Learn about the differences between Agent Workspace (Legacy) and new Configurable Workspaces

[Ashley Snyder]

 Center of Excellence / Workspace / Learn about the differences between Agent Workspace (Legacy) and new Configurable Workspaces

FYI: This article has not been updated or reviewed since the Tokyo release. Use at your discretion, but be advised that these methods may or may not work on later releases.

Table of Contents

Terminology Agent Workspace Configurable Workspaces Agent Workspace to Configurable Workspace Migration Guidance Classic Environment to Configurable Workspace Migration Guidance Workspace Frequently Asked Questions

This article discusses the key differences in Agent Workspace (Legacy) versus configurable workspaces. For information on key differences between a product Agent Workspace versus a configurable workspace, see the specific product workspace documentation. This article is intended as an overview of workspace technology and the key differences, but is not meant as an implementation or migration guide from Agent Workspace/Classic Environment to a configurable workspace.

We recommend reading the product documentation to see which personas our product configurable workspaces support currently. Some personas or processes may not be currently supported with configurable workspaces, and Next Experience UI is the current recommendation for users who need to work out of both workspaces and the classic environment.

Terminology

For more information see the article Next Experience Architecture and Terminology.

Agent Workspace	Modern user interface offering a multi-tab, multi-panel experience optimized for larger screens. Introduces concepts like interaction management, advanced work assignment, agent intelligence, case types, and playbooks.
Configurable Workspace	Configurable workspaces are our new way of working that replaces users working out of classic environment forms and lists. Configurable Workspaces were introduced before Next Experience UI, but opened in a separate browser tab.
Classic Environment	Classic Environment is the terminology used for the previous way of working, i.e. users working out of forms, lists, and dashboards. Prior to Next Experience, users worked within the classic environment in the CoreUI app shell. Next Experience enables users to continue to work in classic environment forms, lists, and dashboards as well as configurable workspaces. Note: Development in the form of UI Pages, UI Macros, and other Jelly based development will continue to work in the Classic Environment whether you're using Core UI or Next Experience UI.
Next Experience UI	Next Experience UI is the new app shell that allows users to work out of both configurable workspaces and the Classic Environment within one browser window.
UI Builder	The web user interface builder for the Next Experience framework. UI Builder is used to build pages for Next Experience UI Landing Pages, Configurable Workspaces, App Engine Studio generated workspaces and portals, or custom web experiences using Next Experience Components and custom web components.

Agent Workspace (Legacy)

Agent Workspace is the product from ServiceNow, users had the ability to create custom workspaces from the Agent Workspace framework prior to Quebec, the discussion in this article also covers custom workspaces created on the Agent Workspace technology.

This article will explain some high level differences of Agent Workspace versus configurable workspaces, for more in depth information see the Workspace UI product documentation. This article is intended to explain the differences between Agent Workspace technology and configurable workspaces for existing customers that may be utilizing Agent Workspace and wish to know more about transitioning to configurable workspaces. If you are unsure which type of workspace you are currently using, see the Navigating Workspace documentation, which provides guidance on how to determine which type of workspace you are currently working in and which documentation applies to your workspace.

What is a workspace?

A workspace is a suite of tools that provides agents, case managers, service desk professionals, and managers with tools to help answer customer questions and resolve customer problems. ServiceNow has provided many workspaces, each targeted at a specific user, for example - workspaces are designed for Tier 1 agents who solve internal or external customer issues.

The current limitations of Agent Workspace (Legacy):

• Users can edit landing pages for Agent Workspace in a scaled down version of UI Builder, but cannot edit component properties, create pages that are not landing pages, and cannot utilize variants and audiences.

• Agent Workspace cannot inherit the branding from Next Experience UI, and is limited on its branding options to the header, sidebar, and logo. Agent Workspace does not inherit theming applied to the Next Experience UI, and will open in a separate browser window when using Next Experience UI.

• Styling cannot be configured in Agent Workspace components.

