Knowledge workflows ensure articles go through proper review before being published to end users. This guide walks you through configuring the workflow states, assigning reviewers by group, and setting up notifications.
Why knowledge workflows exist
Without workflows, knowledge authors can publish articles directly to users — leading to inconsistent quality, outdated information, and potentially incorrect guidance reaching your user base. Knowledge managers spend time firefighting bad articles instead of improving good ones. Authors don't get feedback on their writing, and there's no visibility into what's being published when.
How knowledge workflows operate
Knowledge workflows use the same workflow engine as other ServiceNow processes, but they're tied to knowledge bases rather than individual articles. Each article inherits the workflow from its knowledge base and moves through states: Draft (author working), Review (pending approval), Published (live to users), and Retired (no longer active). Reviewers get assigned by group membership, and the workflow handles state transitions and notifications. You can customize the default workflow or build entirely new ones.
Production workflow improvements
Basic workflows work with simple approval chains, but production implementations benefit from role-based reviewer assignment, escalation timers for overdue reviews, and custom states for specialized content types. You'll also want to configure email templates that give reviewers context about what they're approving and add workflow conditions that route different article types to appropriate review groups.
Before you start
- •knowledge_admin role or admin role
- •At least one knowledge base created
- •User groups set up for reviewers
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Step by step
Open the knowledge base record
Navigate to Knowledge > Administration > Knowledge Bases and open the knowledge base where you want to add workflow. The workflow gets assigned at the knowledge base level, not individual articles. All articles in this base will inherit the workflow configuration.
Assign the workflow
In the Workflow field, select 'Knowledge - Approval Process' from the dropdown. This is ServiceNow's default knowledge workflow with the four standard states. Leave this field blank if you want articles to publish immediately without review. Save the record to activate the workflow.
Configure reviewer groups
Scroll to the Knowledge Base Reviewers related list and click New. Set the Group field to the user group that will review articles in this base. Set Reviewer to true and Order to 100. The Order determines review sequence if you have multiple reviewer groups — lower numbers review first.
Set up approval notifications
Navigate to System Workflow > Workflow Editor and search for 'Knowledge - Approval Process'. Open the workflow and locate the 'Review' activity. Double-click it, then click the Notifications tab. Verify 'Knowledge article ready for review' notification is selected. This sends email to the assigned reviewers when articles enter Review state.
Test the workflow
Create a test article in your knowledge base. Set the Workflow state to Draft and save. Change the state to Review — you'll see the article now requires approval before moving to Published. Check that reviewers in your assigned group receive notification emails with approval links.
Test with your own user account in the reviewer group first to verify notifications work before rolling out to the full team.
Configure state permissions
Navigate to Knowledge > Administration > Knowledge Properties and review the 'kb_knowledge_workflow.state.published' and related properties. These control who can read articles in each workflow state. By default, only authors and reviewers see Draft articles, while Published articles are visible to end users based on your knowledge base Can Read settings.
Best practices
Create separate knowledge bases for different content types that need different reviewers — don't try to route everything through one approval group.
Set reviewer group order thoughtfully if using multiple groups — articles get stuck if early reviewers don't respond and there's no escalation configured.
Never modify the default Knowledge - Approval Process workflow directly — clone it first, then customize the copy so you can revert if needed.
Configure workflow notification email templates with article titles and direct approval links — reviewers won't click through if they have to hunt for what needs review.
Test workflow state transitions with non-admin users to catch permission issues before reviewers start getting access denied errors.
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