Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Exam Preparation: Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management section consists of 9% of total score in the Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant certification exam, covering topics such as Knowledge article lifecycle, Knowledge adoption and maintenance, data categories, data migration and so on. Without further ado, let's get into it!

NOTE: This post is written in May 2020 and content might be changed/updated overtime. The content is inspired by focusonforce.com.

Guideline for Knowledge Management

Explain the knowledge article lifecycle including creation, publishing, consumption, and feedback.
Given business process requirements, determine the appropriate approach to manage Knowledge adoption and maintenance.
Given a set of requirements, determine how to configure data categories, article types, articles, and publishing workflow.
Understand the key factors to consider when implementing a Knowledge data migration strategy.
Given a scenario, describe the considerations when migrating from Knowledge to Lightning Knowledge.

Knowledge

Knowledge article is used to help solve problems or questions.
Three different stages:
- Draft
- Published
- Archived
Published articles are visible in the selected channels:
- Internal App
- Customer
- Partner
- Public Knowledge Base
Workflow rules can be used to send emails to author or another user where there is an update to an article type.
Knowledge Action:
- Knowledge Actions are templates that link a Workflow action to an article type.
- Knowledge Action can be used with Workflow Rules or Approvals, just like how the field updates or Email Alert is used in these scenarios.
- Create Knowledge Action:
- Specify Knowledge Action:
  - NOTE: 'Publish As New' will publish a new major version. 'Publish' will save a minor change as the same version without archiving the previous version.
Article managers can edit, assign and publish articles by assigning 'Manage Articles' permission.
Article can be published immediately or scheduled to be published in the future.
Article can be submitted for approval and automatically published after the approval is approved with Knowledge Action. Field update can be set after approval, such as setting Validation Status to Validated.
Article can receive feedback in the following ways:
- Thumbs up or down rating in Salesforce Lightning:
- Thumbs up or down rating in Salesforce Classic (set Enable thumbs up or dwon voting for article (Classic Only) in Setup > Knowledge Settings):
- 1 to 5 rating in Salesforce Classic:
- NOTE: most recent votes are weighted higher to calculate overall rating.
Knowledge reports can be created to find out the details of articles.
- Custom Report Type can be created to view the voting stats with Knowledge Articles with Article Vote Statistics:
  - Likewise, custom Report Type can be created for views stats with Knowledge Articles with Article View Statistics as well:
  - Or report for Knowledge with Knowledge Versions:
The view of Knowledge Articles is slightly different in Salesforce Classic as there is a specific section to display 'Properties' and the sections are displayed in tabs:
Article Versions component can be added to the record page layout to see the article versions.
Articles can be Submited for Translation:
- NOTE: only master article can be submitted for translation.
Knowledge List View supports the following actions:
- New
- Publish
- Assign
- Archive
- Delete Article
- Delete Draft
- Restore
- Submit for Translation
Knowledge Settings:
- General Settings:
  - Allow users to create and edit articles from Articles tab in Salesforce Classic
  - Activate Validation Status field
  - Allow users to add external multimedia content to HTML in the standard editor in Salesforce Classic
- Lightning Knowledge Settings:
  - Enable Lightning Knowledge (once enabled, it cannot be disabled)
  - Enable automatic loading of rich-text editor when editing an article
- Article Summaries:
  - Show article summaries in article list view in Salesforce Classic
- Knowledge One (Salesforce Classic feature):
  - Highlight relevant article text within search results
  - Auto-complete keyword search
  - Auto-complete title search
  - Suggest related articles on cases
  - Select Case field to be used to find suggested articles
- Language Settings:
  - Set default Knowledge Base Language
  - Add new language for translation and set default assignee and reviewer
  - Language available for Knowledge:
    - Chinese (Traditional)
    - Danish
    - Dutch
    - Finnish
    - French
    - German
    - Italian
    - Japanese
    - Korean
    - Norwegian
    - Portuguese
    - Russian
    - Spanish
    - Spanish (Mexico)
    - Swedish
    - Thai
  - Articles in inactive languages can be published, but they are unavailable until you activate the language.
- Case Settings:
  - Allow users to create an article from a case in Salesforce Classic
  - Use a profile to create customer-ready article PDFs on cases in Salesforce Classic
  - Enable list of cases linked to an article in Salesforce Classic (see which cases are linked to the article being viewed)
  - Enable Case Data Category Mapping
- Share Article via URL Settings:
- Answers Settings:
  - Allow users to create an article from a reply in Salesforce Classic
- Chatter Questions Settings:
  - Display relevant articles as users ask questions in Chatter (also applies to communities with Chatter) in Salesforce Classic
- Knowledge Statistics Settings:
  - Enable thumbs up or down voting for article instead of 1 to 5 rating in Salesforce Classic
Rich Text Area Field in Knowledge object is different than other Salesforce object:
- Rich Text Area Field in Knowledge object:
- Rich Text Area Field in other Salesforce objects:
Knowledge API name Knowledge__kav does not end with __c but __kav.
Case Association Count field on Knowledge can be used to identify the most useful articles.
Knowledge Related Permissions:
- Allow View Knowledge - Allow user to view knowledge articles
- Archive Articles - Allow user to archive Knowledge articles
- Article Translation - Edit - Edit an article translation
- Article Translation - Publish - Publish an article translation
- Article Translation - Submit for Translation - Submit an article for translation
- Knowledge One - Replaces the Articles tab with the Knowledge tab
- Manage Articles (requires View Draft Articles, View Archived Articles) - Create, edit, assign, publish, delete, and archive Salesforce Knowledge articles
- Manage Knowledge Article Import/Export (requires Manage Articles) - Allows user to manage all the Knowledge Article Import/Export
- Manage Salesforce Knowledge (requires Manage Articles) - Manage Salesforce Knowledge settings, and create, edit, and delete article types
- Publish Articles - Allow user to publish Knowledge articles
- Share internal Knowledge articles externally - Allow user to share internal Knowledge articles externally
- View Archived Articles - Let users view archived articles
- View Draft Articles - Let users view draft articles
Knowledge Base Communication Channel Layout Mapping:
- Communication Channel Layout Mapping can be used to determine the fields of an article that can be inserted into a case email.
- Settings can be found at Object Manager > Knowledge > Communication Channel Mapping:

