Evaluate merchant analysis

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated July 2, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
  • Evaluate a merchant's credibility to determine whether the transaction is legitimate or potentially fraudulent before deciding on a resolution. When the ACH disputes AI agent workflow is enabled, an AI agent can perform this analysis automatically based on merchant reviews and past dispute history.

    Before you begin

    Role required: sn_bom_credit_card.dispute_agent or sn_bom_credit_card.dispute_agent_connector. If the Merchant analysis with AI agent is enabled, the now_assist_panel_user role is also required.

    About this task

    The Merchant analysis with AI agent can perform this evaluation for you if it is activated. The agent checks the merchant's credibility based on ratings and reviews from a web search and reviews past dispute history across all payment types. It then recommends an outcome that you can apply or follow up on. If a web search returns no results for a merchant, the merchant is classified as not credible. When the agent isn't enabled, evaluate the merchant analysis manually.

    Ensure that your assignment logic, such as Advanced Work Assignment (AWA), is configured to assign all associated transactions to the same agent when a dispute case is assigned. This alignment helps maintain consistency and speeds up case resolution.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to All > Financial Services Operations > Workspace.
    2. Select the lists icon (lists icon).
    3. In the Lists tab under Card disputes service cases, open the case list.
      • For your assigned cases, select Assigned to me.
      • For all dispute cases, select All.
    4. In the list, select which case you want to work on.
      If you want to work on a case that isn't assigned to you yet, you can assign it to yourself by selecting Assign to me.
    5. Select the Playbook tab.
    6. In the Processing tab, select the transaction ID.
    7. Open the Evaluate merchant analysis task.

      If the AI agent is enabled and the task isn't yet assigned, select Assign to me to invoke the AI agent. If the task is already assigned to you, the agent's recommendation is displayed automatically.

      If the AI agent isn't enabled, in Open Tasks, select Evaluate merchant analysis to open the task manually.

    8. If the AI agent is enabled, review the agent's analysis and select one of these options on the workspace.
      • Apply Recommendation: Accept the recommendation after reviewing the merchant analysis. The recommended Outcome and Rationale on the recommendation card component are copied to Final action and Resolution reason respectively, and the task closes automatically.
      • Ask a follow up: Select this option only if you aren't sure about the analysis and want to verify further. The analysis is then displayed in the ServiceNow Otto panel. If you disagree with the analysis, the AI agent prompts you for a rationale for the disagreement before the task proceeds.
      Note:
      You can also access the AI agent's recommendation as follows:
      1. Once you select Assign to me, a notification appears for you in the ServiceNow Otto panel.
      2. Select the ServiceNow Otto icon (Otto icon.) and open the active chat for the disputed transaction.
      3. In the chat, the AI agent generates a recommendation for the dispute with a valid reason.
    9. If the AI agent isn't enabled, or you want to record the final action yourself, in Merchant analysis action indicate the final action:
      • Credible: Upon analysis, the merchant is determined to be credible.
      • Not Credible: Upon analysis, the merchant is determined to be not credible.
    10. Close the task.
      This step happens automatically if the AI agent is enabled and you selected Apply Recommendation.

    Result

    The Final action field is updated as Credible or Not credible. The task navigates to the next task, Evaluate Nacha operating guidelines.