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Find the likely cause of a ServiceNow incident, fast
For incident managers who want SLAs, affected CIs, recent changes, alerts and known errors checked in one pass, by asking their AI assistant.
On this page
Connector
Connect ServiceNow, pick your AI tool and paste the prompt.
The problem
Missing the change that landed an hour before it broke
Investigating a serious incident means checking SLAs, outages, affected CIs, recent changes, alerts, known errors and similar tickets across several ServiceNow tables. Under pressure analysts check the obvious places and miss the change that landed just before.
Without PopdockAI
- Open the incident, SLAs and outages separately
- Look up affected CIs and services
- Search changes, alerts and known errors one by one
- Miss the change that caused it
With PopdockAI
- Exposure from SLAs, outages and affected CIs is read first
- Recent changes, earlier alerts, known errors and similar incidents are checked in order
- Leads are ranked with a confidence level
- Read only, and it says when timing is the only evidence
The prompt
Use this prompt
Copy it into any AI tool connected to PopdockAI. Swap the values in braces for your own.
**Objective:** Build a full picture of incident `{incident-number}` and suggest the most likely cause, in the order an experienced analyst would look.
**Step 1: Read the incident**
Call `servicenow-get-incident` with number `{incident-number}`. Note state, priority, opened, caller, category, configuration-item, service and short-description.
**Step 2: SLA and outage exposure**
* Call `servicenow-get-task-sla` with task `{incident-number}`: is anything breached or close?
* Call `servicenow-get-outages-task-link` with task `{incident-number}`: is an outage already recorded?
**Step 3: What else is affected**
* Call `servicenow-get-ci-affected` with task `{incident-number}` for the affected configuration items.
* Call `servicenow-get-impacted-ci` with task `{incident-number}` for the impacted services.
**Step 4: Look for a cause, in this order**
1. Recent change: for each configuration item from the incident and Step 3, call `servicenow-get-ci-affected` with configuration-item set to its name. Every task number starting CHG is a change; read it with `servicenow-get-change-request` by number and keep changes whose planned window ended within 7 days before the incident opened, or is still open. A change landing just before the incident is the strongest lead.
2. Monitoring: call `servicenow-get-alert` with configuration-item set to the same name and created.from 2 days before the incident opened. Open alerts that predate the incident point at the failing component.
3. Known problem: call `servicenow-get-problem` with short-description.contains set to two or three distinctive words from the incident, and known-error true. A match means there may already be a workaround.
4. Similar incidents: call `servicenow-get-incident` with short-description.contains using the same words and opened.from 30 days back. Several matches suggest a problem record is needed.
**Step 5: Report**
* Summary: one paragraph on the incident and its current state.
* Exposure: SLA status, outage links, impacted services.
* Leads, strongest first: each with the evidence (record numbers and dates) and a confidence of High, Medium or Low.
* Next steps: at most three concrete actions.
**Rules & Guidelines:**
* Read-only. Do not call `servicenow-update-incident`, `servicenow-add-problem`, `servicenow-update-alert` or any other add- or update- tool.
* Correlation in time is a lead, not proof. Say so when the only evidence is timing.
**Validation:**
* If `{incident-number}` is not found, say so and stop.
* If the incident has no configuration-item, skip the CI-based checks in Step 4 and say that the missing CI limited the investigation.Who it's for
One answer, three teams that use it
Incident managers
Find the cause while the clock runs
Get ranked leads with record numbers and confidence for a major incident.
What is the likely cause of INC0020871? Payments have been timing out since 14:10.
Site reliability engineers
Check recent changes first
See changes on the affected CIs in the week before and alerts that came first.
Were there changes or alerts on the CIs behind INC0020934 before it started?
Service desk leads
Know the exposure straight away
See SLA status, linked outages and affected services for an incident in one summary.
Investigate INC0021015: what is affected, which SLAs are at risk and what are the leads?
How it works
What PopdockAI does when you ask
You give the incident number, and your AI assistant works through the likely causes the way an experienced analyst would. It only reads.
01
Ask
You give the incident number.
02
Read
It reads the incident, its SLAs, outage links and the CIs and services it affects.
03
Search
It checks recent changes, earlier alerts, known errors and similar incidents.
04
Report
You get the exposure, ranked leads with confidence and up to three next steps.
What PopdockAI provides
The tools behind the answer
Ready made tools for ServiceNow and one secure connection to your AI tool. No code, no exports.
servicenow-get-incident
servicenow-get-task-sla
servicenow-get-outages-task-link
servicenow-get-ci-affected
servicenow-get-impacted-ci
servicenow-get-change-request
servicenow-get-alert
servicenow-get-problem
This report is built from Get data tools only. PopdockAI applies the row, field and parameter rules your admin sets, and every query is written to the audit trail.
The outcome
Reach the likely cause faster, with evidence
Related use cases
More ways to put this data to work
One prompt template with infinite possibilities.
Your AI assistant adapts its approach, tone, and capabilities to match each unique context while you maintain a single, manageable workflow.
Join forward-thinking companies that are transforming their operations with intelligent, secure AI automation.

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