Salesforce is a well-known customer relationship management system (CRM) on which many organizations have relied onr tracking, maintaining and reaching their sales objectives. It includes a host of easy-to-use features that permit sales teams and customers to access a wealth of the organization’s information.
One of these is the salesforce knowledge, an internal repository that can be used by employees to create and store articles and retrieve them as needed. Once you have already installed SK for your organization, how you set up its various functionalities will contribute to how much use of it you can enjoy. The following tips will guide you to set it up properly.
- Display fields
You can use the article types feature to customize the fields that will be displayed for each content collection. Determining the data that you want captured and where it should be displayed should be in such a way as to enable users access the information as quickly as possible.
- Visibility of fields
You can use profiles or permission sets to limit visibility of fields created using article types as above, such that certain users can access only certain fields according to their needs. This is particularly helpful if you’re publishing content for internal and external users.
- Data categories
Data categories are consigned to individual articles to allow users to run more efficient searches while simultaneously allowing administrators to control visibility. You are allowed to create 5 categories maximum, but can appoint up to 100 values for each data category. Sample data categories include lines of business, products etc.
- Data conversion
This is necessary if you have an existing knowledge base from which you hope to import articles such as Salesforce GitHub. Depending on the content and structure of the existing articles, you may need to add special data categories and article types to facilitate importation.
- Article presentation formats
The article types feature defines the look and feel of separate content collections, allowing users to access content in consistent views and hence quickly retrieve the information they need. You can split article types into, Training, FAQ etc.
- Knowledge templates for different article types
Salesforce knowledge allows display of content in tab view – across the top of the page – ortable of content view which allows users to quickly move through different fields using displayed links. Viewing templates can be set according to the different channels being used.
- Content review
You should also determine the need and frequency of article review and ensure that the required fields have been set up in article types.
- Workflow rules
Workflow rules like review workflows, email alerts, outbound API messaging and approval workflows can be set. These allow for task automation in relation to knowledge base maintenance tasks. For instance, a notification sent to the relevant staffer when an article has not been updated in a while.
- Search console view
If your users need, the servicecCloud console, you may configure to cases page layouts in order to display the knowledge sidebar – allows agents to search within the base while tying in information on the case subject.
- Search features
Apart from article types and data categories, you can configure synonyms for your organization’s SK deployment. Promoted search words and tags can be included under article types to help your users search and access articles more effectively and efficiently.
- Reporting and metrics
Finally, you can generate detailed reports on efficiency of articles to provide data for continuous management and improvement. You may set bespoke article reports or use the knowledge Base dashboards and reports application available on app exchange. This allows you to track searches, ratings and article usage for more proactive content management.