Author and Publish to a Jira Service Management (JSM) Knowledge Base with Scroll Documents
In this article, you'll learn how to use Scroll Documents to publish, update, and maintain articles for a Jira Service Management (JSM) Knowledge Base.
Why Use Scroll Documents with JSM Knowledge Base?
Jira Service Management's Knowledge Base is great for surfacing help content where users need it most, but it has a primary challenge: any change you make in the connected Confluence space goes live instantly. Scroll Documents addresses this and other challenges:
Controlled publishing: Avoid publishing half-finished articles or unreviewed updates by creating a separate author and target space using Publish to Confluence.
Version control: Maintain multiple versions of your documentation and publish only the most recent or any other version. For more information, see: Save a Version.
Consolidate content: Bring together content from multiple documents in a single knowledge base space.
Page-level workflows: Use the built-in workflow feature to ensure that only content that has been approved is published. To learn more about workflows, see: Manage Page-level Workflows
How to Set Up Your Knowledge Base with Scroll Documents
Here's how to create a controlled environment for your JSM Knowledge Base by using Scroll Documents:
Set up your authoring space:
First, set up a space in Confluence where you will create your documentation. Enable Scroll Documents on this space. This will serve as the source for your knowledge base.
You can also use an existing documentation that is already managed by Scroll Documents and that you, for example, are also publishing to Scroll Viewport.
(Optional) Use page-level workflows to assign statuses to your content for review.
Connect your knowledge base:
Next, set up a separate Confluence space to serve as your knowledge base. Follow Atlassian's documentation to connect this space to your service project.
Publish your content:
Once your content is ready and reviewed, use Publish to Confluence to publish your content from your authoring space to the designated knowledge base space.
How to Update Your Knowledge Base
When it's time to make updates to your knowledge base, you can work on them in the document source space without affecting the live, published content. Once your updates are finished, you can choose between two different ways to proceed:
Directly update the existing content: Publish the Working version directly to the target space. This will overwrite the previously published content with your new changes.
Create a new, separate version: First, save your changes as a new version of the document. Then, publish this saved version to the target space to overwrite the previously published content with your new changes.
For more detailed steps, see: Publish to Confluence
How to Manage and Publish Multiple Versions to a Knowledge Base
If you need to provide your users with access to different versions of your product documentation, you can accomplish this in a couple of ways:
Publish with a version prefix: You can publish multiple versions to your knowledge base space and use a version prefix to differentiate them. For example, your target space might have pages titled "1.0 - Getting Started" and "2.0 - Getting Started" so users can easily identify the correct version.
Use Scroll Viewport: For a more user-friendly experience, publish your documentation to Scroll Viewport as well, and link to it from your JSM Knowledge Base. Scroll Viewport creates a professional looking help center with a built-in version picker, making it easy for users to switch between different versions.
For a detailed comparison of Jira Service Management Knowledge Base and Scroll Viewport, see: What Are the Advantages Of Using Scroll Viewport Over Jira Service Management (JSM) Knowledgebase?