[rt-users] RT <-> Knowledge Base

[dphull at ku.edu]

On Thu, 24 Oct 2002, Len Kranendonk wrote:

> We also have the need for a Knowledge Base to save solutions, patches, 
> screenshots, etc. Ideally, this Knowledge Base and the ticketing system 
> are integrated.
> 
> My questions: 
> - Does RT has a kind of "Knowledge Base" function, so that solutions 
> and technical information can be stored without logging a new call ? 
> - If no, is it difficult to add this functionality to the RT framework ?
> - Are there already addons for RT that provide this functionality ?

In my view, and this is reflected in the way we're trying to use RT at our 
site, RT is the construction tool for the knowledgebase and it is 
currently the only method we have of extracting information from the 
knowledgebase.

In other words, as problems and projects are entered into RT, we try and 
keep a very detailed log of what steps have been taken to fix a problem. 
Ideally, every problem entered into RT eventually has a solution posted 
into RT as well.

Months down the road as the same problem crops up elsewhere, we are able 
to do a search in RT on words or phrases related to the problem and pull 
up tickets from previous instances of the problem where we can then find 
how we solved the problem in the past.

I've personally used the system in this way many times and am slowly but 
surely convincing my fellow staff members to use the system in this same 
way. Their are some problems, however, for instance the other day we had a 
machine that had been hacked in the same manner as a different computer on 
our network a few months earlier.

I knew we had a ticket on this hack and how we cleaned the machine up, but 
I could not find the ticket using words that I was sure would be in the 
ticket. My coworker logged into the same RT database with the same 
permissions as myself entered the same words in her search and was able to 
pull up the ticket.

I tried the search again, but it still did not work for me. By mistake I 
hit the search button a second time, lo and behold, the ticket came up. 
It's little problems like this that have my superiors questioning the 
value of using RT. However, I still see some value in using the system, we 
were able to locate the ticket and implement the same solution without too 
much trouble, though it would be nice to have the system working 
consistently.

For what it's worth, we're running version 2.0.13.

If someone has a "knowledgebase" interface they are using to access 
solutions from RT, I'd love to hear about it, but so far the built in 
functionality has worked adequately for our needs.

--
Dave Hull
Senior Information Technology Analyst
The University of Kansas
voice: (785) 864-0403 || fax: (785) 864-0485