Data Categories

Data Categories can be setup in Setup > Data Category Setup which are used to classify categories and set visibility for Knowledge articles.
Category Group
- Category Group is a container used to organize individual data categories based on types
- Example: Products
- Category Group Visibility can be set in Roles, Permission Sets, and Profiles.
  - Category Group Visibility Settings in Roles:
  - Category Group Visibility Settings in Profiles and Permission Sets:
  - NOTE: permissions can be set to restrict access, as opposed to default open up access.
- Category Group Visibility can be set:
  - All Categories
  - None
  - Custom
    - Manually select available categories:
- Data Category Assignments can be used to select which groups should be used by Salesforce Knowledge.
  - Select available Category Groups:
    - NOTE: Removing or replacing an existing category group removes all existing categories associated with articles.
- NOTE: there can only be a maximum of 5 category groups (3 active groups at a time).
- NOTE: each category group can only have up to 100 categories with maximum of 5 hierarchical levels (including top level - All).
Data Category
- Data Category is a hierarchical classification of articles used to organize and control access to Knowledge articles
- Data Categories are organized into Category Groups.
- Example: Hardware, Computers, Printers
- Actions available on each data category level:
  - Add Sibling Category
  - Add Child Category
  - Edit Category
  - Order Child Categories Alphabetically
  - Delete Category
- Default Data Category Visibility can be set in Setup > Default Data Category Visibility:
- Categories can be set on articles:
- Categories component can be added to the page layout:
Article
- Article is a document used to provide information to users
- An article can have more than onedata categories
- Example: How to use a Printer?
Data Category Mapping:
- Data Category Mapping makes suggested articles more relevant when solving cases.
- Filters are applied after search and only to the articles returned in the search, but they are only applied to the initial pool of article results returned.
- Data Category Group can be mapped to case fields (only text and picklist fields are supported) and set default data category for the cases.
- For example, you can map a product custom field on Case with a product Data Category Group to filter the articles for the customer's products.

Record Types vs Article Types

Record Types
- Record Types are used to distinguish types of Knowledge articles, such as FAQ, Troubleshooting, Release Notes and etc.
- Record Types can be configured in the object settings page.
Article Types:
- Article Types are used in Salesforce Classic Knowledge, which is not part of a standard object in Salesforce.
  - Templates specify how the section in the Article Type layout appear in the published article.
    - Standard Article Type templates are Tab and Table of Contents.
      - Tab template - sections appear as tabs when the article is viewed
      - Table of Contents template - sections appear as hyperlinks on one page
  - When Knowledge is enabled in Salesforce Classic, a default Article Type is automatically created. New Article Type can be created to define the structure and format of an article.

