Summarize an incident by using ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management (ITSM)

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read

    • Quickly understand the incident context and respond to a requester’s inquiries by using the incident summarization skill in the ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management (ITSM) application.

    Before you begin

    Role required: itil

    About this task

    The Incident summarization skill is turned on by default. The skill will be automatically available to appropriate role users for the application.When new customers install a ServiceNow Otto product, designated skills are turned on automatically. For existing users who upgrade, there will be no change to the skill activation. For more information, see AI agents, skills, and agentic workflows on by default.

    An incident summary provides you with a concise summary of an incident. The summary is based on the incident state and is generated from the information that you enter in the following fields:
    • Short description
    • Description
    • State
    • Priority
    • Work notes
    • Additional comments
    • Resolution notes (for a resolved incident)

    For information about the incident states, see Life cycle of an Incident.

    You can summarize an incident in Core UI and Service Operations Workspace for ITSM.

    Procedure

    1. In Core UI or Service Operations Workspace for ITSM, open an incident that is assigned to you.
    2. Select Summarize.
      • In Core UI, the summary appears in a banner of the incident record.

        Incident summary in Core UI that specifies the issue and actions taken.

      • In Service Operations Workspace for ITSM, the summary is generated in the Overview tab.

        You can provide feedback by selecting the thumbs up or thumbs down icon. You can also share the summary using the Share button.

        Incident summary in Service Operations Workspace for ITSM that specifies the issue and actions taken.

    3. Optional: When you're finished summarizing an incident, you can add it to the work notes, expand or collapse it, provide feedback, copy it, or view information about it.
      OptionProcedure
      Save the summary information by adding it to the incident work notes
      1. Select Share as Work notes.
      2. In the Share Incident summary as Work notes dialog box, edit the summary.
      3. Select Save to Work notes.
      Expand or collapse the summary Select the expand card icon (expand card icon.) to view the complete summary or the collapse card icon (collapse card icon.) to view a collapsed summary.
      Provide feedback for the summary If you think that the summary was helpful, select the helpful icon (Helpful icon.). If you think that the summary wasn’t helpful, select the not helpful icon (Not helpful icon.).
      Note:
      This feedback improves the generative AI model and can help to improve future versions of this skill.
      Copy the incident summary If you want to reuse the summary, select the copy to clipboard icon (Copy to clipboard icon.).
      View the information about the incident summary If you want to check some details about the summary, select the more info icon (More info icon.).