Skill inputs and triggers for Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM)

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 8 minutes to read
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    Summary of Skill inputs and triggers for Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM)

    Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM) enables ServiceNow customers to configure how AI-driven skills are input, triggered, and used within their ITSM workflows. By defining specific inputs and triggers, customers control when and how skills like incident summarization, sentiment analysis, chat summarization, and knowledge article generation are activated and which data they leverage. These configurations enhance automation, improve agent productivity, and provide AI-powered assistance tailored to ITSM processes.

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    Key Features

    • Skill Inputs: Inputs specify the data sources such as tables and fields that a skill uses. For example, incident-related skills use the Incident [incident] table with fields like short description, description, work notes, and additional comments. Inputs vary by skill, e.g., change request summarization uses the changerequest table with fields such as risk, impact, and implementation plan.
    • Skill Triggers: Triggers determine when a skill is activated. Examples include chat handoff events, quick actions by agents, task creation, or user manual initiation. Some skills, like resolution notes generation, can be user-triggered or run automatically based on conditions.
    • Skill-Specific Configurations:
      • Incident Sentiment Analysis: Uses incident details to assess sentiment and trends, refreshed automatically via scheduled jobs.
      • Suggested Steps Generation: Clusters incidents based on recent similar incidents for resolution suggestions.
      • Major Incident Email Content Recommendation: Generates email templates using incident fields and Gen AI variables.
      • Chat and Sidebar Discussion Summarization: Provides chat summaries triggered by handoffs, quick actions, or chat wrap-ups, with display options like bulleted lists.
      • Chat Reply Recommendation: Offers AI-generated reply suggestions triggered manually by agents.
      • Incident and Change Request Summarization: Summarizes key incident or change request details during assignment or state changes.
      • Incident Assist: Supports discovery of similar incidents, expert consultation, and retrieval of caller assets or recent incidents.
      • Resolution Notes and Knowledge Article Generation: Automatically or manually generates resolution notes and knowledge article drafts using incident data.
      • Change Request Risk Explanation: Provides AI-generated risk explanations based on change request details and related incidents.
    • Now Assist Icon and User Interface Controls: Many skills include configurable UI elements such as trigger buttons, refine actions (e.g., shorten, elaborate), and dialog window properties to optimize agent interaction with AI assistance.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Automates routine summarization and knowledge generation tasks to improve agent efficiency and consistency.
    • Enables proactive incident management through sentiment analysis and suggested steps based on historical data.
    • Facilitates seamless AI integration into live chat workflows, enhancing real-time agent support.
    • Supports risk and impact analysis for change requests with AI-generated explanations, improving decision quality.
    • Offers customizable triggers and inputs to align AI skill behavior with organizational processes and data structures.

    Get a quick overview of the skill inputs and triggers for Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM). By configuring the inputs or triggers for a skill, you can determine how and when a skill is used.

    Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM) overview

    Depending on the selected skill, you can configure the inputs or triggers. These settings determine how and when a skill is used. An input identifies the data that is used for a skill, such as the table and fields that are used to generate an incident summary. A trigger initiates an action, such as when the system generates a chat summary.

    Incident sentiment analysis skill

    Table 1. Inputs for the sentiment analysis skill
    Input Description
    Input table Incident [incident]
    Input fields
    • Short description
    • Description
    • Priority
    • State
    • Created
    • Additional comments
    • Task SLA
    Table 2. Outputs for the sentiment analysis skill
    Output Description
    Sentiment values
    • Positive
    • Neutral
    • Negative
    Sentiment trend
    • Improving
    • Declining
    • Stable
    Sentiment reasoning Reasons for providing the sentiment value.
    Table 3. Scheduled job for the sentiment analysis skill
    Scheduled job name Default value Description
    Sentiment analysis scheduled job (incident) True Refreshes sentiments based on the trigger frequency.

    Suggested steps generation skill

    Table 4. Inputs for suggested steps generation skill
    Input Description
    Input table Incident [incident]
    Input field Short description

    The skill uses this field to cluster incidents based on similar incidents closed in the past.
    Conditions Filter conditions to generate the suggested steps.

    Similar incidents closed within the last 6 months are used by default to create the incident clusters.

