Prepare Your Salesforce Knowledge Base

What kind of information will we publish?

FAQs, procedures, product manuals, and guidelines.

You want to publish and present different types of information in different ways.

Create a record type for each different type of information.

Record types determine how to structure each kind of article and what information to share with different user profiles. Other important features, like workflow and page layouts, are also set on the record type.

How can we incorporate external information for comprehensive coverage?

To create a centralized, multisource knowledge base, you can use structured and unstructured content from sources like Data Cloud, SharePoint, Google Drive, or Confluence.

Use the Knowledge import tool to bring in articles from a different knowledge base. For external sources, consider ingesting content into Data Cloud for use with Enterprise Knowledge capabilities. Use the Knowledge Migration tool to move existing Salesforce Classic Knowledge content into Knowledge.

Which case fields should we use to filter suggested articles?

Product family, product region, or type of issue.

Define data category groups for each type of search filter or to determine which user profile can access the articles for each category or group.

Do we need workflow or approval processes to manage article creation and publication?

Some articles require legal approval because they contain sensitive information, such as safety requirements for installing and servicing products.

Add an approval process to a record type to ensure that required reviewers approve that type of article before it's published.

What type of audience are we sharing our information with?

Different audiences are called channels. Set the channel on an article to determine which type of user can view the article. Once you define that, the content is available to users in any self-service site they have access to.

Determine what information to make available to each audience. If necessary, restrict individual fields to keep sensitive information secure or restrict records with a specific category associated to specific user profiles using data categories.

How do we track article feedback?

Let users give articles a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Create custom reports about article ratings. Review reports and articles regularly to keep your knowledge base accurate and up to date.

How can we measure the effectiveness of knowledge as a foundation for AI?

Monitor key metrics like article attachment rate, deflection rate, and AI answer accuracy. The most valuable articles are those that are frequently used to ground generative AI responses.

Track how often an article is attached to a case that solves a customer issue or how often it's used to ground responses for Agentforce or Einstein AI features. Articles used for grounding are excellent candidates to share with customers or reps and should be prioritized for translation.

How should information be categorized?

Companies often group information by teams and then categorize it by product types. Other companies group information by geographic area and then categorize it by product.

Data category groups contain data categories. The fewer groups, the better.

When defining data category groups and data categories, make sure that classifications are clear to users. They must know which groups and categories to select when they search for existing articles or when they create new ones.

Does any information need to be restricted?

A service rep should only have access to information relevant to their region, such as specific product or sales information in Arizona.

Set data category visibility on profiles to control which user profile has access to the articles with that data category.

How can we ensure the knowledge base is optimized for AI and search?

A key benefit of a centralized knowledge base is the ability to easily ground generative AI responses, which ensures accuracy and trust for features like Einstein Search Answers and Agentforce Service Agent.

Identify synonyms for search terms, for example linking and attaching. Search results highlight snippets of article text that match the search term.

These search improvements also enhance how Knowledge grounds generative AI responses, which makes Agentforce and AI more trusted and accurate.

Readers Only

Relatively new to the company, these reps aren’t authorized to create articles yet.

They use existing articles to answer questions and attach articles to cases.

These articles help them contribute much faster than if they had to solve all the issues themselves.

Read Knowledge permission

Contributors

Advanced Knowledge users, such as a subject matter expert, have a lot of product knowledge and understand the standards for articles.

They create, edit, and publish articles.

Manage Article permission and Read, Create, Edit, and Publish Knowledge permissions

Knowledge Admin

Knowledge admins know when to retire or delete articles.

Manage Article permission and Read, Create, Edit, Archive, Publish, and Delete Knowledge permissions