Actionable notifications for approvals in ITSM Virtual Agent
Summarize
Summary of Actionable notifications for approvals in ITSM Virtual Agent
Actionable notifications in ITSM Virtual Agent enable efficient communication and decision-making for approval requests within ServiceNow's IT Service Management (ITSM). These notifications prompt employees and approvers directly through the Virtual Agent chat interface, allowing them to approve, reject, or review requests without leaving the conversation. To utilize this feature, notifications must be activated in Workflow Studio.
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Key Features
- Approval requests for Service Catalog items: Approvers receive notifications for item requests and can approve, reject (with comments), view details, or skip notifications directly via chat.
- Approval requests for changes: Notifications are sent to the end user involved (requester or approver) for change approvals, allowing them to take action or view details from the chat.
- Knowledge Base (KB) article approvals: Notifications prompt end users to approve or reject KB article requests with options to view details or skip, based on configured fields.
- Other approvals for non-task records: Notifications alert approvers of approvals needed on records such as KB articles, with options to view or skip.
- Approval reminders: Approvers receive reminders for pending Service Catalog requests to ensure timely action.
- Notifications for request outcomes: Requesters are notified when their Service Catalog item requests are approved or rejected, with options to view details.
- Task approvals: Approvers are notified of new tasks requiring review and approval, excluding tasks related to Change, Standard Change, Requests, and Requested Items.
Configuration and Customization
Administrators can customize the notification content and fields displayed by duplicating and editing the showapprovaldetails topic in the Virtual Agent. The approvaldefaulttaskfields script variable controls which fields appear in the approval notifications, enabling tailored information display based on task or record type.
Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Streamlined approval process: Enables approvers and requesters to take immediate action within Virtual Agent chat, reducing delays.
- Improved visibility: Notifications include configurable details to inform decision-making without navigating away from the chat.
- Increased productivity: Minimizes the need to switch contexts by embedding approvals and reminders within Virtual Agent interactions.
- Flexibility: Customizable notifications can be tailored to fit different approval workflows and organizational needs.
Notify employees of approvals for requests with notifications from ITSM Virtual Agent.
You must activate notifications in Workflow Studio in order to use them. For details, see Set up actionable notifications for ITSM Virtual Agent.
Some of the default actionable notifications in ITSM Virtual Agent that need approvals are as follows:
Approval request for requested items
Virtual Agent sends a notification to the approver of a Service Catalog item request. The approver can choose to view the request details or skip the notification.
Approvers can approve or reject the request directly in the chat. Approvers can also add comments to rejected requests directly in the chat.
Approval request for requests
When an approval for a change is requested, Virtual Agent sends a notification to the end user who made the change request. The end user can be either the requester or the approver. Virtual Agent sends the notification to the end user, as applicable, who can then approve or reject the request, see details, or skip the notification.
The fields shown below are the default fields for any task table (the Show Details field is not configured for the Task extended table).
The fields below are the fields configured in the _show_approval_details_ topic (the Show Details field is configured for the Task extended table). Admin users can configure these fields by duplicating the topic and editing the approval_default_task_fields script variable within the topic.
KB request approved or rejected
Virtual Agent sends a notification when an approval for a knowledge article is requested. End users approve or reject the request, see details, or skip the notification.
The fields shown here are the fields configured in the _show_approval_details_ topic. Admin users can configure these fields by duplicating the topic and editing the approval_default_task_fields script variable within the topic.
For non-task tables, when no fields are configured in the _show_approval_details_ topic, a message displays with a link to the record being reviewed.
Other approval
Virtual Agent sends a notification to the approver when a non-task record (such as a Knowledge Base article) needs approval. The approver can choose to view the request details or skip the notification.
Request approval reminder
Virtual Agent sends a notification to remind the approver of a pending Service Catalog request. The approver can choose to view the request details or skip the notification.
Request approved or rejected
Virtual Agent sends a notification to the requester of a Service Catalog item when their request has been approved or rejected. The requester can choose to view the request details or skip the notification.
Task approval
Virtual Agent notifies the approver about a newly created task that needs review and approval.
This notification is not applicable for tasks such as Change or Standard Change. It is also not applicable to Requests (sc_requests) and Requested Items (sc_req_item).