Recommendation contexts and templates

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Recommendation contexts and templates

    The Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) recommendations framework allows users to leverage recommendation contexts and templates for AI-driven insights within the user interface. This functionality helps users make informed decisions and take timely actions based on their specific needs and preferences.

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    Key Features

    • Recommendation Contexts: These define the information shaping user preferences, allowing tailored suggestions based on user situations.
    • Recommendation Templates: Built from recommendation contexts, these templates are essential for training AI models to identify key business operations.
    • User Roles:
      • Users with the snrecotemplate.recommendationconfigreader role can read recommendation contexts.
      • Users with the snrecotemplate.recommendationconfigwriter role can create or edit these contexts.
    • Extension Points: These allow for enhanced functionality of applications without changing the original application code, supporting both pre-existing and custom applications.

    Key Outcomes

    By using recommendation contexts and templates, ServiceNow customers can effectively manage regulatory changes, assess risks, and ensure compliance adherence. This results in improved decision-making capabilities and operational efficiency within their organizations.

    By using the Governance, Risk, and Compliance recommendations framework, you can use recommendation contexts and templates to deliver AI-driven insights directly to your users within the user interface. With these insights, your users can make informed decisions and take prompt actions.

    Recommendation context and template overview

    Use the Governance, Risk, and Compliance Recommendation Template plugin (app-grc-reco-template) so that you can capture, document, and submit the recommendations that your users see in the interface.

    A recommendation context refers to the information and conditions that shape your user's preferences and needs. The recommendation framework provides a user with relevant suggestions by adapting the recommendation to the user's situation.

    With the Governance, Risk, and Compliance recommendation contexts framework, you can create a recommendation context to define a configuration to build a template for recommending relevant records. You can also create a recommendation template to train the AI models with a data set for identifying your key business operations. Before you can create a recommendation template, you must have a recommendation context.

    For more information about creating a recommendation context, see Create a recommendation context.

    For more information about creating a recommendation template, see Create a recommendation template.

    GRC Administration menu

    Users with the sn_reco_template.recommendation_config_reader role can read the recommendation contexts from the GRC Administration menu while users with the sn_reco_template.recommendation_config_writer can create or edit the recommendation contexts.

    Navigate to All > GRC Administration > Recommendation contexts to see the list of available recommendation contexts. The Suggest business operations affected by regulatory alert recommendation context (the base recommendation context) suggests recommendations for the following for a regulatory alert:
    • Citations
    • Control objectives
    • Controls
    • Policies
    For more information about the user roles that can access this menu item, see User roles for recommendation contexts.

    The following example shows the GRC Administration menu.

    Figure 1. GRC Administration menu
    Navigation screen to recommendation contexts.

    You can select an item that fits the context to build a template for recommending relevant records. You can use the existing configurations as is or update them. You can also select the AI search type that matches a user's needs for recommending relevant items that are based on the context and criteria. In addition, you can configure the relationship section that displays the related items for each recommendation and specifies their titles. For more information, see Create a recommendation template.

    Extension points

    Recommendation contexts use extension points to extend the functionality of an application without altering the original application code. Your developers can use pre-existing extension points or can add extension points for custom applications. For more information about extension points, see Extension points.