Set up skills-based routing for a queue

Skills-based routing lets you send a call to your best-matched agents first and bring in other agents the longer the caller waits. It works through two things you set up: a penalty for each agent on the queue, and a queue rule that changes which penalties may answer as the wait grows.

This feature needs the Contact Center Pro plan. See plans and pricing

Some labels in your portal or apps may look slightly different from this guide.

How it works

Every member of a queue has a penalty, from 0 up to a maximum the form allows. Think of it as a tier. Put your specialists at 0 and your generalists at a higher number. A rule then says, for a given time on hold, the lowest and highest penalty that may take the call.

New rules start with both limits at 0, which leaves calls to your penalty 0 agents. Each step you add widens or shifts that range once a caller has waited long enough.

Give agents their penalties

Set penalties in the queue's member list. Create a call queue shows where.

Create a rule

1. 1
   Step 1:

   Open the rules page

   In the admin portal, open Queues, then Rules. Your portal may keep this under a Contact Center tab.
2. 2
   Step 2:

   Add a rule

   Select the add button and give the rule a name, such as Billing escalation.
3. 3
   Step 3:

   Build the steps

   Add a row for each step. Fill in Caller Hold Time (seconds on hold before the step starts), Min Penalty (agents below this can't answer) and Max Penalty (agents above this can't answer). Drag rows to reorder them, or remove one you don't need.
4. 4
   Step 4:

   Save

   Save the rule.

For example, the rule above gives penalty 0 agents the first 30 seconds. From 30 seconds, agents up to penalty 3 can also answer, and from 90 seconds, everyone up to 10.

Attach the rule to a queue

1. 1
   Step 1:

   Open the queue

   Go to Queues and edit the queue.
2. 2
   Step 2:

   Choose the rule

   In the Queue Rule field, pick your rule. Choose None to keep normal behavior.
3. 3
   Step 3:

   Save and test

   Save, then place a test call and let it wait through each step.

What to expect

• A call keeps the rule it entered the queue with. Switching the queue to a different rule affects later calls, not ones already waiting.
• Rules work on penalties only. An agent whose penalty is outside a step's range can't answer during that step, so check every agent's number against your rule.
• The queue's ring strategy and penalties are set separately from the rule.