Dispatch assignments to available workers using bots
- Introduction
- Importing the behavior
- Understanding how the behavior works
- Testing the behavior
- Next steps
- References
Introduction
One popular way to distribute assignments in Cerb is for workers to take turns playing the role of dispatcher. The dispatcher quickly reviews new tickets in a group’s inbox and assigns the most appropriate group member as the owner. This works best when the dispatcher is aware of each member’s skills, current workload, and availability.
The dispatcher role can also be handled by an automation.
In this guide we’ll build a simple dispatcher bot that assigns new tickets to available group members using a round-robin rotation. Availability is determined by worker calendars. You can use this as the starting point for your own automated dispatcher.
This guide covers the push method of assigning work. In another guide we'll cover the alternative pull model of assignment, where workers request new work when they're ready for it.
Importing the behavior
First, let’s import the pre-built behavior. We’re going to use a group-owned bot for this, since assignment decisions should be made at the group level. Each group may choose to handle their assignments differently.
Navigate to Search » Bots.
Select an existing group-owned bot or create a new one. The bot should be able to create behaviors on the Conversation moved in group event.
Open the bot’s card from the worklist.
Click Behaviors on the bot’s card:
Click on the (+) icon above the behaviors worklist to add a new behavior.
Switch to Import mode and paste the following behavior:
{
"behavior": {
"title": "Auto-assign new inbox messages",
"is_disabled": false,
"is_private": false,
"priority": 1,
"event": {
"key": "event.mail.moved.group",
"label": "Conversation moved in group"
},
"variables": {
"var_group_members": {
"key": "var_group_members",
"label": "Group members",
"type": "ctx_cerberusweb.contexts.worker",
"is_private": "1",
"params": []
},
"var_assignee": {
"key": "var_assignee",
"label": "Assignee",
"type": "W",
"is_private": "1",
"params": []
}
},
"nodes": [
{
"type": "switch",
"title": "Did it land in the inbox with no owner?",
"status": "live",
"nodes": [
{
"type": "outcome",
"title": "Yes",
"status": "live",
"params": {
"groups": [
{
"any": 0,
"conditions": [
{
"condition": "ticket_bucket_name",
"oper": "is",
"value": "Inbox"
},
{
"condition": "ticket_has_owner",
"bool": "0"
}
]
}
]
},
"nodes": [
{
"type": "action",
"title": "Find available members in this group",
"status": "live",
"params": {
"actions": [
{
"action": "var_group_members",
"search_mode": "quick_search",
"quick_search": "group:(id:{{group_id}}) isDisabled:n isAvailable:\"now to +15 mins\"",
"limit": "",
"limit_count": "10",
"mode": "add",
"worklist_model": {
"options": [],
"columns": [
"w_title",
"a_address_email",
"w_is_superuser",
"w_at_mention_name",
"w_language",
"w_timezone"
],
"params": {
"58bf4124c1b27": {
"field": "*_group_search",
"operator": "custom",
"value": "(id:2)"
},
"58bf4124c1b33": {
"field": "w_is_disabled",
"operator": "equals or null",
"value": false
},
"58bf4124c1b3d": {
"field": "*_calendar_availability",
"operator": "between",
"value": [
"now",
"+15 mins",
"1"
]
}
},
"limit": 10,
"sort_by": "w_first_name",
"sort_asc": true,
"subtotals": "",
"context": "cerberusweb.contexts.worker"
}
}
]
}
},
{
"type": "action",
"title": "Pick the next worker worker",
"status": "live",
"params": {
"actions": [
{
"action": "var_assignee",
"vars": [
"var_group_members"
],
"opt_is_available": "1",
"mode": "seq"
}
]
}
},
{
"type": "switch",
"title": "Do we have an available assignee?",
"status": "live",
"nodes": [
{
"type": "outcome",
"title": "Yes",
"status": "live",
"params": {
"groups": [
{
"any": 0,
"conditions": [
{
"condition": "_custom_script",
"tpl": "{{var_assignee}}",
"oper": "!is",
"value": "0"
}
]
}
]
},
"nodes": [
{
"type": "action",
"title": "Assign the ticket to the new owner",
"status": "live",
"params": {
"actions": [
{
"action": "set_owner",
"worker_id": "var_assignee"
}
]
}
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
}
Click the Save Changes button.
Understanding how the behavior works
Click on the behavior name in the yellow notification above the worklist. You should see:
The behavior runs every time a ticket (conversation) is moved to or within the group. It defines two behavior variables:
- Group members is a list of available group members to choose an assignee from.
- Assignee is the worker we select from the available group members to be the new ticket owner.
A moved ticket is first checked with the Did it land in the inbox with no owner? decision.
The behavior only continues on a Yes outcome:
The Find available members in this group action builds a list of possible assignees in a private behavior variable using a worklist quick search. This finds all the workers in the current group who have active accounts and will be available for the next 15 minutes:
Availability is determined per-worker based on their individual calendar. A worker can exclude themselves from assignments by adding a busy event to their calendar to cover the period of their unavailability (e.g. vacation, dentist, meeting, etc):
Next, the Pick the next available worker action selects one member of the available group members list and sets the Assignee variable. The selection is made using a round-robin1 rotation:
The Do we have an available assignee? decision then checks if an assignee was found. The var_assignee variable will hold the ID of a worker, or 0 for no worker:
If the Yes outcome matches, the selected assignee is made the new ticket owner by using the variable:
Testing the behavior
At the top of the decision tree on the behavior’s card, click on the Simulator button.
If needed, you can choose a specific ticket to test with using Target: at the top.
Click the Simulate button at the bottom of the popup.
You should see output like:
In the above image, the behavior found two workers in the Support group who are available for the next 15 minutes: Janey Youve and Kina Halpue. They are added to the var_group_members variable.
Kina Halpue is then selected as the assignee in the var_assignee variable.
The var_assignee variable is then used to set the new ticket owner to Kina.
If we clicked Simulate again on the same ticket, Janey would be assigned next:
Next steps
-
If a single worker is available, the current dispatcher will assign everything to them. You could require a quorum2 in the assignee pool before making automated assignments.
-
You could expand auto-assignment beyond the Inbox bucket. Workers could be added to the assignee pool per bucket based on necessary skill sets.
-
Workers are currently notified about their new assignment within Cerb. You could also send them an email, SMS, Slack message, etc. This is particularly useful for workers who only login when they have an assignment.
References
-
Wikipedia: Round-robin Scheduling - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-robin_scheduling ↩
-
Wikipedia: Quorum - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorum ↩