---
sourceDocument: Australia IT Service Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/it-service-management

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia IT Service Management

ft:clusterId :

    - itsm

bundleId :

    - itsm

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# Ask questions on an incident

# Ask questions about an incident by using the ServiceNow Otto panel {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
Quickly obtain common incident related information conversationally within the incident record by asking questions in the ServiceNow Otto panel.

## Before you begin

Role required: itil

## About this task

Important:  
* Starting with the Australia Patch 2, the Incident assist skill has been deprecated, moved to the Archive section, and is no longer available for use.
* Starting Australia Patch 5, Now Assist is renamed to ServiceNow Otto.  
\[DEPRECATED\] Incident assist topics in the ServiceNow Otto panel include:

* Caller's assets
  * A caller must be associated with the incident to retrieve caller's assets.
  * Incident number must be provided, unless triggered from the incident record.
  {#now-assist-itsm-incident-assist__ul_qr2_pxb_cdc}
* Caller's recent incidents (within the past 7 days)
  * A caller must be associated with the incident to retrieve caller's recent incidents.
  * Incident number must be provided, unless triggered from the incident record.
  {#now-assist-itsm-incident-assist__ul_awn_mxb_cdc}
* On-call experts from support groups
  * Ability to search on-call experts that are in any support group.
  * Group members are configured in On-Call SchedulingOn-Call Schedules.
  {#now-assist-itsm-incident-assist__ul_uzj_txb_cdc}
* Similar resolved incidents
  * Similar incidents must be resolved or closed.
  * Incident number must be provided, unless triggered from the incident record.
  {#now-assist-itsm-incident-assist__ul_ubj_fvb_cdc}
{#now-assist-itsm-incident-assist__ul_fst_kwn_bdc}

You can ask questions about an incident by using the ServiceNow Otto panel in Core UI and Service Operations Workspace for ITSM.

## Procedure

1. In Core UI or Service Operations Workspace for ITSM, open an incident that is assigned to you.
2. From the header menu, select the ServiceNow Otto ![ServiceNow Otto icon]() icon to open the ServiceNow Otto panel.  
3. In the ServiceNow Otto panel, either type in a question related to an incident assist topic, or select Answer questions about an incident and select an \[DEPRECATED\] Incident assist topic to ask about.  
   Note:  
   Incident assist uses index sources for which incidents, problems, and change requests are indexed. Similar resolved incidents are retrieved by comparing an incoming incident with past resolved incidents for smarter resolution. Similar past active incidents are displayed in the ServiceNow Otto panel and also in the Incident form via related search. For information on indexed sources, see [Managing indexed sources from the AI Search Admin console](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=ais-managing-indexed-source&version=australia&pubname=australia-platform-administration&ft:locale=en-US).

   Information requested about the incident is shown.

*[\>]: and then