Overview

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There are many tables that Knowledge Base articles touch. The four main ones you will need for building a report are below. ServiceNow team provides a Knowledge Base Dashboard that should suffice for most users' needs.

 

Fields on Knowledge Related Tables

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The core Knowledge Base article table is 'kb_knowledge'. This has who wrote the article, where it is published, what it is about, and what it contains. The statistics around the article generally come from other tables.

Ratings on articles come from 'kb_feedback'.

Whereas viewing statistics come from 'kb_use'.

If you are interested in knowing if the article gets attached to cases to help close them out, the table you would have to reference is 'm2m_kb_task'. This table is a system generated view of multiple tables.

 

Notable kb_knowledge fields

Notable kb_feedback fields

Notable kb_use fields

 

Notable kb_knowledge fields

Display Name	Label	Element	Field Type	Reference	Max Length	Reporting Notes
Active	Active	active	True/False		40	True or False - is the KB Article Active. Different than Workflow - which would show where in the publish cycle it is.
Article body	Article body	text	Translated HTML		65000	Actual HTML of article.
Article ID	Article ID	article_id	String		32	Unique ID of article
Article type	Article type	article_type	String		40	Will likely always be HTML.
Attachment link	Attachment link	direct	True/False		40	When you click on the article name, does it download the article or open the article url. Does not indicate if there is an attachment on the article itself, it is about the linking of the article.
Author	Author	author	Reference	User	32	Who is the primary writer of this article.
Base Version	Base Version	base_version	Reference	Knowledge	32	The main version of the article, not including minor updates.
Can Read	Can Read	can_read_user_criteria	List	User Criteria	1024	ACLs associated with article. Who can or cannot read the article.
Cannot Read	Cannot Read	cannot_read_user_criteria	List	User Criteria	1024	ACLs associated with article. Who can or cannot read the article.
Category	Category	category	String		40	This is generally blank.
Category	Category	kb_category	Reference	Knowledge Category	32	This reflect the category of the article itself, is mandatory.
Class	Class	sys_class_name	System Class Name		80
Configuration item	Configuration item	cmdb_ci	Reference	Configuration Item	32
	Created	sys_created_on	Date/Time		40	When the article was first created.
	Created by	sys_created_by	String		40	Who created the first instance of the article.
Description	Description	description	String		4000	Generally blank.
Disable commenting	Disable commenting	disable_commenting	True/False		40
Disable suggesting	Disable suggesting	disable_suggesting	True/False		40
Display attachments	Display attachments	display_attachments	True/False		40
Display number	Display number	display_number	String		40
Domain	Domain	sys_domain	Domain ID		32
Domain Path	Domain Path	sys_domain_path	Domain Path		255
Flagged	Flagged	flagged	True/False		40
Image	Image	image	Basic Image		100
Knowledge base	Knowledge base	kb_knowledge_base	Reference	Knowledge Base	32	The portal / organization under which this article is published.
Knowledge Type	Knowledge Type	u_knowledge_type	String		40	Options are FAQ / How To / Known Error / Standard Operating / Solution. Not mandatory, but often selected by author.
Latest	Latest	latest	True/False		40	True on articles that are most recent of published versions.
Latest AQI	Latest AQI	latest_aqi	Reference	Article Checklist Summary	32
Meta	Meta	meta	String		4000	Tags for analytics
Meta Description	Meta Description	meta_description	String		1000	Tags for analytics
Number	Number	number	String		40
Ownership Group	Ownership Group	ownership_group	Reference	Group	32	Not relevant to our current set-up. Will generally be blank.
Published	Published	published	Date		40	Blank when unpublished. Once published, gets auto-filled.
Rating	Rating	rating	Decimal		15	Current average rating, calculated from kb_feedback.
Retired	Retired	retired	Date		40	Blank when retired. Once retired, gets auto-filled.
Revised By	Revised By	revised_by	Reference	User	32	Who last revised this article.
Roles	Roles	roles	User Roles		255	ACLs, generally empty
Scheduled publish date	Scheduled publish date	scheduled_publish_date	Date/Time		40	If there is a future date to publish this article, it would be shown here.
Service Offering	Service Offering	u_service_offering	Reference	Business Service	32	Mandatory service offering for article.
Short description	Short description	short_description	String		100	Subject line of article.
Source	Source Task	source	Reference	Task	32	If a task was set up to create this article, it would link here. Not generally relevant to our current usage.
Summary	Summary	summary	Reference	Knowledge Summary	32
	Sys ID	sys_id	Sys ID (GUID)		32
Topic	Topic	topic	String		40	One of eight optional topics in a drop down when creating the article.
	Updated	sys_updated_on	Date/Time		40
	Updated by	sys_updated_by	String		40
	Updates	sys_mod_count	Integer		40
Use count	Use count	use_count	Integer		40	How many times the article has been attached to a task ticket within ServiceNow
Valid to	Valid to	valid_to	Date		40	If the article is set to auto-expire, it would have a date here.
Version	Version	version	Reference	Knowledge Version	32	Unique version number of this article revision.
View count	View count	sys_view_count	Integer		40	How many times this item has been viewed in the portal.
Wiki	Wiki	wiki	Wiki		65000
Workflow	Workflow	workflow_state	Workflow		80	The current workflow state of this article - from drafts through published through retirement.

 

Notable kb_feedback fields

 

Notable kb_use fields

Display Name	Label	Element	Field Type	Reference	Max Length	Reporting Notes
Article	Article	article	Reference	Knowledge	32
Article Summary	Article Summary	article_summary	Reference	Knowledge Summary	32
	Created	sys_created_on	Date/Time		40
	Created by	sys_created_by	String		40
Domain	Domain	sys_domain	Domain ID		32
Search Id	Search Id	search_id	Reference	Knowledge Searches	32
Session Id	Session Id	session_id	String		100
	Sys ID	sys_id	Sys ID (GUID)		32
Times viewed	Times viewed	times_viewed	Integer		40
	Updated	sys_updated_on	Date/Time		40
	Updated by	sys_updated_by	String		40
	Updates	sys_mod_count	Integer		40
Used	Used	used	True/False		40
User	User	user	Reference	User	32
Viewed	Viewed	viewed	True/False		40