• Applications created with App Engine Studio will generate a WEP (Configurable) Workspace when creating a Workspace experience, and cannot integrate or use Agent Workspace.

• While existing components for Agent Workspace are supported, new components are not likely to be developed for Agent Workspace. As of the San Diego release there are over 150+ components for use in UI Builder for configurable workspaces.

• As of the San Diego release, our product teams have created new configurable workspaces to replace either existing agent workspace technology or to replace processes on the existing classic environment. Our product teams will no longer create enhancements for agent workspace. For information on which products currently have a configurable workspace, see our article on exploring product workspaces.

Configurable Workspaces

Agent Workspace was the first iteration of utilizing Next Experience Components in a user interface, and as it was the first experience launched most components were built for Agent Workspace specifically. Components were tightly coupled to work together in the context of Agent Workspace and were not very configurable or customizable and did not allow for many of the visual customizations that users of Core UI were accustomed to, such as changing the position of a form on a page. Configurable Workspaces were born out of the shift of thinking components are not utilized for one use case or experience, and could be re-usable across many different experiences such as creating pages in UI Builder, or App Engine Studio Portals. This shift allows us to provide visually rich, powerful, and modern user experiences without having to re-create components for each experience type.

Features specific to configurable workspaces:

• UI Builder tool can be used to tailor workspace and portal experiences for agents, analysts, human resources, and more.

• Ability to build a highly customized workspace from a library of 150+ components. These components control every aspect of the user experience from page layouts, content display, data visualization, messaging, and navigation.

• Empower developers to extend and deploy 3rd party custom components into the configurable workspace.

• Empower partners and independent software vendors to leverage Ul Builder custom web components to build industry-specific solutions.

• Integration with Next Experience UI for a seamless experience in switching back and forth between configurable workspaces and the Classic Environment without having to work within multiple browser tabs.

• Uptakes Next Experience UI theming.

• Search and set user preferences for both Classic Environment and configurable workspaces all in one place within the Next Experience Unified Navigation.

Different product specific workspaces may have features that are specific to their workspace that is not covered in this high-level overview, check the product documentation for workspace specific features.

Agent Workspace to Configurable Workspace Migration Guidance

Customers Not Utilizing Agent Workspace

In the San Diego release, our product teams launched a number of configurable workspaces for processes and personas specific to their products. We recommend working with your implementation team to install and configure a product workspace per the guidance on NowCreate and the product documentation. Customers are not advised to install and configure Agent Workspace or workspaces built on the legacy Agent Workspace technology as of the San Diego release. We encourage customers on releases prior to San Diego to uptake the new family version when possible and start with a product configurable workspace, instead of implementing a legacy workspace.

Customers Utilizing Agent Workspace

Existing Agent Workspace customers who have upgraded to San Diego are encouraged to uptake their products configurable workspace when possible after the upgrade and to migrate from Agent Workspace.

It is important to note that currently both Agent Workspace and Configurable Workspaces can be installed on the instance at the same time. Be advised, configurable workspaces and Agent Workspace may share some common elements such as ribbons, form headers, etc. and changes will apply to both workspaces. Consult your implementation team or the product documentation for guidance. Administrators can implement configurable workspaces with pilot groups of users, while other groups remain on Agent Workspace until they are ready to cut over and sunset Agent Workspace.

If you're unsure if your product or Agent Workspace has a comparable configurable workspace, see our article on Exploring Product Workspaces, or check with your account representative team. Implementation guidance of product workspaces are found on NowCreate as well as the product documentation, as each workspace may have specific configuration steps. We do have some general guidance for configurable workspaces found in our Migrating to a Configurable Workspace article and the Migrating to Configurable Workspace product documentation but these resources do not fully encapsulate all of the steps needed to configure a product specific configurable workspace. 

