Now Assist in Platform Analytics release notes
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Summary of Now Assist in Platform Analytics Release Notes - Yokohama
Now Assist for Platform Analytics leverages Generative AI to enable users to analyze business data through natural language conversational interactions without requiring technical expertise in Platform Analytics. It integrates multiple AI skills and applications to create a seamless experience for data exploration, collaboration, and insight generation. This release focuses on updates in Yokohama Patch 11 and subsequent patches, enhancing usability, configurability, and analytical capabilities.
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Key Features
- AI Data Explorer (Yokohama Patch 11): A collaborative tool for asking questions, receiving AI-driven recommendations, and building shared, editable analysis documents called "explorations." It supports sharing insights with tagged users, duplicating answers, and facilitates deeper data analysis using Query Generation technology.
- Query Generation Enhancements: Translates natural language queries into actionable insights. Supports multi-table sources, Workflow Data Fabric tables, and database views, expanding the range of data accessible for AI analysis.
- Segments Improvement: Enables reusable context definitions to refine data dimensions and values with manual segment creation, synchronization, and domain separation support for better data organization and accuracy.
- Usage Measurement Update: Transitioned from a 365-day look-back to a 365-day burn-down model aligned with contract anniversaries, affecting how Now Assist usage is tracked and managed.
- Default Skill Activation: New installations activate designated Now Assist skills by default; existing customers upgrading will have unconfigured skills automatically activated, streamlining setup.
- Access Control for AI Agents and Workflows: ACLs can be configured to control discovery and triggering of AI agents and agentic workflows, including their availability to authenticated or public users.
- Improved Visibility and Monitoring: Enhanced transparency into the Query Generation process with detailed state tracking and health monitoring of backend components.
Activation and Deployment
- Now Assist for Platform Analytics applications, including AI Data Explorer, are available through the ServiceNow Store.
- Generative AI Controller plugin is a dependency that installs Query Generation, Analytics Generation, and dashboard/export skills.
- After installation, customers must activate relevant skills and configure access controls to suit their organizational needs.
Key Outcomes for ServiceNow Customers
- Enable business users to conduct data analysis and generate insights independently through conversational AI, reducing reliance on technical teams.
- Facilitate faster, collaborative decision-making with shared explorations and AI-generated recommendations.
- Expand data analysis capabilities to include multiple data sources and complex queries with improved support for financial data, Workflow Data Fabric, and database views.
- Gain control over AI skill activation and user access, ensuring compliance with organizational policies and security requirements.
- Benefit from updated usage tracking models that align with contract terms for better license management.
Now Assist for Platform Analytics consists of several skills and applications that let you generate and work with Platform Analytics objects through Generative AI. These skills let you analyze your business data through conversational interactions, without a technical knowledge of Platform Analytics.
Now Assist in Platform Analytics highlights
Yokohama Patch 11
- Review changes to Now Assist usage measurement.
- Some Now Assist skills, agents, and agentic workflows are on by default.
- Additional role configuration is required for agentic workflows and AI agents included with Now Assist applications.
- Create "explorations"—editable documents where you analyze data with the help of AI. Refine responses, add your own input, and collaborate with others to make data-informed decisions faster.
Previous Patch releases
- Generate and export Platform Analytics artifacts from conversational interactions in the Now Assist panel.
- Benefit from a single, smooth experience in asking questions across all Now Assist for Platform Analytics skills, as well as other applications that incorporate Platform Analytics and AI, through a shared backend.
See for more information.
Important:
Now Assist for Platform Analytics applications are available in the ServiceNow Store. For details, see the "Activation information" section of these release notes.
