Employee Navigator

Employee Navigator is the central hub for employees seeking help, guidance, or answers when they encounter challenges in their daily work.

End users access it through BMC Helix Digital Workplace to get answers on service requests, approvals, tasks, people data, and service health items. Employee Navigator also delivers responses from knowledge articles and supports service requests via chat. Users can interact with it through text, voice, or image on any device and escalate to live agents when needed. For details on agent capabilities, see Agentic AI capabilities in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

To create a seamless experience, Employee Navigator intelligently routes requests, clarifies user intent to prevent dead ends, and uses natural, human-like dialogue for smooth interactions. It also ensures governance and compliance through strict tool usage, robust data protection, and safe fallback options. With these capabilities, users can resolve issues faster, complete tasks on their own, reduce dependence on support teams, and have confidence that every interaction is secure and auditable.

Employee Navigator supports two configuration approaches—Agentic AI and the chained-prompt approach. We recommend implementing the Agentic AI configuration to provide a more conversational and adaptive experience with Employee Navigator. For more information, see Configuring Employee Navigator Supervisor agent. With the Agentic AI approach, BMC HelixGPT administrators can also create custom agents tailored to their organization’s needs by leveraging Employee Navigator as a foundation. They can copy the agent skill, add new tools, and refine instructions to deliver advanced AI capabilities.

Watch the following video (2:38) showing an overview of Employee Navigator:

Overview of Employee Navigator

Scenarios

The following scenarios illustrate key user interactions with Employee Navigator, showing how it responds to queries by using knowledge articles, supports service catalog requests through chat, and escalates to a live agent when required.

Scenario of providing answers based on knowledge articles

Britney, the end user, wants to install a VPN client on Mac, so she enters her query in the Employee Navigator chat panel. A summary of the procedure for Mac is provided, along with related knowledge article links.
While following the procedure, Britney encounters an error. She shares the screenshot of the error message with Employee Navigator. The system identifies the context and shares troubleshooting steps with her. After that, Britney can install the VPN client on her computer.

Scenarios of the catalog request handling

Scenario when the catalog service is chat-enabled

Britney is working on the onboarding logistics for a new contractor and needs to request a laptop for this contractor. She opens the Employee Navigator chat panel and enters “Request a new laptop.”
The agent recognizes her input and presents a list of relevant catalog services:

New laptop for a contractor
New laptop for a full-time employee
New laptop for client deputation

She clicks the most suitable one from the list: the New laptop for a contractor request. This catalog service is supported in the chat. Employee Navigator guides her through item selection, quantity, and delivery details. Britney submits the service request directly within the chat.

Scenario when the catalog service is not chat-enabled

Mary, the admin officer, is preparing welcome kits for new hires. She enters a question in the Employee Navigator chat: "Can I request company merchandise for onboarding?"
The agent recognizes the prompt and presents a list of catalog services. Mary selects the Get company merchandise catalog service. Because it is not supported in the chat, after clicking the link, Mary is redirected to the Request submission page to submit it.

Scenario of connecting to a live agent as a fallback option

Britney enters a question in Employee Navigator chat: “Can I change my desk? It’s right under an AC vent, and it’s uncomfortable.”

Employee Navigator can’t find any catalog service or article related to the query. So, it offers Britney the options to connect with a live agent or to raise a generic service request. She opts for a live agent, and then Employee Navigator asks her to select a category for the agent.

Britney selects the Facilities category, and a live chat session begins.

Process overview

The following diagram explains the tasks required to configure and use Employee Navigator:

User roles and permissions

The following roles are required to configure and manage Employee Navigator:

Product	Role	Description	Reference
BMC HelixGPT	HelixGPT Admin	Required to configure Employee Navigator in BMC HelixGPT Agent Studio. This role is assigned in BMC Helix ITSM.	Roles and permissions Creating and assigning functional roles
BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console	BMC Helix Digital Workplace administrator	Required to configure Employee Navigator in the BMC Helix Digital Workplace end-user console and studio pages. This role is assigned in BMC Helix ITSM.	Roles and permissions Setting up administrator authentication
BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog	Catalog administrator	(Chained-prompt approach) Required to enable the fallback support for Employee Navigator. This role is assigned in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog.	Catalog roles and permissions
BMC Helix Innovation Studio	BMC Helix Innovation Studio administrator	Required to complete specific prerequisite tasks for the agent configuration. This role is assigned in BMC Helix ITSM.	Roles and permissions Creating and modifying users

Agent type, skills, and prompts

Employee Navigator supports two configuration approaches —Agentic AI and chained-prompt—each defined by its agent type, skills, and prompts.

