NetApp

Introduction

The NetApp Knowledge Base (KB) stands as the central hub for all support content related to NetApp Products and Services. In our relentless pursuit of providing an exceptional user experience for both customers and employees, we are constantly enhancing the Knowledge Base. By merging our in-house innovations with the cutting-edge functionalities of the Expert platform, we have crafted a dynamic and intuitive environment that caters to the evolving needs of our customers, employees, and Knowledge Management (KM) program – Knowledge Centered Services (KCS). Leveraging the capabilities of CXone Expert APIs, DekiScript, and custom scripts developed by the NetApp KCS teams, we have established a platform that redefines standards in usability and efficiency.

We are immensely proud to have garnered multiple industry recognitions, which underscore our unwavering commitment to delivering an unparalleled user experience on our Knowledge Base site and the broader Digital Support platform. These accolades not only affirm our leadership in the industry but also acknowledge the dedicated efforts we have invested in creating an outstanding self-support platform.

Awards and Recognitions

Knowledge Management and Site Awards

• CXone Expert KCS Award (2022) Innovation Award (2023) and Most Admired Award (2022, 2023), KCS Award 2024
• Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Excellence Award 2022

Digital Support Awards

• Association of Support Professionals (ASP) support site wins 7 years in a row: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024
  • Notable: 2020 ASP Overall Best Support Site Award
• Globee Awards Gold Winner 2024
• Technology & Services Industry Association (TSIA) Award 2023
• Stevie® Awards for multiple Customer Service categories and levels 6 years in a row: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025
• Full award listing and details can be found at: https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/info/aboutsupport

Key New Features Added in 2024

Product Defect Information on the KB Site

In April 2024, we made significant improvements to the way we handle NetApp Product Defect information by migrating it to the NetApp Knowledge Base (KB) site. Previously, the defects were hosted on a native tool that required customer login. However, we have now transitioned to hosting the defect reports on the JIRA platform and displaying them on the KB site using Expert APIs and customized scripts. We have successfully migrated close to 10,000 defect reports to the KB site.

By bringing the Defect information onto the KB site, we have made it more easily accessible to our customers, including through search engines like Google. Additionally, customers can provide feedback on defects using Expert's feedback widget.

Key Features of the improved system: 

• Scalable and Robust: Our solution is built in C# and utilizes distributed micro containers to continuously monitor JIRA sub-tasks, where the Defect content resides. 
• Automated Updates: The content and status of the Defect reports are automatically updated in MongoDB, guaranteeing that the defect data is always current. 
• Expert APIs: Using Expert APIs, we connect to the MongoDB to get the latest Defect information and then convert it into a Knowledge Article that is published on the Knowledge Base site. The Expert API ensures that the content adheres to the site hierarchy, correct templates, proper tags, and KCS content standards. These articles are not editable from within the KB platform by design. Edits can only be made on JIRA and the updated content is pushed into KB site using scripts to ensure consistency and control.

Improved Taxonomy

In order to accommodate the extra Defect information on the KB site, we had to rework our taxonomy intelligently to allow for the additional data in the knowledge base. This is the third major information architecture change we made to our website to ensure smooth navigation and enable easy content findability on the site. We created ~30 new guides and moved ~25K articles using Expert’s move APIs, without any help from NetApp IT or the Expert team. The changes were executed with zero down time to the KB platform.

Expert Kernels Implementation

The NetApp KB team has enabled Expert Kernels powered by our own LLM for select internal users. While the basic API was provided by the Expert team, we developed an in-house Java script and python script to show the generative answer on search pages just above the search results. To ensure that we improve and personalize the generated answer, we built a user interface to allow for 3 personas. This helped us display customized answers as per the persona. We built a UI that allowed us to improve the formatting of the generated answers, for example, clear headings and step-bystep solutions, and collect detailed feedback that helped us analyze and improve the generated answers.