    Major Incident email content recommendation skill

    Note:
    • When you create a Major Incident email content recommendation using the default templates, you can use the corresponding Gen AI variables to compose the content.
    • For information on generating Major Incident email content recommendation, see Major Incident Management email content recommendation.
    Table 5. Inputs for Major Incident email content recommendation skills
    Input Description
    Input table Incident [incident]
    Input fields
    • Short description
    • Description
    • Additional comments
    • Work notes
    • Activities
    Additional fields
    • Business impact
    • Resolution notes

    Chat summarization skill

    For the chat summarization skill, select the triggers that determine when a chat summary is generated. You can also select the properties that control how a chat summary is displayed.

    The following table lists the triggers that determine when a chat summary is generated and how a chat summary is displayed.

    Table 6. Triggers for the chat summarization skill
    Trigger Description
    Virtual Agent to Live Agent handoff Chat summary that is generated when the chat handoff is done from Virtual Agent to a live agent.
    Quick action Chat summary that is generated when the live agent performs the /summarize quick action.
    Chat wrap-up Chat summary that is generated when the live agent ends the chat. The Chat Summary field is updated for the interaction.
    Short description Short description field that is updated for the interaction when the live agent ends the chat.
    Task creation Short description and Description fields that are auto-populated on the task record when a task is created.

    The following table lists the property for the chat summarization skill.

    Table 7. Property for the chat summarization skill
    Property Description
    Bulleted list If selected, the chat summary is displayed as an unordered list.

    Chat reply recommendation skill

    For the chat reply recommendation skill, select the triggers that determine when a chat reply recommendation is generated.

    The following table lists the triggers that determine when a chat reply recommendation is generated.

    Table 8. Triggers for the chat reply recommendation skill
    Trigger Description
    User triggered Chat reply recommendation that is generated when the agent manually triggers the skill.

    The following table lists the fields for the Now Assist icon for the chat reply recommendation skill.

    Table 9. Now Assist icon
    Field Description
    Button Props Trigger button properties, for example:
    • Variant
    • Size
    • Icon
    Refine Actions Action options shown when the Refine button is selected, for example:
    • Shorten
    • Elaborate
    Recommendation Dialog Props Recommendation dialog window properties, for example: headerLabel.
    WWNA Component ID Component ID that supports the Now Assist icon, for example: agent-chat.
    Default Preset Action Default action when the trigger button is selected with no text in the chat window.
    Table Table used for the interaction.
    Timeout Error Message Error that displays after a timeout.
    Preset Actions Action options shown when text is entered in the chat window and the trigger button is selected, for example:
    • Shorten
    • Elaborate

    Sidebar discussion summarization skill

    For the Sidebar discussion summarization skill, select the triggers that determine when a Sidebar discussion summary is generated.

    The following table lists the triggers that determine when a Sidebar discussion summary is generated.

    Table 10. Triggers for the Sidebar discussion summarization skill
    Trigger Description
    Quick action Sidebar discussion summary that is generated when the live agent performs the /summarize quick action.
    Table 11. Property for the Sidebar discussion summarization skill
    Property Description
    Bulleted list If selected, the Sidebar discussion summary is displayed as an unordered list.

    Incident summarization skill

    The incident summarization skill includes the inputs that identify the table and fields that are used when an incident summary is generated.

    In this release, you can't modify a skill's input data source. The data source contains the tables and fields that the skill relies on.

    Table 12. Triggers for the incident summarization skill
    Trigger Description
    Assign modal Open assign modal during save action when assignment group or assigned to is changed.

    The following table lists the inputs for the incident summarization skill.

    Table 13. Inputs for the incident summarization skill
    Input Description
    Input table Incident [incident]
    Input fields
    • Description
    • Short description
    • Work notes
    • Additional comments
    • Email
    Input template states
    • New
    • WIP
    • Resolved
    • Closed

    The following table lists the descriptions for the incident summarization skill.

