Offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated February 4, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow

    The Offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow leverages AI agents to preserve critical institutional knowledge when employees leave an organization. It automates the discovery, organization, and transfer of valuable documents and information from departing employees to their managers and teams, helping to minimize knowledge loss and ensure continuity.

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    This workflow integrates with ServiceNow Journey Designer to create a structured, AI-powered offboarding process consisting of two phases: manager initiation and employee review. The manager initiates the knowledge transfer by defining requirements, and the employee reviews and approves the AI-curated knowledge transfer content before it is shared.

    How it Works

    • Manager Initiation: An AI agent interacts with the departing employee's manager to determine if knowledge transfer is needed, collect requirements, and specify the time range for relevant documents. It then discovers documents authored by the employee, categorizes them using AI, and creates knowledge transfer records and tasks within the offboarding journey.
    • Employee Review: Upon manager approval, a second AI agent presents the curated knowledge transfer content to the departing employee for review and consent before sharing it with the manager.

    Key Features

    • Automated Document Discovery: Searches across document sources for relevant content created by the departing employee within a specified timeframe.
    • AI-Powered Categorization: Uses Now Assist AI to organize documents into meaningful categories, simplifying manager review.
    • Journey Designer Integration: Automatically adds knowledge transfer tasks to the employee’s offboarding journey for structured management.
    • Conversational Interfaces: Managers and employees interact with AI agents through natural language via Virtual Agent, facilitating smooth communication.
    • Employee Consent and Control: Departing employees review and approve the knowledge transfer content, maintaining control over shared information.
    • Flexible Sharing: Managers can designate specific team members to receive knowledge transfer information.
    • State Tracking: Knowledge transfer progress is tracked from draft to completion, enabling oversight of offboarding activities.

    AI Agents Involved

    • Offboarding Knowledge Transfer Gather Inputs AI Agent: Engages managers to collect transfer requirements and manages the conversation flow based on responses.
    • Knowledge Transfer Reviewer AI Agent: Works with departing employees to review, organize, and approve knowledge transfer content.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Significantly reduces knowledge loss during employee departures.
    • Saves time for managers by automating document discovery and categorization.
    • Ensures a consistent, repeatable knowledge transfer process across offboarding activities.
    • Provides visibility into the status and completion of knowledge transfers.
    • Improves team continuity and reduces disruption caused by employee turnover.
    • Accelerates onboarding and ramp-up of successors with organized handoff materials.

    Requirements

    • Plugins: HR Service Delivery AI agent collection, Now Assist for HRSD, Journey Designer, AI Search, External Content Connectors (including SharePoint Online).
    • AI Components: Activation of AI agents specific to this workflow and the Knowledge Transfer document grouper skill in Now Assist Admin.
    • Journey Configuration: The journey must be set with the Agentic AI Offboarding Plan Type and enable personalization for activity sets.

    The offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow uses AI agents to identify, categorize, and facilitate the transfer of critical knowledge from departing employees to their managers and team members.

    When employees leave an organization, they take valuable institutional knowledge with them. The offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow helps preserve this knowledge by performing the following actions:
    • Automatically discovering documents and resources the departing employee created
    • Organizing the retrieved documents and resources using AI-powered categorization
    • Creating tasks for managers to review and transfer critical information to remaining team members

    The offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow integrates with Journey designer to create an AI-powered offboarding workflow. This agentic workflow operates in two phases: manager initiation and employee review. During manager initiation, an AI agent interacts with the departing employee's manager to determine whether knowledge transfer is needed and collect requirements. During employee review, a second AI agent presents the knowledge transfer content to the departing employee for review and approval before sharing with the manager.

    How offboarding knowledge transfer works

    The knowledge transfer process is triggered when an employee's offboarding journey begins in Journey designer. The system triggers the first AI agent to engage with the manager through a conversational interface.

