Platform Approval assistance AI agent

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated October 21, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Platform Approval assistance AI agent

    The Approval assistance AI agent streamlines the approval process by allowing users to view, approve, or reject pending approval requests directly through Now Assist in Virtual Agent, without navigating to specific pages. It provides context-aware responses and follow-up questions to enhance user experience when managing approvals.

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    Users require the approveruser and snrequestapproverread roles, along with any additional roles needed to read specific approval-related tables (e.g., snchangeread for Change Requests). Administrators configure display fields and knowledge base search fields to enable the AI agent to utilize a Gen AI checklist for targeted, informed decision-making based on relevant KB articles and policies.

    Configuration requires approvaladmin and admin roles. Cross-scope privileges must be granted to the Now Assist Agents for Requester plugin to access restricted application-scoped tables.

    Prerequisites and Setup

    • Now Assist Agent for Requester (version 3) must be installed, which comes with Now Assist for Platform and is included with other Now Assist applications such as Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM).
    • The agent accesses approval data from the Approvals [sysapprovalapprover] table, displaying records assigned to the user for approval.
    • Role masking allows limiting AI agent privileges; necessary roles must be added to security controls and data access settings to enable reading of relevant tables (e.g., itil for Incident records).

    Accessing and Using the AI Agent

    • Access the agent via All > AI Agent Studio > Create and manage, then select the Approval assistance AI agent under the AI Agents tab.
    • Users can interact using natural language queries such as requesting lists of pending approvals, filtering by request type or priority, or asking for details on specific approvals.
    • The agent presents approval requests requiring user action, allowing approvals or rejections directly. When rejecting, users must provide a comment explaining the reason.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Simplifies and accelerates the approval process by eliminating the need to navigate through multiple pages.
    • Improves decision-making with AI-driven context and checklist support leveraging organizational policies and knowledge base content.
    • Enhances security and compliance through role-based access and role masking controls.
    • Offers seamless integration with Virtual Agent, Now Assist panel, and Microsoft Teams for flexible user engagement.

    The Approval assistance AI agent is an AI agent that enables you to see your list of pending approvals, as well as see the details about your pending approvals. You can then approve or reject requests and tickets from Now Assist in Virtual Agent.

    Approval assistance AI agent overview

    Roles required: approver_user, sn_request_approver_read

    Note:
    Add the necessary roles to enable reading of other tables whose records go through the approval process. For example, you can add the sn_change_read role to read Change Request records.

    The benefit of using the Approval assistance AI agent is that you don't need to navigate to a specific page to approve your tickets. You can ask the AI agent about your pending approval requests and then tell the AI agent to approve or reject those approvals. The AI agent will ask follow-up questions and offer context-aware responses to simplify your experience.

    Ask you administrator to configure the display fields and the knowledge base (KB) search fields to generate a Gen AI checklist to assist the Approval assistance AI agent in making targeted decisions. The checklist uses KB articles and policies to assist the Approval assistance AI agent in decision making. The checklist fetches information from knowledge base articles about specific requester approval tickets. An approval_admin and admin role are required to configure the Approval assistance AI agent. For more information, see Configure Service Portal Approval Configuration record.
    Note:
    Provide cross-scope privileges to the Now Assist Agents for Requester plugin for tables whose records are restricted within the scope of an application. For more information, see Define cross-scope access to an application resource.

    Prerequisites and setup

    To access this AI agent, you must have Now Assist Agent for Requester (version 3 of the standard plugin) installed on your instance, which is installed with Now Assist for Platform. You can get Now Assist for Platform when you install any other Now Assist application, such as Now Assist for IT Service Management (ITSM).

    The Approval assistance AI agent displays data from the Approvals [sysapproval_approver] table. If the user has been assigned to approve a request, the approval record is shown.

    Role masking

    Required role:

    Role masking enables users to limit the roles and privileges of AI agents during tool execution. AI agents that get installed with Now Assist applications are assigned pre-defined roles. If you select Users with specific roles for user access, you must configure the security controls to include these roles. Data access settings must also include these roles. For the instructions to change the security controls, see Define security controls for an AI agent.

    In the data access settings, you must also add the necessary roles to enable reading of the tables for the records you want to evaluate for readiness. For example, you can add the itil role to the AI agent's list of approved roles so that it can access Incident records.

    Accessing the Approval assistance AI agent

    To access the AI agent:
    1. Navigate to All > AI Agent Studio > Create and manage.
    2. Go to the AI Agents tab.
    3. Select Approval assistance AI agent.

    Sample utterances

    After the agent has been activated in AI Agent Studio, enter phrases such as the following or similar queries to run the AI Agent in Virtual Agent, the Now Assist panel, or Microsoft Teams.

    • Can you give me a list of pending approvals?
    • What are the pending approvals for time off requests?
    • Show me a list of pending approval requests by priority.
    • Give me details about my approval request?

    Performing approval action on an approval record

    The Approval assistance AI agent shows approval requests that require an action on your part. After the approval information is provided by the agent, select Approve or Reject for a specific approval record, or type Approve or Reject. If you reject an approval request, then add a comment about the rejection reason.
    Figure 1. Approve or reject an approval record
    Now Assist Approve or Reject options for an Approval.