Thoughts on using Promapp as a "FAQ and How-To" Knowledge Base tool

  • 31 March 2021
  • 5 replies
  • 58 views
PBRNZ

Hi Community,

 

We've being using Promapp for a long time now, but it always was a bit neglected and user adoption was low. This is about to 180-degree-turn-style change now due to unified leadership team support and an initiative to get all processes truly mapped out with a proper lifecycle management around it to keep them up-to-date which is fantastic.

 

With all that momentum there might be some overenthusiasm though to use the tool for what (I think) it not really is made for. I see ideas being floated to use Promapp as a place to document/store FAQs and How-To's (e.g. "how to view errors in a specific app when we receive an alert", "how to use a Surface Hub", "How to use VPN", "How to set up your working-from-home hardware", ...).

The idea for staff to just search in Promapp for all their questions is enticing, but I'm very conflicted as the tool itself doesn't e.g. allow inline images in text which is what is necessary for most good IT FAQs and How-To's. This then means we have to either attach images which are clunky to view, or attach the actual FAQ/How-To document in Promapp or store it e.g. in our SharePoint and link to it. As this is a subpar user experience, I fear it will result in low user acceptance/adoption.

 

Any thoughts? Is anyone using Promapp this way and has got positive/negative experience with it? How do you deal with Process vs. Procedure and/or how do you decide what actually goes into Promapp?

 

Last but not least, does anyone know whether there is a way to integrate your Promapp search into your organisations Microsoft or Google search? Meaning > include Promapp search results in your company interal Google/Microsoft powered search results?

 

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

Cheers,

Peter

 
 

5 replies

Penny

A good option for the How To's if there is no need for separate Processes for each of these is to include work Instructions/How To Guides as documents attached in the appropriate Processes.  


 


For the example, How to set up your working-from-home hardware, you might have a Process that details rules/Guidelines/Processes for getting permission and working from home.  One of the activities would be to set up your working from home environment and the detailed work instruction could be added to this Process as a Guide.

Wesso
Userlevel 1

Not sure if you are aware but a process can be toggled to only Display 'Procedure only'. 


When you're editing your process, head over to 'Summary' tab > Display Type > Procedure Only. 


 


This will ensure the map view isn't active and might be easier to differentiate the difference between a process vs procedure (e.g. Process has a map).


 


Promapp (the vendor) sort of did use Promapp (tool) for their help documentation in the past before it was all moved to Nintex site. Definitely do-able, I'm just not sure how the feedback was. 


 


I personally thought it was alright. What's more difficult is getting users to a platform where the FAQ/documentation is located so if in your organisation employees are used to going to Promapp (the system) then FAQs on Promapp may be very successful.

PBRNZ
Thanks very much for taking the time to reply Penny. Much appreciated. This pretty much is what we're doing now and might be what we will continue to do. Main issue I have with that is the lack of being able to add rich-text formatting and embedding images in either tasks or notes. This means, as you suggest, I must either attach a document or photo (which is really clunky as it downloads the document to the users PC instead of e.g. opening it with an inline-viewer) or having to link to a document in another system (e.g. SharePoint). It's doable, but not as user friendly as it could be.
PBRNZ
Same to you. Thanks very much for taking the time to reply Wesso. Much appreciated. That's a good one which I personally wasn't aware of and think will definitely come in handy. I'll share with the folks who are currently involved with the revamping of our Promapp content.
L
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I miss that help documentation! I found it much easier to find stuff. 

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