Agentic approach

Agent type: Supervisor (Employee Navigator Supervisor)
Out-of-the-box skill: Employee Navigator for Helix
Important: The out-of-the-box skill configuration is built on the Employee Navigator Supervisor agent, supported by Catalog Request and Live Chat subagents, and a suite of tools that deliver the agent's functionality.
Out-of-the-box prompts: No
Models: For information about supported models, see Models supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

Chained-prompt approach

Agent type: NA
Out-of-the-box skills:
- DWP Azure OpenAI GPT-4.1 Sample Skill
- DWP OpenAI GPT-4.1 Sample Skill
Out-of-the-box prompts: Yes. For more information, see Out-of-the-box skills in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.
Models: For information about supported models, see Models supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

Before you begin

Make sure that all necessary licenses are obtained and the pre-configuration steps are completed before configuring Employee Navigator.

License requirements

You must have valid licenses and entitlements for the following products:

Product	License information
BMC Helix Digital Workplace and BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog	License types and features
BMC HelixGPT	Licensing and pricing for BMC HelixGPT
BMC Helix Innovation Studio	Licensing overview

Additionally, you can opt for the BMC Helix Service Management Suite licensing model, which provides access to a comprehensive suite of service management products, including BMC Helix ITSM, BMC Helix Digital Workplace, BMC Helix Business Workflows, and other related services. For detailed information about this licensing model and the available licenses (BMC Helix Service Management – Standard and BMC Helix Service Management – Advanced), see BMC Helix Service Management service.

Pre-configuration steps

Complete the following setup tasks:

Task	Decsription	Reference
Provision generative AI	Add data sources, ingest data into BMC HelixGPT, and set up the AI provider.	Setting up and going live
Enable integration	Enable integration between BMC Helix Virtual Agent and BMC Helix Digital Workplace.	Enabling integration with BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced and BMC Helix Business Workflows
Configure knowledge search	Specify the knowledge provider and search filters. Important: If you want to use dynamic tags in search filters, make sure that you have created the search filters in BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround. To learn more, see Creating search filters for BMC applications.	Defining knowledge search settings
(For configuring in studio pages only) Assign IS Persona	Assign the HGM Client IS Persona to the administrator in the CTM:People form. Important: Define this IS Persona for the com.bmc.dsom.hgm application.	Assigning IS Personas to People data

To set up Employee Navigator

Complete the following steps to configure Employee Navigator:

	Product	Task	Description	Reference
1	BMC HelixGPT	(Agentic approach) Set up the agentic skill and configure the Employee Navigator Supervisor agent.	Configure the Employee Navigator Supervisor agent by using the out-of-the-box skill or creating a custom agentic skill.	Configuring Employee Navigator Supervisor agent
1	BMC HelixGPT	(Chained-prompt approach) Set up the prompt-based skill.	Create a skill for Employee Navigator by using the chained-prompt method. Out-of-the-box sample skills and prompts are available for multiple models. For more information, see Out-of-the-box skills in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.	Creating and managing skills Creating and managing prompts
2	BMC Helix Digital Workplace Admin console	Configure the Employee Navigator chat panel on all end-user screens.	Specify the skill that you want to use with the Employee Navigator panel.	To set a skill for the Employee Navigator panel
		Configure Employee Navigator in studio pages	Specify the skill that you want to use with one or more studio pages.	To configure BMC HelixGPT in a Studio page
		Configure Employee Navigator in the My Activity or Catalog pages	Specify the skill that you want to use with the Employee Navigator chat bar in the My Activity and Catalog pages.	To configure the BMC HelixGPT capabilities in the Catalog and My Activity pages

After Employee Navigator is configured, end users can access it in the end-user console. For more information about its capabilities, see Using Employee Navigator to find AI-generated answers.

Where to go from here

Explore additional configuration options and use cases:

Task	Reference
Understand the differences between search, BMC Virtual Chat, and generative AI.	Generating AI-retrieved answers for end users through BMC HelixGPT
Compare use case support across platforms and versions.	Use case coverage matrix
(Chained-prompt approach) Offer options for unanswered questions.	Configuring BMC HelixGPT to offer options for unanswered questions
Configure the disclaimer message.	Configuring the disclaimer message for BMC HelixGPT responses
(Agentic approach) Configure Employee Navigator in the Microsoft Teams chat.	Configuring Employee Navigator in the Microsoft Teams chat
Configure a welcome message.	To configure a welcome message for Employee Navigator
(Chained-prompt approach) (Controlled availability) Configure skill parameters to send a summarized version of a conversation when raising a request.	To update the configuration parameters of a skill Capabilities available in BMC Helix Virtual Agent and BMC HelixGPT
(Agentic approach) Modify summarization parameters for comments.	(Optional) To modify summarization parameters for comments in Employee Navigator chat
Make services requestable via chat.	Using BMC HelixGPT to make services requestable via chat
Troubleshoot issues.	Troubleshooting

Learn more

To learn more about Employee Navigator, watch the following webinars: