Order routing based on priority using Advanced Work Assignment

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Order routing based on priority using Advanced Work Assignment

    Advanced Work Assignment (AWA) enables automatic routing of customer orders based on priority to specific agent categories within ServiceNow. It assigns order tasks to agents considering their availability, capacity, and skills. Agents receive their assignments in the Agent Workspace inbox, improving efficiency and ensuring work goes to the most qualified and available personnel.

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    Key Features

    • Service Channel: Defines the type and scope of work assigned to agents. The Order Service Channel, used for order tasks, is available but disabled by default and must be activated manually.
    • Agent Presence State: Agents indicate their availability (Available, Away, Offline) via Workspace Inbox. The Available state must include the Order Service Channel for agents to receive relevant work.
    • Queues: Queues store specific work items linked to service channels. They can be customized based on conditions like customer status or region. Groups assigned to queues handle incoming work, facilitating targeted routing.
    • Assignment Rules: Criteria that determine how work items are pushed to appropriate agents within qualified groups. Demo rules are provided as references.
    • Agent Capacity and Availability: Capacity limits the number of active work items per agent on a service channel, while availability states determine if an agent can receive new work.
    • Inbox Layout: Configures which work item fields agents see in their inbox. A default layout for orders is available as a reference.
    • Role Requirement: All fulfillment agents must have the {@code awaagent} role to participate in AWA routing.

    What to Expect

    By enabling and configuring AWA with these components, ServiceNow customers can expect streamlined order routing that prioritizes work assignment based on agent skills, availability, and workload capacity. This leads to improved fulfillment efficiency and better workload distribution among agents.

    AWA can be used to automatically route customer orders based on priority to specific agent categories.

    Use AWA to automatically assign work items (order tasks) to your agents based on their availability, capacity, and skills. AWA pushes work to qualified agents using work item queues, routing conditions, and assignment criteria. Agents can view their assignments in their Agent Workspace inbox. The following diagram shows how AWA routes different types of orders to different fulfillment agents.

    Note:
    All fulfillment agents must have the AWA agent (awa_agent) role.

    Infographic displaying the routing orders process using AWA. For the image description, refer to the text that follows.
    The following configurations are required for AWA:
    • Service channel: It is a means of assigning a specific type and scope of work to agents. The Order Service Channel is available with the base system for order tasks. The Order Service Channel is in a disabled state by default and must be manually activated.
    • Agent presence state: Availability states that agents use to indicate whether they can receive work or are offline or away. Agents set these states in their Workspace Inbox. The default presence states are Available, Away, and Offline. After the Order Service Channel is enabled, the Available presence state value shows the Order Service channel the customer has to move the order service channel to the selected list to receive the work.
    • Queue: A queue stores a specific type of work item for a service channel. AWA admins can create queues that focus on certain types of support in the channel, such as VIP customers or critical cases. AWA routes work items to queues based on specific conditions or requirements that you define, such as customer status, or region. Groups assigned to each queue handle the incoming work items. Once work items are placed in a queue, AWA can then assign items to available agents based on assignment rules and agent availability and capacity. Demo queues that can be used as a reference are available with the base system.
    • Assignment rule: Criteria that determines how work items are pushed to the appropriate agent in a qualified assignment group. A demo assignment rule that can be used as a reference is available with the base system.
    • Agent capacity: The maximum number of work items on a particular service channel that an agent may actively work on at one time.
    • Agent availability: States that indicate agent presence and whether the agent is available for work or is busy or offline. AWA uses the agent availability state to determine if an agent is able to receive work.
    • Inbox layout: A configuration tied to a service channel that defines which fields of a record representing a work item are shown in agent inboxes. A layout defines what the agent sees in Agent Workspace. The Default Order Layout is available with the base system and can be used as a reference to create a new layout.

    For more details, see Advanced Work Assignment