Workstreamsare a core building block of Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM). They're groups of tickets that agents work on and are similar toZendesk channels, such as tickets, chats, and voice.

What's my plan?
Add-on Workforce Management (WFM) or Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)

Summary: ◀▼

Workstreams are the building blocks of WFM forecasting and scheduling, grouping tickets by channel or type of work. You can edit, duplicate, combine, prioritize, export inbound volume, and delete them to better match staffing to demand, check ticket data, and manage schedules. Combined workstreams help you schedule multiple queues together, and priority can guide the schedule when demand is similar.

Workstreams are a core building block of Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM). They're groups of tickets that agents work on and are similar to Zendesk channels, such as tickets, chats, and voice.

WFM generates forecasts based on workstreams, which then inform your schedules.

After you create workstreams, you can edit, duplicate, combine, prioritize and delete them. You can also export a CSV of tickets that entered a workstream during the past 30 days to reconcile data issues and validate your workflows.

This article contains the following sections:

  • Editing workstreams
  • Duplicating workstreams
  • Creating combined workstreams
  • Prioritizing workstreams (EAP)
  • Exporting a workstream’s inbound volume
  • Deleting workstreams

Related articles

  • Creating Zendesk WFM workstreams
  • Best practices and tips for creating and managing workstreams
  • Adding and removing users from multiple workstreams in bulk in Zendesk WFM

Editing workstreams

You can edit workstreams and update their conditions. When you edit a workstream, the updates are visible on the ticket tracking only after a user updates the ticket.

To edit a workstream

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Select the workstream you want to edit.
  3. Make your changes, then click Save.

Duplicating workstreams

You can duplicate an existing workstream to create a new one based on its conditions.

To duplicate a workstream

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Select the workstream you want to duplicate.
  3. Click Actions, then select Duplicate.
  4. Make any required changes to the new workstream’s name and conditions, then click Save

Creating combined workstreams

Combined workstreams allow admins and users with permission to schedule multiple workstreams at the same time and ensure adherence is properly tracked, regardless of which workstream the agent is working in.

When generating schedules, the algorithm decides whether it's best to schedule a user for a single workstream or a combined workstream for that specific period to ensure the most efficient resource allocation.

Additionally, when the Schedule combined workstreams option is selected, the scheduling algorithm prioritizes combined workstreams when creating a schedule. It then considers individual workstreams that aren't part of a combined workstream.

General tasks and workstreams defined in your intraday variants are still scheduled as defined in your location shifts.

To create a combined workstream

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Click the plus sign (+) icon and select Combined workstream.
  3. Enter a name for the combined workstream.
  4. Select the Workstreams you want to combine.

  5. (Optional) Enter a Description for the combined workstream.
  6. Choose a color for the workstream or add a custom color by clicking the palette icon () to add a custom color.

    The color you select is used in the forecast visualization.

  7. Click Save.

    The algorithm decides whether it’s best to schedule a user for a single workstream or a combined workstream.

    In the All workstreams panel, combined workstreams are indicated by the combined icon ()

Activating combined workstreams

To use only combined workstreams activate the Schedule combined workstreams setting. Instead of the default behavior where the algorithm decides whether it’s best to schedule a user for a single workstream or a combined workstream when creating a schedule, it will consider only combined workstreams and any individual workstreams that aren't part of any combined workstream afterward.

To activate the Schedule combined workstreams setting

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Click the Scheduling settings icon next to All workstreams.

  3. Select Schedule combined workstreams.
  4. Click Save.

    The scheduling algorithm starts using only combined workstreams when creating a schedule. It will consider any individual workstreams that are not part of any combined workstream afterwards. Existing schedules are not affected by these changes.

Tip: You can see the exact number of people scheduled for combined workstreams in your Schedule staffing panels.

Prioritizing workstreams (EAP)

Note: Workstream prioritization is currently in an Early Access Program (EAP). You can sign up for the EAP here.

You can prioritize your workstreams from highest to lowest. Prioritize workstreams whose channels or nature of work are most important to your business. For example, you may want to prioritize your Voice workstream first since phone calls can't wait like emails.

The algorithm still schedules all workstreams based primarily on the forecast, but prioritized workstreams receive a bonus point in the algorithm’s calculations for selection.

Setting the priority matters only when the forecasted demand is similar between two workstreams or when the demand is fulfilled or really small. In these cases, priority helps in the decision making to schedule the higher priority workstream first until their forecasted demand is covered. Your other workstreams are then scheduled in sequence based on their priority level. However, if the lowest priority workstream has highest demand, it still gets scheduled before other workstreams.

To prioritize workstreams

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Click the Scheduling settings icon next to All workstreams.
  3. Select Custom workstream priority.
  4. Click the dropdown menu next to a workstream and select a priority level.

  5. Continue to set the priority for all of your workstreams, then click Save.

Exporting a workstream’s inbound volume

You can export a CSV of the tickets that entered a workstream in the past 30 calendar days to reconcile data issues and validate workflows.

The CSV includes each Zendesk ticket ID and the date and time the ticket first entered the workstream, in ISO 8601 UTC format.

The export records only the workstream conditions that applied when the ticket entered the workstream.

An entry time is recorded each time the ticket is mapped to the workstream through routing, assignment, tag-based mapping, or another event. If a ticket enters and leaves the workstream multiple times during the 30-day period, the export includes a row for each entry.

To export a workstream’s inbound volume

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Select the workstream whose inbound volume you want to export.
  3. Click Actions, then select Export inbound volume.

    When the export is ready, you'll receive the CSV file by email. The email subject line and message include the workstream’s name. Click Download CSV in the email to download the file.

    Important: If no tickets entered the workstream in the past 30 days, you still receive a valid CSV file by email with a header row and no data. A message is also displayed letting you know that no inbound volume was recorded for the workstream during that period.

Deleting workstreams

Deleting a WFM workstream does not affect any historical data. However, since the workstream no longer exists, it will affect data going forward, including your existing schedules that include the workstream.

Note: Deleting a workstream is permanent and can't be undone.

To delete a workstream

  1. In Workforce management, click Settings in the sidebar, then select Workstreams.
  2. Select the workstream you want to delete.
  3. Click Actions, then select Delete.
  4. Click Delete workstream to confirm. This action can't be undone.
Powered by Zendesk