Knowledge base legacy - documentation system
Deprecation warning
The functionality below has been replaced by a new Knowledge solution- integration of Easy Project with BlueSpice.
Knowledge base legacy reaches end of life in Easy Project version 14.
Where to go from here?
- Ideally, migrate data from KB legacy to the new Knowledge base seamlessly via button - available only before upgrade to v14
- Export the data from KB legacy in XML (machine readable) format for potential future import into a different system - available only before upgrade to v14.
How to export legacy KB data in XML?
Cloud solution
Please contact your account manager or support, who will ultimately provide you the exported archive in a secure way.
Server solution
- Make sure your application is up to date - go to page /admin/version, the build date must be minimum 1st September
Earlier builds do not contain the functional KB exporter - Open the Rails console in your app.
-
Run the following code:
exporter = EasyKnowledge::Exporter.new -
Run the export command:
exporter.call - The console will display a message starting with "Dear clients…" and provide a link.
- Copy this link, paste it into your browser, and your browser will prompt you to save the archive.zip file.
How to use Knowledge base legacy
Knowledge Base legacy is a complex solution for incorporating knowledge management into your Easy Project. Knowledge base legacy allows you to capture knowledge from tasks and projects, categorize and store it, share it among users and utilize it in future projects. It further helps you create project documentation very easily.
Table of contents
How to (de)activate the plugin
How to use the plugin on the global level
How to use the plugin on the project level
Synchronize Knowledge base legacy with other systems
Overview
Do you believe that Knowledge Management is essential for a healthy business nowadays? We do and we have thus created a Knowledge base legacy plugin for Easy Project users. It is an easy way to collect, manage and share knowledge within the company. It helps both knowledge externalization and internalization. Plainly speaking - distribute knowledge from knowledge workers and deliver it to workers who need to learn it. You create knowledge posts when updating a task - any separate update or whole task can be saved as a knowledge post, or directly in the knowledge base.
Knowledge posts are categorized, tagged with metadata and can have mutual relations. Each user has a personal knowledge folder. You can recommend knowledge to other users, send it to them via e-mail and even require knowledge posts to be read. It is beneficial for creating project documentation - any valid project information that goes through a task can be saved for future use - thus, information becomes knowledge. It is suitable for walk-throughs for new employees, manuals for specific software, templates for communicating with customers or workflows or project documentation.
Key features
- Easy creation of knowledge posts from tasks - capturing of knowledge
- Knowledge categories + personal/project categories - for sharing of knowledge
- Attaching of knowledge posts to projects/tasks
- Recommendation of knowledge to users
- Quick access to knowledge base from the right service panel
- Full-text search in knowledge base
How to (de)activate the plugin
On the project level, the plugin can be activated or deactivated in project's Setting: Modules: Knowledge base legacy. After ticking the checkbox, click on the green "Save" button below to make the Knowledge base tab appear in the project menu at the top.
Roles and permissions
In More: Administration: Roles and permissions: Knowledge base legacy you can decide which user roles have the permissions as follows.
How to use the plugin on the global level
Knowledge posts can be basically created as uncategorized or added into a category, which might be created on the global or project level. One post can be a part of none, one or more categories at one time, no matter their level (global, project).
The global level means that all knowledge posts created in there are automatically added to the global database, which makes them easily accessible for all Easy Project users no matter their project memberships and roles. To use Knowledge base legacy on the global level, go to the "More" menu (top right corner) and click on the Knowledge base legacy icon.
Now you are on a fully customizable page, which can be adjusted to your liking after clicking on the "Customise this page" button down. You can select from various modules to add, such as filtered lists of knowledge posts, most used tags on the knowledge posts, 10 most recent posts etc. By the way, the last two modules are added to the page by default.
The filtered list of the posts can look like this. By default, it consists of the post name, knowledge category, and tags. Additional columns can be added in the List options when editing the module. The list can be removed or edited by clicking on the trash and pencil icons in the top right corner. The options in the sidebar menu allow you to create a new post, create a new global or personal category, see all posts in Easy Project no matter their category, manage categories, show favorite posts and personal categories. The personal categories are those visible only to you, however, individual knowledge posts in the category have no such limited access.
Let's see what a knowledge post looks like. Any post is created and edited using a standard WYSIWYG/HTML editor. To edit the existing one or create a new one, just click on the particular buttons in the sidebar menu. When a particular post is opened, the sidebar menu includes some specific options such as add to favorites, add to the global database, personal database or project database, recommend to users or user groups as well as assign it to a task or remove it (delete). Moreover, you can add or remove tags of the post in order to be later able to find specific posts by their tags. In the lower right corner is the list of categories the post is added in. You can change the category anytime the post is being edited.
Each knowledge post contains additional information at the bottom:
- Comments - Possible to comment on a post.
- History - All changes of the post, including a Diff summary of what has changed and which user made the last change, as well as the possibility to revert to a past version. The author of the current version is shown as one and only, not showing other possible authors at all.
- Readers - Section, where you can see all recommended users and whether they have read the post.
How to use the plugin on the project level
The project level means that all knowledge posts created there are automatically added to the project database associated with the particular project. Only the project members can browse through the project database. Though, non-members having permission to view Knowledge base legacy are also able to open a particular project post if they:
- open the global list of all Knowledge posts (no matter their category)
- have direct URL link to the post
- search out the post by entering its name in the search box, which can be found under the bulb icon in the service panel (on the far right)
To use Knowledge base legacy on the project level, go to the selected project with the module enabled and click on the Knowledge base legacy tab in the top menu. Here you should see the project database consisting of project knowledge categories and posts. The options in the sidebar menu allow you to create new project categories or new posts, manage project categories or see all posts in Easy Project no matter their category.
Synchronize Knowledge base legacy with other systems
Examples of use:
- public knowledge base on web
- web-based ticketing system - solution suggester
- knowledge submission by customer - forum based self support
- REST API for Knowledge base legacy
