TDX Knowledge: Create a New Knowledge Base Article

If you are a technician in TDX, you can draft a new Knowledge Base article. Before you do, be sure there isn't an existing article that covers the topic or existing content you can curate instead of starting from scratch. 

• Search for Duplicate Knowledge
• Use Curated Content to Create an Article

Taking a moment to avoid redundant content can save a lot of wasted effort.

In this article:

• Navigating to the Knowledge Base
• Creating a New Knowledge Base article

Navigating to the Knowledge Base

1. Click the Applications menu and select Client Portal if necessary.
2. Click Knowledge Base in the menu bar. The page refreshes revealing the Knowledge Base menus, categories, and options.

Creating a New Knowledge Base Article 

When you create a new article, you are automatically set as the article's owner. As soon as you save your draft, you will need to change the ownership from yourself to the appropriate Group, most likely your own.

1. Click +New Article. The New article form appears.
2. Enter the article Category. 
   • All knowledge articles should have a category. See TDX Knowledge: Assign a Category/Subcategory to a Knowledge Article.
   • Click the Lookup Category icon to do a search of categories.
     
3. Leave the Order field as is. 
   • Do NOT click the Pin Article checkbox.
4. Enter the Subject (article title).
   • Follow the Guidelines for Writing Knowledge Article Titles. 
5. Enter article content in the Body field. 
   • Do not include the title for the article in the Body field. Otherwise, the title will appear twice.
   • Do include a brief summary to provide context for what follows. It can be a single sentence. 
   • Use Headings for Proper Article Structure.
   • Google doc content: If your article was drafted in a Google doc, follow all the instructions in Remove Extra HTML Formatting from an Article before pasting in your content.  
   • Optional: Insert Links.
   • Optional: Add Images.
   • Format the article as needed following our standards.
     • Checklist for Internal and Public-Facing Knowledge
6. Enter an Article Summary. The summary will display below the article title in search results.
   • Ideally, use under 100 characters if possible.
   • Use the following list of article types to determine what you should enter in the Article Summary field.
     • Incident Models: list the applicable technologies.
     • Unit Overviews: list the group(s) which support the department.
     • Other article types: include a short statement that clarifies the title, if necessary.
     • Published Articles (these are articles that will be public-facing): copy in the first sentence of the article.
7. Enter any Tags. Tags allow users to search for the article by keywords. 
   • Enter a tag for the technology referred to in the article. Examples: Canvas, Salesforce-Marketing-Cloud.
   • New tag names may only contain alpha-numeric characters or hyphens (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -) with no spaces. 
   • You can enter any number of tags.
     
8. Group and Global Editors: Set the Status to Not Submitted. 
   • All articles must be reviewed by a technical expert and an editor before they can be submitted for approval.
     
9. Group and Global Editors (Optional): Set the Next Review Date. 
   • When reviewing articles you will be able search by Next Review Date to see articles that may need updating.
10. Global Editors: Change the Owner from yourself to the appropriate Group. 
    • Group editors, you will see the option to change the owner in a later step after saving the article. 
11. Check Notify Owner on Feedback. 
    • This option allows notifications to be sent to the user or group who is marked as the owner of this article whenever feedback is left on the article.
12. Optional: Knowledge Internal Notes. 
    • Use this field to enter any information a technician might need to support a customer when the article is published to it.umn.edu. 
    • The Knowledge Internal Notes appears in the Details area of the knowledge article in TDX.
13. Make an appropriate selection for the question: Should the viewing of this content be limited to the University community?
    • See TDX Knowledge: Restrict Access to Content for help in making the selection.
14. Click Save. The Edit Form screen closes and the article presents in View Mode.
    
15. Click Edit Article.
16. Group Knowledge Editors: Change the Owner to the appropriate Group.
    • If you are a technician or a Group Knowledge Editor, and you need to change an article to a group you are not a member of, you will no longer be able to edit the article after you change the Owner.
    • Everyone in the Group will be able to edit Not Submitted articles owned by the Group. Group Editors will be able to edit, approve or reject, and archive all articles owned by the Group.

Additional Resources

• Draft and Format Content in a Google Doc