Purpose
This blog is a continuation of a series of blogs under the heading of Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard. The blog discusses Knowledge Base Articles (KBAs), which are one of the many tools available to us for sharing knowledge.
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Overview
KBAs can only be created by SAP employees using the KBA creation tool in the case management tool (BCP). Depending on the Component chosen by the author, KBAs may be automatically replicated to SCN. All other KBAs are only available through the SAP Market Place and a S user or I user or other qualified user ID is required to access these KBAs.
How to KBA
The KBA authoring process, rules and more are well defined in the SAP Corporate SAP Knowledge Management Wiki. Theoretically a KBA should be written for every resolved customer message, if an applicable KBA does not already exist. One other source of almost infinite ideas for KBAs are the SCN Spaces. A quick browse of an SCN Space looking for Discussions marked as “Answered” will potentially KBA content that is essentially written for you. All that is needed is a bit of formatting in the KBA authoring tool. Ninety percent of my KBAs originate from SCN Spaces. KBAs created for Enterprise products are usually not replicated to SCN. This includes SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise, BI 4.0, Enterprise SDKs and so on. Most “volume” products are replicated to SCN. This includes SAP Crystal Reports, SAP Visual Intelligence and SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (Xcelsius).
Why to KBA
- Process is well defined
- Template is provided
- Only SAP employees can create KBAs
- Any employee of SAP can add to or modify the KBA
- Changes to KBA can be reverted
- KBAs can be created quickly and efficiently (most should not take more than 15 minutes)
- KBAs available on the SAP Market Place
as soon as they are set to “Released to Customer” status- KBA Coach to help you out
Why not to KBA
- Only SAP employees can create KBAs
- Only employees of SAP can add to or modify the KBA
- Lack of usage / view reporting on KBAs replicated to SCN
- Depending on the Component, some KBAs will not replicate to SCN
- KBAs that do replicate to SCN may take days or weeks to be actually replicated
- KBA Coach to bug you about format
Related Content
Related Documents
Share Your Knowledge in SCN Topic Spaces
Everything I know about... SCN Tips and Tricks
SCN Discussions Moderator Top Guidelines
My tips on searching knowledge content the SCN
Share Your Knowledge in SCN Topic Spaces
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard - Basic Tips
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard – Blogs
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard - Wikis
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard - Jive Documents
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard – SCN Discussions
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard - Articles
Sharing Knowledge Is Not That Hard - SAP Idea Place
