The following information is meant as a guide to prepare and transition knowledge from its current location(s) to ServiceNow. Every department is different, so there may be fewer or additional steps necessary for a successful migration process depending on departmental needs.

1. Knowledge Audit

It is recommended that a full knowledge audit is performed prior to transitioning content to ServiceNow. As part of the audit, we suggest:

• Locate and document all existing sources of knowledge content
• Documenting all knowledge in a sortable, editable format
• Group knowledge content by audience (customer-facing, departmental, etc.)
• Group knowledge content by author (identify individuals/groups responsible for creating and managing existing knowledge)
• Place priority on knowledge based on content and usage
• Use documentation to prioritize what knowledge content is migrated first
• Track author/subject matter expert and assigned auditor
• Track article status (i.e. ready for review, needs updates, can be deleted, needs to be created, complete/ready for export)

2. Prepare Knowledge Content for Migration

Currently, there are no automated options for uploading or bulk uploading knowledge content to ServiceNow. As such, each knowledge article needs to be migrated manually. There are some considerations that will help your knowledge transfer more quickly and seamlessly.

Wiki Content

• Easiest option is copy and paste from the source wiki page or from an exported html file (Wikis offers bulk html exports)
• All HTML formatting from Wikis will transfer to ServiceNow
• Wiki markup and widgets will transfer HTML pieces if applicable, but will not generally display as they do in wikis
• Confluence-specific CSS from widgets does not transfer to ServiceNow

Images

• Images hosted online should transfer without issue
• Images hosted by services such as Confluence, Sharepoint, Word, etc, will not transfer to ServiceNow
• Images currently hosted by such services can be manually uploaded and hosted by ServiceNow
• Save non-hosted images with article title and a number based on where it appears in the article, i.e. "EmailFAQ01.jpg" for easier migration

Links

• Web links will transfer to ServiceNow without issue
• Anchor links or quick links to Wiki pages will not transfer
• Links between knowledge articles in ServiceNow will need to be manually entered and verified
• Track all links within an article in audit documentation to verify they have been updated accordingly in case of linking between articles
• ServiceNow knowledge articles can be linked to existing wiki pages

3. Identify Operational Process

Once knowledge is migrated to ServiceNow, departments will be responsible for upkeep on their knowledge bases. This includes:

• Reviewing/approving articles to publish and retire
• Managing knowledge base permissions and settings
• Reviewing articles at or past their Valid To dates

It is useful to determine in advance who is responsible for these processes in order to set up appropriate permissions and initial base settings.

4. Identify Permissions

Permissions from Wikis, Sharepoint, etc. will not transfer to ServiceNow.

• ServiceNow knowledge is permissioned at the base level
• Departments should determine how many bases they need based on their permissions criteria (recommendation of no more than 2 if possible)
• Document desired permissions for Knowledge Base Owner, Manager(s), Can Read and Can Contribute (See: Knowledge Base Permissions)
• Submit request to ServiceNow team for any User Criteria groups you need created. (See: Knowledge Base Permissions)
• Reviewing existing Wikis, Sharepoint, or Austin Disk permissions on knowledge can help simplify this proces

5. Create Categories

At this point, you will begin working on your knowledge base setup and migration in Production.

Each knowledge base can have categories (and subcategories for internal bases) to help "file" knowledge content for easier search. Using your knowledge audit, select high level categories that will encompass the vast majority of your knowledge content. In most cases, 4-8 total categories should be sufficient.

Here is an example of the categories used by the IT Public Knowledge Base:

• Getting Started
• Service Management
• Troubleshooting
• External Resources
• Mobile

6. Verify Knowledge Base Settings and Permissions

• Review/update base settings
• Review/update base permissions

7. Begin Knowledge Migration

Track all migration in your audit spreadsheet. It is recommended that you document the new KB number so you can easily reference where your existing content ended up within ServiceNow.

It is recommended that all articles are left in Draft or Review state until migration is complete, then a mass publish can be performed for go-live.

• Cleaning Up an Imported Knowledge Article
• Creating or Editing a Knowledge Article
• Content Editing Style Guide and Tutorial
• Selecting Knowledge Base, Category and Configuration Item
• Linking to Attachment Files
• Meta Tag Guidelines
• Knowledge Article Workflow States and Valid Dates
• Creating Links to Knowledge Articles

8. Publish Knowledge Articles

Once migration is complete, verify all articles have been submitted for review. You can individually approve knowledge articles, or navigate to Service Desk > My Approvals to bulk select and publish knowledge articles.