Question
In the Messaging tickets dataset, how is the Handle time metric being calculated?
Answer
The Handle time metric is the time agents spend interacting with an end user on a messaging ticket. The metric is measured per ticket.
The handle time of a ticket is an aggregation of the time between the start/restart and pause events mentioned below.
The timer starts or restarts when:
- The agent is first assigned to the ticket. (Start)
- The end user sends a response, reopening the ticket. (Restart)
- The agent sends a message to a Pending, On-hold, or Solved ticket. (Restart)
The timer pauses when:
- The ticket is submitted as Pending, On-hold, or Solved.
- The ticket is unassigned from the agent or re-assigned to another group or agent.
- The ticket is deleted.
- The agent’s capacity is released automatically after 10 minutes of no messages from the end user.
If an agent sends a message to a Pending/On-hold/Solved ticket, the few seconds involved in sending the message counts toward the Handle time metric. If an end user sends a message to a Pending/On-hold/Solved ticket, the few seconds involved in sending the message also counts toward the Handle time metric. The end user’s message counts because it reopens the ticket, restarting the timer. However, because the agent is not available at the moment, the timer pauses when the message is received.
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9 Comments
Erin O'Callaghan Is the handle time calculated for each agent separately in case there is more than one agent working with the same messaging ticket?
For example, agent A started working with a ticket, in 15 minutes agent's shift is over and the ticket is reassigned to agent B who worked with the ticket for another 10 minutes. In the ZD statistics, will both numbers be added to the median handle time calculation of each agent?
Hi Nick,
Handle time is measured per messaging ticket, not per agent. In this example, the handle time of the ticket should be the total time spent by Agent A and Agent B and median handle time would be median of total handle time per messaging ticket across all messaging tickets.
Thanks,
Prakruti
thank you great information
Prakruti Hindia Is there a way to measure handling time per agent in messaging?
The best way to split it up would be to use the assignee name attribute. The only issue would be tickets if the assignee is changed later on or if there are multiple agents on the ticket itself.
If the ticket is idle for 10 minutes and no messages are sent so the agents capacity is released, is the 10 min of idle time included in the handle time?
Or is the 10 min of idle time subtracted from their handle time?
If the agent does not send a single message while the end user was there then no handle time is considered. If the agent sends a message and then 10 minutes go by without any messages then those 10 minutes would be included in the handle time as long as none of the other pause conditions are met.
Hey Alex,
Just want to make sure I understand more about the idle tickets.
If an agent sent a first reply on a message that an end user was already idle on, and the end user then never responds this would have no handle time associated to it because the user was not there to receive/respond to the first reply? Or does the 10 minute idle count down restart because the agent sent a message so it would show a minimum of 10 minute handle time so long as the other pause conditions are not met.
Thanks!
If an agent sends a first reply to an idle user who doesn't respond afterward, usually, there won't be much or any Handle Time. The 10-minute idle countdown doesn't restart because the agent replied. If the user remains idle without responding, the Handle Time will likely be minimal or zero as the user wasn't active to receive or reply to the agent's message.
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