Assess readiness

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 26, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read

    • Verify that your instance is prepared for AI agent deployment, install the required applications, assign the required roles, and classify user identity types before you begin building.

    Before building an AI agent, verify that your instance meets the technical and organizational requirements for deployment. Identifying and resolving gaps now helps to prevent blockers during the build and testing stages.

    Run the readiness evaluation

    The Now Assist Readiness Evaluation app automates the process of checking whether your instance is ready for generative AI and agentic AI deployment. It identifies configuration gaps, data readiness issues, and customizations that could affect your implementation, and provides direct links to resolve each issue. Activate the Now Assist Readiness Evaluation [sn_assess] plugin to use this feature. Learn more about this evaluation at Now Assist Readiness Evaluation.

    Important:
    Don't proceed until all blocking issues identified by the readiness evaluation have been resolved.

    Install required applications

    Verify that the following application is installed on your instance before proceeding.

    Now Assist Admin Console [sn_nowassist_admin]
    Provides the sn_nowassist_admin.nsa_admin and sn_generative_ai.data_steward roles. Install from the ServiceNow Store. See .
    Note:
    Now Assist Admin Console requires a ServiceNow Pro Plus or Enterprise Plus license and AI Search enabled on your instance. Review the application listing in the ServiceNow Store for full dependency and licensing requirements before installing.

    Assign roles

    Once the required applications are installed, assign the following roles to the people who will build, configure, and manage AI agents.

    sn_aia.admin
    Required to create, configure, and manage AI agents and agentic workflows in AI Agent Studio.
    sn_nowassist_admin.nsa_admin
    Required to configure Now Assist Admin settings, activate guardrails, and manage privacy policies.
    sn_generative_ai.data_steward
    Required to make data sharing decisions and configure privacy policies. Assign this role before configuring data protection settings in Configure security controls.

    For a full list of roles installed with Now Assist, see Now Assist Admin roles.

    Classify user identity types

    The ServiceNow AI Platform uses the Identity type field on the User [sys_user] table to distinguish between human users, AI agent users, and machine accounts. Classifying users correctly before you build ensures that your access control and role masking configuration works as intended.

    For any dedicated AI user accounts your agents will run as, set the Identity type to AI Agent. Existing human user records default to Unclassified until updated. Records with the web service account flag set to true are automatically classified as Machine.

    Next step

    When your instance passes the readiness evaluation and roles are assigned, proceed to Plan your agent.