Configuring Virtual Agent

Configure the Virtual Agent features, components, and integrations that you need to provide support to your employees, IT teams, and customers.

Use the Conversational Interfaces Console to activate and configure Virtual Agent. Some of the general settings in the console are shared with other applications, such as Agent Chat.

Table 1. General chat settings

I want to...	See these topics
Chat Client Display Options
Brand my bot	Branding your chat client
Preview new or unread messages in a minimized chat window	Enable message preview on the chat widget
Conversation Routing
Configure my bot to run in third-party messaging apps	Integrating Virtual Agent with messaging apps.
Create pre-chat surveys	Define pre-chat survey configurations
Create and use context variables to store chat-related information	Configure context variables for storing chat-related information
Display or announce callback options to users through other ServiceNow apps	Omnichannel Callback
Configure topic context intents	Define topic context intent configurations
System Actions
Modify system chat messages	Change Virtual Agent and Agent Chat system messages
Specify how links open from the chat window	URL navigation in Conversational Interfaces
Configure my bot to detect sensitive data	Configuring Sensitive Data Handler Note: This feature is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer available for installation but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base. Install the Data Privacy application as a replacement. For more information, see Data Privacy.
Send email summaries of unread messages to users when they are inactive	Sending missed chat activity emails

Table 2. Virtual Agent settings

I want to...	See these topics
Get recommendations for Virtual Agent topics based on my data	Quick start for Topic Recommendations
Configure performance tracking for Virtual Agent topics	Create deflection configurations and patterns
Use Natural Language Understanding (NLU) for topic discovery	Configure Natural Language Understanding in Virtual Agent Creating models (using NLU Workbench)
Create custom greetings and setup topics	Configure a Virtual Agent chat experience
Determine which issues are routed to Virtual Agent first	Configure and run an Issue Auto Resolution simulation
Send notifications to users in Virtual Agent	Configuring Virtual Agent notifications Enable Virtual Agent notifications
Use AI Search to return fallback results for Virtual Agent	Improving the user experience with AI Search
Detect and dynamically translate Virtual Agent topics into a different language	Using language detection and dynamic machine translation in Virtual Agent enhanced chat conversations

Virtual Agent security

Platform hardening for your instance is leveraged by Virtual Agent, so you should follow the overall platform hardening recommendations. For details, see Secure your instance.

• Customizing a Virtual Agent chat experience
  Create different chat experiences for your end users based on the context in which they initiate a conversation with Virtual Agent.
• Configure Natural Language Understanding in Virtual Agent
  Configure Natural Language Understanding (NLU) in Virtual Agent to identify the NLU service provider for your instance. You can also specify the languages of NLU models used during conversation design, based on the languages supported by your NLU provider and the ServiceNow AI Platform®.
• Use the portable chat widget to add Virtual Agent to your web page
  The portable chat widget can run on third-party web pages, in the service portal, or in UI Builder portals.
• Configure Virtual Agent for a ServiceNow mobile application
  Virtual Agent provides optimized templates for the mobile experience. Configure a service portal to run Virtual Agent on a ServiceNow mobile application.
• Using multiple active conversations in Virtual Agent
  Virtual Agent features the ability to have multiple conversations at the same time, separated and directed by chosen context.
• Using catalogs and autopilot in Virtual Agent
  Use catalogs to search for and request services and products in chat widget conversations.
• Configuring Virtual Agent notifications
  Send ServiceNow notifications directly to users via the Virtual Agent chatbot on supported messaging channels. Notifications can be simple informational messages for review, or actionable messages with buttons that users can select to perform certain actions.
• Configure cross-scope access privileges for topic blocks and custom controls
  Enable topic authors and developers to access Virtual Agent topic blocks and custom controls from other scoped applications.
• Create or modify custom Virtual Agent categories
  Create or change custom categories for organizing and grouping related Virtual Agent assets, such as topics. You can also make category labels visible in the Topic picker menu displayed to end users.