Over the last month or so we have been making some changes to ITKnowS.

The first change you will probably notice is that the main ITKnowS! page has been updated to provide a more concise view. The ‘Area Guides’ block near the top was removed after a quick poll of primary ITKnowS! users determined it was no longer useful for looking up documentation. This allows the ‘Article Categories’ section to float up to the top of the page and leaves room to add an additional informational widget in the near future.

We made a few adjustments to improve usability as well. In an effort to make information related to a specific topic easier to find, we are in the process of consolidating the multiple existing topic documents into a single source. The consolidated document will be in either an InfoSheet format containing all of the particulars on a topic, or in a guide book format that better separates out sub-components of more involved documentation. The Article Categories have also been condensed and updated to better align with the decided document types. This will allow for easier classification of articles and quick access to all posts within a specified category from the ITKnowS! main page. The current categories, and what type of documentation they are associated with, can be found below.

• Applications – Stand-alone software applications.
• Departments – Departmental information sheets.
• For Review – Built-in category for newly created articles.
• Hardware – Server, printer, computer, and other hardware articles.
• Policies – Internal and external policies.
• Processes – Internal and external processes and procedures.
• Reference Materials – General information only articles.
• Services – Internal and external services provided to users.
• SMS Equipment – SMS check out equipment.
• Tools – Internal tools (generally web-based) that are used to complete day-to-day operations.

The remaining updates were made to assist with the document creation process:

• Pre-formatted templates have been created for each document type that include when it is appropriate to use a given template and what to fill in the Title, Category, Tag, and Anchor fields.
• The Writing Guide has been updated to include information about how to use templates to create new articles.

We will be continuing to fine-tune the documentation process based on feedback form all of you, and looking for additional ways to leverage the features of WordPress to best meet our needs.

Note: a huge “thanks!” to Todd for all his work on the new templates, categories, and guides. Also, thank you to Samuel for all the work to get this tool up and running for our team.