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# Discovery Guide — ServiceNow AWA Live Agent Message Brokering

Use this guide on a discovery call with a customer to understand their ServiceNow AWA Agent Chat integration setup, as well as their business process around it. This will help you properly configure Moveworks ↔ ServiceNow Live Agent Message Brokering. Message Brokering keeps the handoff inside the same Moveworks chat (no browser redirect) by brokering messages back and forth over the Virtual Agent API.

# Overview

* **Same-chat handoff** — the user stays in the Moveworks AI Assistant; messages are brokered via API to ServiceNow AWA so the agent sees them in Agent Workspace / Service Operations Workspace.
* **Queues live in ServiceNow** — Moveworks does not own routing logic. It passes `contextVariables` (key-value pairs) to AWA, and ServiceNow's queue criteria decide where the chat lands.
* **Common out-of-the-box context variables**: `domain`, `language`, `region`, `queue`, `mandatory_skills`.
  * Custom context variable keys can be added in ServiceNow and used for routing.
* **Auto-translation (DTS / Dynamic Translation Service)**: with MLS enabled, user → English for the agent. **One direction only** — agent replies are not translated back into the user's language.
* **Language default**: the `language` variable is populated from the user's `hr_language` attribute, falling back to `en`.

# Prerequisites

* Virtual Agent API plugin enabled in ServiceNow (typically requires ITSM Pro / Service Operations Workspace).
* Agent Chat plugin enabled in ServiceNow.

***

# 1. ServiceNow Platform Readiness

1. Do you have the **Virtual Agent API plugin** enabled? (Typically requires ITSM Pro / Service Operations Workspace.)
2. Which ServiceNow workspace will agents use — **Agent Workspace** or **Service Operations Workspace**?
3. Is AWA already configured for human-to-human chat today, or is this greenfield?
4. Which ServiceNow instance(s) are in scope, and on which release family (Washington, Xanadu, Yokohama, etc.)?

# 2. Queue Strategy (Multiple Queues)

Queues and queue routing definitions live in ServiceNow. **Moveworks only passes context to route into them.**

1. **How many queues** do you have, and what dimensions do they split on? (domain, region, language, business unit, VIP, etc.)
2. For each queue, what **AWA presence / skill criteria** does it filter on?
3. Do you want a **default fallback queue** if no context matches?
4. Will any queues be **24/7**, or do we need to handle business-hours fallback / out-of-hours messaging?
5. Should specific intents (HR vs. IT vs. Finance) route to **dedicated queues**?
6. Any **VIP / executive routing** requirements?

# 3. Context Variables Passed at Handoff

Moveworks supports the out-of-the-box keys, plus custom keys. The key-value pairs must match **exactly** what each ServiceNow queue expects.

1. What **context variable names** does each AWA queue expect? (Field names, not just concepts.)
2. Specifically — what does your queue use for the **skills-based routing field**? (Commonly `liveagent_optional_skills`.)
3. Should `liveagent_optional_skills` be populated from the **user's issue domain** (HR, IT, Finance) or from another classifier?
4. Any **custom contextVariables** beyond domain/language/region? (e.g. `employee_type`, `cost_center`, `country`, `priority`)
5. Where should each value be **sourced** — Moveworks user profile, ServiceNow user record, conversation classification, or static?
6. Do you need any values **normalized/transformed** (e.g. "United States" → "US", "français" → "fr")?

# 4. Language & Auto-Translation

The `language` variable defaults to the user's `hr_language`, falling back to `en`. With MLS enabled, DTS translates **user → English for the agent**; it does **not** translate agent → user back into the source language.

1. Is **MLS (Multilingual Support)** enabled on your Moveworks instance today?
2. Which **languages** are in scope for end users? Do you have a list of official languages your organization supports?
3. Do you have **language-specific queues** (e.g., French queue, Japanese queue), or one queue with multilingual agents?
4. Where does the user's language come from? (e.g. `hr_language` on the ServiceNow user record, AD attribute, or self-selected at chat time by the user.)
5. Is your live agent population **English-only**? (If not — flag that DTS only translates one direction, so agents must respond in the user's language or the user reads English.)
6. Should we **auto-route to a native-language queue** when one exists, and only fall back to English + DTS when it doesn't?
7. Are there **regions where this should not be enabled** (data residency)?

# 5. Handoff Timing & Flow

1. What's the **trigger** for handoff — explicit user request ("talk to a person"), failed self-service, sentiment escalation, or a specific intent?
2. Do you want a **pre-handoff form** to collect anything (short description, urgency) before queuing?
3. What **wait-time messaging** should the user see while queued? Any **abandon timeout**?
4. What happens if **no agent is available** — leave queued, create ticket, or fall back to email?
5. Should the **assistant transcript** be attached to the resulting ServiceNow interaction/ticket for the agent's context?
6. After the agent ends the chat, what should happen — **survey**, ticket auto-create, follow-up?

***

# Quick reference — Example context block sent to ServiceNow

```json
{
  "contextVariables": {
    "language": "{{user.hr_language | default: 'en'}}",
    "liveagent_optional_skills": "{{conversation.domain}}",
    "region": "{{user.region}}",
    "domain": "{{conversation.domain}}"
  }
}
```

Each key must match the field name the AWA queue is configured to read.

***

# Sources

* [Configure ServiceNow Live Agent Message Brokering](/service-management/live-agent-handoff-assistant/live-agent-message-brokering-assistant/how-to-guides-for-message-brokering)
* [Live Agent Message Brokering](/service-management/live-agent-handoff-assistant/live-agent-message-brokering-assistant)
* [Live Agent — ServiceNow AWA](/service-management/live-agent-handoff-assistant/servicenow-awa)
* [Live Agent Chat / Handoff overview](/service-management/live-agent-handoff-assistant)
* [Multilingual Support](/agent-studio/agentic-ai/multilingual-support-assistant)
* [ServiceNow Access Requirements](/service-management/access-requirements/ticketing-systems-and-itsms/servicenow-access-requirements)