In the Brazil release, ServiceNow introduces a new way to answer access questions through natural language.
Access control is foundational to security. But investigating access problems can be complex. When a user says they can't access a report, an admin says they should be able to, and you need to know why the mismatch happened, the investigation begins. Which role are they missing? Which Access Control List (ACL) is restricting access? Is it a data condition, a missing security attribute, or something else?
ServiceNow's new Access Analysis Agent helps remove the guesswork. Using conversational AI in the ServiceNow Otto panel, you ask a simple question: "Can user X access the Y table?" The agent answers with clarity. It tells you whether access is granted, denied, or undefined. If access is denied, it tells you what's blocking it and flags when a script needs manual review.
What it does
The Access Analysis Agent evaluates access wherever you are in the instance. Ask it whether a specific user can read a record. Ask it whether a group has write access to a table. Ask it what capabilities a role holds on an AI agent or Agentic Workflow. The agent converses with you, asks clarifying questions if it needs them, and delivers one of three clear results:
- Passed: Access is granted. The agent names the specific ACL that allows it.
- Blocked: Access is denied. The agent identifies the which ACL, role, security attribute, or condition stopping it.
- Undefined: No rule grants or denies access, so platform defaults apply.
This precision can reduce cycles to investigate access.
Why it matters to you
Security reviews, compliance audits, troubleshooting access complaints, onboarding new users, offboarding departing ones: they all hinge on knowing who can do what. The Access Analysis Agent automates the discovery. Your admins spend less time digging through configurations and more time acting on what they find.
It also works while you work. View a user profile, a record, or a table in your instance. Open the ServiceNow Otto panel and ask whether that user can access the page you're viewing, without ever leaving the page or typing out details you're already looking at.
How to use it
- Open the ServiceNow Otto panel in your ServiceNow instance.
- Ask a straightforward question:
- "Can user Joe Smith access the Incident table?"
- "Does the Finance group have write access to the Expense Report record EXP0022307?"
- "What access does the access_analyzer_admin role have on the Incident table?"
- "Why is user Joe Smith blocked from this?"
- The agent answers with a result and the reason behind it.
Results are logged in Access Analyzer for later review, or ask follow-up questions to drill into the details.
Who should use it
The Access Analysis Agent is available to admins and security teams with the access_analyzer_admin or user_admin role. If you manage access controls, troubleshoot user permissions, or audit your instance's security posture, this agent is built for you.
Get started now
The Access Analysis Agent launched in the Brazil release. To learn more about setup, prerequisites, and advanced scenarios, visit the official documentation.
Read the Access Analysis Agent documentation
For a hands-on walkthrough, watch our demo video below.
Learn more
The Access Analysis Agent uses ServiceNow Access Analyzer under the hood to deliver fast, conversational access evaluations. Want to dive deeper into access control analysis?
- Access Analyzer: The underlying diagnostic tool that evaluates and compares access permissions across your instance. Use it to analyze critical resources, compare user permissions, and help avoid over-provisioning. Explore Access Analyzer
- Access Simulator: Compare access controls and run root cause analysis to understand why access decisions are made the way they are. Explore Access Simulator
For most access questions, the Access Analysis Agent's conversational approach provides a fast path to answers. For comprehensive access audits and detailed permission comparisons, Access Analyzer provides additional depth.
