Manage contract repository agentic workflow

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 5 minutes to read
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    Summary of Manage contract repository agentic workflow

    The Manage contract repository agentic workflow in ServiceNow automates the extraction of metadata and obligations from signed contracts, enhancing productivity by setting contract reminder dates for renewals or terminations. It leverages AI agents to sequentially extract contract data, calculate reminder dates, and identify contractual obligations, enabling contract managers to review and manage this information effectively within the contract playbook.

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    To use this workflow, users must have specific roles and data access permissions configured for AI agents and the agentic workflow. Business rules must be activated to allow autonomous operation, and the Now Assist panel should be enabled for user interaction with the workflow.

    Key Features

    • Metadata Extraction and Reminder Setup: Automatically extracts key contract metadata (e.g., vendor, contract model, document details) using the Now Assist contract metadata extraction skill. Contract managers receive notifications when extraction completes and can review the data and adjust contract reminder dates based on contract end date, auto-renewal clauses, and notice periods. Default notice periods apply if specific terms are absent.
    • Obligation Extraction and Management: Uses the Now Assist contract obligation extraction skill to identify contractual obligations. Contract managers review and accept or reject obligations. Accepted obligations are added as records with associated tasks that are scheduled automatically or created manually. Assigned users handle obligation tasks, which progress through states from Open to Completed after review and approval.
    • Automatic Workflow Triggering: The workflow triggers automatically when a contract record is created, with conditions based on user roles (such as aicontractfulfiller and nowassistpaneluser) and assignment group configurations. The workflow supports both self-served and non-self-served requests.
    • AI Agents Utilized: The Contract Repository AI agent integrates tools to retrieve contract details, extract metadata and obligations, and calculate average lead times for contracts.
    • Administrative Controls: Contract Admins manage activation of AI skills and business rules through the Now Assist Admin console and ensure AI agents run autonomously by updating script includes if customizations are applied.

    Practical Considerations for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensure appropriate roles and permissions are assigned to users interacting with the workflow to allow AI agents to access necessary contract data.
    • Activate required business rules and configure Now Assist skills for metadata and obligation extraction to enable automation.
    • Review AI-extracted metadata and obligations promptly to maintain accurate contract records and manage reminders effectively.
    • Use the Now Assist panel to interact with agentic workflows, noting that Virtual Agent panel support is not available.
    • Configure API credentials properly if using generative AI services other than Now LLM Service to ensure connectivity and functionality.

    Use the manage contract repository agentic workflow to improve productivity by extracting metadata and obligations automatically from signed contracts and setting the contract reminder dates for contract renewal or termination.

    Manage contract repository overview

    Important:
    The manage contract repository agentic workflow uses an AI agent to do the following sequentially.
    • Extract metadata from signed contracts.
    • Calculate the contract reminder date for renewal and termination.
    • Extract obligations from signed contracts.

    Metadata extraction and contract reminders

    The AI agent uses Now Assist contract metadata extraction skill to extract key metadata from signed contracts. Once the metadata extraction is complete, you can open the playbook to review the extracted information and set the contract reminder date.

    The following workflow explains the metadata extraction and contract reminder setup process.
    1. As a Contract Admin with the AI role, activate the contract metadata extraction skill in the Now Assist Admin console.

      For more information, see Configure Now Assist in Contract Management.

    2. As a Contract Admin, activate the business rules.
    3. The metadata extraction process is automatically initiated when a contract record is created.
    4. Once the extraction is complete, the Contract Manager with the AI role receives a notification indicating that the metadata is ready for review.
    5. The Contract Manager reviews the extracted metadata and submits it to update the contract repository.
    6. The contract reminder date is then calculated based on the following factors:
    7. The Contract Manager sets the contract reminders in the playbook by reviewing the calculated date and configuring the recipient list for the reminders.

    For more information, see Review AI-extracted metadata and contract reminder date.

    Obligation extraction

    The AI agent uses Now Assist contract obligation extraction skill to extract key contractual obligations from contracts. Once extracted, you can review the obligations within the contract playbook and choose to accept or reject them. Accepted obligations are added as records in the Obligations tab of the contract record.

    The following workflow explains the obligation extraction process.
    1. As a Contract Admin with the AI role, activate the contract obligation extraction skill in the Now Assist Admin console.

      For more information, see Configure Now Assist in Contract Management.

    2. As a Contract Admin, activate the business rules.
    3. The obligation extraction process is automatically initiated when a contract record is created.
    4. Once the extraction is complete, the Contract Manager with the AI role receives a notification indicating that obligations are ready for review.
    5. The Contract Manager reviews the extracted obligations within the contract playbook. Each obligation can be accepted or rejected based on relevance.
    6. Approved obligations are automatically added as obligation records in the Obligations tab of the contract record.
    7. Obligation tasks are created.
      • For a recurring schedule, the obligation tasks are automatically created for the obligation record based on the defined schedule.
      • For an ad hoc schedule, the contract manager creates an obligation task from the Obligation tasks tab in the contract record.
    8. The assigned user is notified when the obligation task is created.
    9. The assigned user works on the obligation task and submits it for review.

      The state of the obligation task changes from Open to Awaiting approval.

    10. The Obligation Fulfiller reviews the task and approves or rejects it.
      • If the obligation task is rejected, the state of the task changes to Open, and the assigned user continues to work on it.
      • If the obligation task is approved, the state of the task changes to Completed.
    For more information, see Review AI-extracted obligations.

    Conditions for the agentic workflow to trigger

    The manage contract repository agentic workflow for a non-self-served request is triggered as soon as the contract repository record is created and the Assigned to user in the request has the sn_cm_gen_ai.ai_contract_fulfiller and now_assist_panel_user role.

    The manage contract repository agentic workflow for a self-served request is triggered as soon as the contract repository record is created and the following conditions are met:
    • The group manager of the Assignment group has the now_assist_panel_user role.
    • If there’s no group manager for the Assignment group, one of the users in the Assignment group has the now_assist_panel_user role.
    • If the user requested changes on the contract request, the Assigned to user or the group manager in the request has the sn_cm_gen_ai.ai_contract_fulfiller and now_assist_panel_user role.
    Contract fulfillers and assignment group managers with the now_assist_panel_user role can view the agentic workflow conversation in the Now Assist panel.
    Note:
    The agentic workflow isn’t supported in the Virtual Agent panel.

    Accessing the agentic workflow

    Role required: sn_aia.admin

    If your generative AI service provider isn’t Now LLM Service, ensure that the API connections and credentials are configured. For more information, see Configuring API credentials for generative AI capabilities.

    1. Navigate to All > AI Agent Studio > Create and manage.
    2. Select Manage contract repository.

    AI agents used in the manage contract repository agentic workflow

    Table 1. AI agents names and descriptions
    Name Description
    Contract Repository AI agent Uses various tools to perform the following:
    • Retrieves the contract repository details, such as contract vendor, contract model, contract document's attachment ID, and so on from a specific contract repository record.
    • Extracts metadata from signed contact documents based on the applicable use case in the contract metadata extraction skill.
    • Extracts obligations from signed contact documents based on the applicable use case in the contract obligation extraction skill.
    • Calculates the average lead time for similar contracts.