Opening an old knowledge map, or taking ownership of one built by someone else, was challenging without a detailed explanation of the logic and structure.

To make this easier, we’ve introduced a knowledge map readme. This allows Authors to provide a detailed description and helpful guidance alongside the map, which can also be versioned and shared with the map.

 


 

What makes a good readme?

There is no right way to create a readme. You could add rough notes to it as you build your map and refine it later, or you could add information at the end of a build. However, when adding to your readme, you should first think about:

  1. What will your future self want to be reminded of?
  2. What information will someone else need to know to understand, test and modify this map safely?

This will ensure you include information that makes returning to this map a breeze. As an example, you could consider including some of the following information:

  • Overview - short and sharp explanation of the high-level purpose of the knowledge map. Why was it built? What decisions does it provide?
  • Detailed description -  detailed description of the underlying logic that powers the automation.
  • How to query the map - which relationships are primarily being used to provide decisions?
  • Test data - what data can be used to manually test certain scenarios or behaviours with the knowledge map?
  • Integrations - explanation about what is integrating into this knowledge map. Is it a web-app/RPA process/workflow? If changes are required, where does testing need to occur?
  • Datasources - if datasources are used in the map, is there additional information that would be useful to provide?
  • How to make changes - if any changes are required, describe the process that must be followed based upon how this knowledge map is integrated into a wider solution.

One important thing to remember: if changes are being made to a knowledge map, the readme should be kept up-to-date before a version is created. This ensures the version can be restored with an accurate set of documentation alongside it.

This version is scheduled for release on the following dates:

Community: Monday 17/10/2022 at 5pm
Enterprise: Monday 24/10/2022 at 5pm

We hope you enjoy this update.

Cheers,

The Product Team