Enhanced search results in IAR with Virtual Agent

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Enhanced search results in IAR with Virtual Agent

    The Issue Auto Resolution (IAR) application for HR in ServiceNow has been enhanced to integrate Virtual Agent topic recommendations into its search results. This improvement enables employees submitting noncritical HR cases to receive more relevant assistance by first checking for matching Virtual Agent topics before performing a general AI search.

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    Key Features

    • Virtual Agent Topic Recommendation: When an employee submits an HR case, the system first checks if a matching Virtual Agent topic exists. If found, this topic is recommended directly to the employee.
    • Fallback to AI Search: If no matching Virtual Agent topic is identified, the IAR application performs a traditional AI search and sends recommendations based on those results.
    • Configurable Enablement: Administrators must enable the feature by setting the sniarhr.hrintentsolutionenable property to true. ServiceNow support can assist with updating the Issue Auto Resolution flow to include this feature.
    • Enhanced Email Recommendations: The email notifications to employees now include a recommendations section showing titles of knowledge articles and catalog items, with icons indicating the type of recommendation for clarity.

    How It Works

    • An employee submits an HR case via email or portal.
    • The system checks if the Virtual Agent topic recommendation feature is enabled (sniarhr.hrintentsolutionenable = true).
    • If enabled, it verifies whether the corresponding intent is active in the Auto-resolution configuration.
    • If a matching Virtual Agent topic exists and is active, it is recommended to the employee via email.
    • The employee can access the case details and interact with the recommended Virtual Agent topic through the ServiceNow portal by selecting the Virtual Agent chat icon.
    • If no matching topic is found or the feature is disabled, the system performs a standard AI search to generate recommendations.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Improved User Experience: Employees receive more targeted and actionable recommendations, reducing time to resolution for HR cases.
    • Increased Efficiency: By prioritizing Virtual Agent topics, the system leverages predefined solutions, potentially decreasing reliance on broader AI searches.
    • Customizable Workflow: Administrators can enable or disable this feature as needed, allowing tailored implementation based on organizational requirements.
    • Clear Communication: Enhanced email recommendations provide employees with clear, categorized options to resolve their issues quickly.

    The Issue Auto Resolution application for HR has enhanced its search results with the introduction of Virtual Agent to the IAR pipeline flow. The employee can now receive a matching Virtual Agent topic as a recommendation for a noncritical case, when the topic is available in the database, before the application performs a general AI search.

    In the previous version of Issue Auto Resolution for HR, all the noncritical HR cases were sent recommendations that were based only on the AI search results. With this enhanced version, the IAR application first checks if a matching Virtual Agent topic is available for that particular HR case. If there’s a matching Virtual Agent topic, the IAR application recommends the identified Virtual Agent topic to the employee. If no matching Virtual Agent topic is found, the application performs an AI search, and the recommendations are sent to the employee based on the AI search results.
    Note:
    To enable the Virtual Agent topic recommendation in the Issue Auto Resolution for HR, the administrator must set the sn_iar_hr.hr_intent_solution_enable property to true. The ServiceNow® support team can update this feature to your Issue Auto Resolution flow.

    Virtual Agent topic flow

    When an employee submits a human resource (HR) case via an email or portal, the Issue Auto Resolution first checks whether the sn_iar_hr.hr_intent_solution_enable property value is set to True. If the property value is True, the Issue Auto Resolution checks if the corresponding intent for the topic map is active or not in the Auto-resolution configuration record. When the property value is False, then Issue Auto Resolution continues to perform the normal AI search.

    The Virtual Agent process is as follows:
    1. An HR case is submitted by the employee through an email.
    2. The employee receives an email with the Virtual Agent topic recommendation in it.
    3. The employee selects Go to portal to access the details of the case on the portal.
    4. The employee accesses the Virtual Agent topic, by selecting the Virtual Agent chat icon VA chat icon. on the portal and selecting the case recommendation notification.

    Enhanced recommendations preview on email for AI search flow

    The new recommendations section displays the titles of the knowledge articles and catalog items in the email. The IAR knowledge article icon. icon indicates that the recommendation title is a catalog item. The IAR catalog item icon. icon indicates that the recommendation title is a knowledge article.