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Knowledge Bases & Categories

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What knowledge management is
  • What a knowledge base and a category are
  • How to create a knowledge base

1 Write it down once

SNWR’s service desk answers “How do I reset my password?” 50 times a week. What if the answer was written down, so people could find it themselves? That’s knowledge management. 📚

It helps two groups: users fix things themselves, and agents find proven answers fast.

2 Knowledge bases and categories

Key term: Knowledge base

A collection of articles for one audience, like “IT” or “HR”. Stored in kb_knowledge_base.

Key term: Category

A folder inside a knowledge base, like “Email” or “Laptops”. Categories can have sub-categories.

Key term: Article

One help page, like “How to reset your password”. Stored in kb_knowledge.

How knowledge is organized at SNWR. Two knowledge bases: SNWR IT and SNWR HR. The SNWR IT knowledge base has categories Email, Laptops, and Network, and the Email category holds articles like How to set up email on your phone and Fix email that is not syncing. The SNWR HR knowledge base has categories Leave and Benefits. Each knowledge base has its own owner, managers, and rules for who can read and write.
Figure 1. Knowledge bases hold categories. Categories hold articles.

Think of a library. 🏛️ Each knowledge base is a room, each category is a shelf, and each article is a book.

3 Create a knowledge base

  1. Go to Knowledge > Administration > Knowledge Bases and click New.
  2. Give it a Title, like “SNWR IT”.
  3. Set the Owner and add Managers, the people who look after it.
  4. Choose the workflows for publishing and retiring articles (Lesson 25.3).
  5. Submit. Then add categories with the category editor. ✅

💡 Good to know: Build knowledge bases around audiences (IT, HR, customers), not around every small topic. Use categories for topics.

⭐ Remember: Knowledge base = room. Category = shelf. Article = book.

4 Let’s try it: build SNWR IT

  1. Open Knowledge > Overview (or the Knowledge homepage). Look at the demo knowledge bases.
  2. Create a knowledge base SNWR IT. Make yourself the owner.
  3. Add the categories Email, Laptops, and Network.

5 Quick recap

  • Knowledge management captures answers so people can help themselves
  • A knowledge base is a collection for one audience
  • Categories organize articles inside a knowledge base
  • Knowledge bases have owners, managers, and workflows

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Which table stores knowledge articles? Show answer

kb_knowledge.

2 SNWR wants separate articles for IT and HR. What should it create? Show answer

Two knowledge bases: one for IT and one for HR.

3 In the library example, what is a category? Show answer

A shelf.

Nice work! You finished this lesson. 🎉

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