Classic Environment to Configurable Workspace Migration Guidance

New/zBoot Customers

We encourage new customers or zBoot customers who are launching on the San Diego or newer family release to work with their implementation team to launch a product configurable workspace if it meets their persona needs rather than utilizing the classic environment as the primary user interface for these personas. New customers launching on San Diego+ are not advised to implement Agent Workspace as of the San Diego release.  

Existing Upgrade Customers

Migrating to a configurable workspace(s) after the San Diego release will depend on the level of customization that exists in the classic environment for the customer's instance. Speak with your implementation team and/or account representative for any licensing questions and guidance on migrating to a specific product workspace from the classic environment.

[Bernard7]

Hi Ashley,

Congrats ! Wonderful article that allowed me to understand how to handle the present Agent Workspace in Roma version.

Just to be sure:

Target : I'd like to customize the Analytics Center page of the Agent Workspace, including the necessity to produce a variant because of different audiences.

Result: it seems to me that, not using App Engine because of development process in my company (dev instance => test instance => integration instance => production instance), there 's no room (or very low) for customization, particularly:

• no possibility to customize the OOTB analytics center page associated with the Agent Workspace
• no possibility to create a variant

Can you confirm and/or advise al alternative way to reach the target please ?

Many thanks for your kind advice !

Kind regards

Bernard

[Ashley Snyder]

Hello Bernard,

Thank you for reading through the article. Since we had our GA release of San Diego, much as changed in the course of a day as more product specific workspaces have launched. Are you looking to migrate from Agent Workspace to another workspace for ITSM, or another process? The Service Operations Workspace for ITSM just launched on the store, and I'll be updating this article shortly since the product is officially live. If you're using a product specific workspace instead, you shouldn't have to go through the development pipeline of App Engine Studio, unless you're creating a custom configurable workspace.

Please let me know if this helped or if you still have questions.

[Rob Keeton]

Super helpful article, Ashley!  Hoping you can clarify one more thing for me.  Are configurable workspaces considered part of the Next Experience UI, or are they a separate feature that (among other benefits) can inherit a Next UI theme?  Anything you can add to further clarify the relationship would be greatly appreciated! 

And if you can point to any examples online that show a configurable workspace leveraging Next UI branding/theme, that would also be fantastic!

[peter_friedl]

Great Article,

can I ask about the integration with MS TeamsChat in Service Operations Workspace for ITSM? Is this effectively replacing Agent Chat? And if so, I'd guess that also means, that a integration with Now Mobile is out of the question (apart from opening a chat in the Teams App on mobile).

Also, is the chat colaboration being logged in the incident it originated from (as is the case with agent chat currently)?

best regards

Peter

[Ashley Snyder]

Thank you! The MS Teams integration is not replacing Agent Chat as many customers who use Service Operations Workspace may not use MS Teams, and the integration is not intended on capturing interactions from users prior to record creation. See the product documentation for more information on the MS Teams integration with SOW.

[Ashley Snyder]

Configurable workspaces are a separate user interface built on the Next Experience technology stack, and can be utilized within Next Experience UI to provide a seamless user experience. See this article on architecture for information on how configurable workspaces interact with Next Experience UI. 

[KanishSharma]

Very helpful article

One question though -> 
Can we receive an event in legacy Agent workspace which is dispatched from a custom component ? If yes could you please explain How ? 
This works in CSM Configurable Workspace but wondering if it will work in Agent workspace.

[emmaaguila]

Does anyone created or know about a Workspace for Catalog Builders or know where it should be created?

[Manoj Prabaaka1]

Can someone help me to get know about difference between Agent workspace & a product specified Agent Workspace like HR Agent workspace?

We are planning to use Agent workspace for HR module. We can see OOB Agent workspace which is defined for ITSM. Shall we modify that to our HR module? Is that better option (or) shall we enable HR Agent workspace ?

Our client looks for a solution where there shouldn't be separate license involved.

If we can customize Agent Workspace (maybe that you all are referring as Configurable workspaces), can you please provide me what are the limitations ?