Playbook Recommendations

Playbook Recommendations

Overview

This skill recommends relevant Process Automation Designer playbooks based on the context of an active case, incident, or HR case:

• Matching issue patterns (category, priority, symptoms) to existing playbook triggers and conditions
• Scoring playbook relevance based on historical success rates and contextual alignment
• Recommending specific playbooks with explanation of why they match
• Suggesting playbook customizations when no exact match exists
• Identifying gaps where new playbooks should be created
• Analyzing playbook execution history for effectiveness validation

When to use: When agents need guidance on which playbook to apply to an active record, when automating playbook selection in virtual agent flows, or when assessing playbook coverage across service categories.

Prerequisites

• Roles: process_automation_user, itil, sn_customerservice_agent, or admin
• Plugins: com.glide.process_automation (Process Automation Designer)
• Access: Read access to sys_pd_playbook, sys_pd_activity, sys_pd_context, and source record tables
• Knowledge: Process Automation Designer concepts, playbook lifecycle, activity types
• Related Skills: genai/playbook-generation for creating new playbooks, genai/flow-generation for underlying flows

Procedure

Step 1: Retrieve the Source Record Context

Fetch the case or incident that needs a playbook recommendation.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Get-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: incident
  sys_id: <incident_sys_id>
  fields: sys_id,number,short_description,description,category,subcategory,priority,impact,urgency,assignment_group,state,cmdb_ci,contact_type,caller_id

REST Approach:

GET /api/now/table/incident/<incident_sys_id>
  ?sysparm_fields=sys_id,number,short_description,description,category,subcategory,priority,impact,urgency,assignment_group,state,cmdb_ci,contact_type
  &sysparm_display_value=true

For CSM cases:

Tool: SN-Get-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: sn_customerservice_case
  sys_id: <case_sys_id>
  fields: sys_id,number,short_description,description,product,category,priority,account,contact,state,assignment_group

Step 2: Query Available Playbooks

Retrieve all active playbooks that could apply to this record type.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_pd_playbook
  query: active=true^trigger_table=incident^ORDERBYorder
  fields: sys_id,name,description,trigger_table,trigger_condition,category,sys_updated_on,active,application
  limit: 50

REST Approach:

GET /api/now/table/sys_pd_playbook
  ?sysparm_query=active=true^trigger_table=incident^ORDERBYorder
  &sysparm_fields=sys_id,name,description,trigger_table,trigger_condition,category,sys_updated_on
  &sysparm_display_value=true
  &sysparm_limit=50

Step 3: Retrieve Playbook Activities and Stages

For each candidate playbook, understand what it does by fetching its stages and activities.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_pd_stage
  query: playbook=<playbook_sys_id>^ORDERBYorder
  fields: sys_id,name,description,order,playbook,condition
  limit: 20

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_pd_activity
  query: playbook=<playbook_sys_id>^ORDERBYorder
  fields: sys_id,name,description,activity_type,stage,order,condition,mandatory,inputs
  limit: 50

Step 4: Match Playbooks to Record Context

Score each playbook against the source record using these criteria:

Matching Criteria:

MCP Approach for historical matching:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_pd_context
  query: playbook=<playbook_sys_id>^state=complete^ORDERBYDESCsys_created_on
  fields: sys_id,playbook,document_id,state,started,completed,duration
  limit: 50

Step 5: Calculate Relevance Scores

Build a ranked list of playbook recommendations:

=== PLAYBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS ===
Record: INC0045678 - Email server not responding
Category: Email | Priority: P2 | CI: mail-server-prod-01

Rank | Playbook                        | Score | Match Reason
-----|---------------------------------|-------|------------------------------------------
#1   | Email Service Outage Response   | 92%   | Category: exact, CI type: mail server,
     |                                 |       | Success rate: 89% (45 past executions)
#2   | Server Connectivity Diagnostic  | 78%   | CI type: server, Description: "not
     |                                 |       | responding" pattern, Success: 76%
#3   | Network Service Restoration     | 65%   | Category: partial (network/email),
     |                                 |       | Priority: P2 match, Success: 82%
#4   | General Incident Triage         | 45%   | Generic fallback, always applicable,
     |                                 |       | Success: 71%

RECOMMENDED: #1 - Email Service Outage Response
Reason: Exact category match, designed for this CI type, 89% historical
success rate across 45 similar incidents.

