JIRA Service Desk / Confluence Knowledge Base Optimization

[Brant Schroeder]

I am interested in learning more about what others are doing to ensure that articles are easy to find in their Service Desk Search.  Specifically I am interested in:

• What standards have you setup for users creating KB information?
• How are you using labels?
• Are you restricting search for specific request forms to specific labels?
• Do you have any naming conventions for articles?
• How are you organizing the KB?
• Do you allow users to just search the KB without being in the service desk? 

[Gregory Van Den Ham]

For us, we use a template for KB information, they are submitted to a separate space where they are curated by the service desk team (typically the lead) and published into the KB.

Labels are keywords to us.  So you're searching for phone, skype, Outlook, etc.

Our KB's are usually titled How-To: (whaterver),  Quick-Tip: (whatever).  They're organized by area.  Application - Office365, Skype, Word, OneDrive, Hardware, OS,... etc.

We let the users search, of course in confluence.   We don't mind as long as they are able to get to the information.

[David Charlton]

Hi Brant, it's been a few years since you posted this thread.   If you moved forward with this effort, can you share your results, successes, challenges?

We are looking at tackling a similar effort to help Confluence to serve as a functional knowledge base for the internal staff of a mid-sized credit union.  The current execution of Confluence leaves a lot to be desired, and we want to know whether we should invest the time in optimizing Confluence, or if a new tool may be needed.  Finding that clarity has been elusive, so any information is appreciated.

[Brant Schroeder]

@David Charlton Welcome to the Community

I did implement Confluence for internal documentation.  We have an internal Jira service management desk that allows all of the staff to search KBs and submit support issues to our HR, Finance, IT and Payroll teams.  We also have internal documents that the units use in Confluence that only show up for the agents that they have been shared with.  

We implemented a standard labeling system that helps individuals find topics in the customer portal.   Each KB uses a template that all KBs must be based on.  This helps with consistency and ensures that they all search well.  The KBs have saved us a ton of support time and have answered thousands of questions.

If you have specific questions let me know and I can share additional information.