The NetHelpDesk Knowledge Base (KB) allows you to build up a simple, searchable text database of standard issue encountered by Agents and/or End-users, and their standard resolutions that can help in resolving problems that recur. Instead of knowledge being held primarily in your support staff's memories, it can be kept in the NetHelpDesk database for (potentially) all to benefit from. If support staff leave, or are sick, the knowledge is still accessible by your teams.
Look for the magnifying symbol (found top right of page) > Click Tickets > Articles:
From here you can type to search any keywords that match the issue you are looking for.
Selected knowledge base entries can be added into FAQ (frequently asked questions) lists. These can be help organise articles into relevant pools, and articles can be added to multiple FAQ lists at the same time. All FAQ lists are set to private unless specifically specified to be made public.
To access these, please navigate to: Configuration > Knowledge Base > Configure FAQ Lists.
The FAQ lists can be made available to end users via the self service portal (or web) interface. The end users can only search and view entries that are on FAQ lists that have been marked as public.
PLEASE NOTE: All Knowledge Base entries are initially private, and viewable by Agents only. They are not visible on the Self Service Portal until they are added to a FAQ list, which has been nominated as a public list. Once added, the article will then appear in suggestions, and/or searchable in the portal search facility.
Existing entries in the knowledge base consist of:
Summary – Plain Text Format.
Created by – Agent who created the article, time and date stamped.
Details – Rich Text Format.
Resolution – Rich Text Format.
Tags – Keywords associated with the article.
Additional Information – Which includes:
From Ticket ID – If used paste new entry for linked Request ID, or free text populated.
Involves Asset Type – Xref to type of equipment.
Related Entry – Article that is related to this article.
Last Review Date – Date, time and Login reviewed.
By – Agent who last reviewed the article, if any.
Next Review Date – The next date is scheduled for the next review of this article.
Adding a New Article by pressing ‘+’ next to the sort functionality on the Article Search.
When first accessing the Knowledge Base, the search box facility is made available. The KB is full word indexed, for easy and more granular searching capabilities.
Enter the word, or words, you wish to search for and click on search.
a) Words in the first search string have 'or' matching facility, i.e. Help or Desk.
b) Words in the second search string have 'and' matching facility, and is used in conjunction with the first search string.
For example to find entries which have the word "Excel" or the word "Novell" but contain the word ''Server", put:
First Search String: Excel Novell
Second Search String: Server
The entries that have either Excel Server or Novell Server in the entries are then highlighted in red, the ones with just one match are highlighted in black.
To make a Knowledge Base entry:
1. Click the ‘+’ icon found near the Article Search.
2. All of the text fields are searched for the selected text when the search function is chosen.
3. Once a KB entry has been added the 'appears on FAQ lists' button can be used to add it to a FAQ.
To make the KB articles visible on the self service portal (or web interface), certain variables can be added to the HTML pages' menu options. These are easily edited in Notepad, and won't require extensive HTML knowledge. If you can edit a Text Document, you will be able to edit easily. To do this:
1. Take a copy of the Loggedin.html page in the ...\NetHelpDesk\Web\HTML\ folder, and copy this into the ...\NetHelpDesk\Web\CustomHTML\ folder.
2. Make sure the following lines are visible in the menu.
To make a line visible as a menu entry, make sure that the line is not between these two icons.
3. Move the line so that it is outside of the two icons, and it will then be visible.
4. You will need to repeat this in the Navigation Menu below, which caters the mobile access of the portal.
5. This will allow the menu option for Search Self Service to be visible.
To access KB Attachments via the web, you'll need to create a virtual directory called 'KBAttachments' under your NetHelpDesk site, in IIS on your web server. This virtual directory should point towards the ...\NetHelpDesk\Win\Reports\KBAttachments folder on your NetHelpDesk share. Once that's setup, you will find all of your attachments available in your browser. For further details about the self service portal, see the separate guide.
Should you have any questions regarding any steps in this guide, please speak with the NetHelpDesk Support Team.
NetHelpDesk is available on a range of devices with industry-leading functionality available throughout.
Windows Phone
Android
iPhone
BlackBerry
Tablets
Windows