UMN

Checklist for Creating and Reviewing INTERNAL Knowledge

internal knowledge

• Process and Procedures

• Article is unique (no duplicate knowledge articles)

• Author has collaborated with knowledge owner and other stakeholders

• When knowledge exists elsewhere, provides context and link to external knowledge

• Style

• Article Title 

• Leads with the service or application name and version number(s) followed by a colon (when applicable)

• Summarizes article contents

• Content

• First paragraph is a problem statement or description that provides context 

• Sentences are concise and easy to scan, paragraphs are short

• Content is well ordered; topics and subtopics are in a logical sequence 

• Refer to "callers", "users", or “they” instead of “you”; use "their" instead of "your" 

• Format

• Topic and subtopic titles are formatted as headings

• Use numbers for steps, bullets for lists

• Link text clearly references the target content (see Create a Link in an Article)  Non-UMN content is clearly described and easy to use, Links open in a new window except for in-page jump-to links

• Long articles have a table of contents (TOC) that use in-page (internal) links

• Table(s) have a header row(s)

• HTML is clean

• Images/Video

• Images are inserted (not attached)

• Images have effective alternative text 

• Images are associated with the step they define

• Images have a ServiceNow-generated 1 pixel border (set in Insert/Modify Image window) to define edges when necessary

• Application References

• Application interface terms are referenced just as they appear in the interface

• Application interface terms are in bold

• ServiceNow Edit Form 

• Service Offering represents the technology being addressed in the article

• Technology field filled out unless no technology associated with Service Offering 

• Assignment Group (ownership) is selected based on agreement between stakeholders

• Keywords include words not already in the title or content area that you expect someone to use when searching for content, including technical terms, jargon, and abbreviations