--- sourceDocument: Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/governance-risk-compliance Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance ft:clusterId : - grc bundleId : - grc workflow : - Technology --- # Respond to assessments # Responding to assessments {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Responding to assessments The Smart Assessment Engine application in ServiceNow enables users with the Assessment actor role to efficiently respond to assigned assessments. It supports progress tracking, automatic saving, and collaboration, ensuring that assessors can complete assessments with ease and accuracy. Administrators and template managers oversee the assessment process, including managing cancellations and reassignments. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Progress Indicator:** Visually tracks how much of the assessment has been completed, including required and optional questions. * **Automatic Saving:** Responses are saved automatically, minimizing the risk of data loss and indicated by a saved badge. * **Paginated Questions:** Questions are organized into sections and pages for easier navigation. * **Assessment Details:** View reference information like scope, requester, assignee, and due dates in the Details section, if provided by template managers or administrators. * **Collaboration at Question Level:** Each question card includes Comments for discussions, Work Notes for private communication, Flags to mark questions needing attention, and Change History to track modifications. * **Filtering and Searching:** Responders can filter questions using multiple criteria to focus on specific questions, and for single-select or multi-select reference questions, can search beyond the default 10 records to find all matching entries. * **Assessment Management:** Administrators can cancel unnecessary assessments; users with the reassignment role can reassign in-progress assessments to others. * **Default View on Opening:** Assessments open either to configured instructions or the first question, regardless of prior progress, ensuring clarity on next steps. ## Key Outcomes ServiceNow customers using the Smart Assessment Engine can expect a streamlined assessment response experience that reduces manual effort and errors. The system's automatic saving and progress tracking enhance reliability and efficiency. Collaboration tools built into each question enable better communication and accountability among assessors. Filtering and search features help responders focus on relevant questions, improving assessment accuracy and timeliness. Administrators maintain control over assessment workflow with options to cancel or reassign tasks as needed. Use the Smart Assessment Engine application to help assessors complete assessment requests. Track your progress and let the system automatically save your information. Administrators and template managers manage the assessment process. ## Assessment response overview {#sae-respond-to-asmnt__section_lsp_wdr_vbc} If you have the Assessment actor \[sn_smart_asmt.actor\] role, you can submit responses to an assigned assessment. Here are some more key functionalities: * A progress indicator displays how much of the assessment you have completed. * Questions are paginated, making it easier to navigate through the assessment. * Your work is automatically saved, eliminating the risk of potential data loss. * An assessment administrator \[sn_smart_asmt.assessment_admin\] can cancel assessments that are no longer needed. {#sae-respond-to-asmnt__ul_pym_zgk_b2c} If you have the assessment reassign \[sn_smart_asmt.reassign\] role, you can reassign in-progress assessments to another user. If your template manager or administrator has added reference information, such as scope-related information, you can view it in the Details section of your assessment. If relevant to the state of the assessment, the scope, requester, assignee, the requested and due dates are listed in the Details section by default. While responding to an assessment, you can collaborate at the level of individual questions through four features on each question card: Comments for question-specific conversation, Work notes for private threads available only to users with a configured role, question Flags for marking questions that need attention, and question-level Change history for tracking how the response, justification, and flag state changed. For an overview of these features, including how their visibility and permissions are controlled, see [Collaboration in assessments](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/yIaHj6w8llDRrZ8Pxb1rBQ "Collaboration in Smart Assessment Engine enables you to add multiple contributors to an assessment and support live collaboration with real-time updates. It also displays presence indicators to show who is active on the assessment."). For details on the change history panel, see [Question change history](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/GLlqHCCJ1idHx9ORGSD2Dg "Review a log of every response, justification, and flag state change made to a question throughout the lifecycle of an assessment."). The following example shows how your progress, save status, assessment status, reference information, actions, and more are indicated in the assessment view. Figure 1. Example of an in-progress assessment ## Assessment response features {#sae-respond-to-asmnt__section_omq_5m2_ndc} Navigating assessments : Assessment actors can navigate through an assessment by selecting the section of questions they're ready to answer. Saving assessments : Your assessment progress is automatically saved and your save status is indicated by the saved badge ![Saved badge.](). Progress tracking in assessments : The progress bar indicates how many questions remain in the assessment including required and optional questions. Filtering questions : Responders can narrow the question list by selecting one or more filters from the filter drop-down list. Multiple filters can be combined to focus on questions that match every selected criterion. For details on each available filter and how to combine them, see [Filtering questions in an assessment](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/if_lX2F0QmaBQKvWeCsUFg "In SAE, narrow the question list in an assessment by selecting one or more filters from the filter dropdown. Filters can be combined to focus on questions that match every selected criterion.").{#sae-respond-to-asmnt__dd_jsk_bfb_mjc} {#sae-respond-to-asmnt__dd_jsk_bfb_mjc} Default focus when opening or reopening an assessment : When you open or reopen an assessment, the view defaults to the assessment instructions if configured. Otherwise, the view defaults to the first question of the first section or subsection. This default focus applies even if you or a contributor already answered later questions, or a response was set by response automation. Note: This feature is available starting with Australia Patch 2. Searching reference-type question responses : For single-select and multi-select reference-type questions, if the specified table returns more than 10 records, you see only the first 10 by default. Select the search icon to open a list of all matching records and choose from the full set. Note: This feature is available starting with Australia Patch 2.