New Workflow for KCS Content Contributed by unlicensed users

NetApp KCS workflow and the Expert platforms were originally designed for KCS contributors and publishers to contribute content to the NetApp knowledge base. However, as the program evolved, we recognized the importance of including contributions from our Initial response team. This team, trained in basic KCS principles, is given the ReaderPlus license with limited authoring privileges. However, this restriction hindered the efficient capture and contribution of valuable knowledge base content, causing knowledge gaps and delays in publication.

To address this challenge, we created a structured and automated workflow, where every contribution from an unlicensed user (captured in the CRM KCS WIP template) automatically creates a WIP KB article on the database. These KCS WIPs are tracked on the KCS WIP Dashboard that is hosted on the CXone Knowledge Base site. This dashboard is connected to a MongoDB using a java script and CXone APIs. It provides stakeholders with real-time updates and visibility into the status of every KCS WIP article. Coaches assign these requests to Publishers who review the KCS WIP content to either approve or reject them using the KCS WIP Dashboard hosted on the KB site.

The KCS WIP Process has transformed our knowledge management by: 

• Enabling Reader and Reader Plus TSEs to contribute valuable insights without direct editing access in CXone.
• Automating the capture, processing, and review of KB content, reducing manual effort, and eliminating email trails to track requests. 
• Ensuring timely and efficient review and publication of KB articles via the dashboard, thereby enhancing the overall knowledge base. 
• Providing transparency and visibility into the status of WIP KB articles through the KCS WIP Dashboard. 
• Integrating the dashboard within the CXone site helped us manage the entire workflow effectively.

Automated Content Standard Checklist Audit Feature within Expert Platform

To ensure that our support engineers follow the KCS process diligently, the KCS program team frequently audits the KB articles created by the engineers to check if they adhere to NetApp KCS Content Standards. This was a manual task that required coaches to review a sample of articles created and provide feedback to the engineers when required. The automated Content Standard Checklist (CSC) feature uses GenAI capabilities to review the KB article and compare it with the case notes and the content standard guidelines to check if the article is written as per the case requirements and complies with the content guideline specifications. The tool has been integrated into the CXone Expert platform to allow Engineers to use the tool while authoring content, thereby helping us scale the content audit process and provide the author the tool to improve content during the authoring phase. The tool provides actionable insights on how to improve Solutions and How-to Procedures, which will make it easier for customers, technical support engineers and other KB users to find the information they are looking for. By ensuring content meets critical standards and offering improvement suggestions, the CSC Automation tool elevates the self-service experience on the KB site, benefiting both employee and customer experiences.

Simplified Archive Option (through in-house script)

To ensure that our knowledge base only has the most relevant content and to improve searchability and findability of documents, we archive content that is obsolete or has low usage. Last year we archived about 9000 articles from various guides, while adding the required metadata to ensure the archived articles are clearly differentiated in the repository. We developed an in-house script that helps reduce the manual effort by automating the archival process. The script checks identified archived content stored in an external repository. Based on the page IDs of the articles, the script moves the articles into the appropriate Archival folders, changes confidence to Archived, and adds the word ARCHIVED to the Title of the KB. Additionally, for archiving individual articles, we have an archival button at the Page Level, where individual users can archive articles with a click and ensure that the article is archived with the necessary tags and page permissions as per KCS principles. This improvement has reduced the time required to archive articles from ~5 min to 20 seconds.

Script helped solve tool limitation

The Expert tool allows only publishers to access archived pages, which was a blocker for us, as we require all pro-members to be able to access archived content, and retrieve it, if they need to use it to solve a customer issue. The script helps us control the visibility of archived articles and allows all promembers access them, if required. This flexibility is important for our Knowledge Centered Service (KCS) program and practices.

