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Knowledge Management: Connecting to an External Knowledge Source
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Talkdesk Knowledge Management™ allows users to create and organize content, and also to connect with external knowledge sources that may already be in use in the contact center.

All content connected to Talkdesk via Knowledge Management is searchable and will be automatically available for other apps such as Agent Assist (to learn more about Agent Assist, please check this article).

Once Knowledge Management has been installed, you can connect knowledge bases from the following sources:

 

Creating a Knowledge Base

To create a new Knowledge Base, please follow these steps:

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1. Click on My Apps and select Knowledge Management [1].

 

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2. Click on External sources [2].

3. Select Connect new source [3].

 

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4. Select the Knowledge Source type you want to connect with Talkdesk [4].

5. Fill out the form according to the instructions provided for each type, and press Continue when you’re done [5].

 

Status and Knowledge Base Details

The “Status” and “Knowledge Base Details” settings are available for configuration in all knowledge base types.

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  1. In "Status” [1], use the toggle to activate/deactivate the knowledge base. If it is set to "Active" (green), the knowledge base will be indexed at the specified time intervals,+. Otherwise, the knowledge base will not be indexed or searchable.
  2. The “Knowledge Base Details” section is composed of the “Name” and “Description” fields. These provide an easy way to identify each created knowledge base and understand its purpose:
    • Name [2]: Enter a unique name to identify the knowledge base (1-64 characters, non-blank).
    • Description [3]: Add a description detailing the purpose of the knowledge base (1-160 characters, non-blank).
    • “Ring Group(s) [4]: To restrict the content in your knowledge base to agents in one or more ring groups, please type them below by clicking on the Add Ring Group link. Note: In case you do not add a Ring Group, the content will be accessible to all agents.
    • “Language” [5]: Here you can choose the language of the knowledge base content.

 

Connection Settings

The “Connection Settings” section provides the required data to connect (and authenticate, if needed) to a knowledge base. This section’s fields vary according to the type of knowledge base being created. The following subsections contain information on the “Connection Settings” of each knowledge base type.

 

Confluence

The “Connection Settings” for Confluence consist of four mandatory fields:

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  1. “Confluence base URL” [1]: Add the Atlassian domain that your company is using (e.g., https://mycompanyinc.atlassian.net/).
  2. “Confluence space(s)” [2]: Add a list of Confluence spaces with knowledge base articles to be extracted:
  • The space names must only consist of alphanumeric characters (1–255 characters).
  • Minimum of 1 space and maximum of 10 spaces.
  1. “Username” [3]: Add the email address of the Confluence user account that will be used to extract the knowledge base articles (1–255 characters).
  2. “API token” [4]: Add the API token of the Confluence account. It must include only alphanumeric characters (1–255 characters).

 

Remote File

The Remote File option allows you to connect to a web-based ZIP file:

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  1. “URL” [1]: Add the URL where a zip file with the articles is stored (e.g., https://mycompanyinc.drive.com).

Please visit the Remote File Configuration article for detailed information on how to configure this setting.

 

Salesforce

Salesforce’s “Connection Settings” consist of seven mandatory fields. For more information on how to get the required data in Salesforce, please read the article Knowledge Management: Salesforce Connection Settings.

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  1. “URL” [1]: Add the URL of the Salesforce account where the knowledge base articles are located (e.g., https://mycompanyinc.my.salesforce.com).
  2. “Username” [2]: Enter the email address of the user associated with the account added in the previous field (1–255 characters).
  3. “Security token” [3]: Enter the user password from Salesforce, with the Salesforce security token appended at the end:
  • Characters may be alphanumeric, blank spaces, or one of these special characters: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~
  • 24 to 255 characters allowed.
  1. “Login URL” [4]: Enter the login URL for the type of Salesforce instance (e.g., test.salesforce.com or login.salesforce.com).
  2. “Grant Type” [5]: Add the grant type that is used as the authentication method (e.g., password).
  • Use only alphanumeric characters, “-“, “:“, or “_“.
  • 8 to 44 characters allowed.
  1. “Client ID” [6]: Enter the ID of the Agent Assist Connected App:
  • Use only alphanumeric characters, “.” or “_”
  • 8 to 256 characters allowed.
  1. “Client secret” [7]: Enter the secret of the Agent Assist Connected App.
  • Use only alphanumeric characters.
  • 8 to 256 characters allowed.

 

Zendesk Guide

The Zendesk Guide’s “Connection Settings” will extract articles from Zendesk Guide. The Connection Settings contain three mandatory fields.

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  1. “URL” [1]: Add the URL of the Zendesk account where the knowledge base articles or tickets are located (e.g., https://mycompanyinc.zendesk.com).
  2. “Username” [2]: Enter the email address of a user authorized to access the articles/tickets in the Zendesk account previously indicated (1-255 characters).
  3. “API token” [3]: Enter the API token or user password of the Zendesk account that has been previously indicated (6-255 characters).

 

C2Perform

The C2Perform “Connection Settings” is composed of two mandatory fields:

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  1. “URL” [1]: Enter the URL of the current version of C2Perform API (e.g., https://app.c2perform.com/api/mykb_pages_all_v1.php).
  2. “Account authorization key” [2]: Enter the authorization key from C2Perform.

 

Oracle Service Cloud

The Oracle Service Cloud “Connection Settings” is composed of three mandatory fields and one optional field:

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  1. “URL” [1]: Enter your REST Server URL (e.g., https://help.<company>.com).
  2. “Username” [2]: Add the username of the account used to access the Oracle SvC Answers API (1-255 characters).
  3. “Password” [3]: Enter the password of the account used to access the Oracle SvC Answers API (1-20 characters).
  4. “SQL Query” (optional field) [4]: If you wish, you can enter a SQL query to filter Answers and exclude them from indexation by Agent Assist (1-255 characters):
  • e.g., to filter out answers that are not in a “Public” state: statusWithType.statusType.lookupName = 'Public'.

