askPGCC: How to Create a Knowledge Article

This knowledge article addresses how to create a knowledge article in askPGCC.  Those with Technician or higher permissions in askPGCC can create knowledge articles.

Step 1

Sign in to askPGCC with your myPGCC username and password, then select the Knowledge Base tab. 

Step 2

Choose the + New Article button.

Step 3

Select the magnifying glass icon to review the list of categories.

• Choose the category to which your article belongs (these categories are pre-established). Alternately, if you know the category, you can begin typing to activate the dropdown list of choices.

Note: Categories are created only by those with manager editing privileges. If you think you need a new category, contact your manager.

Step 4

Choose the ordering of the category.  If you don’t know the order, leave the Order default (1.0).

Step 5

Add your Subject.

• For Procedural knowledge articles that involve stepping users through instructions, the naming convention is the name of the knowledge topic, followed by a colon, then with a description of the focus of the article, beginning with “How To…” and indicating the main action described by the article (e.g., Microsoft Word 2013: How to Encrypt a Document).
• For Reference knowledge articles that provide general information about a topic, the naming convention is the subject of the article (e.g., Knowledge Article Templates)

Step 6

Use the Knowledge Article formatting instructions to create your article.

Step 7

If applicable, enter YouTube Video embed code.

• If you have a video demonstration, you should add that video to YouTube, then copy the embed code by choosing the Embed YouTube video option.

Step 8

Leave Summary blank.

• Your Subject should provide users with enough information about what the article is about.

Step 9

Enter tags. 

• In the Tags box, enter the tags that users will employ to find the article. You want to create (or select, if the tag is already created) a tag for the name of the application:

Then you will add a tag for the principal action or procedure your article outlines (for example, “encrypting”). You should provide variants of the verb to make the search work more optimally (for example, “encrypt,” “encryption,” and so on). Try to avoid tags that are too general. For example, “document” is probably too vague to be useful in a search.

Step 11

Select Save. Note: this will not submit your article for approval.  In order to make it easier to return to edit the article, do not submit your article.  Instead, send your department's reviewer an email indicating that the article is ready for review. The process works much more smoothly if the Submit stage is avoided and the reviewer publishes the article when it is ready. 

Note: The interface is different when you return to edit an article—parts of the initial form are on separate tabs. For example, Category, Tags, and Status are now under Settings.

Step 12

Attach any files (for example, you may want to provide print instructions for a video you have uploaded).

• Select the Files tab, then Add. Navigate to the file’s location and then Upload the document.

Step 13

Once all of the articles related to an individual article are approved, you should send a list of Related Articles to the person in your department with manager editing permissions, who can then associate them with your article.