How can I automatically assign a follow-up ticket using triggers?

Question

How can I automatically assign a follow-up ticket to the agent that was assigned when the ticket closed?

Answer

By default, you can not assign a follow-up ticket to the assignee of the ticket at the moment they closed. As a workaround, you can create a workflow through the use of several triggers and tags to achieve this goal. Since tags are transferred from closed tickets to follow-up tickets, you can set specific tags for each agent when they are assigned a ticket. You can then set up a trigger that auto-assigns tickets based on the agent specific tag.

 

To set up this workflow you will need to create three triggers:

• Adding agent tags to tickets
• Auto-assigning a follow-up ticket
• Removing a tag from an agent

Adding agent tags to tickets

The first trigger you need to set up adds agent tags to tickets automatically. 

To add agent tags to a ticket with a trigger

1. Click the Admin icon () in the sidebar, then select Business Rules > Triggers.
2. On the top right of the page, select Add trigger.
3. Add the following conditions under Meet all of the following conditions:
• Ticket > Is > Updated
• Assignee > Changed to > (agent name)
4. Add the following actions under Actions:
• Add tags > (agent name)

Below is an example of what your trigger could look like:

Note: Tags can also be added to user profiles. This will also tags tickets in the same manner as the trigger described above.

Auto-assigning a follow-up ticket

Next, create a trigger that auto-assigns any follow-up ticket to the desired agent. This trigger utilizes the tag that your first trigger applies to indicate who the ticket should be assigned to. 

To auto assign a follow-up ticket with a trigger

1. Click the Admin icon ( ) in the sidebar, then select Business Rules > Triggers.
2. On the top right of the page, select Add Trigger.
3. Add the following conditions under Meet all of the following conditions:
• Ticket > Is > Created
• Channel > Is > Closed ticket 
• Tags > Contains at least one of the following > (agent name)
4. Add the following action under Perform these actions:
• Assignee > (agent name)

Below is an example of what your trigger could look like:

Removing a tag from an agent

The last trigger is designed to remove an agent tag, in the event that the ticket gets reassigned to a different agent.

To remove a tag from an agent using a trigger

1. Click the Admin icon ( ) in the sidebar, then select Business Rules > Triggers.
2. On the top right of the page, select Add Trigger.
3. Under meet all of the following condition:
• Ticket > Is > Updated
• Assignee > Changed from > (agent name)
4. Under perform these actions:
• Remove tags > (agent name)

Below is an example or what your trigger could look like:

Note: If an end user responds to a proactive text, the ticket that is created from the response will be treated as a brand new ticket, instead of a follow-up ticket. In this case tags would not be transferred from the proactive ticket to the ticket that is created from the end-user's response.