Now Assist Skill Kit (NASK) grants you the ability to create and deploy custom-built generative AI functionality into your workflows. To assist you in this process, NASK provides a range of tools and out-of-the-box (OOTB) deployment methods to expedite the process of creating these custom skills.
This guide organizes the Tools and Deployment options by release. Please refer to the store listing to verify which version of the Now Assist Skill Kit plugin is available for your instance version.
Tools
Tools are used within Now Assist Skill Kit to gather relevant information that is then combined with the prompt to inform the Large Language Model (LLM) as to what action you wish to perform. A scenario in which tools will be used is when you are checking if a knowledge article is compliant with certain policies. You will add a Retriever tool to search within your knowledge base for policies relevant to that particular knowledge article. The resultant policies will be delivered within the prompt to the LLM to then perform the analysis.
Using the Tool Editor
To add tools to use within your custom skill, click on Tool editor tab noted below.
The tool editor will appear with a display of all the tools you have added. You can select to have tools retrieve in parallel or in a series for when want to use the output from one tool in another.
Decision Nodes
Available from version 3.0.1 | Xanadu Patch 3
Decision nodes allow you to dictate when (or when not to) run certain tools when executing your custom skill. Within the decision node, you are asked to define the logic for when a tool should be called using either a filter condition or a script. You then set the destination node for when your logic evaluates to true.
An example of when decisions nodes can be deployed is when you have a retriever tool searching for information within your instance. If it fails to find relevant information, then you may wish to perform the search using the web search tool instead. In this scenario, to prevent a wasted API call, you can set a decision node up to check if the retriever found anything relevant. If so, you skip the web search tool.
Script
Available from version 1.0.3 | Xanadu Patch 1
You have two choices when using a script as a tool – you can choose the write a script within Now Assist Skill Kit itself, or use an existing function hosted within a script include. These scripts include records must be marked as active for it to be available for selection.
Within the tool editor you can define which values should populate any parameters required by the script. They can be dynamic (i.e. fetched from the input provided to the custom skill) or static.
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Sub Flow
Available from version 1.0.3 | Xanadu Patch 1
Subflows, created within Workflow Studio, let you easily create and manage processes within your instance. They are typically modular in nature, where you create a subflow to define a single, reusable action that is then include within a larger parent flow.
In the context of Now Assist Skill Kit, they are incredibly useful methods of collecting supplemental data for you to use within your prompt.
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Retriever
Available from version 2.0.0 | Xanadu Patch 3
Retrievers are tools that allow you to infuse AI search content into your custom skills, using our Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) framework. This lets you dynamically find and surface relevant content to your specific use case, allowing for you to interact with data in your instance as though a search engine were operating within it.
An example is when you are creating a custom skill that evaluates a particular expense report to see if it is in accordance to your policies – you may need to dynamically determine which policies apply based on the expense report’s geography, contents, or submitter. By adding these details into a query for the retriever, it is able to find information within your system (e.g. a knowledge article) that best aligns to your query.
Resources:
- Product Documentation
- AI Academy: Using Retrievers in Now Assist Skill Kit
- Now Assist in AI Search Overview
Flow Action
Available from version 3.0.1 | Xanadu Patch 3
Flow Actions can be considered the building blocks of flows created within Workflow Studio. They define specific steps or tasks a flow should conduct during whilst its running.
In the context of Now Assist Skill Kit, Flow Actions can be used to output useful information or data that can help augment your prompts. It is recommended that you return a string output, but JSON objects can generally be well comprehended by LLMs also.
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Skill
Available from version 3.0.1 | Xanadu Patch 3
You can chain skills together by adding a skill as a tool. The skill must be published for it to appear as an option, and you will be prompted to provide any inputs required by the custom skill when configuring the tool. There are otherwise no restrictions of which skills you can bring in – they can be using different LLMs, take in different inputs – anything you’d like!
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Web Search
Available from version 3.1.3 | Xanadu Patch 7 & Yokohama Patch 1
You can include the latest information on a subject within your prompts by using the Web Search tool. You can select to return either a collection of information from multiple resources that is then summarized (search and scrape) or generate an AI Answer based on the results. The search can be limited to specific websites or domains if desired.
Do note that your organization will need to get and maintain your own API keys for each service you use.
Search and Scrape Flow
AI Answers Flow
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Predictive Intelligence
Available from version 4.0.3| Xanadu Patch 9 & Yokohama Patch 3
Predictive intelligence is a feature available within ServiceNow that allows you to create models that enable you to predict, estimate, and identify patterns within your data. You can add a Predictive Intelligence tool to your custom skill to help identify records that match the pattern defined within the model. Examples include finding similar incidents, or retrieving a classification for an input record based on others.
To add a Predictive Intelligence model to your custom skill, you first have to create and train your model.
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Troubleshooting tools
To troubleshoot any of the listed tools, we suggest running your custom skill, then reviewing the Grounded prompt and Tools tabs in the Test prompt section of Now Assist Skill Kit.
Grounded prompt displays what was actually delivered to the LLM – i.e. the outcome of all tools combined with the prompt. The Tools section allows for you to review the input and output of each tool individually.
The Tools tab lets you see what the request and response was for each tool individually.