    The manager-facing AI agent performs the following actions:
    • Retrieves employee and manager information from the offboarding journey record
    • Asks the manager whether knowledge transfer is needed for the departing employee
    • Collects the time range for knowledge retrieval based on manager input
    • Searches for documents that are authored by the departing employee within the specified time period
    • Creates a Knowledge Transfer record and generates Knowledge Transfer Resource records for each discovered document
    • Uses Now Assist AI to categorize the documents into meaningful groups based on content and context
    • Creates a Knowledge Transfer stage in the offboarding journey with assigned tasks
    • Provides a link to the employee journey for tracking and management
    When the manager approves a knowledge transfer, the system triggers the second AI agent to engage with the departing employee. The employee-facing AI agent performs the following actions:
    • Retrieves AI-generated knowledge transfer content including work categories and resources
    • Presents the content to the employee in a structured format with resource links
    • Requests employee approval before sharing the knowledge transfer with the manager
    • Completes the knowledge transfer and notifies the manager upon employee approval

    AI agents

    The offboarding knowledge transfer workflow uses two specialized AI agents that operate autonomously to complete specific tasks:

    Table 1. Agents used in agentic workflow
    AI agent Description
    Offboarding knowledge transfer gather inputs AI agent Interacts with managers to collect knowledge transfer requirements. Recognizes yes or no responses to proceed with the appropriate action, collects numeric values for time ranges, and tracks conversation progress to keep the interaction moving forward. Evaluates each decision point and takes appropriate actions based on manager responses.
    Knowledge transfer reviewer Interacts with departing employees to facilitate review and approval of AI-generated knowledge transfer content. Retrieves work summaries organized by category, displays structured information with resource links, and manages the employee consent process before sharing information with managers.

    Key capabilities

    Automated document discovery
    The system searches across document sources to find relevant documents created by the departing employee within the specified time period.
    AI-powered categorization
    Now Assist analyzes document content and automatically organizes resources into categories, making it easier for managers to understand the scope of knowledge to transfer.
    Journey integration
    Knowledge transfer tasks are automatically added to the employee's offboarding journey in Journey designer, providing a structured workflow for managers.
    Conversational interfaces
    Managers and employees interact with AI agents through natural conversational interfaces delivered through Now Assist in Virtual Agent.
    Employee consent and control
    Employees review and approve AI-generated knowledge transfer content before sharing with managers, maintaining control over what information is shared during offboarding.
    Flexible sharing
    Managers can designate specific team members to receive knowledge transfer information, ensuring the right people have access to critical expertise.
    State tracking
    Knowledge transfers move through states from draft to completed, allowing administrators to monitor progress across all offboarding activities.

    Benefits

    Organizations using the offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow gain several advantages:
    • Reduces knowledge loss when employees depart
    • Saves manager time by automating document discovery and initial categorization
    • Ensures consistent knowledge transfer processes across all offboarding activities
    • Provides visibility into knowledge transfer completion rates
    • Improves team continuity and reduces disruption from employee departures
    • Accelerates successor ramp-up with organized knowledge handoff resources

    Requirements

    Plugins
    To use the offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow, you must install and configure the following plugins:
    • HR Service Delivery AI agent collection (sn_hr_ai_agents)
    • Now Assist for HRSD (sn_hr_gen_ai)
    • Journey designer (sn_jny)
    • AI Search (glide.ais)
    • External Content Connectors (sn_ext_conn)
    • External Content Connectors SharePoint Online (sn_ext_conn_spo)
    AI components

    The following AI components must be activated to use this workflow:

    • AI agents for the offboarding knowledge transfer plan generation agentic workflow
    • Knowledge transfer document grouper skill in Now Assist Admin
    Journey configuration
    In the journey configuration for which you want to enable agentic offboarding, the following fields must be configured:
    • The Journey accelerator plan type field must be set to Agentic AI Offboarding Plan Type.
    • The LE activity sets can be personalized check box must be selected.