Catalog item request approaches
Summarize
Summary of Catalog item request approaches
ServiceNow provides multiple approaches to request catalog items conversationally via Virtual Agent, depending on your environment and configuration. This flexibility supports natural, guided interactions when submitting catalog requests, enhancing user experience. Four approaches exist: two current, actively supported methods and two legacy options maintained for existing deployments.
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Current Conversational Approaches
- Catalog Agent: Utilizes AI-native conversation powered by ServiceNow Otto to guide users through a natural-language dialog, collecting information step-by-step rather than displaying all fields simultaneously. When supported, catalog item requests flow through the Catalog Agent.
- LLM Topic Block: This pre-existing conversational method leverages Virtual Agent and generative AI with reusable topic blocks to collect catalog item variables via guided conversation. It serves as a fallback for items not yet supported by the Catalog Agent, maintaining a consistent conversational flow including search, pre-summary, question collection, and summary cards.
Fallback and Legacy Options
- Interactive View (Form): If a catalog item is unsupported by both the Catalog Agent and LLM topic block, it defaults to a standard web form in Interactive View, ensuring all catalog items remain accessible.
- NLU Topic Block: A legacy approach used before the LLM topic block introduction. It remains available for existing deployments but is not recommended for new configurations.
Request Flow in NextWave
When a requester submits a catalog item via Virtual Agent in NextWave, the system attempts the following sequence:
- Handle the request conversationally with the Catalog Agent if supported.
- If unsupported by Catalog Agent, fall back to the LLM topic block for conversational handling.
- If neither conversational approach supports the item, open it as a standard web form in Interactive View.
The user experience remains consistent between conversational paths, presenting pre-summary cards, collecting item variables, and displaying a summary before submission, despite differences in underlying orchestration.
Choosing the Right Approach
For organizations new to conversational catalog requests, enabling the Catalog Agent is recommended. Existing deployments using the LLM topic block can continue without migration, as it remains supported. The Catalog Agent will progressively handle more catalog items as its coverage expands.
Catalog items can be requested conversationally, depending on how your admin has configured Virtual Agent and which approach is in use. The available approaches help you select the appropriate method for your environment.
Four approaches are available to submit a catalog item request through Virtual Agent. Two approaches are current and actively supported; two are legacy paths that remain available for existing deployments.
Catalog agent
The Catalog Agent uses AI-native conversation through ServiceNow Otto to guide requesters through a natural-language conversation, collecting answers step by step instead of presenting all fields at once.
When a catalog item is supported by the Catalog Agent, the request flows through the Catalog Agent. Where the Catalog Agent does not support an item, the request goes back to the LLM topic block if the conversation is supported. If the item is not supported conversationally at all, it opens in interactive view as a form.
LLM topic block
The LLM topic block is the pre-existing conversational approach powered by Virtual Agent and generative AI. It uses reusable topic blocks to collect catalog item variables through a guided conversation.
The LLM topic block also serves as the secondary step for catalog items that the Catalog Agent does not support. The conversational flow — search, pre-summary card, questions, summary card — is preserved in both approaches.
For the conditions that determine whether a catalog item is conversational in the LLM topic block, see Request catalog item through Now LLM.
When a requester submits a catalog item request through Virtual Agent on NextWave, the request follows this sequence:
- Catalog Agent — If the catalog item is supported by Catalog Agent, the request is handled conversationally through Catalog Agent.
- LLM topic block — If the item is not yet supported by Catalog Agent, the request falls back to the LLM topic block, which handles it conversationally using the existing topic block flow.
- Interactive View (form) — If the item is not supported conversationally by either mechanism, it opens as a standard web form in Interactive View.
The conversational flow is largely consistent between Catalog Agent and the LLM topic block. Both paths present a pre-summary card, collect answers to catalog item questions, and display a summary card before submission. The underlying orchestration differs, but the requester experience is similar.
NLU topic block
The NLU topic block is an existing approach that configured conversational catalog requests before the introduction of the LLM topic block. It remains available for existing deployments.
Form — Interactive View
When a catalog item can't be rendered conversationally — because it's not supported by the Catalog Agent or the LLM topic block — Virtual Agent opens the item as a standard web form in interactive view. This is the fallback for non-conversational items.
In NextWave, non-conversational items open in Interactive View.
Choosing an approach
For most organizations that have not enabled conversational catalog requests, use the Catalog Agent. For organizations already running the LLM topic block, no migration is required — the LLM topic block remains supported, and Catalog Agent handles items incrementally as coverage expands.