What is the best way to start and manage a Knowledge Base with in Jira Cloud and Confluence?

[adam_cantin]

We are building out our Jira and Confluence from the ground up for our organization and now we would like to start utilizing a Knowledge Base. What are some of the best ways to create, maintain and best practices for our users? 

[Kris Klima _K15t_]

Hi @adam_cantin and welcome to the Community.

As for knowledge management, documentation architecture in general, we are launching Documentation Guide, a series of articles focused on documentation life cycle management. You can sign up here to get notified when it happens. No strings attached, it's free, it's not about selling a product, it's just about helping people to get their documentation strategy right by asking the right questions.

Authoring and managing produc docs and knowledge in general on Confluence is kinda my thing :) 

You may find this Community article of mine useful - How to build a product documentation solution on Confluence in 30 minutes. It may not align 100% with your use case (I'm not using JSM's Knowledge Base, just Confluence... because it can do way more :) ) but it may get inspire you to do more than you imagine is possible on Confluence.

[Eitzaz Haider]

Well said! @Robert DaSilva . Just adding a few extra tips @adam_cantin :

• Be careful when granting edit permissions.
• Use internal comments on the page whenever possible.
• Prefer creating a live document over a regular page (no need to hit “Publish” every time).
• Leverage Rovo for summarizing, formatting, and drafting content.

[Robert DaSilva]

Hey @adam_cantin , welcome to the Community!

Knowledge Bases are so custom to each organization, that it will be challenging to provide specific feedback. That said, here are a few guidelines I can recommend:

1. Organize your content in a single Knowledge Base space designed for public facing articles. The organization in the space itself is useful when reviewing content in Confluence, however Jira Service Management will serve whatever articles it believes are useful, regardless of this organization.
2. Add "Labels" to knowledge base articles based on topic. You are able to limit what articles display for each request type you have configured in JSM based on these labels.
3. Add all content and help articles, even if it might seem simple. Having help articles is always going to be better than having nothing.
4. Keep a separate Space for internal SOP documents, and link this as a second input to your JSM Space. You can limit these documents via the linked settings to be only visible to JSM Agents.
5. Keep your content updated! I recommend setting up an automation rule that runs every 6-months or so, to add a comment on pages that have not been updated in a 6-month period. This way you will get notifications to review the content to ensure it's accurate.

Hope this helps!

Robert

[adam_cantin]

Thanks Robert, is there anything I should be aware of as this is my first time trying to tackle Knowledge Management.

[Robert DaSilva]

@adam_cantin In my experience, the biggest challenge with knowledge management is going to be taxonomy of your information. I like to start with broad categories, and go more specific as you dive down the page tree.

Confluence lets you do this in two ways:

1. You can use Pages, and then nest other pages underneath
2. You can use Folders, and put pages inside of them

Both are good options, but Folders do not allow for customization beyond the name. Pages, however, let you add content there to help guide users.

For a Knowledge Base, I can see Folders being very useful, maybe to capture articles on specific products your organization offers.

For internal SOPs, it may be better to use Pages, so you can add context, pre-reqs, and other details before users dive too deep into the details.

The best thing is to get started. You can always massage things to a better spot afterwards, but getting content written down is going to be the biggest challenge.

Hope this helps!

Robert