Localizing Virtual Agent conversations

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Localizing Virtual Agent Conversations

    The ServiceNow platform offers various methods to localize Virtual Agent conversations effectively through the Localization Framework. This framework allows you to manage translations using machine translation, third-party providers, or a combination of both. It standardizes the translation process, enabling you to define how translation requests are fulfilled and who handles each step.

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    Key Features

    • Localization Framework: Centralizes and tracks the translation process, defining roles such as localization requestor, fulfiller, and editor.
    • Translation Management: Options include machine translation, a translation management system (TMS), and file import/export.
    • Topic Discovery Methods: Supports keyword and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery, requiring localization of both topics and associated model groups for NLU.
    • Role Assignment: Assigns localization roles based on user responsibilities for efficient management of the translation process.
    • Translation Management Interface: Users can view, request, or edit translations and manage languages directly in the Assistant Designer Asset library.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the Localization Framework, ServiceNow customers can streamline the localization of Virtual Agent conversations, ensuring that content is accurately translated and relevant to diverse user bases. This results in improved user engagement and satisfaction as conversations are tailored to meet the linguistic needs of different audiences.

    The ServiceNow platform provides several methods for localizing Virtual Agent conversations, depending on your needs. Use the Localization Framework to manage all aspects of the translation process, whether you are using machine translation, a third-party provider, or both.

    Use the ServiceNow Localization Framework to standardize and track the translation process for Virtual Agent topics. The framework enables you to define the business process for translating your conversations. Use it to configure the following:
    • How localization requests are fulfilled.

      Options include machine translation, a translation management system (TMS), and exporting and importing files.

    • Who is responsible for each step in the process.

      Virtual Agent uses the following roles:

      • Localization requestor
      • Localization fulfiller
      • Localization editor
    • Business rules for the process:
      • Auto translation and publication
      • Approval required for translation and publication

    To learn more, see Localization Framework. To learn more about localization roles, see Localization roles for Virtual Agent.

    Localizing topics

    The localization process flow depends on the method of topic discovery that you are using for your topics. The following types of topic discovery are supported using the Localization Framework.

    • Keyword topic discovery

      When you use the Localization Framework, the chat conversation and the keywords associated with the topic are translated.

    • Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery

      If your topics use NLU, both the topic and the model group must be localized. When you request a translation from Assistant Designer Asset library, the topic and any optional keywords are translated. You must request translation for model groups from NLU Workbench. For more information about that process, see Translate a multilingual model.

      Once the topic and secondary models are localized, you may need to map the models to the topic before publishing them.

    Prerequisites

    Important:
    Currently, translatable strings such as topic text and bot responses cannot contain embedded quotes. Strings that contain embedded quotes cannot be localized.
    Do the following before you begin managing translations:
    • Activate the ServiceNow plugin for each language you want to support.

      The Localization Framework is also installed by default. For more information, see Activate a language.

    • Configure the translation mode that you want to use in the Localization Framework.

      You can configure machine translation, a translation management system (TMS), or send via email. For more information, see Translation modes.

    • If you are using Natural Language Understanding (NLU), enable languages in Virtual Agent settings.

      For more information, see Enable NLU languages in Virtual Agent settings.

    • If necessary, add secondary languages to your NLU model group. For more information, see Multilingual model management.
    • Assign localization roles to team member groups.

      Users are assigned different roles based on their responsibilities for the translation process. For more information, see Localization roles for Virtual Agent.

    Manage languages by model

    If NLU is enabled for your instance, you can view and manage translations by model and language. Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Assistant Designer, and then selecting Asset library. Set the discovery type toggle switch to NLU/Keyword, and then select Manage languages. Choose a model and a language, and then you can do the following:
    • View translation status
    • Request translations
    • View or edit translations
    • Test translations

    Select Manage NLU translations for easy access to the model management page in NLU Workbench.

    For more information, see Localize Virtual Agent topics that use NLU topic discovery.