Managing document categories

All knowledge documents in the knowledgebase are assigned to a document category. Categories for knowledge documents are ordered into hierarchies. The document categories order documents into top-level categories and subcategories. Each subcategory has a parent category that is the category immediately above it in the ordered list of categories. A top-level category is also a parent category of the subcategory immediately below it in the ordered list of categories.

The following is an example of category and subcategory hierarchy:

Animal > Dog > Retriever or Category > subcategory > subcategory

• Animal is the top-level category for Dog and Retriever.
• Animal has no top-level category or parent category.
• Dog is the parent category for Retriever.

For a top-level category, the level in the hierarchy is always zero (0).

A category and subcategory has associated with it a set of permissions. These permissions specify the profiles and knowledge groups that have access to the category or subcategory. When a profile and knowledge group is given access to a category or subcategory that profile and knowledge group also has access to all of the subcategories below that point in the hierarchy.

If there are any published documents assigned to the category, they cannot be deleted. You cannot delete a document category before deleting a category. Assign any of the published documents to another document category. You can delete a document category if there are only retired documents assigned to the category. If you decide to unretire those documents, a KM Admin will provide a new document category for the document as part of the unretire process.

Deleting document categories

You can delete a document category, but you should verify first that there are no documents in the category or in the subcategories under the category. When you delete a category, the system will not allow you to delete the category if there are documents in the category or one of its subcategories. However, if the documents are retired, the system will warn you that there are documents present in the category or its subcategories, but it will still allow you to delete the category. The category being deleted is removed from the retired documents record so that the document is no longer associated with the deleted category.

Documents cannot be managed in the knowledge management system without an assigned category because the Knowledge Management uses document categories to control access to the knowledge documents. All published documents and pending documents must have a category associated with them. Draft and retired documents do not require an assigned category.

A user with a KM ADMIN profile can view and unretire a document that does not have a category associated with it. If the KM ADMIN unretires a retired document without a category, the document is put in the workflow as a draft document.

When you unretire a document that has at least one category associated with it, the system puts the document into the workflow as a pending document.

 

Add subcategories to a document category

User role: System Administrator, Knowledge Administrator

All documents in the knowledgebase are assigned to a document category. The document categories order documents into top-level categories and subcategories. Each subcategory has a parent category that is the category immediately above it in the ordered list of categories.

To add subcategories to a document category, follow these steps:

1. Click Knowledge Management > Configuration > KM Document Categories.
2. Select a top-level category.
3. On the Subcategories tab, click New.
4. Type the name of the new subcategory.
5. Click Add.
6. You can continue adding subcategories by clicking New Subcategory, or you can begin to specify permissions for the subcategories.
7. Click Save to continue saving your changes.
8. Click OK.

Add a new top-level document category

User role: System Administrator, Knowledge Administrator

All documents in the knowledgebase are assigned to a document category. Categories for knowledge documents are ordered into hierarchies. The document categories order documents into top-level categories and subcategories. A top-level category is a parent category of the subcategory immediately below it in the ordered list of categories.

To add a new top-level document category, follow these steps:

1. Click Knowledge Management > Configuration > KM Document Categories.
2. Click New.
3. Type the name of the new top-level category.
4. Click Add.
5. Click Save.

Add permissions for a document category or subcategory

User role: System Administrator, Knowledge Administrator

A Knowledge Management document category or subcategory has associated with it a set of permissions. These permissions specify the profiles and knowledge groups that have access to the category or subcategory.

To add permissions, follow these steps:

1. Click Knowledge Management > Configuration > KM Document Categories.
2. Double-click a top-level category or search for a subcategory to display the category for which you are adding permissions.
3. Click the Permissions tab on the Category Details form.
4. Click Add.
5. Select a knowledge group from the list, and then double-click the knowledge group you select.
6. Select a profile from the list, and then double-click the profile you select.
7. Repeat the steps to add additional permissions.
8. When you are finished adding permissions, click the Permissions tab to verify your selections.
9. Click Save.
10. Click OK.

Provide all users access to a document category

You can make all externally published documents associated with a single document category (such as Human Resources) to be viewable by all users.

To provide all users access to a document category, follow these steps:

1. Click Knowledge Management > Configuration > KM Document Categories.
2. Click the Category Search tab.
3. Type HR in the Search box.
4. Click the Search button.
5. Double-click HR.
6. Click the Permissions tab.
7. Click the Add button.
8. Select and then double-click Default Knowledge View Group.
9. Select and then double-click the DEFAULT profile. In the out-of-box system, the DEFAULT profile is set to search external access.
10. Click the Permissions tab to verify your changes.
11. Click Save.