UI Action
Available from version 1.0.3 | Xanadu Patch 1
Custom skills can be triggered with the click of a button through the use of UI Actions. If you opt to deploy your custom skills to a UI Action, you will be prompted to select a table for the UI Action to appear on. Typically, you would want this table to align with whatever record your input variable may be. After you select the table, and click Create UI Action, the new UI Action record will be generated.
Within the UI Action record, you will notice that the skill is triggered within the Script field of the UI Action. The OOTB configuration simply displays the resultant message from the LLM in an informational message. If you wish to take action using the output of that skill, you will have to be confident in your scripting abilities to build that into your UI Action e.g. to have the output from the LLM be displayed in a field.
If your UI Action isn’t appearing for a user, ensure you have done the following:
- The skill has been activated in the Now Assist Admin console
- Verified that the user has the role defined within the activation process for that skill in the Now Assist Admin console
- The UI Action is active (this should be managed directly by Now Assist Admin console, however, internal workflows may have intervened)
Now Assist Panel
Available from version 2.0.0 | Xanadu Patch 3
The Now Assist panel is akin to a Virtual Agent for fulfiller/internal users of the platform. It is accessible from anywhere on the platform those users operate, including workspaces, and is triggered by clicking the sparkle icon in the top banner of the screen. It operates conversationally, with the user asking the Now Assist panel to conduct some action using natural lanauge. The Now Assist panel will seek to find a solution by searching within activated Out of the Box (OOTB) or custom skills for one that can successfully resolve the ask.
When deploying your skill to the Now Assist panel, it is important to remember that it will be using the title and description of the skill to decide if it is suitable for the user’s request, so name them appropriately!
Flow Action
Available from version 3.0.1 | Xanadu Patch 3
Deploying custom skills as Flow Actions lets you directly access and use custom skills within the flows you created within Workflow studio.
You can dynamically provide inputs to your custom skill using the Dynamic inputs section. The options present in this list are dictated by what you provide as Skill inputs within Now Assist Skill Kit. You must provide these values within Workflow studio for the skill to work.
The output from the custom skill is stored in a JSON object. To access the output directly, you must call this line in your script:
var LLMOutput = JSON.parse(fd_data._1__execute_skill.output.response).model_output;
Now Assist Context Menu
Available from version 4.0.3 | Xanadu Patch 9 & Yokohama Patch 3
The Now Assist Context menu (NACM) is a component that allows you to augment text using generative AI. You can add the NACM to any field through following the documentation, but you will notice it provided for a number of OOTB skills such as Agent Chat, Resolution Note Generation, and Email modules. OOTB NACM options include the ability to Elaborate, Shorten, and Analyze text, however, you can also create and deploy your own custom skills for use within this menu.
When using NACM for custom skills, you must perform the following steps:
- Create and publish your custom skill within Now Assist Skill Kit
- Activate your custom skill within Now Assist Admin console, ensuring you set the NACM as a display option.
- Create or edit an existing a NACM configuration record to determine where and how the NACM should present to users
- Adjust the script within the wwna_quick_actions table to connect the input from your component to the input expected by the skill
Virtual Assistants (Virtual Agent)
Available from version 3.1.3 | Xanadu Patch 7 & Yokohama Patch 1
Deploying a custom skill to Virtual Agent is the easiest way to surface your custom skill to requestors i.e. the users who interact with ServiceNow only through mobile or Employee Center/Service Portals.
AI Agents
Available from version 4.0.3 | Xanadu Patch 9 & Yokohama Patch 3
Custom skills can be added as tools for AI Agents to use when resolving a given scenario. Each skill should ideally be modular, as one can think of them as building blocks that AI Agents use to help solve a specific problem. When adding your custom skill to an AI Agent, be sure to specify a descriptive name for any input variables – AI Agents use these input names to understand how to populate that input.
The output from a custom skill can then be used to drive action, or provide additional insight to the AI agent when resolving a request.
To ensure your custom skill is available for selection in the Tool editor portion of an AI Agent, be sure to publish it in Now Assist Skill Kit, then activate it within the Now Assist admin console.
UI Builder
Available from version 5.0.3 | Yokohama Patch 6 & Zurich Patch 1 | Requires UI Builder version 28.1.56
Deploying custom skills directly into user interfaces created within UI Builder is an effective method of integrating generative AI features into daily workflows. UI Builder is most notably known for its ability to configure and create new configurable workspaces (such as Service Operations Workspace).
Once your skill has been created in Now Assist Skill Kit and activated within Now Assist Admin, it will be available within the Data & scripts section of UI Builder. The suggested flow for triggering and displaying the output of your custom skill to your user is noted below, but please note that the details of this process are defined in the walkthrough video:
- Navigate to the page or component you wish to add custom generative AI functionality to.
- Add your custom skill in the Data & Scripts section. If you do not see it, ensure that you have published and activated the custom skill.
- A method of triggering the execution of the custom skill e.g. a button. In the event handler for this component, add the "Execute" handler for your custom skill.
- In your custom skill, in the event mapping section, add an event handler under the "Skill Completed" event that sets a Client State Parameter. This parameter is essentially a global variable that other components can access. Select an existing or create a new event parameter to host the response of the custom skill.
- In the component that is to host the output of your custom skill, bind the value of the field to that of the Client State Parameter.
In the walkthrough below, we create a variant of a homepage in the Service Operations Workspace that hosts a component named Daily Report. When the button is clicked, it calls a custom generative AI skill, created within Now Assist Skill Kit, with the output displayed to the user in the workspace
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