Now Assist in Virtual Agent: How to automatically trigger Multi-Turn Conversational Catalog Request

[Mohith A]

Hi Community,

We are implementing Now Assist in Virtual Agent (Zurich) to handle catalog item requests conversationally.

We want to utilize the native Now Assist Conversational Catalog Request (Multi-Turn Catalog Ordering) capability out-of-the-box so users can complete standard hardware requests—such as ordering a laptop—entirely through natural conversation, without building a custom Autonomous AI Agent with custom scripts.

However, we are running into an issue where the assistant summarizes the item via Q&A search and waits for a user click, rather than jumping straight into the ordering questions.

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The Problem / Current Behavior:

When a user opens Virtual Agent and enters an utterance with clear ordering intent (e.g., "I want to order a laptop"😞

1. Instead of immediately launching into the catalog item questions, Now Assist routes to Search Q&A:

   "Let me look up information related to ordering a laptop for you."

2. Under View AI Steps, it generates an informational GenAI summary of the laptop catalog item options and specifications.
3. At the end of the summary, it outputs a citation/topic link: 💬 Order a Laptop.
4. The conversation halts and waits for the user to manually click the link. Only after the user clicks the link does the catalog variable collection begin.

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Desired Behavior:

• Zero-click direct transition: When a user enters "I want to order a laptop", Now Assist should identify the single matching catalog item and automatically bypass the synthesized Q&A summary response.
• It should immediately enter that catalog item's conversational flow and start asking the mandatory variables (turn-by-turn slot-filling) directly in the chat, for example:

  "Sure, let's get that laptop ordered for you. Which model would you like? [Standard Laptop] [Performance Laptop] [MacBook Pro]"

• We want to achieve this using native Now Assist Conversational Catalog Request, without having to create custom topic flows or custom Autonomous AI Agents.

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What We Have Checked So Far:

1. The catalog item Order a Laptop exists in sc_cat_item.
2. "Turn off Now Assist conversation for this item" is unchecked.
3. The catalog item has standard variables (e.g., Model, RAM/Storage, Shipping Address, Justification).

Any help, screenshots of configuration, or reference links would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
#NowAssist #AISearch #ConversationalInterface

[rpriyadarshy]

@Mohith A  i did some trials in my lab.

We have two Catalogs in my Lab- New Laptop Request & Get a New Laptop. I Played with few Prompts and Forceful Prompts like.

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need to Order a Laptop. Please directly open NEW LAPTOP REQUEST for me . Do not do any KB Search.
In case of Conflict simply open NEW LAPTOP REQUEST catalog for me.Ignore the Other Get a New Laptop Request.Once you see NEW LAPTOP REQUEST just start asking the questions which are configured in this NEW LAPTOP REQUEST Catalog.

You need to play with Catalog Description and Prompts a lit bit. even with same above prompt i see different behaviors as its non determnistic.

Regards

RP

[Mohith A]

Thank you for your response @rpriyadarshy. My issue was solved with a system property

[rpriyadarshy]

@Mohith A  Please post the details so others can be also benefitted.

[Mohith A · Accepted solution]

By updating the system property sn_nowassist_va.synthesized_autostart_items on value added catalog it allows the catalog items to start auto when single catalog matches

Thank you,
Regards