Activating Virtual Agent

Step 1: Turning on Virtual Agent

The first step to getting Virtual Agent up and running in your environment is activating the plugins in the ServiceNow instance. These plugins can only be turned on if you have a subscription that entitles you to their use.

This article will help you determine which plugins you need to activate in order to start working with Virtual Agent. 

Start Here!: In your instance, navigate to the new Conversational Interfaces > Home page to help guide you on which plugins to activate and which pages to set up based on your desired experience. The home page will dynamically update as you install the Virtual Agent plugin and store apps.

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The CI Home page refreshes after installing the Virtual Agent plugin to show three possible store apps to install. Once you install the ITSM (and others) Virtual Agent Conversations store apps, the page will refresh to the following:

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Activating Virtual Agent Plugins

Navigate to the Conversational Interfaces > Home page, and install the plugins as mentioned above. Or you can also install the plugins directly by navigating to System Definition > Plugins. 

• Glide Virtual Agent (com.glide.cs.chatbot) - This is the main plugin to be activated. Several other plugins will be activated when this plugin is enabled.

• Omni-experience Standard Feature set (sn_oe_sfs) - Enables more features on the Conversational Interfaces Home page, the AWA console, and Sidebar.

After activating the Virtual Agent Plugins, check to see that you can access the following screens in your instance.

Navigate to Conversational Interfaces > Virtual Agent > Designer. This is where you can create and manage Virtual Agent topics. (Click on the image to see a larger version)

Navigate to Conversational Interfaces > Conversational Analytics > Virtual Agent Dashboard. This is where you can view the usage and effectiveness of your Virtual Agent. 

Installing ITSM And HR Conversations from the ServiceNow Store

Once Virtual Agent is activated, you can install out-of-the-box conversations for IT Service Management (ITSM) or HR Service Delivery (HRSD). These conversations are provided as a way to get started and to immediately address your high-visibility issues. You can modify the conversations to your specific organization. To install these conversations, navigate to the ServiceNow Store and look for the following store apps.

Again, you need to make sure you have a subscription that entitles you to the specific conversations store app.

ITSM Virtual Agent Conversations - Installs the ITSM conversations for Virtual Agent and supporting NLU model. For more details on the ITSM topics, see ITSM Virtual Agent conversations & NLU Models.

After activating the plugin, navigate to the Virtual Agent Designer. You should see additional ITSM topics. Navigate to NLU Workbench > Models. You should see the ITSM NLU Model for Virtual Agent. 

HR Service Delivery Virtual Agent Conversations - Installs the HR conversations for Virtual Agent and supporting NLU model. For more details on the HR topics, see HR Virtual Agent conversations & NLU Models.

Now that you have successfully activated the needed plugins to support the Virtual Agent, it is time to set up your greetings and publish some conversations and get started!

For a complete list of Virtual Agent-related plugins, see this article: Conversational Interfaces (VA, Agent Chat, AWA) plugins list, by release