Managing conversational subflows in Virtual Agent Designer

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

    ServiceNow customers with admin orvirtualagentadminroles can view and manage conversational subflows through the Virtual Agent Designer interface. However, creating, testing, and deleting subflows must be done exclusively in Workflow Studio. This functionality assumes the Now Assist Topics skill is activated, which enables the updated Virtual Agent Designer UI. Without this skill, users will see the legacy interface.

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    Managing Conversational Subflows

    In Virtual Agent Designer, subflows are displayed in a list view showing key details such as:

    • Name: The subflow’s name, selectable to open it for editing.
    • Type: Always listed as “Subflow.”
    • Status: Indicates the subflow’s current state, e.g., Published.
    • Active: Shows whether the GenAI skill for the subflow is active or inactive.
    • Last modified: Timestamp of the most recent change.
    • Description: A brief explanation of the subflow’s purpose.

    Selecting a subflow opens it in Workflow Studio within the Virtual Agent Designer environment, facilitating seamless editing.

    Visibility and Activation Controls

    Using the row actions icon, customers can toggle these settings for each subflow:

    • Promoted: Shows the subflow as a suggested asset in the virtual assistant.
    • Discoverable: Enables the subflow to be invoked when a user’s utterance matches.
    • Visible: Allows the subflow to appear when users select the “Show me everything” option during conversations.
    • Active: Determines if the subflow is available for use in conversations.

    Note that deletion of subflows is not possible in Virtual Agent Designer and must be performed in Workflow Studio.

    Integration and Requirements

    For conversational subflows and actions to appear during interactions, the Subflows and actions skill must be enabled in Now Assist Admin. Once active, these subflows also appear in the Now Assist Panel, providing users with enhanced conversational capabilities.

    For incorporating non-conversational subflows into Virtual Agent topics, integration with Workflow Studio workflows is supported.

    View and manage conversational subflows 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 subflows in Virtual Agent Designer.

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

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

    Column Description
    Name Name of the subflow. Select the name of the subflow to work with that subflow directly in Virtual Agent Designer.
    Type Subflow.
    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 subflow.
    Figure 1. Example of conversational subflows in Virtual Agent Designer
    Subflows tab in Virtual Agent Designer that displays basic information about conversational subflows 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 subflow's Promoted status to show as a suggested conversational asset in the virtual assistant.
    Discoverable Option to toggle the subflow's Discoverable status. If discoverable, the subflow is invoked when matched with a user's utterance.
    Visible Option to toggle the subflow's visibility to users. If visible, the subflow appears whenever the Show me everything option is selected in the conversation.
    Active Option to toggle the subflow's active status. If active, the subflow is available within the conversation.
    Delete Option to delete the subflow is not applicable within Virtual Agent Designer because subflows 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.