Knowledge Component

Knowledge Component can be added to record page (available for all objects):
Article options available:
- Edit as Draft
- Archive
- Attach Article/Detach Article
- Submit for Translation
Advanced Search can be used to refine the article search result:
Articles can be attached to the case:
- Articles Related List can be added to Case Page Layout:
- Likewise, Cases Related List can be added to Knowledge Page Layout:

Knowledge Article Lifecycle

Create Knowledge articles
- Select record types in Salesforce Lightning:
- Create/edit article in Salesforce Lightning:
- Create/edit article in Salesforce Classic:
Assign articles for approval
- 'Assign' button can be used to assign the article to user and set a due date:
- NOTE: Assigned to field will be cleared after the article is published, so don't use it in report.
Publishing articles
- 'Publish' button is used to publish the draft article:
- Once the article is published, it cannot be edited:
Update articles based on feedbacks
- 'Edit as Draft' button is used to edit article after published:
  - NOTE: the published version will remain online until you publish this draft.
- After the article is edited, it can be published again:
- 'Flag as new version' can be checked to publish as a new major version.
  - NOTE: the old version of the article will be archived
Archive or delete obsolete articles
- 'Archive' button is used to archive the article.
- NOTE: article cannot be archived if there's an associated draft. Draft must be deleted in order to archive the article.
- Once the article is archived, you can choose either 'Restore' or 'Delete Article':
- Articles can be archived manually or automatically using expiration date.

Knowledge Adoption and Maintenance

Salesforce Knowledge Adoption:
- Increase the usage of Knowledge articles by improving the quality and expanding high-demand knowledge areas
- Integrate Knowledge articles with Case Management, such as attaching articles to case, creating article based on case solution, adn etc.
- Make sure that Knowledge Articles are consistent and easier to read
- Motivate support reps to increase the number and quality of articles
- Measure adoption with reports and dashboards
- Improve accessibility of Knowledge articles with Knowledge Component (Salesforce Lightning) or Knowledge One widget (Salesforce Classic Knowledge)
- Promote accuracy and relevance by enabling Suggested Articles in Knowledge Settings
- Train support reps on article creation, search and some other basic operations related to it
Salesforce Knowledge Maintenance:
- Optimize search results with keywords using Promote Search Term
- Improve article search experience with Synonym Groups
- Configure global search to include lightning knowledge fields in search results and filter options
- Use reports and dashboards to identify helpful articles
- Assign Knowledge users to review and maintain articles in Knowledge base
- Create an approval process to review articles
- Implement an article feedback process by utilizing rating votes and chatter to exchange comments on articles
- Add articles from existing knowledge base by importing zip file containing csv file for the record type, properties file, html files and images referenced in html files.
- Make sure all the articles are always up-to-date by establishing a change management plan.
Synonym Group:
- By default, Salesforce provides standard synonym groups for common synonyms, such as find and create.
- Custom Synonym Group can be created, such as PC and computer.
- Same values cannot be in a Synonym Group.
- With Synonym Group, search result will also include all the terms defined.
Promoted Search Term:
- **Promoted Search Term **can be added to the Knowledge article in Promoted Search Terms Related List:
- Promoted Search Terms can also be found in Setup > Promoted Search Terms:

Data Migration

Import Articles can be used to import knowledge articles.
- Files needed in the zip file:
  - .csv file
  - .properties file
  - html/image files
Some considerations for importing articles:
- Articles with multiple record types can be imported all at once in Salesforce Lightning Knowledge; only one article type can be imported at a time in Salesforce Classic Knowledge.
- Article translations can be included in the CSV file.
- Articles cannot be exported from sandbox and import into production.

Lightning Knowledge Migration

Lightning Knowledge Migration Tool can be used to move all the content in Classic Knowledge to Lightning Knowledge.
It maps Article Types with Record Types, and all the fields are consolidated in one object.
Files from custom file fields are moved to standard file object.
Limitations of migration:
- articles are not migrated - undeployed article types, approval process history, promoted search terms, soft deleted records, and etc.
- Apex code, Visualfore, reports, validation rules, CRUD permissions, AppExchange packages and etc. might not work properly
Feature can be enabled by contacting Salesforce Support.
Migration process:
- Planning
- Pre-migration Considerations
- Migration Testing
- Production migration
- Post-migration Considerations

Well, that's a lot to digest. Hope you are learning something useful in this post, see you in next post!

Post was published on 10 May 2020, last updated on 24 May 2020.

Like the content? Support the author by paypal.me!

Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Exam Preparation: Knowledge Management

Guideline for Knowledge Management