 

Intercom

The “Connection Settings” for Intercom consists of two mandatory fields:

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  1. “URL” [1]: Enter the API endpoint (e.g., https://api.intercom.io). 
  2. “Account authorization key” [2]: Enter the authorization key from an Intercom account.

 

ServiceNow

The ServiceNow connector only supports integration with the ServiceNow KB Standard object. Please refer to the vendor article on "Knowledge Article Templates" for more details. The ServiceNow “Connection Settings” is composed of three mandatory fields:

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  1. “ServiceNow base URL” [1]: Enter your company account domain (e.g., <company-name>.service-now.com).
  2. “Username” [2]: Add a ServiceNow user account (1-255 characters).
  3. “Password” [3]: Enter the password of the ServiceNow account (1-20 characters).

 

Google Drive

Before connecting Knowledge Management to your documents (Google Slides, Google docs, among others) in Google Drive, you must first use a Google admin to get the setup right.

Please reach out to your IT Admin responsible for the Google Drive/Workspace setup and request a service account creation. This service account must have read-only permission for the user and shared drives where your content is stored. 

The account needs the following permissions:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly.
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata.readonly.
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user.readonly.
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group.readonly.

The Google Drive “Connection Settings” is composed of three mandatory fields:

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  1. “Admin account” [1]: Insert your admin e-mail address.
  2. “Client account” [2]: Enter your client’s e-mail account.
  3. “Private key” [3]: Refers to your Google Drive password

 

MS Sharepoint

You can use your Microsoft SharePoint as a data source for Talkdesk Knowledge Management. To do so, reach out to your IT Admin responsible for the Microsoft Sharepoint, and ask to receive the following permissions:

  • Open Items: To view the source of documents with server-side file handlers.
  • View Application Pages: To view forms, views, and application pages. You can calculate lists, as well.
  • View Items: To view items in lists and documents.
  • View Versions: To view past versions of a list item or document.

In MS Sharepoint, you’ll have the following admin roles:

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  • “Global Administrator”.
  • “SharePoint Administrator”.
  • “Teams Administrator”.
  • “User Administrator”.

Note: To use these or custom roles with equivalent scopes, you will first need to create users the roles can be assigned to.

To complete the process, use an admin’s username and password.

The MSSharepoint “Connection Settings” is composed of three mandatory fields:

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  1. “URL” [1]: Your company’s Sharepoint url. Please enter the main path, not specific directories or folders.
  2. “Username” [2]: Enter a Sharepoint that belongs to a user account.  Please use a Sharepoint access scope logic to narrow down to specific folders, directories, or other sensitive content that is present in the main Sharepoint location.
  3. “Password” [3]: Insert your password.

For the authentication process, take the following details into consideration:

  • Choose a password without character types besides Western alphabet and numbers (i.e. no special characters like +, ?, -, $).
  • When using external email address domains as a user in MS Sharepoint, you need to follow naming conventions: alias_domain#EXT#@sharepointinstance-name.onmicrosoft.com   (e.g. johndoe_gmail.com#EXT#acme.onmicrosoft.com).
  • If you need to update a URL, username, or password, instead, create a new connector.
  • The test connection feature (i.e. run test) is unavailable.

 

For SharePoint websites, you must have the following permissions:

  • Browse Directories: Enumerate files and folders in a website using SharePoint Designer and Web DAV interfaces.

  • Browse User Information: View information about users of the website.

  • Enumerate Permissions: Enumerate permissions on the website, list, folder, document, or list item.

  • Open: Open a website, list, or folder to access items inside the container.

  • Use Client Integration Features: Use SOAP, WebDAV, the client object model, or SharePoint Designer interfaces to access the website.

  • Use Remote Interfaces: Use features that launch client applications.

  • View Pages: View pages on a website.

 

Web Crawler

Web Crawler allows websites or other pages to be crawled, and their content indexed to be used as Knowledge across the Talkdesk platform. 

When you use the web crawler to retrieve webpages and index them as your documents, you specify the websites you want. For that, provide the respective URLs. You can only crawl websites that use the secure communication protocol: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). If you receive an error when crawling a website, it could be that the website is blocked from that action.

If a website requires basic authentication, please provide the username and password.

The Web Crawler “Connection Settings” is composed of two options and one mandatory field:

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  1. “Username” [1]: Your user’s account.
  2. “Password” [2]: Refers to your password.
  3. “URL(s)” [3]: Provide the seed or sitemap URLs of the website or websites you want to index.

 

Refresh Settings

For all sources, the “Refresh Settings” define when and how frequently the knowledge base should be re-indexed so that the information is up-to-date.

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  1. “Initial time” [1]: Select the date (including hours and minutes) of the first time the knowledge base should be re-indexed.
  2. “Period” [2]: Select how frequently the data should be re-indexed.

 

 Updating a Knowledge Base

To update an existing Knowledge Base, please follow these steps:

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  1. Go to the External Sources page, locate the knowledge base you wish to edit, and click on the settings icon [1].
  2. Change the data as you see fit. The fields need to be filled according to the instructions above for each source.
  3. When you’re done, hit the Save button.

 

Deleting a Knowledge source

To delete an existing Knowledge source, please follow these instructions:

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  1. Go to the External sources page, locate the knowledge source you wish to delete, click on the settings icon [1] and choose Delete.
  2. To confirm the deletion, simply select Delete Knowledge source [2] in the pop-up window.

 

For additional support, please contact your Customer Success Manager or Talkdesk Support.

 

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