Use Now Assist for Accounts Payable Operations (APO) in a Virtual Agent chat

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Use Now Assist for Accounts Payable Operations (APO) in a Virtual Agent chat

    Now Assist for Accounts Payable Operations (APO) integrates conversational generative AI capabilities into a Virtual Agent chat interface, enabling fulfillers to efficiently manage self-service APO tasks. Through predefined chatbot topics, users can submit requests, track request statuses, or connect to a live agent—all within a natural language conversation environment. This enhances user experience by making interactions intuitive and accessible.

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    How to Use Now Assist for APO in Virtual Agent

    • Starting a Conversation: Navigate to All > Supplier Lifecycle Operations > Supplier Collaboration Portal and select the Virtual Agent chat icon to begin.
    • Viewing Options: Select "Show all my options" to see available predefined topics designed for APO tasks.
    • Submitting a Request: Choose "Submit a request (general)" or "Create invoice inquiry" to initiate a request. Alternatively, enter instructions like "Invoice inquiry" directly in the chat, select the inquiry type, and confirm submission.
    • Tracking Request Status: Select "Track request status" or type identifiers such as "Invoice case number" or "Invoice number" to view the current status.
    • Connecting to a Live Agent: Select "Connect to a live agent" and choose the "Accounts payable team" to escalate the conversation to a human agent.

    Additional Features and Administration

    • The conversational AI offers a friendly and natural language experience, improving comfort and ease of use for fulfillers interacting with the bot.
    • Administrators can monitor Now Assist performance using the Now Assist in Virtual Agent Analytics dashboard, which tracks conversation deflection rates based on resolution status of query responses.
    • Further guidance on usage and configuration of Now Assist for APO is available through detailed documentation.

    Use the conversational interface of Now Assist for Accounts Payable Operations (APO) to request contextually relevant generative AI capabilities through a Virtual Agent chat.

    As a fulfiller, you can use the predefined topics (chatbot conversations) that are designed to help you complete self-service tasks. You can submit a request, track a request status, or connect to a live agent by using contextual generative AI capabilities.

    To start a conversation, navigate to All > Supplier Lifecycle Operations > Supplier Collaboration Portal and select the Virtual Agent chat icon (Chat icon.) as shown in the following example.

    Figure 1. Starting screen for the Now Assist for APO in a Virtual Agent chat
    Show all my options.

    Then, see all your available options by selecting Show all my options as shown in the following example.

    Figure 2. All topics in a Now Assist for APO in a Virtual Agent chat
    All topics.

    Using a predefined topic to submit a request

    As a fulfiller, you can submit a request by selecting Show all my options > Submit a request (general) or choose to create invoice inquiry ( APO specific). You could also directly start entering the instructions.

    Topic block in NAVA shows Invoice inquiry

    Then, enter Invoice inquiry in the chat, select an inquiry type, and create an invoice case by selecting Yes, submit as shown in the following example.

    Figure 3. Submit a request
    Summary of the new request created.

    Using a predefined topic to track a request status

    As a fulfiller, you can track an invoice inquiry status by selecting Show all my options > Track request status. You could also directly start entering the instructions.

    For example, enter Invoice case number or invoice number in the chat to view the status of the request as shown in the following example.

    Figure 4. Track a request status
    Summary of the invoice case.

    Using a predefined topic to connect to a live agent

    As a fulfiller, you can connect to a live agent by selecting Show all my options > Connect to a live agent.

    You can connect to a live agent by selecting Accounts payable team.

    Additional Information

    Now Assist in Virtual Agent provides your users with an interactive generative AI experience. A friendly, natural language conversation is easier to understand and makes fulfillers more comfortable with talking to a bot. To learn how a conversation that is powered by generative AI might look in Virtual Agent, see Using Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

    As an administrator, you can use the Now Assist in Virtual Agent Analytics dashboard to monitor the performance of Now Assist in Virtual Agent as a self-service deflection tool. Now Assist in Virtual Agent Analytics calculates the conversation deflection rate based on the resolution status associated with Now Assist query responses.

    For detailed information on Now Assist in Virtual Agent in general, and Now Assist for APO in particular, see Exploring Now Assist for Accounts Payable Operations (APO).

    For information on configuring Now Assist for APO, see Configure Now Assist for Accounts Payable Operations (APO).