Summary: ◀▼
Track one activity at a time to monitor agent time across Zendesk and external sites using a browser extension. Adjust tracking settings, disable autotracking for managers, and use task lock carefully. Ensure schedule adherence by matching activities to tasks. Use automations for forgotten clock-outs and keep Zendesk tabs in one window. Map URLs precisely for accurate tracking with the browser extension.
Use tracking in Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) to monitor agent activity across Zendesk, external websites, and other tools. This article provides best practices and tips for tracking agent activity so you can understand how agents spend time, improve reporting accuracy, and support schedule adherence.
This article covers the following topics
- Best practices for tracking agent activity in WFM
- Tips for tracking using the browser extension in WFM
Related articles:
Best practices for tracking agent activity in WFM
Keep these best practices in mind when tracking agent activity in WFM:
- Track one activity at a time. WFM activity tracking is linear and sequential. At any point in time, an agent can be in only one activity. See About the Agent activity page.
- Use the browser extension for external websites. You can track activity in Zendesk and use the browser extension to track activity on external websites. Unmapped websites aren’t tracked, which helps maintain agent privacy. See Tracking agent time spent outside of Zendesk.
- Use the WFM tracking settings to configure how agent activity is captured in your organization. Autotracking is on by default and you can adjust the setting one by one or in bulk. See Activating and deactivating auto-tracking and task lock.
- Turn off autotracking for managers and team leads. You can deactivate autotracking for individual agents or in bulk from the Team members page. It's recommended to deactivate autotracking for managers and team leads so their activity doesn’t skew team metrics. See Editing WFM team member tracking settings.
- Use task lock carefully. Task lock can be overridden by WFM automations or browser extension activity tracking. This gives managers and admins more control over tracking.
- Be aware that schedule adherence depends on activity. Agent adherence to schedule is defined by the agent’s activity. The activity is compared with the scheduled task for that period. To stay in adherence, agents should work on the scheduled task.
- Use an automation for forgotten clock-outs. Sometimes agents forget to clock out and end their day, which causes their last activity to continue for hours, or even days, until they return to work. To maintain accurate reports, implement a WFM automation that runs when an agent is clocked into a task for more than three hours and automatically performs these actions: Clock out user, Delete Timesheet, and End day. Three hours on one activity is typically the most effective threshold for triggering this automation. See Creating WFM automations to manage agent activity.
- Keep Zendesk tabs in one browser window. For the most accurate results, keep Zendesk tabs in one browser window. WFM can identify which tab is active in that window, but it can’t identify a specific active tab across multiple browser windows.
- Use unified agent statuses to track agent activity. When you use unified agent status synchronization, task lock isn't required. Instead, when an agent isn’t actively working on a ticket, their tracked activity is represented by their unified agent status. The status remains active unless the agent changes it manually or starts working on a ticket. See About unified agent statuses.
Tips for tracking using the browser extension in WFM
Use these tips to track activity more accurately with the browser extension:
- Keep in mind that the browser extension tracks mapped websites. You can map either an entire domain or a specific URL within a domain. Each mapped domain or URL is tracked separately.
- Note that WFM adds a wildcard to mapped URLs. When you map a URL to unified agent status or a general task, WFM always adds a wildcard to the end of the URL. For example, if you define www.zendesk.com, it’s stored as www.zendesk.com/\* and every page in that domain is tracked.
- Be aware that the longest matching URL is used. If multiple mapped URLs match the open page, the system uses the longest matching URL to log the activity and provide the most precise tracking information.