't transfer to ServiceNow. When able, please upload images which include a 1 pt black border.
  • Articles must be updated in Word, although ServiceNow does include an Open in Word button on the knowledge article form to launch the document in Word.
  • Articles initially created in ServiceNow (instead of in Word) will not have an Open in Word button in ServiceNow.
  • Knowledge article templates are not selectable. Instead, you have one field called "Article Body."

 

  1. Log into Microsoft 365 using your Level-2 credentials.
  2. Select the Word Online app from the sidebar, then either create a new document or open an existing document you would like to upload into the ServiceNow knowledge base as a knowledge article.

    Microsoft 365 showing Word Online in sidebar

  3. On the ribbon, click on the ellipsis (...) to access additional plug-ins, then select Knowledge.

    Knowledge Plug-In

  4. A sidebar for Knowledge Management will open and prompt you to log into ServiceNow. Note: This will open a new tab in your browser, but once you have been logged in, the tab will close and you will be back in Word.
  5. Create our knowledge article in Word.
  6. In the sidebar, fill out the required information:
    • Knowledge Base
    • Category
    • Ownership Group
    • Short Description
    • Document URL: Copy from the Word URL bar
      Note: If the Word document has changed locations (E.g. Moved from a personal One Drive to a shared location, this URL will need to be updated.)
  7. Click Submit. The Version will update in the sidebar to reflect 0.01, noting that a Draft version has been created in ServiceNow.
  8. You can continue making changes and use the Save button to save the changes to ServiceNow.
  9. When you have completed your knowledge article, click Publish in the sidebar.

    Publish Button