Managing conversational actions in Virtual Agent Designer

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated December 2, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Managing conversational actions in Virtual Agent Designer

    ServiceNow customers with theadminorvirtualagentadminrole can view and manage conversational actions through theVirtual Agent Designer. This management interface is enhanced when theNow Assist Topics skillis enabled, providing an updated user interface and list view. Without this skill, the legacy UI and topics page are shown.

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    Note that while you can view and edit conversational actions in Virtual Agent Designer, the creation, testing, and deletion of these actions must be done exclusively in Workflow Studio. Opening an action in Virtual Agent Designer opens it in Workflow Studio within the same environment.

    Key Features

    • Action Management Interface: View a list of conversational actions with default columns such as Name, Type, Status, Active (GenAI skill status), Last Modified, and Description.
    • Toggle Visibility and Status: Use row action icons to toggle the following flags for each action:
      • Promoted: Marks the action as a suggested conversational asset in the virtual assistant.
      • Discoverable: Allows the action to be invoked automatically when matched with user utterances.
      • Visible: Makes the action appear when users select "Show me everything" during a conversation.
      • Active: Controls whether the action is available to users during conversations.
    • Deletion Restrictions: Actions cannot be deleted within Virtual Agent Designer and must be deleted in Workflow Studio.
    • Requirement for Now Assist Admin Configuration: Conversational subflows and actions appear only if the Subflows and actions skill is enabled in Now Assist Admin. When enabled, these appear in the Now Assist Panel for user access.

    Practical Benefits

    This capability allows ServiceNow customers to efficiently manage the lifecycle of conversational actions, ensuring that only relevant and active conversations are offered to users through the Virtual Agent. The ability to toggle discoverability and promotion helps tailor the Virtual Agent experience to better match organizational needs and user expectations.

    By integrating with Workflow Studio for creation and deletion, customers maintain a clear separation of concerns, using Virtual Agent Designer primarily for management and fine-tuning of existing conversational actions.

    View and manage conversational actions through Virtual Agent Designer.

    Note:
    An updated Virtual Agent Designer user interface is available when you install Now Assist in Virtual Agent and turn on the Now Assist Topics skill. This content assumes that you have activated this skill and can see the list view. If this skill is not enabled, you will see the legacy UI and topics page. For more information, see Virtual Agent Designer legacy topics page.

    When you have the admin or virtual_agent_admin role, you can work with conversational actions in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Conversational actions currently can't be created in Virtual Agent Designer. You can only view and edit them in Virtual Agent Designer. Conversational actions can be created, tested, and deleted only in Workflow Studio. For more details on creating actions, see Create an action in Workflow Studio.

    When you open an action, a tab is displayed in the navigation header bar. This tab opens the action in Workflow Studio within the Virtual Agent Designer environment. The following columns appear by default:

    Column Description
    Name Name of the action. Select the name of the action to work with that action directly in Virtual Agent Designer.
    Type Action.
    Status Status type such as Published.
    Active Whether the GenAI skill is active or inactive.
    Last modified Time that the subflow was last modified.
    Description Description of the action.
    Figure 1. Example of conversational actions in Virtual Agent Designer
    Actions tab in Virtual Agent Designer that displays basic information about conversational actions in a list.

    Use the row actions icon KB link to work with visibility settings for Promoted, Discoverable, Visible, and Active:

    Option Description
    Promoted Option to toggle the action's Promoted status to show as a suggested conversational asset in the virtual assistant.
    Discoverable Option to toggle the action's Discoverable status. If discoverable, the action is invoked when matched with a user's utterance.
    Visible Option to toggle the action's visibility to users. If visible, the action appears whenever the Show me everything option is selected in the conversation.
    Active Option to toggle the action's active status. If active, the action is available within the conversation.
    Delete Option to delete the action is not applicable within Virtual Agent Designer because actions can only be deleted within Workflow Studio.

    Conversational subflows and actions only appear to users during a Virtual Agent conversation if the Subflows and actions skill is turned on in Now Assist Admin. Conversational subflows and actions appear in Now Assist Panel as long as the Subflows and action skill is active.