Self-service Portals for Public Sector Digital Services
Summarize
Summary of Self-service Portals for Public Sector Digital Services
Self-service portals in the Public Sector Digital Services application enable constituents—such as applicants or citizens—to independently submit public service requests for licenses, permits, government records, non-emergency services, social benefits, and grants. These portals provide guided, step-by-step assistance and integrate multiple self-service features including knowledge articles, community forums, service catalogs, case management, and chat support.
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Key Features
- Guided Self-Service Experience: Constituents receive structured guidance through service request submissions using playbooks, which break down intake processes into manageable steps with progress tracking, the ability to save and resume applications, and clear status indicators.
- Playbooks Integration: Playbooks on service portals align constituent workflows with those of government service agents, ensuring consistent case handling and streamlined communication through the Government Service Portal or Grants Management Portal.
- Engagement Messenger: Provides access to services and information from third-party web applications outside the ServiceNow environment, enhancing reach and accessibility.
- Service Catalog: Allows constituents to request services and items directly through the portal and track open requests, improving transparency and convenience.
- Knowledge Base: Centralized knowledge management offers constituents access to verified, consistent information and troubleshooting resources to resolve common issues independently.
- Chat and Virtual Agent: Automated conversational agents guide users to self-service resources or escalate to live agents when necessary, enhancing responsiveness and support availability.
Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Reduces Agent Workload: By empowering constituents to resolve routine issues and complete requests independently, the volume of incoming cases is decreased, allowing agents to focus on complex cases.
- Improves Constituent Experience: Constituents benefit from 24/7 access to intuitive self-service channels, faster resolution times, and clear visibility into case status and next steps.
- Ensures Consistent and Accurate Information: Centralized knowledge bases and automated workflows deliver standardized, up-to-date guidance, reducing confusion and repetitive inquiries.
- Accelerates Case Resolution: Playbooks enable constituents to complete tasks promptly and accurately, contributing to faster processing and higher satisfaction.
Using Playbooks on Service Portals
Playbooks provide a stepwise roadmap for constituents to complete service requests, with features such as:
- Viewing and completing assigned tasks and activities in the case flow.
- Tracking progress through visual indicators, checkboxes, and counters.
- Saving incomplete forms for later completion and submission.
- Accessing related case information and activity streams for better context.
Available playbooks include Grants Proposal, Grants Workspace, Service Request, and Information Request playbooks, designed to streamline constituent interactions and improve transparency.
A portal provides an end user, in this case a constituent or applicant, with step-by-step guidance through submitting a public service request case. Use Portals to submit requests for licenses and permits, government records and public information, non-emergency services, or to submit applications for social benefits or grants opportunities.
- Reduces agent workload
- Self-service enables constituents to resolve common issues on their own using knowledge articles, guided help, and virtual agents. This reduces the volume of incoming cases and enables support agents to focus on more complex, high-value interactions.
- Seamless access to self-service support channels
- Constituents can access support anytime through an intuitive portal, virtual agent, or knowledge base. Immediate access to information and automated assistance leads to faster resolution times and a more seamless support experience.
- Provides consistent and accurate answers
- Centralized knowledge management ensures that all constituents receive standardized and verified information. Knowledge articles and automated workflows deliver accurate, up-to-date solutions, minimizing confusion and repetitive requests.
Playbooks for Portals
Whether you're a government service agent or a constituent using the Government Service Portal or Grants Management Portal, you can use Public Sector Digital Services playbooks on service portals to complete the tasks and activities needed to resolve your requests. Playbooks on service portals (for constituents using the Government Service Portal or Grants Management Portal) integrates seamlessly into Playbooks for government service agents using the CSM Configurable Workspace, giving both parties the step-by-step guidance for the case flow process and the contextual information that you need to successfully complete each stage of the flow and its associated activities.
Guided intake with playbooks on service portals makes it effortless to fill out a form or provide information for a case. Playbooks offer a clear roadmap that indicates your progress in the submission process and the remaining steps that you need to complete. If needed, you can navigate back to a previous step, or use intuitive options and input controls that enable you to input information in a detailed manner. Additionally, you can save an application or intake form that is not yet ready for submission and resume work on it later.
This example shows the Playbooks on portal experience for applicants using the Grants Proposal Intake Playbook on the Grants Management Portal.
With Playbooks for Portals, you get a guided interface where you can take prompt actions on the pending tasks and activities that are related to your cases. You get the following key benefits using Playbooks for Portals:
- Enhanced experience. Follow the step-by-step process that has features, such as save and resume, where you can initiate work on a case and then resume it later.
- Decreased case resolution time. Track and complete the requested tasks promptly and accurately. You can get a faster case resolution with Playbooks for Portals.
- Increased visibility. Get visibility into the status of the case and get insights into the expected resolution time.
These playbooks are designed to guide you through the steps of the intake process. Within the playbooks, you can locate the tasks that are assigned to the case, view all ongoing activities with the associated actions, and do the actions on the assigned tasks. The activity stream for the case playbook enables you to track your progress. If it's available, you can also see the related information about the case.
The playbook includes multiple activities. You can see the activity stream against the case playbook, the task on the playbook, and the related information for the case as available. When using a playbook, you can do the following actions:
- View the activities outlined in the playbook.
- Select an activity and carry out the required tasks to complete it.
- See the status indicators that display the current state of each activity or step.
- See the check boxes and counters that indicate where you are in the workflow.
- Mark an activity as complete and proceed to the next activity or stage.
- Continue completing the stages and activities necessary to submit the case.
- Grants Management: Grants Proposal Playbook, Grants Workspace Playbook
- Service Request Playbook
- Information Request Playbook
Engagement Messenger
With the Engagement Messenger web application, constituents can access the information or services they need from your third-party web applications, even if they’re located outside of the ServiceNow environment.
To learn more about Engagement Messenger, see Configure Engagement Messenger for Playbooks.
Service catalog
With the Service Catalog capability, you can create service catalogs where constituents can request items, such as service offerings. You can enable constituents to request items from the portal by associating one or more service catalogs with the portal. Constituents can also track the status of open requests from the portal.To learn more about Service catalog, see.
Knowledge base
With the Knowledge Management capability, you can create knowledge bases with articles to share information with users on the portal. Constituents can search the knowledge bases for information, such as troubleshooting or task resolutions, to resolve issues and answer questions.
To learn more about searching the Knowledge base, see .
Chat
With the Virtual Agent platform capability, you can design and build automated conversations that help your constituents get the help that they need.
As constituents answer questions and select options presented by Virtual Agent, they’re directed to a self-service resource.
If constituents want to chat with an agent, Virtual Agent hands them off to a live agent. To provide this resource, use the Connect Support feature.
To learn more about chat, see .