How to describe a catalog item

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of How to describe a catalog item

    Now Assist uses the description you provide to automatically generate catalog items in ServiceNow. By clearly describing your catalog item and its components, you enable Now Assist to build the item accurately according to your business needs.

    Show full answer Show less

    How to Describe a Catalog Item

    To create an effective description for your catalog item:

    • Start with a clear statement of the item, for example, "Create a travel visa request form."
    • Include detailed descriptions of the questions to be included, specifying question types, properties such as mandatory status, available choices, and default values.
    • For reference questions, specify the exact table name (e.g., corecountry) to ensure accurate data sourcing.
    • For record producers, indicate the exact field mappings for each question.

    Defining Dynamic Behavior

    You can instruct Now Assist to create dynamic behaviors by including conditional logic in your prompt. For example, specifying that if a particular color is selected, certain storage options become read-only. Now Assist interprets these instructions to configure field behaviors automatically, enhancing the interactivity and usability of the catalog item.

    Configuring Auto-Populate

    Now Assist supports configuring auto-populate functionality where the value of one question updates automatically based on changes in another question, especially for reference-type questions. For instance, a "Manager" field referencing the sysuser table can auto-populate based on the "Requested for" question.

    After item generation, you can verify and adjust auto-populate settings in the Auto-populate tab within Catalog Builder.

    Practical Example

    Example prompt for a catalog item:

    Create a travel visa request form. It must include a drop down menu offering three travel types: Internal, External, and Customer visit (with Customer visit as the default option). Add mandatory fields for the travel start date, country of birth, and country traveling to (these must be reference fields from the corecountry table). Include an optional field for trip duration and a section prompting the user to provide a business justification.

    Example of dynamic behavior prompt:

    Create a catalog item for a standard mobile; color (Black, Space Grey, Silver); storage (512 GB and 256 GB). If color is Black or Silver, then set the storage to 256 GB and make it read only.

    Example of auto-populate prompt:

    Create a catalog item requesting replacement of access card with the following questions: - Who is it for?: (Requested for question type) - Manager: (Reference type on the sysuser table, auto-populates based on "Requested for") - Upload your profile picture: (Attachment, mandatory)

    Now Assist uses the description that you write to generate a catalog item for you. If you're using Now Assist for creating a catalog item, use these points to describe your catalog item.

    • Provide the necessary details of the catalog item that you want to build. For example, you can start with entering the following text:

      Create a travel visa request form.

    • If you want, you can add details of one or more questions that you want to include in the catalog item. For accurate results, describe all aspects of the question, including type, properties such as mandatory, choices, and default value.
    • Specify the exact table name for reference questions.
    • For a record producer, provide the exact field name to which you want to map the question.

      For example, you can write the following text:

      Create a travel visa request form

      It must include a drop down menu offering three travel types: Internal, External, and Customer visit (with Customer visit as the default option). Add mandatory fields for the travel start date, country of birth, and country traveling to (these must be reference fields from the core_country table). Include an optional field for trip duration and a section prompting the user to provide a business justification.

    Defining dynamic behavior

    You can add dynamic behavior by specifying actions and conditions in the Now Assist prompt. While generating the item, Now Assist creates dynamic behavior for the catalog item based on the text input.

    Let's see an example. Specify the text in the prompt as "Create a catalog item for a standard mobile; color (Black, Space Grey, Silver); storage (512 GB and 256 GB) If color is Black or Silver, then set the storage to 256 GB and make it read only." Generate the item. For the storage question, Now Assist creates a dynamic behavior that sets the field to 256 GB and makes it not editable if Black or Silver is specified as the color.

    Configuring auto-populate

    Using Now Assist, you can configure the value of a question to populate automatically whenever the value of another question of the reference type changes. For more information about auto-populate, see Configure an auto-populate value for a question in Catalog Builder.

    Create a catalog item requesting for replacement of access card with the following questions: - Who is it for?: (The question type should be "Requested for") - Manager: (Reference type on the sys_user table. This field should auto-populate based on the value of the Requested for question.) - Upload your profile picture: (Attachment, mandatory)

    After generating the catalog item, you can verify the Auto-populate tab. It's configured based on your text input.