Out of the box in Service Manager, we provide a number of different properties to help categorize knowledge articles such as category, language, keywords, tag, and description. Let’s look at each of these properties in more detail.
For some reason, the Type field is included out of the box in the data model, but is not displayed on the form. You can edit the values that are in the Type list in the Lists view in the console. Obviously, somebody thought it would be a useful field to have in the data model, but somewhere along the way during development it was missed and not included on the form.
Given that the property already exists in the data model, adding the field to the form is pretty trivial. To add it to the form, I opened the SCSM Authoring Tool, created a new management pack, opened the Form Browser panel and found the KnowledgeMainForm form. I right clicked on the form and chose View. Then I clicked the Customize button at the top of the form. I then dragged a panel control onto the form and then dragged a label and a list picker control into the panel. I bound the list picker control to the Type property and set the label text to ‘Type:’. Then, I played around with the margin and size properties to get it positioned just the way I wanted. Hint: you can set a negative value for the Margin properties! After I saved and imported the management pack, I now have a fully functioning Type value picker control on my customized knowledge form.
You can either do the same or if you don't have any other customizations on your knowledge form already, you can simply import the management pack that you can find here on the TechNet Gallery:
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Add-the-Type-Property-to-c920e7c4
Update January 3rd, 2013: One of our MVPs, Marcel Zehner., also has a creative solution he built that uses the service catalog to organize knowledge articles. Check it out!
http://blog.scsmfaq.ch/2012/11/15/knowledge-articles-or-how-end-users-will-find-the-help-articles-they-are-looking-for/
Tried to import got this error, I previously loaded Update 3 to my 2012 installation.
The management pack import failed.
Errors (5):
Could not load management pack [ID=System.Knowledge.Library, KeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, Version=7.5.2905.0]. The management pack was not found in the store.
: Version mismatch. The management pack ([System.Knowledge.Library, 31bf3856ad364e35, 7.5.1561.0]) requested from the database was version 7.5.2905.0 but the actual version available is 7.5.1561.0.
@RYsr - Ah, the MP I created depends on MPs that are the 2012 SP1 version. If you need to, you can edit the MP XML file to reduce the version number to the one that matches your installation. Or just wait for 2012 SP1 to be generally available, upgrade, and then import.
Thanks for this update Travis. I have a few questions though:
1) How does a knowledge manager search for tagged KB articles?
2) What is the Feedback tab used for?
3) Who sees what's written in the "Comments" box on the General tab?
...Also, what does the "Archive" option for KB classification actually do?
I've answered my own question on how to search for tagged KB articles:
1) In the SCSM console, press Ctrl+F to bring up the Advanced Search window.
2) Press the Browse button and select "Knowledge Article" and press OK.
3) In the 'Available properties' window, check the "Tag" box and press Add.
4) In the 'Criteria' section, specify the tag(s) you want to search for.
5) Press Search to begin your search.