Best practices for deploying Virtual Agent implementations
As of this writing, ServiceNow isn't entirely clear on what the best practices are with regards to deploying a Virtual Agent implementation. Typically the moving parts are (1) VA Topics, (2) NLU models and (3) Misc. configurations.
My recommendation, which is based on some of the recommendations I was able to gather on various NowLearning courses, is to put the VA Topics and the NLU Model in a dedicated scope each. Then package the remainig configurations in a globally scoped update set (possibly with child update sets with specific scopes).
What follows is a more detailed breakdown of the best practices for deploying Virtual Agent implementations.
Topics
Put topics in a dedicated scope
ServiceNow recommends the following guidelines when duplicating or creating topics:
- Create Setup Topics in the Global scope.
- If duplicating pre-built topics, duplicate them in the same scope. For example, you should be in the ITSM Virtual Agent Conversations scope when duplicating ITSM topics.
- Create custom topics in a custom scope.
Transport them as update sets
Publishing Scope Applications
In the Designing Topics module, we talked about creating VA topics in a scoped application. For custom topics, the guidance was to create custom topics in a custom scoped app. If you have done that, you can publish the scoped as an update set.
From the application record, you can click the Publish to Update Set related link. You then have the option to export it or retrieve it from the target instance.
NLU Models
Put NLU models in a dedicated scope
NLU models are contained in scoped applications.
Navigate to System Applications > Studio. Click on the Create Application button. Please note that you will be directed > to a guided setup page if you do not have any applications.
Transport them as update sets
Exporting Models
Use update sets to move your NLU models from a sub-production instance to production. Begin with the admin role. To add your NLU model to an update set:
Navigate to System Applications > My Company Applications. On the All Apps tab, click on the application that contains your NLU model. Under Related Links, click the Publish to Update Set...