Work item queues
Summarize
Summary of Work item queues
Work item queues in Advanced Work Assignment (AWA) are used to store and manage specific types of work items for service channels. AWA administrators can create or modify these queues to suit customer needs, determining which service channel they belong to, the agent groups eligible to handle the work, and operational parameters like availability schedules and time limits for agent acceptance.
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Queue Configuration and Routing
Queues can be configured with routing conditions through either a simple condition builder or advanced JavaScript scripting. Routing conditions control how work items are automatically directed to queues. Queues can also exist without routing conditions, allowing manual or alternative automated assignment methods.
For chat service channels, administrators can create chat messages displayed to users and leverage chat context variables in routing rules. These context variables can capture user inputs (e.g., from pre-chat surveys) to influence routing decisions dynamically, enhancing the relevance of work item distribution.
Agent Eligibility and Assignment
Agent groups are assigned to queues via the Eligibility Assignment feature, defining which pools of agents can receive work items. Multiple groups can be assigned with eligibility time constraints to prioritize immediate handling or overflow management. Without assigned groups, work items routed to queues remain unassigned by AWA.
Sorting and Managing Work Items
Queues support defining sort orders for work items based on fields from the service channel, specifying ascending or descending order. This sorting affects how items are prioritized and assigned to agents.
Additional Features
- Queue Triggers: Administrators can create triggers to initiate actions during customer wait times within a queue.
- External Routing: Work items can be routed to external queues based on service channel and queue conditions, with assignment completed by third-party systems.
Practical Considerations for ServiceNow Customers
- Configure queues to align with your service channels and agent groups to optimize workload distribution.
- Use routing conditions and chat context variables to automate precise routing based on customer inputs and context.
- Assign appropriate agent pools with eligibility timing to manage workload overflow effectively.
- Define sort orders to prioritize work items in a queue, improving assignment efficiency.
- Leverage queue triggers for enhanced customer experience during wait times.
- Consider external routing options if integrating with third-party assignment systems.
- Monitor queue sizes, as queues exceeding 10,000 work items in a queued state may prevent new assignments.
In Advanced Work Assignment, queues store a specific type of work item for a service channel.
AWA administrators can create or modify queues based on customer need. As part of creating or modifying a queue, the awa_admin identifies some information about the queue, including the service channel to which the queue belongs and which agent groups handle the incoming work items.
The awa_admin can select a schedule that defines when the queue is available and identify a time limit within which an agent should accept a work item in the queue. If the selected service channel is Chat, the awa_admin creates the chat messages that are displayed to users.
- Simple: use a condition builder to select routing conditions. The fields available for selection are based on the selected service channel.
- Advanced: use a JavaScript script to identify routing conditions.
The awa_admin can also create a queue without routing conditions so that work items are not routed to that queue automatically. Customers can manually assign work items to the queue or assign work items using assignment tools such as matching rules or Workflow Studio.
When a case in a queue is assigned manually, the case is removed from the queue. The state of the work item is set to Canceled and the cancellation reason is set to Manually assigned.
Configure routing rules that use chat context variables
You can specify queue routing rules that use chat context variables in the condition builder. For details on creating chat context variables, see Configure context variables for storing chat-related information. These variables can store contextual information that can be used in routing conditions to control where chat work items are routed.
For example, you can define chat context variables to store user responses from pre-chat surveys that you create. If you store these responses in chat context variables, such as a user's department or a product name, you can specify the context variables in queue routing conditions to direct where the live chat is routed. When you specify a routing condition using the condition builder, you can dot walk to the Context fields. In the fields menu, select Show Related Fields and open the fields menu again to select .
You can then select from the available chat context variables in the condition
builder. For example, choosing csp_category becomes
Context.csp_category.
Assign pools of agents eligible to work on a queue
Assign one or more agent groups to a queue using the Eligibility Assignment related list. These groups are eligible to receive work items from the queue, which allows work to get prioritized to eligible agents.
Select an agent assignment rule and any eligibility time constraints for each group. The eligibility time constraints are used to determine when the next pool of agents is eligible for assignment. For example, you can assign one group to handle work items immediately and a second group to handle the overflow from the first group after work items sit in the queue for a specified amount of time.
Create a sort order for a queue
Use the Work Item Sort Order related list to create one or more sort conditions for work items in a queue. For each sort condition, specify a field from the selected service channel table and the direction to sort, either ascending or descending. Items in the queue are sorted and assigned to agents based on these conditions.