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WSU Knowledgebase Administrative Procedures

Filename: http://computing.wayne.edu/kb/procedures.php		Groups Affected: WSU Knowledgebase Administrators
Owner: CSD Director (tjd)		Authorizer: CSD Director (tjd)
Creation Date: 04/08/05	Effective Date: 04/08/05		Revision Date: 11/29/06

Knowledgebase Goal

The goal of the WSU Knowledgebase (Kb) is to offer timely information to current and future members of the WSU community in an effort to address their questions and concerns in a self-serve online environment. Articles for the Knowledgebase are to be in the form of question and answer pairs (Q+A pairs). These procedures are to ensure that Wayne State has an efficient and consistent Knowledgebase.

General Knowledgebase Software Description

The WSU Knowledgebase software consists of a Web-based knowledgebase tool called KnowledgeBuilder purchased and licensed from ActiveCampaign. There are two separate interfaces accessible in the software application: the customer area and the administration area.

The customer interface is available at http://kb.wayne.edu.
The administration interface is available at http://kb.wayne.edu/admin.

Note: The WSU Knowledgebase is a pilot program maintained by the Computing & Information Technology (C&IT) Customer Services Department. Customer Services staff constantly evaluates the software application used to ensure that it meets the needs of the university. The C&IT Customer Services Department reserves the right to change to another software application in the future if necessary.

Knowledgebase Customer Interface

The customer interface is publicly available. It is intended for use by anyone who seeks an answer to a question about Wayne State University. The interface provides the ability to do full-text searches of the database, browse answers, and rate the quality of the answers provided.

Knowledgebase Administration Interface

Content providers use the administration Web interface to add content (articles) to the WSU Knowledgebase and to approve new articles. Content providers can be given access to both create and approve articles, or just to create articles that need to be approved by another content provider who is designated to approve articles.

Adding Groups and Staff to the Administration Interface

To have your group added to the WSU Knowledgebase administrative interface, contact Tom Duszynski (tduszyn@wayne.edu) in the Computing & Information Technology (C&IT) Customer Services Department. He will create a place (category) for you and give the person you designate administrative access to create sub-categories.

Note: Your new category will not be displayed in the Knowledgebase customer interface until you populate it with articles (Q+A pairs).

To have another person in your group added to your administrative interface, contact Cristian Ferreyra (cristian.ferreyra@wayne.edu). Provide the full name and AccessID of the person you wish to add, the type of administrative access to designate (create only or create and approve), and the category and sub-category(s) to assign that access to.

Knowledgebase Categories and Category Creation

Categories are “folders” that are filled with multiple Q+A pairs that share a similar subject (for example., “Financial Aid”). The Knowledgebase can accommodate an unlimited number of categories and nested sub-categories.

When C&IT Customer Services staff creates a new administrative category, we designate one person as the administrator with the ability to create sub-categories.

Note: Do not create sub-categories until you plan to put a significant amount of Q+A pairs within. This prevents customer (end-user) frustration with empty categories.

Tom Duszynski (tduszyn@wayne.edu) and Cristian Ferreyra (cristian.ferreyra@wayne.edu) administer the root categories and any category for which there are no other assigned administrative users.

Creating Articles in the Knowledgebase

When creating WSU Knowledgebase articles, it is important to emphasize that articles need to be timely and dynamic so that they keep up with changes in your department's policies and procedures. You can edit articles at any time, so it is far better to get timely information into the Knowledgebase and then add any fine polishing of style, wording, or formatting at a later date.

We recommend that a long editorial review process not burden article creation and approvals. Remember, you can modify and edit articles at any time to correct small mistakes or wording after you approve them for viewing by your customers.

Process for Answering Questions Submitted via the Ask a Question Button

People who do not find answers to their questions in the Knowledgebase can submit their questions to the C&IT Help Desk via the "Ask a question" button. C&IT Help Desk staff review all questions submitted and respond by e-mail within two business days.

If the C&IT Help Desk staff finds that a question needs to be answered by another Wayne State department, the C&IT Help Desk staff person still responds by e-mail informing the customer of the status of the question. The C&IT Help Desk staff person also contacts the other department and asks that they respond to the customer's question.

If the question/answer pair is of interest to the general public, and is not currently in the Knowledgebase, the C&IT Help Desk staff person or the affected department submits it for approval as a Knowledgebase article.

Guidelines for Creating Articles

Write articles as a questions with answers to the question asked (Q+A pairs). Be specific and concise.
Begin your answer by restating the question using the same words as those in the question.
Keep the audience in mind. When writing about university policy, in many circumstances it is best to write in third person (student, faculty, staff, etc.) to make it clear to whom the answer is intended. For example:
Question: Do I need to submit an essay with my application?
Answer: Undergraduate students are not required to submit an essay. Graduate students, however, may have to write an essay depending on their academic program.
Divide your response into short paragraphs. They are easier to read.
The first time you use an acronym, use the full name with the acronym in parenthesis. For example, Computing & Information Technology (C&IT).
If your answer is overly long, and if the information is already in another place (such as on your Website), link to it rather than putting it in the answer.
You may want to put a link to your homepage at the end of your answer.
Write in the present tense whenever possible.
Write your question and answer so that they can stand alone. Don't refer to another entry unless you put in a link to that entry.
Be consistent in spelling and in capitalization.
Scan entries for spelling, grammar, and correctness.
Don't make two entries with the same answer. If you think there are two ways to phrase a question, put both questions in the same entry.
To make your entry easier to find, add keywords to the end of the entry.
Avoid undefined terms. Make use of the Glossary feature (see below).
Use HTML code only when necessary. When using it, limit it to paragraphs, e-mail addresses, links, ordered or unordered lists, bold, and italics.
For terms and questions specific to Wayne State University style and identity, refer to the WSU Marketing and Publications guide, Get in Style.
When writing about computing systems and resources that your audience uses, refer to the Style Guide for Information Technology at Wayne State.

Adding Keywords to Articles

A WSU Knowledgebase search is an exact search. It does not look for phonetic spellings. Because of the way the Knowledgebase searches, misspelled search words will fail to find their intended article.

One way to help the searcher find your article is to add a list of all possible spellings for the main word(s) in your article.

Procedure:

Triple space from the end of the article.
Type in all caps "KEYWORDS:"
On the next line type alternate spellings for the main word(s) in your article.
Separate each keyword with a comma and a space.

Guidelines for Creating Glossary Entries

Glossary terms display as highlighted text within Knowledgebase articles. A portion of the Glossary definition displays when you roll your mouse over it. Glossary terms can be activated within a single category or across the entire Knowledgebase. Be sure to select the appropriate setting when you create the term.

Use concise language in the Glossary entry.
Limit your definition to about 15 words.
Glossary terms are case sensitive, be careful with capitalization (upper or lowercase).
Make sure you spell the term correctly and use the same spelling in your article.

If a word is in the Knowledgebase Glossary, it cannot be used in a hyperlink. One method to work around this situation would be to take the word out of the Glossary. However, for most words there clearly is an advantage to keeping the word in the Glossary. Therefore, the best method is to use another word for the hyperlink.

For example: the word "AccessID" is in the Glossary, to add a link to the AccessID menu, make the link only to the word menu.

Also note that the full URL does not have to be displayed in the Knowledgebase article. Administrators can use the "Source" or "Insert/Edit Link" buttons to insert the URL only in the code.