Quick start for Virtual Agent

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Quick start for Virtual Agent

    The Virtual Agent allows ServiceNow customers to enhance their portals with conversational interfaces. Through the Conversational Interfaces console, users can quickly activate Virtual Agent, configure its branding, personalize greetings, and utilize pre-built ITSM conversations. For those with a Now Assist license, deploying Now Assist skills is also available.

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    Key Features

    • Activation: Install and activate Virtual Agent and necessary plugins via the Conversational Interfaces console.
    • Portal Integration: Easily add Virtual Agent to web portals, specifying the order and naming convention for chat entries.
    • Customization: Modify the appearance of Virtual Agent by changing colors, logos, and icons.
    • Topic Recommendations: Utilize the Topic Recommendations app to identify common use cases and topics for Virtual Agent interactions.

    Key Outcomes

    By following the setup steps, ServiceNow customers can swiftly implement Virtual Agent, providing a user-friendly interaction experience. Utilizing recommended topics enhances operational efficiency while customization ensures alignment with corporate branding. Further, customers can expand capabilities by creating new topics, enabling AI search, and integrating Natural Language Understanding (NLU).

    Using the Conversational Interfaces console, you can quickly add Virtual Agent to a portal, configure branding, personalize the greeting, and begin to use pre-built ITSM Virtual Agent conversations.

    If you have a license for a Now Assist product, you can also quickly deploy Now Assist skills in Virtual Agent in a matter of minutes. For details, see Configuring Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

    Before you begin

    If you have a license for Virtual Agent, the following sections will help you get started and create conversations for your organization quickly.

    If you do not have a license for Virtual Agent, you can try Virtual Agent Lite, which comes preinstalled. For information about getting started with Virtual Agent Lite, see Quick start for Virtual Agent Lite.

    Use the Conversational Interfaces console application to activate and configure Virtual Agent quickly. For more information about the Conversational Interfaces console, see Conversational Interfaces Console.

    Step 1: Activate Virtual Agent and recommended store plugins

    If Virtual Agent has not been activated on your instance, you will need to install it.
    Figure 1. Conversational Interfaces console page when Virtual Agent is not installed
    Conversational Interfaces console when Virtual Agent is not installed.
    1. Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Home.
    2. If Virtual Agent is not installed, select Get Virtual Agent plugin on the home page.
    3. When prompted, select Start install.
      The Applications page opens with Virtual Agent (com.glide.cs.chatbot) selected.
      Figure 2. Install the Virtual Agent plugin
      Select Install/Update to install the Virtual Agent plugin.
      1. If you have a Virtual Agent license, select Install/Update All.
      2. In the dialog box, select Install to begin.
    4. Under Choose what type of requests you want your bot to support, select Get ITSM plugin.
      Figure 3. Install the ITSM Virtual Agent Conversations plugin
      Select Get ITSM plugin to install it from the ServiceNow Store.
    5. Follow the directions in the ServiceNow Store and select Opt-in when prompted.
    6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to install additional plugins. Otherwise, continue to the next section.

    Step 2: Make Virtual Agent available to users

    Add a chat entry to the menu of your web portal. You can add Virtual Agent to additional portals later.

    1. Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Home.
    2. Under Add your bot to a portal, select Add to portal.
      Figure 4. Add your bot to a portal tile on the Conversational Interfaces console page
      Add your bot to a portal tile on the Conversational Interfaces console page.
    3. Fill in the form for Service Portal Agent Chat Configuration.
      Type a name and unlock the Portal(s) field to specify one or more portals for your virtual agent. Type a number in the Order field to specify where to include Virtual Agent on the menu.
      1. In the Name field, type a name for the configuration.
      2. Select the Portal lock icon to open it.
      3. Select the search icon, and then select a portal.
      4. In the Order field, type a number to indicate the order that the configurations should run.

        Only one configuration applies per portal. If there are multiple configurations on a portal, the system runs the first configuration found from lowest to highest.

    4. Select Submit.

    For more detailed information, see Add your bot to a portal.

    Step 3: Customize the look and feel of Virtual Agent

    You can change the way Virtual Agent looks to the end user. You can change the colors, add your company logo, and change the icon that represents your bot.

    1. Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Home.
    2. Under Edit your bot's look and feel, select Set up branding.
      Figure 5. Edit your bot's look and feel tile on the Conversational Interfaces console page
      Edit your bot's look and feel tile on the Conversational Interfaces page.
      The Branding settings page opens.
    3. Select New or the name of an existing branding record.
    4. On the form, fill in the fields.
    5. Select Save.
    6. Apply the branding configuration as described in Set up your Virtual Agent bot's branding.

    Step 4: Get recommended topics

    The Topic Recommendations app lets you evaluate the common use cases that Virtual Agent can help resolve or deflect. You can use Topic Recommendations with Virtual Agent topics that use either keyword or NLU topic discovery.

    1. Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Home.
    2. Under Set up Topic Recommendations, select Get Recommendations.
      Figure 6. Set up topic recommendations
      Set up topic recommendations.

      The Topic Recommendations page opens.

    3. Use the Quick start for Topic Recommendations to configure and get topic recommendations based on your company's data.

    Explore further

    As you work with Virtual Agent, you can expand its capabilities by implementing other features. For example, you can do the following: