AI Search for Sourcing and Procurement Operations

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of AI Search for Sourcing and Procurement Operations

    The AI Search application delivers a consumer-grade, AI-powered search engine tailored for ServiceNow’s Sourcing and Procurement Operations. It enhances search capabilities across the Service Portal, Employee Center (EC), Mobile, and Virtual Agent interfaces. New ServiceNow customers receive AI Search preconfigured for sourcing and procurement, while existing customers can enable it for the PSM-specific Shopping Hub through configuration steps.

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    Configuration

    To enable AI Search for Shopping Hub, navigate to AI Search > Search Applications > Search Application Configurations and associate the AI Search engine with your Shopping Hub search application. Selecting a Search Profile is essential, as it defines the search sources, conditions, and criteria powering the search experience.

    Search sources include Supplier and Purchasing for EC and Service Portal, enabling searches across suppliers and supplier products. In contrast, the PSM Shopping Hub limits search sources to Purchasing, focusing on supplier products only. Search sources appear as separate navigation tabs for user convenience.

    Additional configuration options under each search profile include managing synonyms, stop words, typo handling, Genius Results, and result improvement rules, which refine and boost search relevance. Note that the Shopping Hub's UI facets and filters cannot be customized, but AI Search faceting is supported in EC and Service Portal results.

    Integration

    AI Search is integrated by default with Shopping Hub. For extending AI Search to other applications, specific integration guidance is available. Virtual Agent leverages AI Search to provide relevant results in bot conversations when predefined topics do not match user queries.

    Administration and Usage

    Administrators can control how AI Search affects indexing and search behavior to optimize performance. End users benefit from enhanced result display, refinement filters, and AI-driven Genius Results for faster information retrieval.

    Platform-specific Configuration

    • ServiceNow Mobile: Supports advanced text search configuration to incorporate AI Search capabilities.
    • Service Portal and Employee Center: AI Search can be configured to enable powerful, AI-enhanced search experiences for users.
    • Virtual Agent: Integrates AI Search to augment conversational search results.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Improved search relevance and speed in procurement-related portals and applications.
    • Enhanced user experience via AI-driven refinements and intelligent result ranking.
    • Flexible configuration of search profiles to tailor sourcing and purchasing searches to organizational needs.
    • Seamless integration across key ServiceNow platforms, ensuring consistent search capabilities.

    The AI Search application provides a modern consumer-grade search engine for the Service Portal, Employee Center (EC), Mobile, and Virtual Agent.

    New customers automatically have the AI Search application configured with their base system for Sourcing and Procurement Operations. Existing customers can configure the PSM-specific Shopping Hub search application to use the AI Search application by following the configuration steps.

    For more information, see AI Search.

    Configuration
    For detailed information on configuring the AI Search application, see Configuring AI Search.
    Navigate to AI Search > Search Applications > Search Application Configurations to associate the AI Search engine with your Shopping Hub search application.
    Note:
    For more information, see Create a search application configuration for AI Search.
    In the Search Application Configuration form of your application, select a Search Profile to get started. A search profile determines the search sources, conditions, and criteria that power your search.
    Under each search profile, there are a series of tabs that enhance the AI search. The base system provides the following that you can also modify:
    • Search Sources: Along with the default search sources, Supplier and Purchasing are provided on EC and Service Portal for Sourcing and Procurement Operations, so that the applications are capable of searching through suppliers and supplier products for purchasing as well. For the PSM-specific Shopping Hub search application however, only the Purchasing search source is available, allowing you to search only for supplier products. These search sources are rendered as separate tabs when you search on these applications, and are listed under Navigation Tabs.
      Note:
      You can find more information on reviewing and updating your search sources here.
    • Synonyms
    • Stop Words
    • Typo Handling
    • Genius Results
    • Result Improvement Rules
    Note:

    For more information, see Defining search profiles.

    You cannot configure the UI of search results or change the available facets and filters from Shopping Hub. AI Search faceting is supported in Shopping Hub results in Employee Center and Service Portal.

    Integration
    AI Search is automatically integrated with Shopping Hub. For detailed information on integrating AI Search with other applications, see Integrating AI Search into your application.
    Administration
    To learn how the AI Search features and behavior affect indexing and search, see Administering AI Search.
    Using
    For information on how AI Search displays results, refinement filter options, and Genius Result answers, see Using AI Search.
    ServiceNow® Mobile
    To configure AI Search for the ServiceNow® Mobile, see Advanced text search in mobile.
    Service Portal or Employee Center
    To configure AI Search for the Service Portal or EC so that your users can take advantage of this powerful search tool, see AI Search in Service Portal.
    Virtual Agent
    Virtual Agent uses AI Search to return search results in bot conversations when there are no relevant topics to display. For more information, see Virtual Agent integration with AI Search.