Start a specific VA conversation from a URL parameter without disabling key functionality (New York)

[Chris D]

In Madrid, you're able to append the sysparm_topic URL parameter to the Virtual Agent (i.e. https://abc.service-now.com/$sn-va-web-client-app.do?sysparm_topic=[sys_cs_topic sysid]) and automatically start the specified conversation. In New York, you can use the same parameter… but with no explanation why, ServiceNow changed the functionality of it by also preventing users from ending the conversation, starting a new conversation, or transferring to a live agent.

I thought I was going crazy and just found a pretty notable bug but I finally found it mentioned officially in documentation: "Configure the Service Portal chat client for Virtual Agent" (at the very end of that page, pasted here, my emphasis in bold):

Note: Use the sysparm_topic parameter only to load the given topic in the Service Portal chat client or when using the IBM Watson Assistant chat integration (com.glide.cs.ibm.watson.assistant.topic plugin). This parameter doesn’t allow users to start a new conversation or transfer to a live agent. It also disables the context menu and doesn't support other third-party chat clients.

I have no idea why they didn't just add a new parameter like sysparm_context_menu=false, but as-is now, this is crippling and completes negates the use of sysparm_topic. I can't direct users to a one-trick Virtual Agent - it completes neuters VA and would utterly confuse users. Two desirable use cases which I can't implemented now:
- Easily hotlink users to any specific conversation/live chat
- Make VA conversations searchable - and startable - from the main portal search (i.e. add a new sys_cs_topic Search Source)

In the screenshot below, you'll see that the End/New Conversation button is disabled and then when the conversation ends, "Click here to start a new conversation" is still visible and clickable but does nothing. It'd make for a awful user experience if actually utilized.

Is there any way in New York/Orlando to start a specific Virtual Agent conversation from a URL parameter without disabling key VA functionality (starting a new conversation/transferring to a live agent)?

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March 12, 2020 Update:

We have a Case open with ServiceNow on the subject and recently got this update:

I am working with the Virtual Agent SME. So far the information I got is that we have faced some issues when we set the default topic using sysparm_topic. One of the examples is the problem PRB1367284 that we saw because of this sysparm_topic feature.

[J Trunnelle · Accepted solution]

This worked for me,... instead of using the published URL parm of sysparm_topic,... I used sysparm_default_topic=

[Chris D]

Yep, thanks for replying here - wouldn't have helped my New York self but certainly is the correct answer since it's been introduced in Rome.

My workaround from back in the day - which we're still using today, though I ought to switch soon to sysparm_default_topic - is sysparm_search_text, which lets you provide an utterance for the user and, if that utterance matches an intent, it'll auto-start the respective topic. But because it uses NLU, there is a slight delay which makes it an imperfect workaround for starting a specific topic.

[Guilherme Mazie]

@J Trunnelle This way it really works, but when you start a new conversation it doesn't respect the url anymore. Is there any alternative to get around this?