Time Based Actions - Zoho Desk Knowledgebase

Creating Supervisor Rules or Time-based Automations

Workflow rules are a powerful automation tool for support teams, but they are limited when actions need to be triggered based on time. This is where time-based automation rules, also known as supervisor rules, become essential. Executing a workflow rule immediately after a condition is met may not always be effective, especially when follow-ups or escalations depend on elapsed time.

Time-based rules are similar to workflow rules where predefined actions such as triggering alerts, creating tasks, and updating fields are carried out by the system whenever the said condition is satisfied. The key difference is in when the action is takes place. Unlike workflow rules, which execute instantly when a ticket is created or updated, time-based rules are triggered only when a specified time condition is met.


Here are some ways to use time-based rules:
  1. Notify agents when their tickets stay unresolved for x hours. 
  2. Notify Queue Managers when tickets remain unassigned for x hours.
  3. Notify agents x hours after they received a new response.
  4. Notify and assign re-opened tickets after x hours of receiving them.
  5. Notify Support Managers when agents reassign their tickets.
  6. Notify Support Managers, the no. of hours (approx.) it took for agents to respond since assignment.

Availability

Info Permission 
Users with the Support Administrator permission profile can configure supervisor rules.
Check Feature Availability and Limits

Time-based conditions

Time-based rules are triggered when a timed event occurs, Zoho Desk provides the following time-based condition for tickets:
  1. Hours since status updated
  2. Hours since closed
  3. Hours since re-opened
  4. Hours since assigned
  5. Hours since first assigned
  6. Hours since requestor responded
  7. Hours since agent responded
  8. Hours since due date
  9. Hours to due date
  10. Hours since modified
  11. Hours since created
  12. Hours since first response pending
  13. Hours since agent response pending
  14. Hours since requestor response pending
Info
Points to remember
  1. Time-based rules run automatically once every hour. During each run, the system checks only those tickets that have received a customer response within the last 30 days. Tickets without a recent customer reply are ignored by these rules.
  2. The time value in the time-based conditions must always be a whole number. Decimal values, such as 1.5 or 0.5 are not read by the system.
  3. While creating the rule, users can compare the time value using three options:
    1. is
    2. is less than
    3. is greater than
  4. The "is" condition is applied based on the hour, not the minutes.
  5. These options determine which tickets match the rule based on how much time has passed since an event, such as ticket creation. The system evaluates time-based rules in one-hour intervals, not by exact minutes. To understand how this works, assume the current time is 08:00 AM and the rule is being evaluated at that moment.
    1. If the condition is hours since created <is greater than 2> - the rule will apply to tickets that were created before 06:00 AM. This is because those tickets are older than two hours at the time of the check.
    2. If the condition is hours since created <is less than 2> - the rule will apply to tickets that were created between 06:00 AM and 08:00 AM. These tickets are less than two hours old when the rule runs.
    3. If the condition is hours since created <is 2> - the rule will apply to tickets that fall into the two-hour window during the hourly check. In practice, this means tickets created between 05:00 AM and 06:00 AM will match when the rule runs at 08:00 AM.

Creating time-based rules

Time-based rules are used to automate actions based on how much time has passed on a ticket. These rules support only three types of actions: alerts, tasks, and field updates. 
Notes
Note:
  1. Time-based rules are applicable only for the Tickets module. 
  2. Administrator can create a maximum of 5 rules/15 rules/30 rules per department in the Standard, Professional, and Enterprise editions, respectively.
  3. Administrator can associate each rule with up to three time-based actions (1 alert, 1 task & 1 field update).

To create a time-based rule
  1. Navigate to Setup (  ) > Automation > Supervisor Rules.
  2. Select the Department.
  3. Click Create Rule.
  4. In the Time-based action page, enter the Rule Name and Description.
  5. Mark the rule Active.
  6. Select the Business hours or Calendar hours during which this rule will apply.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Under Criteria, click Select field and select a time-based criteria from the available options. 
  9. Under Action, click (  ) to add actions to be performed when the time-based action is executed.
    1. To create an alert
      1. Provide a Name and Description.
      2. Select an Email template or Create an email template.
      3. Choose who to send the email alert to: team/role/role and subordinate/agents.
      4. Under Also Notify, the email can be sent to the record owner/record creator/notify contact/additional recipients as well.
      5. Click Save.
    2. To update the field value
      1. Provide the assignment value Name and Description.
      2. Under Assignment Value, select the Fields that need to be updated.
      3. Provide the Value that needs to be changed.
    3. To set up a task
      1. Enter the Task subject.
      2. Choose the Task’s status.
      3. Set the Task priority.
      4. Check ticket owner, if they should also be assigned as the task owner.
      5. Select an agent who needs to be assigned to this task. 
      6. Set the Due date for the task from the Supervisor Rules trigger time by clicking the timer and time selector (minutes, hours, days, or months).
      7. Provide a Description.
      8. Click Save.
    4. To associate an existing action with a rule:
      1. Click the Add icon and select Existing from the drop-down list for the required action type, such as alerts, tasks, or field updates.
      2. In the Associate Existing Action page, choose the appropriate action and link it to the rule.
  10. Click Save to save the overall Supervisor rule.

Deactivating time-based rules

Administrators can activate or deactivate the time-based rules at any time. When the rule has been deactivated, it will be removed from the Active Rule list. All the scheduled actions will be terminated upon deactivation.
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To deactivate time-based rules
  1. Go to Setup (  ) > Automation > Supervise.
  2. In the Supervisor Rules List page, click the Deactivate icon (  ) for the corresponding rule.
Rules can be activated from the Inactive Rules list by clicking the Activate icon. Alternatively, the Schedulers toggle can be used to activate or deactivate multiple rules at once.

Deleting time-based rules

Time-based rules can be deleted when not in use. When you delete a rule, it will be permanently removed from your help desk and cannot be recovered.
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To delete time-based rules
  1. Click on Setup (  ) > Automation > Supervisor Rules. 
  2. In the Supervisor Rules List page, click the Delete icon (  ) for the corresponding rule.
  3. Click Ok to confirm.