---
sourceDocument: Yokohama Customer Service Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/yokohama/customer-service-management

 Release :

    - yokohama

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Yokohama Customer Service Management

ft:clusterId :

    - csm

bundleId :

    - csm

workflow :

    - Customer and Industry


---

# Community setup guide for admins

# Community setup guide for admins {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Yokohama  
Updated January 30, 2025  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read
Summarize  
![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI  
This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.  

## Summary of Community setup guide for admins

This guide helps ServiceNow administrators define requirements and configure forums to enable community users to create and share content effectively.
It is designed for roles withsncommunities.adminorsncommunities.forumadminpermissions and emphasizes collaboration with stakeholders to establish community objectives and forum structures.
Show full answer Show less  

## Key steps and stakeholder involvement

* **Stakeholder roles:** Forum administrators manage daily forum operations like topic creation and moderation; community administrators handle advanced settings; community users contribute content such as questions, answers, blogs, and comments.
* **Requirement definition:** Collaborate with stakeholders to determine content consumers, content types allowed, contributor roles, forum and topic names, banned keywords, moderation policies, and default user notifications.

## Practical forum setup actions

* **Create forum users and permissions:** Establish forum users to assign memberships and create permissions that define users' access levels to forums and content types.
* **Configure forums and content types:** Set up forums to host user content, enable registered user access requests, and specify which content types are allowed per forum.
* **Manage permissions:** Assign permissions to forum users, create exceptions for specific user needs, and copy permissions between forums to streamline management.
* **User engagement:** Invite users to join forums to promote community participation.
* **Debugging:** Use debugging tools to resolve access or permission issues affecting users.

## Next steps for community management

* Create topics within forums to organize user-generated content around relevant themes.
* Moderate the community by setting up rules and mechanisms for content and user moderation, ensuring a healthy community environment.

## Using guided setup

ServiceNow provides a Communities guided setup tool accessible via **Community \> Administration \> Guided Setup**, which offers a structured sequence of tasks to simplify and streamline the configuration of Communities. This tool is recommended for admins to efficiently implement community features in their instance.  
Define your requirements with community and forum stakeholders and set up your forums
for community users to start creating content.

## Requirements

The roles required to define requirements and set up forums include sn_communities.admin or
sn_communities.forum_admin.

## Before you begin {#r_setup-communities-admin__section_bh2_qxl_vz}

Meet with the stakeholders
:   {#r_setup-communities-admin__table_r1s_43d_sz__entry__2}

    | Stakeholder | Responsibilities |
    |-|-|
    | Forum administrators | Define and oversee the forum processes for day-to-day operations related to topic creation, user management, and moderation. |
    | Community administrators | Configure advanced settings for Communities features. |
    | Community users | Contribute content in the form of questions, answers, blogs, and comments. |
    [Table 1. Stakeholder and responsibility]

    {#r_setup-communities-admin__table_r1s_43d_sz}

With stakeholders, determine your community requirements
:
    * Who are the consumers of the community content?
    * Which content types can users contribute?
    * Who can contribute content and who should have read-only access?
    * What should the names of the initial forums be?
    * Within these forums, what should the names of the initial topics be?
    * Which keywords should be banned?
    * How should the system moderate content and users?
    * What should the default notifications that users receive for various community activities be?
    {#r_setup-communities-admin__ul_qzp_5xl_vz}

## What to do {#r_setup-communities-admin__section_u2q_2sp_v1b}

Use the following steps as guidance to setting up your community.

1. Create a forum user: [Create a forum user](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/_27f~rFXnsIbQAb_qIrQzQ "You can create forum users, which you then use to define memberships to a forum.") to use to define memberships to a forum.
2. Create a permission: [Create a permission](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/uEon3W1fUKunHTZTnuGnng "Create a permission to use to define a user's access to a forum and the content in the forum.") to use to define a user's access to a forum and its content types.
3. Add access and content types to your permission: [Add access types to a permission](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/CGRRIFGv9QxkCNIumKRw2A "Access types for a permission determine the access that users have to certain forums.") to determine the access that users have to certain forums and content.
4. Create a forum: [Create a forum](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/1bHP017YnskmKqKs3CbVVQ "Create a forum to provide a place for users to share content. You can configure forums for membership that registered community users request access to join. You can also configure forums to convert unstructured conversations to structured knowledge articles.") to provide a place for users to share content and configure the forum to allow registered users to request access to join.
5. Configure content types for a forum: [Configure content types for a forum](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/2E~DuLmK0Z_5w4koITIBnA "Define which types of content to use in a particular forum and associate a workflow so that content is reviewed before becoming visible to other community users.") to define which types of content to use in a particular forum.
6. Create a forum permission: [Create a forum permission](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/jw1qU6~CfSMVKo4pNJXMcQ "Add a forum user and a permission to a forum to create a forum permission.") by adding a forum user and a permission to a forum.
{#r_setup-communities-admin__ol_nvc_vdt_5mb}

If required, perform the following actions:

Invite users to join the forum
:   [Invite users to become members of a forum](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/0LMYTvNS8GAvVwic7Xq~CA "Invite users to become members of a particular forum to encourage greater community involvement.") to encourage greater
    community involvement.

Create permission exceptions
:   [Create a permission exception](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/ySFMnaY7g2sOk26BDz_SfQ "Create a permission exception for users who require specific permissions for a forum.") for users who require
    specific permissions for a forum.

Copy permissions
:
    * [Copy permissions from a forum](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/8ea0dotjEypbyZz0phDUFQ "You can copy all permissions and content types from one forum to another.") to copy all permissions and content types from one forum to another.
    * [Copy permissions from a parent forum](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r1CknpiiIjg6aY4ADJCeFw "You can copy permissions from a parent forum to a child forum.").
    {#r_setup-communities-admin__ul_b5j_ttv_1bb}

Debug user permissions
:   [Debug user permissions](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/EUTjUamoGMbCtswKUHLuqg "Investigate and diagnose problems with user access to forums.")
    to investigate and diagnose problems with user access to forums.

## Next steps {#r_setup-communities-admin__section_sln_jtp_v1b}

[Create a topic](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/Dw45mbCGQNkPHGXeB49Leg "Create a topic for users to create and share content.") for users to create and
share content.

[Add a topic to a forum](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/a1~5jzKf2o0Rh7Jj2olN7A "Add a topic to a forum so that users can associate content to that topic.") so that users
can associate content to that topic.

[Moderate a community](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/_6hJCmtXtx5TOfeOtpkZ3w "Community moderators can manage content quality by reducing the inappropriate content that is posted on the community.") to set up how the system moderates content
and users.

## Using guided setup to implement Communities {#r_setup-communities-admin__section_i4s_lgz_12b}

Communities guided setup provides a sequence of tasks that help you configure Communities
on your ServiceNow instance. To open Communities guided setup, navigate to CommunityAdministrationGuided Setup.

For more information about using the guided setup interface, see [Using guided setup](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=guided-setup&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-platform-user-interface&ft:locale=en-US).{#r_setup-communities-admin__ph_guided-setup-help}

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