    Table 14. Descriptions for the incident summarization skill
    Description Mandatory for input state
    Issue
    • New
    • WIP
    • Resolved
    • Closed
    Key Actions Taken
    • WIP
    • Resolved
    • Closed
    Resolution
    • Resolved
    • Closed
    Affected CIs and Impacted Services
    • WIP
    • Resolved
    • Closed
    Service Level Agreement
    • WIP
    • Resolved
    • Closed
    Child Incidents
    • WIP
    • Resolved
    • Closed

    Incident assist skill

    The incident assist skill includes the incident topics to be available in the Now Assist panel.

    In this release, you can't modify a skill's input data source. The data source contains the tables and fields that the skill relies on.

    Incident assist topics:
    • Find similar resolved incidents
    • Consult on-call experts from support groups
    • Retrieve caller's assets
    • Retrieve caller's recent incidents

    Resolution notes generation skill

    The resolution notes generation skill includes the inputs that identify the table and fields that are used when the resolution notes are generated for an incident.

    In this release, you can't modify a skill's input data source. The data source contains the tables and fields that the skill relies on.

    The following table lists the triggers that determine when and how the resolution notes for an incident are generated.
    Table 15. Triggers for the resolution notes generation skill
    Trigger Description
    User triggered

    If selected, user input is required before resolution notes are generated.

    Otherwise, resolution notes are generated automatically by default when certain conditions are met.
    The following table lists the fields for the Now Assist icon for the resolution notes generation skill.
    Table 16. Now Assist icon
    Field Description
    Refine Actions Action options shown when the Refine button is selected, for example:
    • Shorten
    • Elaborate

    The following table lists the inputs for the resolution notes generation skill.

    Table 17. Inputs for the resolution notes generation skill
    Input Description
    Input table Incident [incident]
    Input fields
    • Description
    • Short description
    • Work notes
    • Additional comments

    Knowledge article generation skill

    The knowledge article generation skill includes the inputs that identify the table and fields that are used when the knowledge article draft is generated for an incident.

    In this release, you can't modify a skill's input data source. The data source contains the tables and fields that the skill relies on.

    The following table lists the inputs for the knowledge article generation skill.

    Table 18. Inputs for the knowledge article generation skill
    Input Description
    Input table Incident [incident]
    Input fields
    • Short description
    • Description
    • Resolution notes
    • Work notes
    • Comments
    State
    • Resolved
    • Closed

    Change request summarization skill

    The change request summarization skill includes the inputs that identify the table and fields that are used when a change request summary is generated.

    In this release, you can't modify a skill's input data source. The data source contains the tables and fields that the skill relies on.

    The following table lists the inputs for the change request summarization skill.

    Table 19. Inputs for the change request summarization skill
    Input Description
    Input table change_request
    Input fields
    • Short description
    • Description
    • Work notes
    • Additional comments
    • Risk
    • Impact
    • Justification
    • Implementation plan
    • Risk and impact analysis
    • Test plan
    • Backout plan
    • Close code
    • Close notes
    • Service offering
    • State
    • Conflict status
    • Type
    Input template states
    • Assess
    • Authorize & Scheduled
    • Implement & Review
    • Closed

    The following table lists the descriptions for the change request summarization skill.

    Table 20. Descriptions for the change request summarization skill
    Description Mandatory for input state
    Objective
    • Assess
    • Authorize & Scheduled
    • Implement & Review
    • Closed
    Plan
    • Assess
    • Authorize & Scheduled
    • Implement & Review
    • Closed
    Risk
    • Assess
    • Authorize & Scheduled
    • Implement & Review
    • Closed
    Affected CIs
    • Assess
    • Authorize & Scheduled
    • Implement & Review
    • Closed
    Impacted services
    • Assess
    • Authorize & Scheduled
    • Implement & Review
    • Closed
    Close notes Closed
    Incidents caused by change Closed

    Change request risk explanation skill

    The change request risk explanation skill includes the inputs that identify the table and fields that are used when the change risk explanation is generated.

    In this release, you can't modify a skill's input data source. The data source contains the tables and fields that the skill relies on.

    The following table lists the inputs for the change request risk explanation skill.

    Table 21. Inputs for the change request risk explanation skill
    Input Description
    Input table change_request
    Input fields
    • Short description
    • Implementation plan
    • Assignment group
    • Risk
    • Description
    • Blackout plan
    • Model type
    • Similar change requests and the incidents caused by those changes
    • Risk condition that was met