Skip to main content
Articles is the site’s knowledge base — what the site has already worked out, and who worked it out — searched by symptom and written down by whoever found it.
If you don’t see this in your navigation, your administrator can switch the module on under Administration → Modules, or it may not be included in your plan.
Articles sits under Knowledge Base in the sidebar, beside Documents. The module is called Knowledge base under Administration → Modules. The screen opens on a search rather than a list. Everywhere else, a list is what somebody wants; nobody wants all of the knowledge base. Whoever arrives here is holding a symptom. Four tabs sit under the title: The two buttons at the top right, Write a guide and Write an article, are shown to people who may write articles.

Who can do what

A supervisor can write and amend but not publish: agreeing that three shifts will now follow something is a different act from writing it down. Roles are edited under Administration → Access — see Roles. The knowledge base Search tab with articles, guides, notes, lessons, procedures and documents in one ranked list The knowledge base Search tab with articles, guides, notes, lessons, procedures and documents in one ranked list With words typed, the two filters rank the results rather than narrowing them, so a closely matching article about another kind of asset is not hidden. The most relevant results come first. Every result shows its title, its kind, its code, any failure code, a snippet, the kind of asset and when it last changed. Articles also show how useful readers found them: “80% of 5 said it helped”, or not rated yet. When nothing matches, the screen says Nothing on that yet: “Which is worth knowing too. If you work it out, write it down — that is what this is for.”

Diagnostic guides

A guide expands in place, because it is meant to be followed while you stand at the asset. A diagnostic guide expanded in the search results, with its safety note first A diagnostic guide expanded in the search results, with its safety note first It shows Before you start (the safety note) first, whatever order it was written in, then the Symptom, the Probable causes, What to check, in order as numbered steps, and What to do about it. People who may edit articles see Amend this guide under it, which opens the guide form below. A guide has no draft or approval: amending it changes it straight away.

Writing a guide

Write a guide opens Write a diagnostic guide — “Somebody finds this by its symptom, so write the symptom the way it presents.” The Write a diagnostic guide form The Write a diagnostic guide form Save guide saves it and it appears in search at once.

All articles

The register of every article, newest change first: code, title, status, version, kind of asset, author, how many views and how readers rated it. An article waiting on a review shows in review; a published article with a newer draft shows vn in review or draft vn waiting. The All articles register with status, author, views and ratings The All articles register with status, author, views and ratings Click an article to open it. Article statuses run draft, in review, published and archived; the article page explains each step.

Writing an article

Write an article opens a short form. The Write an article form The Write an article form Save draft saves it as a draft: “Nobody sees it in search until it is published.” It is then reviewed and published from its own page.

From the floor

The raw material knowledge is made of: short notes technicians write against a job or an asset, without leaving it. The header counts the notes and how many became articles. The From the floor tab with technicians' notes The From the floor tab with technicians' notes Each note shows its text, its type, who wrote it, the asset and work order it was written on, any failure code and when. A note’s type is one of A tip, A warning, A workaround, About a tool, About a part, About getting to it or Something I noticed. Notes are searchable from the moment they are written. This tab is where somebody reviewing a week’s notes decides which is worth turning into an article. Make this an article opens a form with the note’s text already in it: The Make this an article form, started from a technician's note The Make this an article form, started from a technician's note Start the draft creates a draft article. “The note stays where it was written.” A note that has become an article is greyed and shows now KB-0001 rather than disappearing, so nobody writes the same article twice. The article lists the note under Came from the floor.

Lessons learned

What an event taught, raised against the work order, root cause investigation, shutdown, incident, inspection or audit that taught it. The header counts lessons recorded, how many changed the plan and how many are still open — the second figure is the point of keeping the register. The Lessons learned tab The Lessons learned tab Each lesson shows its code, title, status, the plan changed where it did, what was learned, where it came from, the asset, who recorded it, when, and any article it led to. Lesson statuses are open, in progress, implemented, rejected and superseded. Record a lesson opens Record what this taught us — “What happened, and what the site should do differently because of it”. The Record what this taught us form The Record what this taught us form Close it on an open lesson asks the one question the register exists for: Did the maintenance plan change? — Yes, it changed or No, it did not — with What should change to record what. “A lesson that changed nothing is worth recording honestly. What is not worth recording is ‘we discussed it’.”

How it reaches technicians

Knowledge is only worth writing if it turns up where the work is.

An article

Reading, amending, reviewing, publishing and archiving one article.

Documents

Controlled documents, procedures and work instructions.