Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes several templates for formatting knowledge base articles. The templates typically contain one or two sections, such as a Question section and an Answer section, which provide the people tasked with creating knowledge base articles with content and formatting guidelines for each article type. You might want to add a section to an existing template or even create a custom template to capture knowledge base information specific to your organization. Customer service managers can change section heading names and add instructional text to article templates, as well as modifying the font face, size, and color.
For example, assume that the customer service manager at the bike company wants to make sure that part numbers are included for all product articles. To ensure that this information is included in the knowledge base articles created by the customer service team, each template will be updated with a new section called Product Number.
In this exercise, you’ll create a new product guide template for the bike company that includes a section specifically for the product number.
Important
The CSR Manager security role in Microsoft Dynamics CRM has privileges to create and modify article templates. If the role has been altered in your environment or if you do not have rights to modify the templates, contact your system administrator. Rights to modify article templates are configured on the Service tab of each security role.
Tip
If you do not want your customer service team to use one of the templates included with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can remove the template from the Select A Template dialog box that displays when a new article is created. You do this by deactivating the template. To deactivate a template, click Templates in the Settings page, and then click Article Templates. Select the template you want to remove, and select Deactivate from the More Actions menu in the grid toolbar.
Note
USE a user account that has the CSR Manager security role or another role with privileges to create and update article templates.
BE SURE TO use the Internet Explorer Web browser to navigate to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web site, if necessary, before beginning this exercise.
In the Settings area, click Templates, and then click Article Templates.
Click the New button to create a new article template.
In the Article Template Properties dialog box, enter the following values:
Field
Value
Title
Product Guide
Description
Details and location of product guide
Language
English
Click OK.
The New Article Template form opens.
In the Common Tasks pane on the right side of the form, click Add a Section.
In the Add a New Section dialog box, enter the following values:
Field
Value
Title
Product Number
Instructions
Specify the product number.
Click OK.
Click the Add a Section button again to add a second section to the template.
In the Add a Section dialog box, enter the following values:
Field
Value
Title
Product Guide Location
Instructions
Enter the URL for the product guide.
Click OK.
Click the Save button to create the new article template.
Tip
The instructions entered in the template will display when new articles are created from the template, so use the Instructions field to provide as much detail as possible for the people creating your articles when adding sections to templates. In addition to listing the desired content in the Instructions field, you might also consider providing sample formatting or other examples.
