Enterprise Architecture query agent
Summarize
Summary of Enterprise Architecture query agent
The Enterprise Architecture query agent is a Now Assist AI tool designed for architects and portfolio managers to interact with their enterprise architecture (EA) data using natural language queries. It provides AI-generated, data-grounded answers based on your organization's EA portfolio, including business applications, capabilities, value streams, technology standards (TRM), and information objects. This agent simplifies analyzing EA data by eliminating the need to manually navigate dashboards or build reports.
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Available by default to users with appropriate roles, the agent operates in a read-only mode, retrieving and analyzing data without modifying records. It utilizes the ServiceNow Knowledge Graph, which is populated and updated from your CMDB data, ensuring that answers are grounded solely in your instance's information.
Key Features
- Natural language querying: Ask questions about EA data using simple language without technical query building.
- Data domains supported: Business applications, capabilities, app-capability relationships, trends, TRM and technology, information objects, impact analysis, and technical debt.
- AI-generated responses: Answers are generated by your subscribed large language model (LLM) on the ServiceNow platform and may vary depending on the LLM.
- Contextual suggestions: After responses, the agent may suggest related questions to help explore your EA data further.
- Read-only access: Ensures data integrity by preventing any creation, modification, or deletion of records.
- Access via Now Assist panel: Easily accessible through the Enterprise Architecture Workspace for interactive conversations.
- Dependence on Knowledge Graph: Requires enabling Knowledge Graph system properties and initial data processing to query CMDB relationships effectively.
Practical Guidance for Use
- For best accuracy, limit questions to one or two relationship types; more complex queries may need validation against source data.
- Large-scale aggregations provide indicative figures; verify counts and percentages with your records for precision.
- Include specific record names or identifiers in queries to improve relevance of answers.
- Keep your CMDB data comprehensive and updated to ensure reliable and complete responses.
- Initial Knowledge Graph processing can take days; until completion, responses involving CMDB relationships may be incomplete.
- To accelerate setup, import enterprise graph descriptions from a sub-production instance where the schema is already configured.
Expected Benefits
- Streamlines access to complex EA insights without manual report building or navigating multiple dashboards.
- Enables quick impact analysis scenarios, such as application decommissioning effects on capabilities and information objects.
- Improves decision-making by providing timely, data-backed answers about application ownership, lifecycle phases, technical risks, and technical debt.
- Enhances exploration of EA data with AI-driven suggestions and natural language interaction.
- Supports effective management and governance of enterprise architecture through transparent, easy-to-query data.
The Enterprise Architecture query agent answers natural language questions about your enterprise architecture portfolio, returning AI-generated answers grounded into their Enterprise Architecture data.
The Enterprise Architecture Explorer Query Agent is a Now Assist agent for Enterprise Architecture. It lets architects and portfolio managers query their EA data using natural language, without navigating dashboards or building reports manually.
The agent interprets the structure of your EA portfolio, including business applications, capabilities, value streams, technology standards (TRM), and information objects, and returns structured answers based on your data. When processing a question, the agent searches for relevant data and actions before generating a response. After answering, the agent may display suggestions for related questions to help you explore further. Responses are generated by the large language model (LLM) that your organization has subscribed to on the ServiceNow® platform. The responses may also differ depending on the selected LLM.
What you can ask about
The Enterprise Architecture Explorer Query Agent answers questions across the following EA data domains:
| Domain | Example queries |
|---|---|
| Business applications | Ownership, lifecycle phase, application category, CSAT and technical risk scores, retirement candidates |
| Business capabilities | Hierarchy, scores, capability-to-application coverage |
| App capability relationships | Applications supporting a capability, applications with no capability assignments |
| Trends | Score comparisons for one or more applications |
| TRM and technology | Software versions, lifecycle phase |
| Information objects | Producing and consuming applications, orphaned objects |
| Impact analysis | Capability and information object impact of decommissioning an application |
| Technical debt | Applications flagged for technical debt |
Important information to derive the best results
- The agent works best for questions involving one or two relationship types. For queries with three or more relationships, for example, "list all child capabilities, their providing applications, the information objects those applications use, and the services they consume", it's recommended to check the results against your source records for completeness.
- Large-scale aggregations — For counts and percentages across large data sets, treat results as indicative figures. For precise values, verify against your source records.
- The agent queries your enterprise architecture data using the Knowledge Graph, which is updated through scheduled jobs. If new relationship types, tables, or custom fields are added to your instance, the Knowledge Graph does a scheduled refresh to generate updated descriptions. Some specialized or less common data points may not be fully represented yet, which could lead to partial responses for certain queries.
- For questions about a specific record, include the record name or identifier in your query (for example, "Is Order Management a leaf capability?") to help the agent return the most relevant response.
Access
The Enterprise Architecture query agent is available through the Now Assist panel across Enterprise Architecture Workspace. Select the Now Assist icon to open the panel and start a conversation with the agent directly.
ServiceNow Knowledge Graph dependency
The Enterprise Architecture query agent uses the ServiceNow Knowledge Graph to answer questions about CMDB relationships and infrastructure data. An administrator must enable the required Knowledge Graph system properties before the agent can access this data.
After the system properties are enabled, Knowledge Graph runs scheduled jobs to process your CMDB data. The time required for initial processing varies by the volume of data in your instance and may take several days or longer. During this period, responses that rely on CMDB relationship data may be incomplete. Results improve progressively as processing continues. If the Knowledge Graph data processing is in progress, the Knowledge Graph Designer displays a notification. This means that the scheduled jobs required to set up the enterprise graph are still running. The Enterprise Architecture query agent is not available until this process is complete and the notification is no longer displayed.. To speed up the process, you can import enterprise graph descriptions from a sub-production instance where setup has already completed. For more information, see Initial setup for Enterprise Graph schema in production instance.
All data displayed by the Enterprise Architecture query agent is sourced directly from the ServiceNow® Knowledge Graph, which is built from and continuously updated by your instance's CMDB data. When you submit a question, the agent queries the Knowledge Graph to identify relevant records, relationships, and attributes before generating a response.
This means the agent does not draw on general knowledge or external sources. Every answer is grounded in the data that exists in your instance — such as CI relationships, application ownership, capability mappings, and lifecycle information stored in your CMDB. If a record does not exist in your CMDB, the agent will not surface it.