Step 6: Analyze Playbook Execution History

Check how the recommended playbook has performed historically.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_pd_context
  query: playbook=<recommended_playbook_sys_id>^state=complete^completed>javascript:gs.daysAgo(90)
  fields: sys_id,document_id,state,started,completed,duration
  limit: 100

Calculate metrics:

=== PLAYBOOK PERFORMANCE: Email Service Outage Response ===
Period: Last 90 days

Executions: 45
Completion Rate: 89% (40 completed, 5 abandoned)
Average Duration: 32 minutes
Median Duration: 25 minutes
Fastest Resolution: 8 minutes
Slowest Resolution: 2 hours 15 minutes

Resolution Outcome (from linked incidents):
- Resolved: 38 (84%)
- Escalated: 5 (11%)
- Workaround Applied: 2 (5%)

Step 7: Suggest Playbook Customizations

When no playbook is an exact match, recommend modifications to the closest match:

=== CUSTOMIZATION SUGGESTIONS ===
Closest Match: Server Connectivity Diagnostic (78% relevance)

Suggested Modifications for Email-Specific Use:
1. ADD STAGE: "Check Email Service Status"
   - Activity: Query monitoring system for mail server health
   - Activity: Check mail queue depth via REST API

2. MODIFY STAGE: "Connectivity Tests"
   - Add email-specific port checks (25, 587, 993, 143)
   - Add SMTP handshake test activity

3. ADD ACTIVITY: "Notify Email Users"
   - Send communication to affected distribution list
   - Post status update to service status page

4. SKIP STAGE: "Database Connectivity" (not applicable to email)

Estimated Effort to Customize: 2-4 hours
Alternative: Create new playbook using genai/playbook-generation skill

Step 8: Identify Playbook Coverage Gaps

Find categories or incident types with no matching playbooks.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: incident
  query: active=true^sys_pd_contextISEMPTY^ORDERBYDESCsys_created_on
  fields: category,subcategory,priority,short_description
  limit: 100

Group by category to find unserved areas:

=== PLAYBOOK COVERAGE GAPS ===

| Category/Subcategory        | Open Incidents | Playbook Available |
|-----------------------------|---------------|-------------------|
| Hardware > Monitor Issues   | 23            | No                |
| Software > License Errors   | 18            | No                |
| Network > WiFi Connectivity | 15            | No                |
| Email > Calendar Sync       | 12            | No                |
| Database > Performance      | 8             | Yes (partial)     |

Priority Recommendation:
Create playbooks for "Hardware > Monitor Issues" and "Software > License Errors"
first (highest volume with no coverage).

Step 9: Attach Playbook to Record (Optional)

If the recommendation is accepted, associate the playbook with the record.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Update-Record
Parameters:
  table_name: incident
  sys_id: <incident_sys_id>
  data:
    u_recommended_playbook: "<playbook_sys_id>"
    u_playbook_relevance_score: "92"

Step 10: Track Recommendation Effectiveness

Monitor whether recommended playbooks lead to successful outcomes.

MCP Approach:

Tool: SN-Query-Table
Parameters:
  table_name: sys_pd_context
  query: document_id=<incident_sys_id>^state=complete
  fields: sys_id,playbook,state,started,completed,duration
  limit: 5

Tool Usage

Best Practices

1. Weight historical success heavily -- a playbook with 90% completion rate is better than a perfect category match with poor execution
2. Consider playbook complexity -- recommend simpler playbooks for P1 incidents where speed matters
3. Check playbook currency -- playbooks not updated in 6+ months may reference outdated procedures
4. Factor in agent skill level -- some playbooks require advanced technical skills
5. Provide fallback recommendations -- always include a generic triage playbook as a safety net
6. Track recommendation acceptance -- measure how often agents follow recommendations
7. Update scoring weights -- tune match criteria based on actual outcome data
8. Consider time-of-day -- some playbooks require resources only available during business hours
9. Avoid playbook overload -- recommend 3-5 options maximum, ranked by relevance
10. Include explanation -- agents need to understand why a playbook is recommended

Troubleshooting

Examples

Example 1: Incident Playbook Recommendation

Input: "Recommend a playbook for INC0045678 - Email server not responding"

Steps: Retrieve incident details, query all active playbooks for incident table, score each against category/priority/CI/description, fetch execution history for top matches, return ranked list with explanations.

Example 2: CSM Case Playbook Matching

Input: "What playbook should I use for this customer complaint about billing errors?"

Steps: Retrieve case details from sn_customerservice_case, query playbooks with trigger_table=sn_customerservice_case, match on product/category/description, recommend with customer satisfaction metrics from past executions.

Example 3: Playbook Coverage Assessment

Input: "Show me which incident categories have no playbook coverage"

Steps: Query all active playbook trigger conditions, query all incident categories with volume counts, cross-reference to identify categories with incidents but no matching playbooks, prioritize gaps by incident volume.

Related Skills

• genai/playbook-generation - Create new playbooks for identified gaps
• genai/flow-generation - Build underlying flows for playbook activities
• itsm/incident-triage - Incident categorization and routing
• itsm/incident-lifecycle - Incident management process
• csm/case-summarization - Customer case context for matching