This article explores how Otto functionality can be leveraged within HR Service Delivery (HRSD) for employees. It covers custom implementation scenarios, highlighting how Otto can enhance employee self-service, support HR fulfiller productivity, streamline HR processes, and improve the overall HR service experience. It also outlines potential use cases, implementation approaches, and best practices for maximizing Otto’s value across HRSD.
Plugin: Activated ServiceNow Otto for HRSD (sn_hr_gen_ai).
Please ensure that the following plugins are activated as prerequisites for the implementation.
Core Human Resources Plugin id: (com.sn_hr_core)
Employee Center ( sn_ex_sp) and Employee Center Pro(sn_ex_sp_pro)
HR Agent Configurable Workspace (sn_hr_agent_ws)
1.ServiceNow Otto enable: - How can we enable ServiceNow Otto functionality in portal for end user?
Conversational Interface -> Assistant Designer -> Activate ServiceNow Otto for Virtual Agent(default).
Please attach the corresponding portal name in below section.
2. Otto Branding Change: If the customer wants to change the out-of-the-box (OOB) branding name from “Now Assist” to a customer-specific name, the following locations can be updated to reflect the customized branding.
New Name should be available in here.
3. Custom Greeting Message: -
To display a customized greeting message to employees, we can create and configure a custom greeting message based on the customer’s requirements.
4. Voice Enable: - We can enable voice chat in Otto experience. Attached screenshot as your reference.
Assistant Designer -> Additional Chat Features
5.Multilanguage enable: -
Otto can translate and provide responses to the respective language. To achieve this, we need to activate Multi language Support & Dynamic Language translation that need to be enabled.
AI Admin Hub -> Setting -> Virtual Agent
6. Restriction Search for Employee: -
If we want to restrict Otto search functionality in the Employee Center portal, we can configure conditions in the following out-of-the-box (OOB) configurations:
- Catalog Items: By default, catalog item search is enabled. We can add conditions to restrict search results to specific catalog items as required.
- Knowledge Base: By default, knowledge base search is enabled. If required, we can add conditions to restrict access to specific knowledge bases or limit the search scope.
These configurations allow us to control which catalog items and knowledge articles are available through Otto in the employee experience.
When an employee searches using multiple keywords, the system uses the following matching conditions to identify relevant results and generate an appropriate response based on the matching keywords.
A few practical implementation experiences across real-world use cases:
1. Language Switching: If a conversation is initiated with ServiceNow Otto in English, Otto continues to respond in English, even if subsequent prompts are entered in other languages, such as Spanish, German, etc. This language-switching capability is not currently supported in ServiceNow Otto. As per the HI team, this feature is planned for a future ServiceNow release.
2.Download entire interaction: When interacting with ServiceNow Otto, the download option captures only the most recent conversation instead of the entire interaction history. Additionally, the conversation cannot be downloaded in PDF or Excel format. The ServiceNow HI team has acknowledged this as an out-of-the-box (OOB) product issue and has raised a Problem (PRB) ticket to investigate and address it.
3.Interaction Not Captured or Attached to the Ticket/Case: When interacting with ServiceNow Otto , the complete conversation transcript is not automatically attached to the corresponding ticket or case in the Activity section.
Although an Interaction record and an HR Case can be created during the same conversation, the two records are not automatically linked. As a result, the conversation transcript is not transferred from the Interaction record to the HR Case.
The current product behavior is as follows:
- When an HR Case is created or requested through Otto (e.g., using the catalog option), both the Interaction record and HR Case are created independently.
- No relationship is established between the Interaction record and the HR Case.
- The conversation transcript is not automatically copied or transferred to the HR Case.
- To retain the conversation history, ensure that the transcript is captured in the Interaction record when the conversation is closed, following the previously shared configuration steps.
Notes:
- This is the current out-of-the-box (OOB) product design for ServiceNow Otto.
- An internal enhancement request has been raised to introduce this functionality in a future release. However, no confirmed implementation timeline or release details are currently available.
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