Workflow: How to prevent agents from reassigning tickets to other agents

Workflow: Prevent agent ticket reassignment

Use triggers to prevent ticket reassignment between agents. Follow these steps:

• To create the trigger
• Understand trigger recursion prevention
• To test the trigger

To create the trigger:

1. Open Admin Center and navigate to Objects and Rules > Business Rules > Triggers. Create a new trigger
2. Enter a title for the trigger and select a ticket category
3. Under Meet ALL of the following conditions, add the following:
   • Object > Ticket > Ticket | Is | Updated
   • Object > Ticket > Assignee | Changed from | (current user)
4. Add the Actions:
   • Object > Ticket > Assignee | Is | (current user)
   • Ticket > Internal note
     • Include information for the agent about the proper way to reassign a ticket, such as with macros
5. Click Create trigger 
   

Understand trigger recursion prevention

Does this trigger create an infinite loop?

No. The trigger engine in Zendesk includes built-in recursion prevention that stops triggers from firing repeatedly on updates. When this trigger reassigns the ticket back to the original agent, that assignment change does not trigger the same trigger.

Keep the following in mind:

• Other triggers that fire on assignment changes still run
• Third-party integrations or webhooks create additional updates
• Test complex trigger chains thoroughly

To test the trigger:

Test the trigger in Agent Workspace to confirm it works when an agent attempts to reassign a ticket. Check the ticket events to see if the trigger fired.