Add actions or subflows to Virtual Agent topics
Use the Action utility to integrate ServiceNow Workflow Studio workflows in Virtual Agent topics. The Action utility node triggers the required Workflow Studio workflows used in the Virtual Agent conversation.
Before you begin
If you don't already have a Virtual Agent topic, create one. For more information, see Creating a Virtual Agent topic.
Become familiar with the following features:
- Workflow Studio concepts and tasks. For more information, see Workflow Studio.
Assistant Designer utilities, such as the Lookup utility, and the Script Action utility.
Use these utilities to control the actions within the Virtual Agent conversation. For more information about these utilities, see Assistant Designer utilities.
Virtual Agent controls. You may be asked to enter any of the following:
- Text strings
- Data pills
- Strings with embedded data pills
- Scripts that return strings For more information, see Assistant Designer controls.
Note: If you have turned on and set up Now Assist in Virtual Agent, you can work with conversational actions and subflows from the home page. For more information on conversational actions and subflows, see Conversational actions and Conversational subflows. You can still integrate actions and subflows that are not conversational from Workflow Studio into Virtual Agent topics via . The following content is only relevant to actions or subflows that can't be made conversational in Workflow Studio.
Role required: virtual_agent_admin or admin
Procedure
Navigate to All > Conversational Interfaces > Virtual Agent > Designer, and in the Asset library, select the topic that you want to use.
From the Utilities section of the palette, drag the Action utility icon
onto the canvas at the appropriate location on the conversation flow.
The Action utility is now a node in the conversation flow, and the Action utility properties panel appears.
- On the properties sheet, fill in the fields.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Node name | The name of this Action node. |
| Invoke Workflow Studio asset | Select one of the following Workflow Studio components:
|
| Spoke | Name of the scoped application that contains Workflow Studio content that is dedicated to a particular application or record type. For a list of default spokes, see Spokes. |
| Action/Subflow | The Workflow Studio action or subflow to be performed in the instance. The Input mapping and Output mapping areas change depending on your selection. For details about the action, select the link beneath your selection to view it in Workflow Studio. |
| Wait for response? | Toggle switch that determines whether Virtual Agent waits for a response from the specified action before continuing. |
| Input mapping | Specifies the variables to be used as input to the selected action. The contents of this area change according to the action that you selected. Options may include string input, referenced records, scripts, and so on. For options that require a password, enable the Include a password input toggle switch to prompt the user for a password. Secure inputs must use the password2 data type. Input is securely masked and not viewable by others. Note: The Array.Reference input data type in Virtual Agent Designer corresponds to the List.[Table] input data type in Workflow Studio. For more information, see Action input and output data types. |
| Output mapping | Specifies the variables to be output by the selected action. The contents of this area change according to the action that you selected. |
| Advanced \(optional\) | |
| Permissions | |
| Run as | Permissions to use for the action. Select one of the following options:
|
| Hide this node | |
| Conditionally show this node if | No-code condition statement or low-code script that specifies a condition for presenting this node in the conversation. The condition must evaluate to true. |
- Select Save.
Parent Topic:Integrating Virtual Agent with Workflow Studio workflows