Configuring Guided Decisions

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configuring Guided Decisions

    The ServiceNow® Guided Decisions Experience application enables you to create structured, consistent troubleshooting processes for agents by authoring and running decision tree flows. These decision trees guide agents through a series of questions based on a record context, helping them identify the root cause of issues and determine appropriate resolutions quickly and efficiently.

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    Key Features

    • Decision Tree Authoring: Build decision trees that navigate agents through troubleshooting steps relevant to various scenarios such as device faults, refund eligibility, or password resets.
    • Reusability: Link inputs across question and guidance nodes within a tree or between parent and child decision trees to reduce authoring effort.
    • Navigation Flexibility: Allow agents to edit previous responses and navigate between nodes in nested trees for better decision accuracy.
    • Multiple Editing Experiences: Create and modify decision trees using either the graphical Decision Tree Builder or the form-based Core UI, catering to different user preferences.
    • Integration with ServiceNow Features: Implement decision trees as recommended actions, in playbooks, or on Service Portal to embed guided troubleshooting directly into workflows and customer interactions.

    Setting Up and Using Guided Decisions

    • Setup Tasks: Admins must install the Guided Decisions Experience application, assign appropriate roles to users for access control, and install the Recommended Actions application to enable running decision trees as recommended actions.
    • Authoring Role: Users with the decisiontreeauthor role can create and edit decision trees.
    • Deployment: After creation, decision trees can be linked to recommended actions, embedded in playbooks, or exposed on Service Portal for agents and customers to use in real-time issue resolution.
    • Agent and Customer Interaction: Agents use decision trees within playbooks or recommended actions to resolve cases based on configuration, while customers interact with decision trees via Service Portal.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By configuring Guided Decisions, ServiceNow customers can standardize complex troubleshooting processes, improve resolution times, and enhance agent productivity. The flexibility to reuse decision trees and integrate them into existing workflows ensures efficient knowledge management and consistent customer service experiences.

    Create structured troubleshooting processes for your agents through the ServiceNow® Guided Decisions Experience application. Help your agents solve complex issues in a consistent way.

    The Guided Decisions Experience application is a tool for authoring and running decision tree flows. A decision tree walks an agent through a troubleshooting process based on a record context. The process asks a series of questions and the agent provides the answers. Based on those answers, the agent receives guidance on the next steps to take in the resolution process. Agents can resolve complex issues faster and more efficiently. For more information, see Decision trees in Guided decision.

    Scenarios for using decision trees

    Decision trees can help agents resolve the following types of customer issues:
    • Troubleshoot a faulty device, such as a laptop that doesn't work. Use a decision tree to find the cause and provide a fix for the customer.
    • Review a refund request. Use a decision tree to determine whether the customer is eligible for a refund, which can include checking for exceptions and creating tasks.
    • Reset a customer's password. Use a decision tree to walk the agent through the process, such as verifying the customer's identity, trying other options, and, if needed, resetting the password.

    For an example of end-to-end configuration of a decision tree for a specific scenario, see Example configuration of a decision tree.

    Guided Decisions features

    • Reuse values in a decision tree by linking inputs in question and guidance nodes. You can also link inputs of a child tree to a parent tree.
    • Link an activated decision tree to your current decision tree to reuse other decision trees and reduce effort in creating new ones. The linked decision tree acts as a child tree to the current decision tree.
    • Enable users to edit their responses in the previous question nodes or a guidance node.

      In a nested decision tree, users can navigate back to the previous node of a parent tree from a child tree.

    Guided Decisions experiences

    The Guided Decisions Experience application provides two different experiences for creating and editing decision trees: through the Decision Tree Builder or the Core UI.
    • Create a graphical diagrammatic representation of nodes and their paths in a troubleshooting process through the Decision Tree Builder. For more information, see Decision trees in Decision Tree Builder.
    • Use forms and lists and edit existing decision trees through the Core UI. For more information, see Decision trees in Core UI.

    Setting up the Guided Decisions Experience application

    As an admin, set up the Guided Decisions Experience application to enable users to create and run decision trees by completing the following setup tasks:

    Creating and using decision trees

    Flowchart displaying process of creating decision trees, implementing them, and then using them by different persona.

    Users with the decision tree author role (decision_tree_author) create decision trees. After creating a decision tree, the decision tree is implemented by adding it to a recommended action, playbook, or Service Portal. For more information, see the following topics:

    Agents interact with decision trees as part of a recommended action or as part of a playbook within a record, such as a case.

    Customers and end-users interact with decision trees on Service Portal.

    For guided decisions that are added to playbooks, agents can work through the decision trees and complete actions suggested in the guidance as part of a playbook stage or activity. How the agent interacts with the decision tree depends on the playbook configuration. For more information, see the following topics:

    Request apps from the ServiceNow Store

    Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.