ServiceNow Otto for Enterprise Architecture (EA) access roles

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated April 17, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of ServiceNow Otto for Enterprise Architecture (EA) Access Roles

    Access to ServiceNow Otto for Enterprise Architecture (EA) skills is managed through specific EA Workspace roles combined with platform-level or feature-specific roles. These roles determine who can configure and use various Otto for EA capabilities, ensuring secure and appropriate access for different users.

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    Role Requirements and Skill Access

    The key roles involved include admin, nowassistexploreradmin, snapm.apmuser, and others. Configuration roles typically require admin or equivalent privileges, while usage roles may vary by skill. Some skills, such as registering business applications or digital integrations via conversational experience, are accessible to any authenticated user without special EA Workspace roles.

    • Now Assist for EA skills: Configuration requires an admin or nowassistexploreradmin role; usage roles vary.
    • ADR (Architecture Decision Record) summarization: Admin configures; users with snapm.apmuser role can generate and manipulate summaries.
    • Business application insights: Requires snapm.apmuser role for use; provides contextual insights from various EA pages and dashboards.
    • Refine text capability: Enables elaborating or shortening content in form fields related to business applications and processes; accessible to users with snapm.apmuser or related roles.
    • Conversational experience (Virtual Agent): Allows any authenticated user to register business applications and digital integrations using natural language chat without needing EA Workspace roles.

    Configuration Details

    All Now Assist for EA skills are configured through the Now Assist Admin console, where admins can:

    • Activate and manage skills such as ADR summarization, business application insights, and conversational experiences.
    • Set role-based access controls and skill availability conditions.
    • Configure custom parameters for specific skills like business application insights.
    • Manage AI Data Explorer and Query Generation skill settings.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    Understanding and assigning the correct access roles ensures that your teams can effectively leverage Otto for EA capabilities for architecture documentation, insights generation, and automation via conversational interfaces. Admins can precisely control who configures and uses these skills, maintaining governance and security while enabling broad user engagement where appropriate.

    By properly setting roles, your organization can:

    • Enable efficient generation and refinement of architecture decision records and business application insights.
    • Provide intuitive, natural language interfaces for registering applications and integrations.
    • Maintain fine-grained access control aligned with organizational policies.

    Next Steps

    Admins should review and assign roles based on the summarized requirements to enable users to access necessary Otto for EA skills. Configuration of skills must be conducted in the Now Assist Admin console. For conversational experiences, ensure a Virtual Agent-enabled application is installed and configured.

    The following roles help you to configure and use each ServiceNow Otto for Enterprise Architecture (EA) skill.

    Access to ServiceNow Otto for Enterprise Architecture (EA) skills is controlled by a combination of the EA Workspace role assigned to the user and, in some cases, additional platform-level or feature-specific roles. The table summarizes each skill, the role required to use it, and whether additional roles are needed.

    Table 1. ServiceNow Otto for Enterprise Architecture (EA) skills and required roles
    Skill Configure role Use role
    Configure Now Assist for EA (all skills) admin Not applicable
    Configure AI Data Explorer and Query Generation skills now_assist_explorer_admin or higher (AI Data Explorer); admin (Query Generation) Not applicable
    Generate a summary for ADRs (ADR doc summarization) admin sn_apm.apm_user
    Elaborate or shorten content in ADRs admin sn_apm.apm_user
    Generate insights into business applications admin sn_apm.apm_user
    Elaborate or shorten content in form fields (Refine text) admin sn_apm.apm_user
    Register a business application using conversational experience admin None (any authenticated user)
    Register a digital integration using conversational experience admin None (any authenticated user)

    Configuration

    All Now Assist for EA skills are configured from the Now Assist Admin console. Configuration requires the admin role or, for AI Data Explorer skills, the now_assist_explorer_admin role.