New features, applications, and skills
- Yokohama Patch 11
- Gather insights, plan, and collaborate in the AI Data Explorer (January 2026)
- Ask quick questions, receive tailored recommendations, and collaborate with AI and your colleagues to build long-term analysis. Enable teams to discuss and act on findings instantly. Centralize insights and narratives for
better decision making. Guide users with contextual insights and suggestions.Main features include:
- Optional deeper level of analysis
- Share explorations with tagged users
- Duplicate an answer in an exploration
AI Data Explorer leverages Query Generation to translate natural language questions into actionable insights. Query Generation enables users of AI Data Explorer to analyze their data and access a broader range of data sets. Key capabilities include:- Ability to add tables to the semantic data layer
- Multi-table source support
- Workflow Data Fabric table support
- Database view support
Changed features
- Yokohama Patch 13
- View recommended actions
- AI Data Explorer can suggest actions based on the insights that it generates in an exploration.
- Ask questions about FX currency data
- Query Generation now supports the FXCurrency (Currency 2) data type. This means that you can use AI Data Explorer to explore financial operations data, including those within Source-to-Pay Operations.
- Benefit from improvements to segments
- Segments are reusable definitions in Query Generation that provide non-obvious context to assist the semantic layer or LLM to select the correct dimension and values. Users can create manual segments via a new form. A scheduled job synchronizes
manual and autogenerated segments. This job also cleans up segments to help surface the correct segments and reduce noise.
Domain separation is also now supported, with a Domain field on the Segments table. Segments based on reports and filters inherit the source domain. Manual segments have domains that are passed up to the Segments table on synchronization. Segments are not supported for indicator sources or modules on domain-separated instances.
- Yokohama Patch 11
- Changes to Now Assist usage measurement
- Starting with Yokohama Patch 5, Now Assist usage measurement is transitioning from a 365-day look-back model to a 365-day burn-down model, with usage resetting at the contract anniversary date. For more information, refer to KB KB2704710: Now Assist Usage - Overview & New Measurement Logic.
- Some Now Assist skills are turned on by default
- The new default behavior works as follows:
- New customers: When you install a Now Assist product, designated skills are turned on automatically.
- Existing customers who are upgrading (starting with Yokohama Patch 11): Any previously unconfigured skill is turned on automatically (the skill was never configured and turned on, then turned off again). Previously configured skills that were turned on, then off, remain inactive.
- Configure ACLs for AI agents and agentic workflows
- Configure the access control lists for who can discover and trigger AI agents and agentic workflows in their guided setups in AI Agent Studio. You can determine whether an AI agent or agentic workflow behaves as a dynamic user or as an AI user. You can also specify if an AI agent or agentic workflow can be available to all authenticated users or publicly available.
- Query Generation skills are active by default
- If the Generative AI Controller plugin is activated, the skills for Query Generation are activated by default.
- Greater visibility into the Query Generation process
- When you call Query Generation from AI Data Explorer or another application, you see each state that the query and response goes through before completing.
- Multi-table source support
- Query Generation supports related table conditions and dot-walking in queries.
- Get insights and visualizations for Workflow Data Fabric tables
- Ask AI Data Explorer information about Workflow Data Fabric data and get insightful responses. You must first add the Workflow Data Fabric tables to the Query Generation Semantic Table Configuration table.
- Use database views in queries
- Generate visualizations or ask AI Data Explorer about data kept in database views, like SLA data. You have to add the database views to the Semantic Table Configuration table.
- Yokohama Patch 7
- Add tables to the semantic data layer
- Choose which tables your users can query with generative AI for data analysis.
- Monitor the health of the Query Generation back end
- View the state of Now Assist for Platform Analytics LLM, plugins, system properties, components, and dependent products.
Activation information
AI Data Explorer is available from the ServiceNow Store.
Query Generation, Analytics Generation, and the dashboard and data visualization export skill are installed with Generative AI Controller, which is included as a dependency of all Now Assist applications.
Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
After installation, activate the relevant skills. For more information, see the relevant Configure topics under .
Plugin information
- New plugins
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The following plugins are new in Yokohama:
AI Data Explorer (sn_pa_ai_canvas): The AI Data Explorer application allows users to explore data with help of AI, gather and organize findings, and collaborate with other users.