Creating capacity rules to balance agent workloads

Fastpath: Admin Center > Objects and rules > Omnichannel routing > Capacity rules

Capacity rules are part of omnichannel routing that help you balance your team workload by setting capacities on automatically assigned work. For example, you could specify that only ten open email tickets at a time can be assigned to particular agents. Omnichannel routing comes with a default capacity rule that you can use as-is or edit. You can also create your own capacity rules to suit your needs.

This can be a great way of ensuring that your less experienced agents are not assigned too much work while they ramp up.

Agents will initially always be assigned to whichever capacity rule you set as the default. An agent can only be assigned to one capacity rule, so if you assign an agent to a new rule, they will automatically be unassigned from their current one.

When messaging activity routing is selected in your routing configuration, capacity rules treat active and inactive messaging tickets the same way. Just like active messaging conversations, inactive messaging tickets in the queue are only assigned to agents with spare capacity and are counted towards an agent's capacity. If messaging activity routing isn't selected, only active messaging tickets are counted towards an agent's capacity.

Tip: If you configure a capacity rule, agents can still manually assign themselves work in excess of the limits you specify.

Adding capacity rules

Omnichannel routing comes with a built-in capacity rule to get you started, but you can add additional rules as required.

To add a capacity rule

1. In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Omnichannel routing > Capacity rules.

   

2. On the Capacity rules page, click Add capacity rule.
3. On the Add capacity rule page, provide the following information:
   1. Name: Enter a descriptive name for the capacity rule.
   2. Description: Optionally, enter a description that helps you to identify the capacity rule.
   3. Set as default: New team members are automatically assigned to the default capacity rule. Team members who are already assigned to a capacity rule won’t change.
      Note: If you create a new capacity rule and assign a team member to it, they are removed from the default capacity rule. If you delete a capacity rule, all team members assigned to it are assigned back to the default rule.
   4. Assignees: Click Add assignee to specify the agents to whom this rule applies.
   5. Capacities > Email: Enter the number of open email tickets that can be assigned to an agent at one time. Tickets that are pending or on hold are not counted towards capacity. (Maximum 500)
   6. Capacities > Messaging: Enter the number of messaging tickets that can be assigned to an agent at one time. Inactive messaging tickets are counted if messaging activity routing is selected. Otherwise, only active messaging tickets are considered. (Maximum 500)
   7. Capacities > Talk: Enter the number of call tickets that can be assigned to an agent at one time. Options are 0 or 1. If you choose 0, the agents cannot receive calls.
4. When you are finished, click Add capacity rule.

   Your new capacity rule is displayed on the Capacity rules page and begins to work immediately.