Space templates for consultancy work: a client project space and an ITIL knowledge base
Consultancies and IT teams build the same kind of space again and again: one per client engagement, one per IT service. Below are two structures you can build once as a template space and reuse. Placeholders are written as {{client}}. If you work with Confluence alone, use a marker such as CLIENT NAME instead, so you can find and replace it later.
Rules that make any template space reusable
- One home page, everything under it. One tree can be copied in one operation.
- Link pages with Confluence's link tool, not by pasting full addresses.
- Name the template space in macros that list pages, such as Content by label and Page properties report, when they should show only this space's pages. Spacewright switches that setting to the new space. With Confluence alone, edit each such macro after copying.
- Use the same labels everywhere, for example
decisionorkb-how-to, so list macros keep working. Labels are copied as they are; they are not filled with values. - Keep recurring pages as page templates in the space (meeting notes, decisions, how-to articles). When you copy only the pages, a space's own templates stay behind (see the per-client guide).
Template 1: client project space
For agencies and consultancies that give every engagement its own space.
Placeholders
| Placeholder | Example value | Used in |
|---|---|---|
{{client}} | Northwind | Titles, home page, contacts, handover |
{{project}} | Intranet relaunch | Titles, scope, decisions, status reports |
{{owner}} | Engagement lead's name | Home page properties, status report template |
{{start}} | 2027-01-15 | Home page properties |
{{space_key}}, {{today}} | Built in with Spacewright | Links you write by hand, "created on" lines |
Page tree
| Page | What goes in it | Useful macros |
|---|---|---|
| {{client}}: {{project}} (home) | Goal, key dates, team, where to find everything | Page properties (client, start, lead); Children display |
| Contacts and roles: {{client}} | Client and internal people, who decides what | – |
| Scope and statement of work: {{project}} | In and out of scope, with the signed documents attached | – |
| Meeting notes: {{client}} | Parent page; each meeting is a child page from a page template | Children display, newest first |
| Decision log: {{project}} | One child page per decision, labelled decision | Page properties report, label decision, this space |
| RAID log: {{project}} | Risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies, with owner and date | Table; Status labels |
| Status reports: {{project}} | Weekly or monthly reports as child pages (or blog posts) | Children display |
| Deliverables: {{project}} | One child page per deliverable: requirements, design, test plan, training | Children display |
| Handover and close: {{client}} | Checklist for the end: what to hand over, archive or delete | Task list |
Page templates in the space: Meeting notes: {{client}}, Decision: {{project}} (with Page properties: date, owner, status), Status report: {{project}}.
Template 2: ITIL knowledge base for one IT service
For IT teams and service-management partners who keep one knowledge base space per service, or per client's service desk.
Placeholders
| Placeholder | Example value | Used in |
|---|---|---|
{{service}} | Payroll system | Every title, home page |
{{owner}} | Service owner's name or role | Service overview |
{{support_team}} | Payroll support (2nd line) | Service overview, escalation |
{{hours}} | Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00 | Service overview |
{{portal}} | The service desk portal address | "Get help" link on the home page |
Page tree
| Page | What goes in it | Useful macros |
|---|---|---|
| {{service}} knowledge base (home) | What the service is, how to get help (link to {{portal}}), newest articles | Content by label (kb-how-to, kb-troubleshooting), this space |
| Service overview: {{service}} | Service catalogue entry: description, owner, support team, hours, service levels, dependencies | Page properties |
| How-to articles: {{service}} | Parent page; each article from a how-to page template, labelled kb-how-to | Children display |
| Troubleshooting: {{service}} | Parent page; symptom, cause, fix; labelled kb-troubleshooting | Children display |
| Known errors: {{service}} | One page per known error: problem reference, symptom, workaround, status; labelled known-error | Page properties report, label known-error, this space |
| Procedures: {{service}} | Child pages: incident handling, major incident runbook, problem management, standard changes, request fulfilment | Children display |
| Contacts and escalation: {{service}} | Who to call, when, and in which order | – |
| Release notes: {{service}} | Changes users notice, newest first (child pages or blog posts) | Children display or Blog posts |
Page templates in the space: How-to: {{service}}, Troubleshooting: {{service}}, Known error: {{service}}.
Using it with Jira Service Management: after the space exists, link it to the service project in the project's knowledge base settings. Viewing permissions for linked articles come from the Confluence space. Spacewright does not link spaces or change these settings.
Creating each new space with Confluence alone
- Create the space with the agreed name and key.
- Duplicate the template's home page with its children into the new space (steps), and rename the titles in bulk in the dialog.
- On each page that contains the marker, use find and replace. Then edit the list macros so they point at the new space.
- Recreate the space's page templates by hand. For a client project, add the client's people.
The full routine, with a 5-minute check at the end: A new Confluence space for every client or project.
With Spacewright
Spacewright is our app. A space admin marks the template space as a template and lists its variables (or clicks Find placeholders in this space). After that, each new space is one form: pick the template, type the values, name and key, and start.
- Filled in: page and blog post titles, page text, link addresses, macro settings, and the space's page templates.
- Switched to the new space: links between pages, and the space and page settings of Children, Page tree, Include page, Content by label and Page properties report.
- Reported: a report page in the new space lists placeholders it could not fill, links it could not switch and anything skipped.
- Not changed or not copied: labels and attachment file names; comments, page history, whiteboards and databases; the space description and logo (full list).
- One site at a time. Spacewright copies inside one Confluence Cloud site. If you are a consultant and want your template on a client's site, recreate the template space there once, by hand or with Confluence's space export and import. From then on, Spacewright creates every new space from it.
Details: Templates and variables.
Check each new space
- Nothing of the marker or the braces is left (with Spacewright, read the report's Placeholders not filled).
- The Decision log and Known errors reports list this space's pages, not the template's.
- The right people, and only them, can see the space.
ITIL® is a registered trademark of PeopleCert. The structure above is an example, not an official ITIL template.
Sources
- Atlassian: Create a template
- Atlassian: Insert the content properties report macro
- Atlassian: Link a Confluence source to your knowledge base
- Atlassian: Move, copy, and hide content items