    Capability admin now_assist_explorer_admin sn_apm.apm_user sn_apm.apm_read now_assist_explorer_user Notes

    Activate and configure all Now Assist for EA skills from the Now Assist Admin console (ADR summarization, business application insights, diagram change analysis, refine text, conversational experience)

    		 Yes

    Configure skill availability conditions (always available or custom conditions)

    		 Yes

    Configure role-based access to individual skills

    		 Yes

    Define and configure custom parameters for the business application insights prompt; make a copy of the business application insights skill

    		 Yes

    Activate and configure conversational experience skills for registering business applications and digital integrations through Virtual Agent

    		 Yes

    Configure Query Generation skills (Analytics query generation and Analytics hidden insights generation)

    		 Yes

    Activate and configure AI Data Explorer skills (Analytics exploration, Exploration summarization, Refine text in exploration, Data visualization generation)

    		 Yes

    Configure AI Search for dashboard insight generation

    		 Yes

    ADR doc summarization and actions

    ADR skills are powered by the ADR Doc Summarization and Actions skill. The skill must be activated by an admin before use.

    Capability admin now_assist_explorer_admin sn_apm.apm_user sn_apm.apm_read now_assist_explorer_user Notes

    Generate a Now Assist summary of an ADR document from the Artifact content tab

    		 Yes

    Elaborate selected text in an ADR document

    		 Yes

    Shorten selected text in an ADR document

    		 Yes

    Summarize selected text in an ADR document

    		 Yes

    Use the Refine button to further elaborate or shorten generated content

    		 Yes

    Insert generated content into the ADR record; copy generated summary text

    		 Yes

    Use the ADR summarization skill

    		 Yes

    sn_apm.apm_read is in the default skill access list. Admins can modify role access from the Now Assist Admin console.

    Business application insights

    The business application insights skill generates context-aware summaries and actionable insights for business applications. Insights automatically include contextual data from the page where they are generated.

    Capability admin now_assist_explorer_admin sn_apm.apm_user sn_apm.apm_read now_assist_explorer_user Notes

    Generate insights from the business application details page

    		 Yes

    Generate context-aware insights from the Business Portfolio page (capability context, cross-capability impact, indicator scores, fiscal period)

    		 Yes

    Generate context-aware insights from the Application Rationalization bubble chart (axis metrics, quadrant position, bubble size metric, planned disposition, fiscal period)

    		 Yes

    Generate context-aware insights from the Application Rationalization list view (indicator scores, actual scores, fiscal period, connected demands)

    		 Yes

    View insights in a side panel wherever business application details are shown

    		 Yes

    Refresh generated insights after updating business application data

    		 Yes

    Provide thumbs up or thumbs down feedback on generated insights

    		 Yes

    Elaborate or shorten content in form fields (Refine text)

    The Refine text skill is available in the Description and Reasoning fields on forms for business applications, business capabilities, business processes, value stream stages, and information objects.

    Capability admin now_assist_explorer_admin sn_apm.apm_user sn_apm.apm_read now_assist_explorer_user Notes

    Elaborate or shorten text in the Description field of a business application

    		 Yes

    Elaborate or shorten text in the Description field of a business capability, business process, value stream stage, or information object

    		 Yes

    Generate reasoning content for the Reasoning field (Planned Disposition section) of a business application by entering prompts in the text box

    		 Yes

    Elaborate or shorten existing text in the Reasoning field

    		 Yes

    Conversational experience (Virtual Agent)

    The conversational experience skills let any authenticated user register business applications or digital integrations through a natural language chat interface in any application that supports Virtual Agent. No EA Workspace role is required.

    Capability admin now_assist_explorer_admin sn_apm.apm_user sn_apm.apm_read now_assist_explorer_user Notes

    Register a business application through Virtual Agent by providing details such as name, description, IT owner, business owner, category, and application type

    No role required. Any authenticated user can access this skill. A Virtual Agent-enabled application such as the Employee Center must be installed. The conversational experience must be configured by an admin.

    Register a digital integration through Virtual Agent by providing details such as subscriber business application, provider digital interface, IT owner, and description

    No role required. Any authenticated user can access this skill. A Virtual Agent-enabled application must be installed and configured by an admin.

    Use short or elaborate natural language instructions — Virtual Agent maps the provided context to the appropriate catalog item fields automatically

    No role required.

    Skip non-required fields during the conversational registration flow

    No role required.

    Review and modify the auto-populated form fields before submission

    No role required.