Automated move functionalities

When we move an article using the out-of-the box move function, the article visibility changes to internal and the confidence changes to WIP by design. The KB team members needed to spend additional time and effort to set the right visibility and confidence to moved articles. To solve this issue and improve efficiency, we used the Expert move APIs and in house scripts to retain the original visibility and confidence in relocated KB articles. This entire operation is now done with a click of a button placed at the footer location of the KB. This innovation has reduced article move time from 3 mins to 5 seconds. This functionality is only available to Expert Admins at NetApp, and therefore this is a powerful functionality for admins to do address move requests efficiently.

Feedback dashboard

The out-of-the box feedback workflow offered by CXone Expert is very basic. When a user provides feedback on an article, the tool forwards the feedback through an e-mail to a pre-set email ID, which is then manually processed by the Knowledge Base editors. The effort in processing the feedback was enormous and tedious. To improve operational efficiency of the KB team in handling feedback, the NetApp KB Team developed a feedback workflow that allows us to effectively track, assign, process, and close feedback from within the CXone Expert tool.

Later, we enhanced the dashboard by adding closure codes. Closure codes help us understand the quality of feedback submitted by our support team. It helps us identify if the feedback was valid or invalid and whether or not it contributed to the improvement of the database. Additionally, we enhanced the dashboard with functionality to track pending feedback that requires our SMEs to follow up with the feedback submitter for additional input on the feedback.

The entire feedback workflow was developed in-house, without using any CXone Expert features or APIs.

Here’s a brief outline of our process: 

• The feedback emails are extracted to an excel sheet using Power Automate. 
• The content is then formatted as per our requirements in excel and then loaded into a NetApp Database using the Python script. 
• Using JavaScript, we connect the NetApp Database to CXone Expert backend, and the data is loaded into the Feedback dashboard (custombuilt by NetApp team) within the CXone Expert platform. 
• Using GUID as the unique ID, the feedbacks is displayed in the respective articles as well as the Feedback Dashboard.

Benefits of the Feedback workflow and dashboard 

• Pro-members accessing the feedback through the article have the option of addressing the feedback while they are reviewing or using the article to solve a customer’s issue. 
• The Feedback Dashboard helps the Knowledge Base team segregate unaddressed feedback into internal, external, technical, and nontechnical feedback and assign them to the appropriate SMEs 
• SME also has the option of letting the submitter know the feedback is addressed and closed. 
• With this innovative in-house feedback workflow, we can address all customer feedback within 24 - 48 hours of receiving them. 
• We see that our customers are engaging more frequently with us with suggestions and feedback on our KBs and the KB site.

Results and Impact

NetApp knowledge base site powered by our robust and mature KCS program and the Expert platform has yielded exceptional results:

NetApp Knowledge Base Success Metrics 

• >900K monthly page views on the KB site. 
• ~100K page views each month on language sites 
• ~30% increase in logged in users to the KB site 
• ~300 feedback processed every month on an average 
• Article reuse rate: improved by 25% 
• On an average we create 800 articles and update 2500 every month 
• KB site CSAT scores 4.6/5 
• % of customers rating our site as good or excellent 100%

Digital Support Success Metrics 

• >3.5M monthly page views to our digital support sites 
• >90:1 Contact Ratio across our 5-Channel Support Delivery model (Contact Ratio is the number of Digital Support Engagement (web sessions) seen for every Assisted Support Case that is opened) (Goal was 30:1) 
• 50% success rate • Digital Support CSAT Scores 4.6/5 
• % of customers rating our site as good or excellent 100%

KCS Success Metrics 

• ~50 Industry Certified KCSv6 Practitioners 
• Total KBs on our site ~45K • 95% of our Knowledge Articles are shared externally—a 40% increase from pre CXone Expert days 
• >85% of support engineers are KCS publishers 
• Maintain KCS Process Adherence review at >85% 
• Maintain > 95% adherence to content standards for new KBs

These exceptional results tie directly to our KCS program success for which we owe a big thanks to CXone Expert platform.

 

Team

Ryan Mathews - Senior Director, Digital Support Strategy

Padma Sai Prasad - Senior Manager, Digital Support Operations

Rajesh Panda - Content Architect, Digital Support/Knowledge Management