Customize a ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management \(ITSM\) Incident Summarization skill

task australia Updated Sep 10, 2026 7 min read cust-now-assist-itsm-record-summ-skill.md
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If you have the admin role, you can customize a ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management (ITSM) skill so that agents can use the generative AI skills in Service Operations Workspace for ITSM and in Core UI. Use the AI Skill Kit to customize your prompts.

Before you begin

Role required: sn_nowassist_admin.nsa_admin

You need the sn_skill_builder.admin role to customize the prompt in the AI Skill Kit.

About this task

Before customizing, verify the agent access and role masking configuration record for the Incident Summarization skill. For more information on role masking, see the Role masking for ServiceNow Otto for ITSM agentic workflows, AI agents, and skills section in Supporting information for ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management (ITSM).

Important: For agent access role configuration, verify that you are using the default sys_id of the itil role available in the base system. If the sys_id of that role is different, contact ServiceNow® Customer Support to get it resolved.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Admin > AI Admin Hub.

  2. Select the AI Skills tab.

  3. In the Technology feature group, select ITSM from the product list.

  4. Activate and copy the ServiceNow Otto for ITSM feature skill for customization.

    1. On the feature card that is associated with the skill that you would like to activate, select View details.

    2. In the All available skills section, locate the skill that you would like to activate and select Activate skill.

      You can choose to make a copy of the skill before activating it.

    3. Select the more actions icon [Omitted image "more-actions-icon.png"] Alt text: More actions icon. for the skill in the Active skills section, and create a copy that you can customize by selecting Make a copy.

      The copy that you make is listed in the Active skills section.

    4. Select the copied skill from the Active skills section to open it.

      A guided setup leads you through the configuration of the general details, input, availability, display, review, and activation of the customized skill.

  5. In the General details step, fill in the fields.

    For information about the inputs and triggers for each skill, see Skill inputs and triggers for ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management (ITSM).

    1. Enter a name and description for the skill.

    2. Select Save and continue to go to the next step.

  6. Choose input data.

    The input data is read-only.

    [Omitted image "now-assist-itsm-inc-summ-choose-input.png"] Alt text: Choose input data screen that contains the input tables and fields to define the prompt.

    The following table lists the base input table fields and descriptions, including a relevant example.

Field

Description

Base input field

For example, Description.

Field in the Incident table, for example, Description. The LLM uses the values in this field as one of inputs to generate a response.

Field description

Description of the base input field value.

For example, Short description of incident, provides quick info about the issue.
1. For each input template state \(New, WIP, Resolved, and Closed\), configure the rule conditions by using the condition builder to filter the data further. 
    The rule conditions determine when the input template is used. By default, the record state determines the input template that the Now LLM Service uses.

    The following table lists the input template states.

    |State|Description|
    |-----|-----------|
    |New|State is New.|
    |WIP|State is Work in Progress.|
    |Resolved|State is Resolved.|
    |Closed|State is Closed.|

2.  For each input template state \(New, WIP, Resolved, and Closed\), select **+New data source** to configure the additional related table and activity stream data, as needed.

    Adding the input data sources, such as the related tables and activity streams, provide more context to the Now LLM Service in a related list.

    You can also add the rule conditions to these additional related table and activity stream data sources.

    The following table lists the data sources you can add to the input data.

Data source

Description

Related Table

Fields for a related list:

  • Select related input table
  • Related table field
  • Field description Configuring the related table fields follows the same format as the base input table fields in the Choose input step.

Activity: Email

Email that is attached to the incident in the incident summarization.

Activity: Attachment

Important: To summarize attachments, make sure that the Incident summarization skill is active.

In the Activity stream:- You can summarize new attachments of type PNG, JPEG or JPG, PDF, DOCX in the Incident summarization skill record using Document Intelligence.

  • You can also extract the summarized content from the attachment in any of these languages:

  • Attachment summaries aren't available in child incident records and are only supported in the English language.

  • If you have one or more existing attachments, you must add new attachments to the incident for the existing attachments to be summarized.
3. Select **Save and continue** to go to the next step.

  1. Customize the prompt.

    Important: You need the sn_skill_builder.admin role to activate and customize the prompt in the AI Skill Kit .

To

Do this

Evaluate a prompt for each input template
  1. Select an incident record in any of the incident states such as:
    • New
    • Work in progress
    • Resolved
    • Closed
  2. Select Run Test.[Omitted image "now-assist-itsm-evaluate-prompt.png"] Alt text: Run test for the selected incident record Review and test the prompt for each input template configuration and make sure it meets your expectations.The prompt response is shown. You can make changes to the incident state selections and retest as needed.

Edit the prompt in the AI Skill Kit and test the prompt
  1. Select Edit prompt in AI Skill Kit.
  2. Select Go to AI Skill Kit.

Note:

In the AI Skill Kit, you can select the more actions icon [Omitted image "more-actions-icon.png"] Alt text: More actions icon.and select Clone to make a copy of the prompt configuration and edit as needed.

  1. In the Skill contents pane, select theInputs edit icon and add any inputs that you'd like to add to the prompt.[Omitted image "now-assist-itsm-edit-skill-input.png"] Alt text: Edit prompt input screen in the AI Skill Kit
  2. In the Prompt screen, select the edit icon and add the desired inputs to the prompt.[Omitted image "now-assist-itsm-edit-prompt-window.png"] Alt text: Add inputs for the skill
  3. Select Run test.

The prompt displays in the Test prompt screen where you can run the test.
8. In the AI Admin Hub tab, select **Save and continue**.

  1. Define availability.

    Define how the skill will be available to users.

    1. Configure the skill to be always available to users, or select the conditions that must be met before the skill is available.

      Selecting Customize skill availability displays a condition builder to filter the data further.

    2. Select Save and continue to go to the next step.

  2. Select display.

    Configure where to display the incident summarization.

    1. Select either In-product, or ServiceNow Otto panel.

      • In-product: When selected, AI skills are displayed in all ITSM products (on forms and in workspaces).

        For the skills that appear in-product, select the down arrow to identify the roles that can use the skill.

      • ServiceNow Otto panel: When selected, AI skills are available in the ServiceNow Otto panel.

        If you don't see this option, you must activate the ServiceNow Otto panel. For more information, see Activate the ServiceNow Otto panel standard chat.

        For the skills that appear in the ServiceNow Otto panel, select the down arrow to identify the roles that can use the skill.

    2. Select Save and continue to go to the next step.

  3. Review and activate.

    Review your choices and select Activate to complete the skill customization.

    You can now select Summarize in an incident and generate the custom incident summary.

Troubleshooting: Summarize button not visible

After activation, if the Summarize button does not appear in Service Operations Workspace or Core UI, verify the following:

  • UI Builder page variant: If your workspace uses a custom UI Builder page variant, confirm that the Otto AI summary card component is present on the page. Variants created before the ServiceNow Otto for IT Service Management (ITSM) plugin was installed may not have this component.

    For information on page variants, see:

  • Display setting: In the AI Admin Hub, confirm that the skill displays as In-product.

  • Domain separation: If your instance uses domain separation, verify that the skill is activated in the user's assigned domain.

  • Plugin installation: Verify that the sn_itsm_gen_ai plugin is installed successfully.

  • Browser cache: If the button appears sporadically, clear your browser cache and refresh the page.

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