Localizing Virtual Agent conversations

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated October 17, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Localizing Virtual Agent conversations

    ServiceNow provides comprehensive localization capabilities for Virtual Agent conversations to support multiple languages using the Localization Framework. This framework standardizes and manages the entire translation process, whether using machine translation, third-party providers, or a combination. It allows you to define translation workflows, assign roles, and configure business rules for translation and publication, ensuring consistent and efficient localization of Virtual Agent topics.

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    Key Features

    • Localization Framework: Centralizes management of translation requests, fulfillment methods (machine translation, TMS, or file import/export), and publication rules.
    • Roles: Defines specific roles such as Localization Requestor, Fulfiller, and Editor to manage responsibilities throughout the translation lifecycle.
    • Topic Discovery Support: Supports localization for topics discovered via Keyword topic discovery and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery, with specific translation workflows for each.
    • NLU Integration: Enables multilingual NLU model management, including translating models and mapping them to topics before publishing.
    • Translation Management: Allows viewing, requesting, editing, and testing translations directly within Virtual Agent Designer and NLU Workbench.
    • Bulk Translation Requests: Supports bulk translation submissions for multiple topics via the [syscstopic] table list view.
    • Localization Methods in Authoring: Provides script methods to ensure conversation content is translatable and falls back to the original text if no translation exists.
    • Language Support: Requires activation of desired languages and enabling of NLU languages in Virtual Agent settings; some NLU services support entity extraction only for select languages.
    • Translation Storage: Translated content is stored in [systranslatedtext] and [sysuimessage] tables for consistent retrieval.

    Prerequisites and Configuration

    • Activate ServiceNow plugins for each target language to enable localization.
    • Configure the preferred translation mode in the Localization Framework (machine translation, TMS, or email).
    • Enable languages in Virtual Agent settings for NLU-powered topics and add secondary languages to NLU model groups if needed.
    • Assign appropriate localization roles to team members aligned with their translation responsibilities.
    • Avoid embedded quotes in translatable strings as these are currently unsupported for localization.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By leveraging these localization capabilities, ServiceNow customers can efficiently extend Virtual Agent conversations across multiple languages, improving user experience for global audiences. The structured framework and role assignments facilitate streamlined translation workflows, ensuring quality and consistency in all localized content. Integration with NLU models further enhances the natural language capabilities of Virtual Agents in different languages, enabling more accurate and context-aware interactions.

    The ServiceNow platform provides several methods for localizing Virtual Agent conversations, depending on your needs. Use the Localization Framework to manage all aspects of the translation process, whether you are using machine translation, a third-party provider, or both.

    Use the ServiceNow Localization Framework to standardize and track the translation process for Virtual Agent topics. The framework enables you to define the business process for translating your conversations. Use it to configure the following:
    • How localization requests are fulfilled.

      Options include machine translation, a translation management system (TMS), and exporting and importing files.

    • Who is responsible for each step in the process.

      Virtual Agent uses the following roles:

      • Localization requestor
      • Localization fulfiller
      • Localization editor
    • Business rules for the process:
      • Auto translation and publication
      • Approval required for translation and publication

    To learn more, see Localization Framework. To learn more about localization roles, see Localization roles for Virtual Agent.

    Localizing topics

    The localization process flow depends on the method of topic discovery that you are using for your topics. The following types of topic discovery are supported using the Localization Framework.

    • Keyword topic discovery

      When you use the Localization Framework, the chat conversation and the keywords associated with the topic are translated.

    • Natural Language Understanding (NLU) topic discovery

      If your topics use NLU, both the topic and the model group must be localized. When you request a translation from Virtual Agent Designer, the topic and any optional keywords are translated. You must request translation for model groups from NLU Workbench. For more information about that process, see Translate a multilingual model.

      Once the topic and secondary models are localized, you may need to map the models to the topic before publishing them.

    Prerequisites

    Important:
    Currently, translatable strings such as topic text and bot responses cannot contain embedded quotes. Strings that contain embedded quotes cannot be localized.
    Do the following before you begin managing translations:
    • Activate the ServiceNow plugin for each language you want to support.

      The Localization Framework is also installed by default. For more information, see Activate a language.

    • Configure the translation mode that you want to use in the Localization Framework.

      You can configure machine translation, a translation management system (TMS), or send via email. For more information, see Translation modes.

    • If you are using Natural Language Understanding (NLU), enable languages in Virtual Agent settings.

      For more information, see Enable NLU languages in Virtual Agent settings.

    • If necessary, add secondary languages to your NLU model group. For more information, see Multilingual model management.
    • Assign localization roles to team member groups.

      Users are assigned different roles based on their responsibilities for the translation process. For more information, see Localization roles for Virtual Agent.

    Manage languages by model

    If NLU is enabled for your instance, you can view and manage translations by model and language. Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Virtual Agent > Designer, and then click Manage languages. Choose a model and a language, and then you can do the following:
    • View translation status
    • Request translations
    • View or edit translations
    • Test translations

    Click Manage NLU translations for easy access to the model management page in NLU Workbench.

    For more information, see Localize Virtual Agent topics that use NLU topic discovery.