Creating and Submitting Articles

This article guides you through the processes of creating new Knowledge Base articles, editing existing content, linking related materials, and utilizing the platform's rich content editor features.

Creating and managing Knowledge Base articles in TeamDynamix empowers organizations to build comprehensive self-service resources. This article guides you through the processes of creating and submitting new articles, managing permissions, linking related materials, and utilizing the platform's rich content editor features.

In this article, we'll cover:

• Creating a new article
• Managing article permissions
• Submitting an article
• Adding related articles
• Using the editor features (templates, images, Bootstrap, etc.)
• Keeping Track of Your Articles

Create a New Article

Note that the visible fields may vary depending on your role and permissions.

1. In the Client Portal, navigate to the Knowledge Base category where the new article will live.
2. Click the + New Article button.
3. On the New Article page, the Category will automatically fill in based on the location where you clicked the New Article button. Adjust it if necessary.
4. The Order is used to arrange each article relative to its siblings, meaning all articles within the same category. Articles are first ordered by this value, and then alphabetically by subject. 
5. Pinned articles will always appear at the top of the list, sorted by subject. When selected, this overrides the Order setting.
6. Subject is the article title that will appear in the Knowledge Base.
7. Enter the main article Body. Learn more about using the editor features below.
8. Provide an Article Summary that will display across the Knowledge Base and search results.
9. Add Tags to help users find this article by keyword search.
10. Set the Status (not visible to all users). For new articles, choose either:
    • Not submitted if the article is a work in progress or not complete
    • Submitted if the article is finished and ready for review
    • Note: With these Statuses, non-editors will not be able to see the article in the Knowledge Base.
11. Check the Published to KB box if applicable (not visible to all users).
    • Content managers decide when an article is ready to be seen by non-editors in the Knowledge Base. When 'Published to KB' is checked and the status is 'Approved', the article is live in the KB.
    • Note that this is not the same as making an article publicly visible. That is controlled by the article's Permissions settings.
12. To set a date for the next review of the article to ensure its content remains relevant, enter a Next Review Date (not visible to all users).
13. Check the box to Notify Owner of Review Date (not visible to all users). By default, this will send a notification 14 days before the Next Review Date.
14. The Owner may default to you, your group, or be unspecified, depending on the Knowledge Base settings. Update this to specify a person or group responsible for managing this article and receiving feedback notifications.
15. Select whether to Notify Owner on Feedback. This option sends alerts to the user or group designated as the owner of this article whenever feedback is provided on it article
16. Fill any custom article attribute fields that have been added by your Knowledge Base admin.
17. Click Save.

After saving your article, the new article page will open in the Knowledge Base. This lets you review the article you just wrote.

To resume editing, click Edit Article.

Managing Article Permissions

The root of the Knowledge Base is classified as public as long as the overall settings permit it. This means that root-level categories and articles that are set to inherit permissions will also be considered public.

By default, article permissions are inherited from their respective categories. Regardless of whether a category is public or has more restricted access, these permissions can be adjusted for each individual article.

To modify access to an article:

1. Navigate to the article in the Knowledge Base and click Edit Article.
2. Click the Permissions tab.
3. Uncheck the Inherit Permissions box and customize the article permissions:
   • To remove or add public access, use the Public box.
   • When public access is disabled, select one of the following options under Article Permissions:
     • Allow ONLY the associated groups below to view this article
     • Allow all individuals to view this article EXCEPT the associated groups below
   • Then, click the Add Groups dropdown and select all applicable groups.
4. Click Save.

Please note that it can take several minutes for access changes to take effect in the Client Portal.

Submitting an Article

When everything looks good and you are ready, submit the article:

1. Open the article page in the Knowledge Base:
   • Navigate directly to the page.
   • Or, to find all your unpublished articles, navigate to Knowledge Base, then click My Articles in the subnav. 
     Locate the article in the list and click the title.
2. On the article page, click the Submit Article button.

Once submitted, you may not be able to edit the article again until it has been approved or rejected, based on your permissions.

A knowledge manager with permission to approve articles will review and publish the article.

Add Related Articles

You can add related articles to your knowledge base article to quickly link readers to other related materials. Related articles appear on the right side of the article page beneath the page details.

To add a related article:

1. In the Client Portal, open the Knowledge Base and navigate to the desired article.
2. Click Edit Article.
3. Click the Related Articles tab.
4. Click the + Add button.
5. Search for the article you would like to link to, either by typing in the field or clicking the 'lookup' magnifying glass. You can add multiple articles at once.
   • When using the lookup, you can enter a search term and also reorder the table by clicking on the column headers.
   • Click the checkbox for each article.
   • When you've checked the box for all of the needed articles, click the + Insert Checked button.
6. Click Save.

Using the Editor

The article content editor provides templates and supports images, video embeds, and Bootstrap. See the Using the Content Editor article for more details.

All formatted content in the system is subject to HTML sanitization. Learn more about automated content sanitization.

Templates

Templates can provide both smaller portions of content (like a callout or alert box) and base structures for entire documents.

To use a template:

1. In the article editor, place the cursor where you want the element to appear.
2. In the editor toolbar, click the Templates dropdown, then select an option from the available templates.
3. The element will appear in the page content and is ready for editing.

Images

For best results, format your images so the width is 750 pixels or less.

To add an image to an article:

1. In the article editor, click the image icon in the toolbar.
2. In the popup, click the Upload tab.
3. Select the file on your computer, then click Send it to the Server.
4. On the Image Info tab, enter Alternative Text to make the content more accessible.
5. To make the image responsive, clear the Width and Height values.
6. Make any other formatting adjustment, then click OK.

Video

The YouTube button creates an iframe that allows you to add a YouTube link or embed code for other streaming video providers.

1. In the article editor, click the YouTube icon in the toolbar.
2. Enter details for your video in the popup:
   • All video services - Paste embed code from your video provider. All configurations must be done in the embed code before pasting.
   • YouTube videos -  Enter a YouTube video URL, then update the additional options to configure the appearance and behavior.
3. Click OK.

Bootstrap

You can use Bootstrap version 3.4.1 elements in your articles. Enrich your content with HTML and CSS-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components, along with optional JavaScript extensions. Learn more about using Bootstrap CSS/JavaScript in Knowledge Base articles.

1. In the article editor, click the Source button.
2. On the Bootstrap site, click Copy to get the element code and paste the HTML in the editor.
3. Click the Source button again to view the element in the editor WYSIWYG.

Keeping Track of Your Articles

To keep track of articles you're the owner of:

1. In the Knowledge Base, click the My Articles link in the subnav.
2. By default, the list will show all articles you are the owner of. 
3. Use the Status dropdown to see only Submitted articles, or you could view all statuses except Approved to see all unfinished work.
4. Click Search.