Viewing KB Articles

You open KB Articles for viewing from the Advanced Search tool or using the Edit mode of the KB Article window:

• To view a KB Article using the Advanced Search tool:

  • Double-click the Article in the grid. For details, see Using the Advanced Search tool.

• To view a KB Article using the Edit mode:

  • If an Article is already open in the Edit mode, click View on the Module menu.

  NOTE: If your security permissions in the Alloy Navigator Express database only allows you to view the KB Articles, the Edit mode will be unavailable.

In the View mode, the Module menu of a KB Article window allows you to perform the following actions:

• Open a KB Article for editing:

  • Click Edit.

  NOTE: For details on managing all properties of a KB Article record, see Working with KB Articles.

• Relate a KB Article to a Service Desk ticket:

  • Open the Related Objects tab and add a relation. For details, see .Relating KB Articles to Service Desk tickets.

The View mode of a KB Article window shows information on the following tabs:

• General tab

• Custom Data tab (optional)

• Related Objects tab

• Attachements tab

General tab

The upper section of the General tab displays the article’s identification data and content.

Below you can see the Applies to section that shows the list of knowledge categories the article applies to and the Attachments section that lists the article's attachments and allows you to open any of them (by clicking attachment’s name).

The General tab may also display user-defined fields in an additional section if your Alloy Navigator Express administrator has configured them accordingly. The default name of this section is "Custom Data", although your Alloy Navigator Express administrator may have renamed this section.

The Rating field at the very bottom displays the article "usefulness" rating. This field appears when at least one SSP customer has answered the "Was this article helpful?" question. Next to the rating, the tab displays the number of SSP customers who have answered this question (in parentheses).

NOTE: The Self Service Portal displays the question "Was this article helpful?" with the Yes and No buttons at the very bottom of each KB Article. A SSP customer can answer this question only once for each article.

Custom Data tab

This tab allows you to view user-defined fields that your Alloy Navigator Express administrator has configured in addition to the standard built-in KB Article's fields. The default name of this tab is "Custom Data", although your Alloy Navigator Express administrator may have renamed this tab.

The user-defined fields can be of different types (for example, text or date fields, etc.) that can be mandatory and read-only. If there are any mandatory fields on this tab, you must complete them to be able to save the record.

Related Objects tab

The Related Objects tab lists all related objects of the article and allows you to manage these relations.

On this tab, you can:

• Open any related object to view or edit its details (double-click the related object).

• Create a relation between the article and another object (for details, see Relating objects).

The list of related objects includes:

• The objects directly related to the main object by using the commands on the Related Objects tab. For these related objects you can change the type of relationship (for details, see Changing the relationship type). The list of relationship types for KB Articles and different objects are defined by your Alloy Navigator Express administrator.

• The objects related to the related objects. You can edit these relations from one of the directly related objects' records.

Attachments tab

The Attachments tab allows you to manage attachments (files and links) added to the KB Article. For instructions, see Attachments tab.

Related Information:

Working with Related Objects

Working with KB articles