Service Desk Knowledge Article Template

What is a service desk knowledge article?

A service desk knowledge article is a structured document that captures the solution to a specific, recurring IT issue — written so that support agents or end users can follow the steps without escalating. It typically covers a single topic: one problem, one resolution path, one outcome.

Unlike a troubleshooting guide that walks through diagnosis, a knowledge article starts where diagnosis ends. The problem is known, the fix is proven, and the article exists to transfer that solution from the agent who solved it to everyone who encounters it next. When articles are structured and searchable, L1 agents resolve issues that previously required L2, and users solve problems without contacting the desk at all.

Who should use this template?

This help desk article template is for teams that want to reduce ticket volume through structured self-service knowledge:

• IT Service Desk Managers — build an article library that L1 agents reference during calls, reducing escalations
• L1 and L2 Support Agents — document solutions after resolving new issue types, contributing to the shared knowledge base
• Knowledge Managers — curate and review articles to maintain accuracy and identify coverage gaps
• IT Directors — track knowledge base coverage as a leading indicator of service desk efficiency

What’s included in this template?

The template has two parts: structured metadata fields and the article body.

Metadata fields classify each article:

• Article title and reference ID
• Category and subcategory tags
• Affected system or application
• Applicable OS or environment
• Article owner and last reviewed date
• Status — draft, published, or under review

Article body delivers the solution:

• Symptom description — what the user sees, written in their language
• Root cause — the underlying technical reason, for the agent
• Resolution steps — numbered instructions the agent or user follows to resolve the issue
• Verification — how to confirm the fix worked
• Related articles — links to connected knowledge for edge cases or related issues

How to create and customise this template in Elium

1. Open the Template Builder — Go to your profile menu and select the Template Builder tab, or click “+ Create” and choose “Create a new template”.
2. Set the scope — Choose an icon, enable the template, and decide whether it applies platform-wide or to specific spaces (e.g. your IT Knowledge Base or Service Desk space).
3. Add structured fields — Click “Field” to add metadata: text fields for article title and reference ID, tag fields for category and subcategory, a tag field for affected system, a user field for article owner, a date field for last reviewed, and a tag field for status (pre-populate with “Draft”, “Published”, “Under Review”). Mark article title and category as mandatory.
4. Build the article structure — Use the “+” button to add content blocks: a text block for symptom description with a placeholder prompt (“What does the user see?”), a text block for root cause, a numbered list block for resolution steps, a text block for verification, and a text block for related articles.
5. Preview and save — Review the template layout, then save. Agents can now select it after resolving a new issue type, and you can apply it to existing content in bulk.

How AI helps you create and use this template

Capture faster. Paste a resolved ticket thread or war room log into Elium’s AI. It extracts the symptom, root cause, and resolution steps — then drafts a structured knowledge article that the agent reviews rather than writing from scratch.

Retrieve smarter. During a live call, an agent asks Elium’s AI: “How do I reset a user’s MFA token in Azure AD?” The AI returns the exact resolution steps from the published article — not a generic web result, but your team’s verified procedure.

Why teams use Elium for service desk knowledge

A knowledge article only reduces ticket volume when agents can find it during a call. If articles live in a shared drive or a wiki that requires browsing, they add friction rather than removing it. Elium makes service desk knowledge searchable: structured templates ensure every article follows the same format, tags let agents filter by system, and AI search returns the right article from a natural question.

VINCI Energies — a global network of 97,000 employees across 61 countries — uses Elium to centralise IT knowledge. With 4,000+ articles and 500+ daily users, support teams access verified procedures from a single searchable platform rather than scattered documentation.