TABLE OF CONTENTS

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Accessing the Knowledgebase Admin Tools
• Creating a document
• Setting the Topic
• Read/Write Access
• Screenshots / Pictures
• Uploading Images
• Linking Other Documents
• Related Documents

NOTE: This is intended to be a quick reference guide to the KB. For more in-depth descriptions, please visit the KB User Guide at https://kbadmin.apps.uillinois.edu/kbGuide/5235. In addition, all of the blue text on the "Creating a New Document" are links that will take you to the KB Guide for the specific link.

When writing KB documents, try to be as clear and concise as possible. Although screenshots are sometimes included, people should be able to understand what to do based on the writing itself.

Accessing the Knowledgebase Admin Tools

There are 2 ways to access the KB Admin tools:

1. Direct URL:  https://kbadmin.apps.uillinois.edu/kbAdmin.
2. Go to the SCS Internal KB (https://answers.uillinois.edu/scs/internal), log in, and then click on the KB Admin Tools link - see image below

If you don't have access to the Knowledgebase Admin Tools,send an email to SCS Computing (scs-computing@illinois.edu) requesting access. 

2. Once on the main screen of the KB Admin Tools, go to the top tabs and select "Documents." This section is where all the documents you will be working on are stored.

Creating a document

• To create a new document, click "New Doc" on the left sidebar.
  • NOTE: You may also be able to create a document from a template if one has been made for a certain kind of document (e.g. Reaction document, Computing document)

• Select a Template (if applicable): We've created a number of templates that pre-set options such as topic, availability (internal / external), write permissions, etc. 
• Make sure you fill out all the required fields to save a document i.e. "Title", "Key Words", "Summary" and "Body".
  • NOTE: you can click on almost any field title (such as "Title" or "UrlSlug" to get more information from the KB User's Guide)

• Once created and edited, new documents will be automatically saved with a status of "In Progress," until you change the status to something else, such as "Active".
  • Documents that are "In Progress" are NOT available to be viewed outside of the KB Admin Toools - only "Active" documents can be viewed.
  • NOTE: If you change the status to "In Review", be sure to click the plus ( ) sign next to "Show Additional Fields", and change the "Notification" field to "Owner".

Setting the Topic

Tag a document to organize it by topic.

If you do not see a topic that is appropriate for your document, email SCS Computing (scs-help@illinois.edu) and request that a new topic be created.

Read/Write Access

You can restrict who is allowed to view and/or edit the document.

• WriteAccess determines who can edit a document.
  • Generally, you want to set the document to "Owner", and then add groups.
  • You can see who is in a group by holding your mouse over the group name.
  • If you do not see a group that fits your need, email SCS Computing (scs-help@illinois.edu).
• ReadAccess determines who can read a document.
  • You may need to click on the [ ] Show all Read Access link to
  • Only click a group if you want to restrict the document to people in that grup.
  • If you want a document to be public, do not click ANYTHING here
• SiteAccess determines if the document is available on the external SCS KB pages (available to the world) or on the internal SCS KB (restricted to people using the internal SCS KB URL (https://answers.uillinois.edu/scs/internal) AND who have a valid NetID. If combined with the ReadAccess above, you can further restrict the document to only specific groups.

Screenshots / Pictures

"A picture is worth a thousand words" - trite, but still true. A quality picture can make all the difference in helping people understand what you're trying to say.

• Screenshots can be taken using whatever function your laptop uses.
  • Windows: [Win Key] [Shift] [S]
  • Mac: [Command] [Shift] [4])
    
    
• Use whatever editing program you find intuitive. It doesn't need to be fancy.
• Use boxes and arrows to point out where the reader's attention should be drawn
  
  
• Name the files with a keyword/name that is easily associated with a specific tutorial.
  
  
• You'll most likely have to resize the image depending on what looks good and is readable. You can either adjust it in your editing program or within the HTML of the document.

Uploading Images

• For new documents, you'll need to click on the checkbox next to Create a new doc attachment folder
  
  
• Once the document attachment folder is created, upload your photos onto the document by selecting Upload attachments or Open shared attachment folder which you can find a little under the Body text box.
  • The Upload attachments link is for this specific document, and is where you should upload most attachments, images, and screenshots.
  • The Shared attachment folder should only be used for attachments, images or screenshots that will be used by multiple KB documents (this is not common).
    • DO NOT move or delete images from the "shared attachment folder", as this will also remove them from any other document where that image is used.

• In the "Upload attachments" window, you can drag files to the box to upload them, or click on Browse for file(s) which will open a new window where you can select the screenshots or other images you wish to upload.
  • If you have many images or other items to upload, you can create folders to help organize your uploads.

• Go back to the document editing page and select " Show Shared Attachments," which will expand to show a list of screenshots you have uploaded to the KB.
• Place your cursor in the correct place in the text,
• Click "Quick" next to the screenshot you want to add. Since you've already written out the explanation for the images, just click "OK" in the pop-up asking for text.

Linking Other Documents

This may prove useful if you want to reference other documents in the KB. You can do this by:

• Finding the document ID number of the document you want to link and inserting that into the text of your tutorial.
• Highlight the number.
• Select the icon in the row of editing options that looks like a chain over a page. If you mouse over it, the text "Insert/edit KB link doc" should appear.
  
  
  
• Select the relevant options in the pop-up and click Insert.

• It will show up as the name of the linked document.
  • Note: If you ever want to see how a document will look when published, you can always click "Preview" below the editing text box. This will let you see the document without saving it.

Related Documents

• How to Create Anchor Tags and Links