Home > KBA Approval Process

KBA Requests for Approval

To guarantee the validity of content within the Knowledge Base (KB), Organizations can enable the KB control setting within the Administrator portal.

When the Control KBA via Request option is enabled in the Setup>Privileges>Request tab, KB content with a Pending Publication status automatically generates a Request that requires approval by Users with publishing privileges, before the content is accessible in the Knowledge Base.

When the User has completed the content and the Article is ready for publication, it is moved to the Article Status of Pending Publication, which results in the generation of a Request. When the KBA is moved to the Pending Publication state, the content of the Article can no longer be edited.

Published KBA content that is edited, also results in generating a Request for approval but the Article retains its published state and displays the pre-edited content. Upon approval of the new content, the Article is updated.

Setup KBA Approval Process

Requests generated as part of the KB content control process are managed like all other Requests in the system. This means, when a change is made to KB content, be it all new or edited material, a Request is created that must have an SLA assigned to it, to ensure a Workflow and Team manage the process efficiently.

Prior to enabling the Control KBA via Request process, define an SLA (For the example below, the KBA Approval SLA was created in the system.)

Steps to set-up KBA Approval Process

The following steps are to be completed to implement the KBA Approval process:

Supervisor User: Define the SLA to manage the process
See: SLAs.
Administrator User: Enable the "Control KBA by Request" option
Refer below.
Supervisor User: Define a KBA Workflow
Refer below.
Supervisor: Create KBA Approval Team and assign Workflow States.
See: Creating Request Teams

Enable KBA Control

To enable the approval process, as an Administrator:

Go to Setup> Privileges >Requests tab
Select Yes to enable the option
Define the Request Type
The Request Type defined here determines the type of Request that is generated when new content is added to the Knowledge Base. The options displayed are based on the licenses owned. That is, if Change Management and Request Fulfillment licenses are used in the system, both options will be displayed.
Set the Default SLA
As Requests are managed based on the SLA assigned to them, setting the default SLA for the KB content control process determines the Team and Workflow options for the Requests created as a result of the KB change.
Select Save.
When this option is enabled, the On Hold - KBA Rework is activated for KBA Approval Workflows. This State is not visible within the Workflow as it used by the system when the Revise button is selected within a KBA Approval State. It can be re-named within the Workflow State list, but cannot be customized.

Build the KBA Approval Workflow

The Workflow built to manage the approval process should use the Process that is defined as the Request Type in the Administrator Setting for this process. (The example outlined below uses the Service Request Workflow.)

To create the Workflow, as a Supervisor:

Select Service > Workflows
Click New
Enter the Workflow Name, define the Process and enter the Description
Search and select the KBA Approval SLA
The Default Open Status and Default Closed Status are to be defined after the Lifecycle is built.
Click Save
Move to the Lifecycle tab
Within this tab the Lifecycle of Pending Publication>KBA Approval>Approved Published/Content Rejected is to be built. Firstly the Pending State will be renamed to Pending Publication, the KBA Approval State will be created, Closed Resolved will be re-named to Approved Published and Cancelled will be renamed to Content Rejected.
Default Entry States can be removed from the Lifecycle by opening the State and defining them as neither an Entry Point nor an Exit Point and not mapping Previous or Next States

Click the Pending State
This is an Active State defined as the Workflow Entry Point.
Set the Name to Pending Publication
If SLA targets are to be monitored and triggers fired when the Request is assigned this Status, set the SLA Active option to Yes. The Next State will be allocated when it is created.
Click Save

Select New, to create the Approval State
For this example, the State will be labeled KBA Assessment and the KBA Approval option is set to Yes. This will remove the Next State option and replace it with the Accept State and Reject State drop-down list. For this example, set Pending Publication as the Previous State, Cancelled as the Accept State and Closed-Resolved as the Reject State.

When a Request moves into the Pending Publication State three buttons will be displayed in the Request Summary tab Next Action Field:

Status	Description
	When selected the new content is approved for publication and the Request is moved to the Accept State. (For this example it will be Approved Published.) An alert is sent to the KBA author informing them of the successful publication.
	When selected, the Request Summary screen displays the Notes field to allow the User to add comments and the Request is moved to the On Hold - KBA Rework state. The KBA is returned to the In Development State. The KBA author is sent an Alert, notifying them that the KBA requires revision. When the edits have been made and the KBA is returned to the "Pending Publication" Status, the Request is re-activated and set to the Approval State.
	This option is to be selected when it is decided that the KBA Content is not suitable for the KB. The Request moves to the configured Reject State and a Notes field is displayed allowing the User to record the reason for the decision. The KBA returns to the In Development State, which allows the author to delete the KBA, if desired. The KBA author is sent an Alert, notifying them that the content has been rejected.

Only one Approval State can be set per KBA Approval Workflow

Click Save
The Status window editor screen will close.
Click the Cancelled link
Re-name it to Approved Published
This creates an Exit Point for when content is Accepted/Published and will be the Exit Sate for when content is accepted for publication in the Knowledge Base. For this example the default settings for this State will be the Active State set to No, the SLA Resolution option set to Yes, and the KBA Assessment State mapped as the Previous State.

Click Save
Click on the Closed - Resolved link to rename it Content Rejected
By default the settings on this State will be, the Active State and SLA Active options set to No and KBA Assessment mapped as the Previous State.
Click Save
The On-Hold - KBA Rework State is not visible in the customized Workflow, but will be automatically used by the system, when the Revise option is selected within the KBA Approval Request

Select the Workflow tab
Click Edit
The Default Open Status will be set to Pending Publication and the Default Closed Status set to Content Rejected.
Refine the Default Closed Status, if desired
If another State is required as a Default Closed State, return to the Lifecycle tab, select New to create a new Default Closed State. Refine the settings to be Active - No, Exit Point - Yes and click Save. Then return to the Workflow tab to set the option in the Default Closed Status field.
Click Save
Click Done.

Create the KBA Approval Team

When the KBA Approval Workflow has been successfully saved, the Supervisor must create or assign the Change or Service Request Team that is to manage the approval process and allocate the relevant Users to each stage of the Workflow.

Go to User > Teams
Click New
Enter the Team Name
Define the Process of Service Request or Change
For this example the Service Request Process is applied.
Modify the Team options, as required
See: Creating Service or Change Request Teams.
Assign Technicians, and Managers if required
Click Next
The screen defaults to the Service screen
Move the KBA Approval Workflow to the Selected Workflows field
The KBA Approval Workflow is automatically set at the Default Workflow.
Click Next
The system defaults to the Group tab.
Select the Default Group link
Rename and assign Users, as required. Create additional Technician Groups, if required.
Click Save
Select the Default Manager Group link, if relevant
Rename and assign Managers, as required.
Click Save
Click Next
The screen defaults to the States tab.
Assign the relevant Work Groups to the Workflow States
Select the State Name link,
Click Next
The screen defaults to the Layers tab. Refine if necessary.
Click Done.

When all the elements of the KBA Approval Process are in place, see KBA Content Approval for details of how the content approval Requests are managed.