How to provide a 'table of contents' or similar on the customer portal?

[Tanya Sudolnik]

I have Jira Service Desk hooked up to a knowledge base in Confluence. The customer portal is all set. Customers are accessing it fine. However, I have multiple requests to provide some sort of table of contents, or catalog, or something on the home page of the portal to show what is in the Knowledge Base. Our customers are not using a Confluence license. I did try using labels in Confluence and got them to display on the service desk but of course when an article is selected it asked the user to login to Confluence. 

There is a 3rd party tool out there called RefinedWiki. I got the free trial but unfortunately the functionality I need is on the roadmap for Cloud!

So, I am looking to hear about others' workarounds. 

Thank you! 

[Stephen Sifers · Accepted solution]

Hello Tanya,

Using Jira Service Desk with Confluence as a knowledge base repository forms a power house duo. Using the tools in this configuration make self service and automation easier for all. There are some features within Confluence that do not function when displayed through Jira Service Desk, such as the table of contents. There is a bug currently open for table of contents macro not displaying within the customer portal. You can find the cloud bug at JSDCLOUD-3565 and the server bug at JSDSERVER-3565. We would suggest you vote and watch those bugs to get updates on their status.

There are available workarounds which use anchors on pages but they require manual processing of the anchors (not dynamic like the table of contents). You can find more about anchors at Insert Links and Anchors.

Another alternative you can test is to allow for the Knowledge base space within confluence to be accessible from anonymous users allowing them to see the full page without needing to login. You can find more about Setting up Public Access.

I hope this gives some insight into the issue and allows for a couple of workarounds.

Regards,
Stephen Sifers

[LarryBrock · Accepted solution]

Hi @Tanya Sudolnik!

What @Stephen Sifers said is spot on.  I'd just add that the description field of the Service Desk portal is a place that one can add a link to any top-level page of the associated knowledge base space which could contain your table of contents, etc.  It's not included on the portal page but is easily accessed.

Here's a link to JSD portal customization:  https://confluence.atlassian.com/confeval/jira-service-desk-evaluator-resources/jira-service-desk-customizing-the-customer-portal

Cheers,
~~Larry Brock

[Tanya Sudolnik]

Hi @LarryBrock and @Stephen Sifers, 

I really appreciate your responses. But I am still having trouble with the public (customer) access piece of the equation. I created a page in the KB on Confluence that lists the contents by label. When I access this high level page through the Service Desk, I see the listings of topics just fine. But when I select one of them, it routes me to the Confluence KB, hence requiring that a customer have access to our Confluence site. 

Clearly I am missing something here? Basically I need the link from the Service Desk to be the Service Desk versions of the documents, not directed to Confluence. 

Thanks again

[Gil]

Hi @Tanya Sudolnik

Don't hold your breath. Atlassian is not going to fix this issue anytime soon.

Look for a different solution.

[YC Lian _ServiceRocket_]

:-'(