Show Knowledge Article activity

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Show Knowledge Article activity

    The Show Knowledge Article activity enables ServiceNow users to display a knowledge article directly to end users within a playbook. This activity helps guide users by providing relevant knowledge content as part of a structured workflow.

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    Roles and Availability

    This activity is a common activity accessible to users with the admin, playbook.admin, or pdauthor roles, who can add it to playbooks.

    Inputs

    When configuring this activity, you set various inputs to control how and when the knowledge article is presented:

    • Label: The title shown on the activity and playbook card.
    • Description: Details about the activity’s usage or expected outcome.
    • Run condition: Conditions that determine if the activity or stage should run, which can use data from prior activities.
    • Start Rule: Defines when the stage or activity starts, such as when the process or stage starts or after specific stages or activities complete.
    • Start with delay: Optionally delays execution before running the activity or stage.
    • Title: The title displayed to the end user when viewing the knowledge article.
    • Knowledge Article: Reference to the specific knowledge article ([kbknowledge]) to display.
    • Wait for user input: Option to pause the playbook until the end user manually completes or skips the activity. This setting is editable only by users with the playbook.admin role. By default, the activity waits for user action before completing.

    Advanced optional inputs include assignment fields to specify the group or user responsible for completing the associated task:

    • Assignment Group: The group accountable for task completion.
    • Assigned To: The individual accountable for task completion.

    Outputs

    The activity produces outputs that can feed data into subsequent playbook activities:

    • Record: A reference to the task record associated with the activity, enabling further workflow integration.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    Using the Show Knowledge Article activity within playbooks allows customers to embed critical knowledge content into automated workflows, improving end user guidance and accelerating issue resolution. The configurable inputs and outputs provide flexibility to integrate this activity seamlessly into complex processes, control execution timing, and track task ownership effectively.

    Display a knowledge article to end users.

    Roles and availability

    This activity is available as a common activity. Users with the admin, playbook.admin, or pd_author can add this activity to a playbook.

    Inputs

    Open the activity properties panel and configure your activity to add values for the following inputs. If the input value varies, use the pill-picker to show where to get the value. To learn more about the pill-picker, see Dot-walking examples.
    Input Type Description
    Label String Title to display as activity and playbook card.
    Description String Information to display about activity usage or outcome.
    Run condition Condition Builder Conditions that must be met to run an activity or stage. You can use data from prior activities to build conditions.
    Note:
    Show additional options to see this field.
    Start Rule Choice Under Schedule > Start Rule, select a start rule for when your stage should start running:
    • When process starts: Your stage starts running as soon as the playbook starts.
    • After specific stages: Your stage starts running after specified stage(s) have finished running.
    Under Schedule > Start Rule, select a start rule for when your activity should start running:
    • When stage starts: Your activity starts running as soon as its stage starts running. Your stage starts running when your playbook is triggered.
    • After specific activities: Your activity starts running after specified activities have finished running.
    Start with delay True/False Option to wait for a duration of time before running an activity or stage. When enabled, this input displays the Start with delay input properties.
    Note:
    Show additional options to see this field.
    Title String Title displayed to end users.
    Knowledge Article Reference.Knowledge [kb_knowledge] Knowledge article displayed to end users.
    Wait for user input Choice Option to pause the playbook until the end user manually completes or skips the activity. Only users with the playbook.admin role can edit this field. By default, the activity waits for user action or data before it completes.

    Advanced inputs

    After configuring the required inputs for your activity, you can also choose to configure additional inputs. In the side panel, select Show additional options to display these advanced inputs. For more information, see Activity experience.
    Input Type Description
    Assignment Group Reference.Group [sys_user_group] Group responsible for completing the task associated with the activity.
    Note:
    Show additional options to see this field.
    Assigned To Reference.User [sys_user] User responsible for completing the task associated with the activity.
    Note:
    Show additional options to see this field.

    Outputs

    These outputs can provide data to other activities in your playbook. You can access this data as activity inputs when you configure your activity:
    Output Type Description
    Record Reference.Task[task] Reference to the record associated with the activity.