Knowledge Management

The ConvertTicket2KB plugin automatically creates a new KB article from a ticket. To do this, at least one conversion rule must exist beforehand. When the article is created, the status changes from “No status” to the status configured in the conversion rule.

Configuration

Creator: The user to be the article’s creator is specified here.

Link Knowledge Base article with ticket: Defines whether the new article is to be linked to the ticket (Yes/No).

Knowledge Base conversion: The ObjectGUID the KB conversion has obtained in the database is to be specified here (Database: "XPert"; Table: "Ticket2KBConversion").

The Knowledge Base conversion consists of the following XML In computing, Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable through use of tags that can be created and defined by users., which includes the mapping of the data:

<Transformations>
    <Transformation>
        <Mappings>
            <Mapping origin="39f9dd95f23a4e3982517db939bb81c7" target="Keywords"/>
            <Mapping origin="fbf6e64bb70846ad923b415ce8a55525" target="Caption"/>
            <Mapping origin="ExternalSolution" target="Content"/>
            <Mapping origin="ExternalSummary" target="Description"/>
        </Mappings>
    </Transformation>
</Transformations>

The attribute origin represents the source of the data. The following values can be used as placeholders here:

• ExternalSummary,
• ExternalSolution,
• InternalSummary,
• InternalSolution,
• or a GUID of the ticket field.

Multiple values can be entered separated by commas. They will be merged automatically during the creation of the article.

The attribute target represents the data target in the KB article. The following values are available here:

• Caption,
• Keywords,
• Description,
• Content,
• Boilerplate.

This allows for defining the origin of the data for each field in the KB article.

The Knowledge Base conversion can only be configured directly in the database.

No dialog is available for this purpose. When the dataset is added to the database, a status to be set as the initial status of the new article is to be specified. The following statuses are available here:

• Draft,
• Declined,
• Unapproved,
• Published,
• Archived,
• Review.

The initial status of the article has to be specified via one of the terms named above.

Creating and configuring a conversion rule

To use the plugin, a conversion rule is required. This must be created directly in the “XPert” database in the “Ticket2KBConversion” table. An example SQL for inserting a new conversion rule can be found below.

 

An explanation of the individual columns:

ObjectGuid: Defines the ObjectGuid of the conversion rule to be added. A new Guid can be generated directly with SQL.

FriendlyName: Defines the name of the KB conversion, under which it can also be found in the plugin configuration.

KBItemTemplateObjectGuid: Defines the schema of the KB article into which the ticket is to be converted.

TicketSchemeObjectGuid: Defines the ticket scheme of the ticket from which a KB article is to be created.

KBStatus: Enter the FriendlyName of the target KB status to which you want to convert (available options: “Draft,” “Unprove,” “Declined,” “Published,” “Archival,” and “Review”).

Active: Defines whether this conversion rule is active or not (1 = active; 0 = inactive).

ConvertAttachments: Defines whether the file attachments of the ticket should be transferred to the KB article (1 = transfer attachments; 0 = do not transfer attachments).

ConversionXML: Defines the mapping of ticket content (origin) to the storage location within the KB article (target).

CreatedDateTime: Specifies when the data record was created.

UpdatedDateTime: Specifies the date on which the data record was last modified.

Deleted: Specifies the date on which the data record was marked as deleted.

ClientObjectGuid: Defines in which client the KB conversion should be displayed. NULL means that it is available in all clients.

KBCategoryObjectGuid: Defines which category the KB article is assigned to (only one category possible).

 

Example of a transformation XML (column “ConversionXML”):

Copy

<Transformations>
    <Transformation>
        <Mappings>
            <Mapping origin="39f9dd95f23a4e3982517db939bb81c7" target="Keywords"/>
            <Mapping origin="fbf6e64bb70846ad923b415ce8a55525" target="Caption"/>
            <Mapping origin="ExternalSolution" target="Content"/>
            <Mapping origin="ExternalSummary" target="Description"/>
        </Mappings>
    </Transformation>
</Transformations>

 

SQL statement for inserting a new record into the database:

Copy

INSERT INTO Ticket2KBConversion (ObjectGuid, FriendlyName, KBItemTemplateObjectGuid, TicketSchemeObjectGuid, KBStatus, Active, ConvertAttachments, ConversionXML, CreatedDateTime, UpdatedDateTime, Deleted, ClientObjectGuid, KBCategoryObjectGuid)
VALUES (NEWID(), @friendlyName, @kbItemTemplateObjectGuid, @ticketSchemeObjectGuid, ‚Draft‘, 1, 1, @conversionXML, GETUTCDATE(), NULL, NULL, @clientObjectGuid, @kbCategoryObjectGuid)

 

The SQL statement must be executed in the “XPert” database. The variables used must be defined and filled in advance.

Moves all workflow items (including those from other revisions/versions of the same article) to the Move to output, except for what is currently running through this plug-in. This includes all items - even those that are in other workflows.

If there are several workflow items of a KB article in different workflows that are no longer relevant due to an action taken by the system or a user, they can be moved to other workflows with this plug-in. They can also be directed to a workflow exit to eliminate them.

If there is only a single workflow item (currently running through this plug-in), nothing happens.