Develop > Processes and Best Practices > Knowledge Management Workflows > Search, View and Utilize Knowledge Document (Process ST 7.2)

Search, View and Utilize Knowledge Document (Process ST 7.2)

The Knowledge Base is the central repository of the Knowledge Management system. Service Manager provides powerful search and retrieval functionality for accessing, retrieving, and displaying knowledge documents. Searches can be performed using Filters and even Boolean searches are allowed.

Each type of Knowledge Bases has different fields that are indexed for searching, so specific search parameters that match the fields in the knowledge base must be provided. For example, the knowledge articles have a title and author field. When you view an incident, the out-of-box system displays the incident number, incident description, and solution for closed incidents.

Search, View and Utilize Knowledge process is illustrated in the following figure:

Search, View And Utilize Knowledge Process

Process ID

Procedure or Decision

Description

Role

ST 7.2.1

Search Knowledge Base

Enter search criteria into the tool. Search queries can be entered by users through the Self Service functionality or by Operators from the Interaction, Incident and Problem Management modules (this is shown in grey on the process flow as they are not always present when this process is followed.). Go to ST 7.2.2 to review items found.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.2

Review Items Found

Review search results and determine whether any are appropriate. Go to ST 7.2.3 to refine or amend the search, if necessary.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.3

Refine or change search

If appropriate Knowledge Documents have not been returned, the search criteria can be amended to obtain better results. If yes, go to ST 7.2.1 to search the Knowledge Base again. If no, go to ST 7.2.4 to determine whether relevant Knowledge has been found.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.4

Relevant Knowledge Found?

Has a Knowledge Document been returned that is helpful and relevant to the query? If yes, go to ST 7.2.6 to Utilize Knowledge where appropriate. If no, go to ST 7.2.5 to determine whether to log an Interaction.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.5

Log Interaction?

If a suitable Knowledge Document was not found, an Interaction may need to be raised to deal with the issue that was being researched. If yes, go to Interaction Management (SO 0.1.1). If no, the ‘Search, View and Utilize Knowledge’ process ends.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.6

Utilize Knowledge (where appropriate)

Apply the Knowledge where appropriate. Go to ST 7.2.7 to determine whether to provide feedback on the Knowledge Document.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.7

Provide feedback on Knowledge Use?

Feedback is monitored for key aspects such as quality and availability of the Knowledge Documents. If yes, go to ST 7.2.8 to populate Knowledge feedback.

If no, the ‘Search, View and Utilize Knowledge’ process ends.

Knowledge User

ST 7.2.8

Populate Knowledge feedback

Populate feedback on the Knowledge Document used. The ‘Search, View and Utilize Knowledge’ process ends.

Knowledge User