Proactive Rule form

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Proactive Rule form

    The Proactive Rule form in ServiceNow’s Zurich release enables you to create and configure rules for Proactive Triggers. These rules determine when and how proactive actions are initiated to engage end users, based on specific triggers and conditions. This helps improve user experience by delivering timely assistance through Virtual Agent or Live Agent chat interactions.

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    Key Features

    • Name and Description: Assign a clear name and description to identify the rule easily.
    • Type: Choose the conversation type—Virtual Agent or Live Agent only (configured via Service Portal)—to specify when the rule applies.
    • Order and Activation: Set the priority order for multiple rules and activate the rule as needed.
    • Frequency and Delay: Control how often the rule runs (every time, once per visit, or once per user) and specify a delay timer before the rule is executed.
    • Trigger Type: Select from system API triggers (like Search Event for no search results) or web browsing URL triggers (catalog item, knowledge article, portal home, or custom URL). This determines what user actions or system events initiate the proactive trigger.
    • Conditions: Define precise conditions that must be met for the trigger to run, with case sensitivity and caution to avoid conflicting conditions to ensure accurate rule execution.
    • Advanced Conditions: Use scripting options to create complex conditions beyond the standard condition builder.
    • Find Available Agent: Optionally check for available live agents before triggering actions for Live Agent support.

    Key Outcomes

    • Enables tailored proactive engagement with end users based on their interactions and system events.
    • Improves responsiveness and user support by triggering Virtual or Live Agent conversations under defined circumstances.
    • Allows precise control over when and how often rules apply, enhancing the relevance and timing of proactive messages.
    • Supports customization through custom trigger types and advanced condition scripting to meet unique business needs.
    • Ensures smooth operation by requiring activation of related business rules and actions for certain trigger types (e.g., Search Event).

    When creating a Proactive Triggers rule, the Proactive Rule form includes the following fields.

    Table 1. Proactive Rule form
    Field Description
    Name Name of the new rule that you want to create.
    Type Proactive Triggers conversation type for end users. Choices are:
    • Virtual Agent

      Rules are triggered when the Virtual Agent is available.

    • Live Agent only

      Rules are triggered when the web client is configured to live agent only. You can configure the web client to live agent only from the Service Portal. For instructions, see Configure Agent Chat in a portal.
    Description Rule description.
    Order Order of when a Proactive Triggers rule is to be applied. If there’s more than one rule, the rules with lower numbers for a particular delay time are applied first.
    Active Option to activate the rule.
    When to run the trigger
    Frequency How often the rule should be applied. Choices are:
    • Every time: Every time an end user visits the page.
    • Once per visit: Every time an end user visits a page per user log in.
    • Once per user: Applies the rule only the first time that an end user visits the page. With this frequency setting, you must clear the rule's history if you want to run this rule again for a user. For more information about clearing the rule history, see Multiple Proactive Triggers rules and actions.
    Delay time Time to wait before the rule is applied. Choices are:
    • None
    • 10 seconds
    • 20 seconds
    • 30 seconds
    • 1 minute
    • 3 minutes
    What initiates the trigger
    Trigger type

    System API or web browsing URL for the type of trigger. Select the lookup list icon (Lookup using list icon.) to view your default choices.

    If enabled, your default system API choice is Search Event. This trigger type triggers an action when no search results are found on the Service Portal or Employee Service Center.
    Tip:
    Ensure that your Proactive Trigger business rule (Proactive Trigger on Search), trigger type (Search Event), rule (Search - No Search Result), and action (No Search Result Message) have the Active option turned on so that this rule runs effectively. These parameters default to inactive.

    Your default web browsing URL choices are:

    • Catalog item: Triggers an action based on the catalog item's reference fields.
    • Knowledge: Triggers an action based on the knowledge article's reference fields.
    • Portal home: Triggers an action based on the portal home page's reference fields.
    • URL: Triggers an action based on the defined URL.
      Define the URL components as shown in this example.
      URL trigger type format example.
      Important:
      • If you're using the Virtual Agent web client outside of the ServiceNow instance (for example, as part of a third-party website), use the URL trigger type. Don't use any of the other trigger types.
      • The URL trigger type applies only if no other available trigger types match the URL.

    If you don’t see the trigger type that you need using the lookup list icon (Lookup using list icon.), you can create your own custom trigger type. For more information about custom trigger types, see Create custom trigger types.
    Conditions Conditions that must be met for the trigger type to run as defined by the admin. Conditions vary by trigger type. Specify the Proactive Triggers conditions that you want to use.

    For more information about using conditions, see Condition builder.

    Note:
    Rule conditions are case-sensitive and must match. For example, if you want to use the name of a catalog item, such as the iPhone condition, entering "iphone" doesn't give you the results that you want.

    Proactive Triggers conditions.
    Note:
    When specifying the conditions that must be met for a trigger type, be careful not to specify conflicting trigger types and conditions. Conflicting URL trigger types and conditions can cause errors. For more information, see Manage Proactive Triggers.
    Advanced conditions Option for using scripts to define the condition.
    Specify advanced conditions.
    Find available agent Option to check for any available live agents.