Two tabs determine which agent receives a conversation: the Distribution scheme specifies which agents are eligible at all, the Distribution strategy in which order. For an overview, see How an agent is selected.
Distribution scheme
All logged-in agents with a qualification for the skill in the conversation’s channel and for its language are responsible for a conversation. Distribution works in two stages:
- Stage 1: At first, only the agents with the best level among them are eligible.
- Stage 2: If an escalation criterion is met, all agents down to the minimum level are eligible. If no criterion is set, distribution escalates immediately when nobody is free in stage 1.
| Setting | Effect | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Escalation by skill-Level | Escalation takes the level for the skill into account. | on |
| Escalation by language-Level | Escalation takes the level for the language into account. | on |
| Escalate individually | The two levels are considered separately; otherwise the weaker of the two decides. Only with both switches above. | off |
| Prefer escalation by language | When they are considered separately, the language counts before the skill. | off |
| Minimum skill level, Minimum language level | the weakest level that still receives conversations after escalation; “-” means no limit. Less qualified agents never receive conversations of this skill automatically. | - |
Escalation criteria — one is enough, 0 turns a criterion off:
| Criterion | Distribution escalates … |
|---|---|
| Escalate on longest waiting call time | as soon as a conversation of the skill has been waiting this long |
| Escalate on number of calls waiting | as soon as more conversations of the skill are waiting |
| Delay escalation by time | as soon as the conversation has been in the skill this long |
| Delay escalation until waiting calls reach % of agents | as soon as more conversations are waiting than this percentage of the skill’s agents |
“Calls” here means conversations of all channels. Agents in an activity with Skip in escalation do not count for stage 1 as soon as a criterion is set — this way distribution escalates earlier when the specialists are in a meeting.
Distribution strategy
If several equally qualified agents are free, the distribution strategy decides who receives the conversation. Before it, what counts is how much an agent has to do at the moment: whoever is handling fewer conversations comes first.
The tab has one subtab per channel: Inbound call, Outbound call, Fax, Email, Chat, plus Activity. Inbound call also applies to callbacks, web callbacks and dial-ins. In each subtab, you set weights:
| Weight | An agent’s turn comes earlier … | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Longest idle time | the longer ago their last conversation of this type was | 1 |
| Total handling time | the less time they have spent on such conversations in total | 0 |
| Total conversations | the fewer such conversations they have handled | 0 |
Only the ratio of the weights counts. The basis is the statistics of the last twelve hours. Under Apply to, you turn on the types of conversations for which the weights of this subtab count. Register agent in last position puts agents who are just logging in at the end.
The Activity subtab also takes into account the time agents have spent in wrap-up (Wrap-up time) and in activities (Activity time).
If all weights are 0, the Administration sets Longest idle time for inbound calls to 1 when you save. The strategy orders the agents within the same skill level; it only works with Escalation by skill-Level.
Routing groups
A routing group combines several skills for the distribution strategy: the calculation — who has been free the longest, who has had the most to do — then runs across the conversations of all skills in the group. This way, an agent who has just had a lot to do in one skill is not immediately next in line in the other.
- Create the group under Global elements › Routing group: a name and a description are enough.
- Select it in each skill involved on the Basic Data tab under Belongs to routing group.
A routing group has nothing to do with locations, phone systems or the Routing Service. If you delete a group, it stays assigned to the skills until you save them again; choose “-” there beforehand.