Narrative 10: Assignment Rules - Streamlining Ticket Management

Narrative 10: Assignment Rules - Streamlining Ticket Management

Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series 

Narrative 10: Assignment Rules - Streamlining Ticket Management

In the complex world of customer support, a flood of incoming tickets can hit the help desk in seconds. Businesses must do more than solve problems. They need to manage tickets quickly, consistently, and smartly to maintain customer trust and keep operations running smoothly.

Old manual assignment methods struggle under this pressure. They can lead to backlogs, mistakes, and uneven work for agents. Forward-thinking organizations utilize layered assignment rules that rely on automation and intelligent routing algorithms. These systems consider factors like agent skills, real-time workload balancing, topic tagging, sentiment analysis, and urgency. This approach changes ticket management from a chaotic response to a proactive system.

What is Ticket Bombardment?

Ticket bombardment refers to a situation in customer support where a large number of support tickets are submitted in a short time. This surge can overload support teams, making it hard to handle and respond to each ticket appropriately.

Every day causes

Product Issues

A common bug or issue with the product or service can lead to a surge of ticket submissions from users simultaneously.

Misinformation

Miscommunication or a lack of information about changes can lead to confusion, resulting in multiple tickets for the same issue.

Promotional Campaigns

Launching a new feature or running a promotional campaign can increase the number of customers seeking help or clarification.

Downtime

Technical failures or system outages can lead to an increase in support requests as users seek assistance.

Types of Assignment Rules

By using ticket assignment rules, organizations can manage incoming requests more effectively, preventing any single team member from becoming overwhelmed. This ensures that tickets are resolved efficiently and everyone on the team can contribute without stress.

Consider implementing a direct assignment rule to streamline ticket allocation across the entire organization. This method enables tickets to be assigned directly to agents, groups, or teams, regardless of the department to which they are assigned. For example, if a ticket concerns an order or delivery issue, it should naturally be directed to the team that handles such inquiries. A support admin can set up the rule to look for keywords like "orders," "delivery," "shipment," and "consignments." This way, tickets related to those topics will automatically be sent to the appropriate department, ensuring that the right agents, who are trained to handle such matters, can step in and provide assistance.

On the other hand, round-robin assignment rules work differently. These are focused within a specific department and distribute tickets evenly among team members. Imagine a group of agents all handling support requests; it wouldn't be fair for one person to receive all the tickets while others have none. With round-robin, when a new ticket comes in, the system assigns it to the least busy agent first. There's even an option for support admins to set a cap on the number of tickets a single agent can manage at one time, keeping workloads balanced and ensuring no one feels overwhelmed.

Then we have a skill-based assignment, which takes it a step further. This method not only looks at the agent's workload but also their expertise. If a ticket requires technical assistance, it seeks to find someone knowledgeable in that area. For example, if a customer from a specific country needs assistance and there's an agent fluent in their language, the system will prioritize that agent to handle the ticket. This way, customers receive help from someone who truly understands their needs.

With an Assignment Rule configured, each incoming ticket is checked against predetermined criteria and assigned to the most appropriate agent, resulting in advantages such as immediate attention, a lower backlog, and increased efficiency.

Benefits of Assignment Rules

  • Load balancing
  • Skill matching
  • Better priority handling
  • Multiple types of assignment options
  • Notifications for transparency

Auto-close tickets

Auto-close tickets are essential during busy periods because they help prevent system clutter, keep agents focused on active issues, and maintain smooth workflows.

When a help desk faces a surge of tickets, often due to major incidents or product problems, many tickets can stay inactive or unresolved for days. Auto-close automatically closes tickets after a set period of inactivity. This reduces the backlog, allowing agents to focus on tickets that truly require assistance. It also keeps the ticketing system organized and current, improves response times for urgent cases, and reduces stress for both agents and customers.

Ultimately, enabling auto-close during busy periods prevents inactive tickets from accumulating. This helps teams focus on addressing genuine support needs and maintaining a productive support environment.

What is Ticket Scheduling?

Ticket scheduling is a process in Zoho Desk that helps organize and prioritize incoming support requests. By scheduling tickets based on urgency, complexity, and available resources, support teams can more effectively manage their workload. This method helps prevent ticket bombardment, which occurs when a support team is overwhelmed by a sudden increase in tickets.

Automation as the foundation  

By creating clear assignment rules that balance direct, round-robin, skill-based, and priority-based methods, organizations can succeed in the fast-paced world of modern support. Automatic ticket closure, detailed scheduling, and data-driven prioritization help keep support operations running smoothly. This approach empowers agents and ensures that customers receive genuine care, even when faced with a high volume of tickets.


Please stay tuned for more in the Desk behind-the-scenes series.


Regards,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


      • Recent Topics

      • Email Sending Failed - SMTP Error: data not accepted. - WHMCS Not sending emails due to this error

        I have been trying to figure out a fix for about a week now and I haven't found one on my own so I am going to ask for help on here.  After checking all the settings and even resetting my password for the email used for WHMCS it still says: Email Sending Failed - SMTP Error: data not accepted.  I have no clue how to fix it at this point. Any insight would be lovely. 

      • Upload API

        I'm trying to use the Upload API to upload some images and attach them to comments (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads#Uploads_Uploadfile) - however I can only ever get a 401 or bad request back. I'm using an OAuth token with the Desk.tickets.ALL

      • FSM setup

        So we have been tinkering with FSM to see if it is going to be for us. Now is the time to bite the bullet and link it to our zoho books and zoho crm. The help guides are good but it would really help if they were a bit more in depth on the intergrations.

      • Does Zoho Learn integrate with Zoho Connect,People,Workdrive,Project,Desk?

        Can we propose Zoho LEarn as a centralised Knowledge Portal tool that can get synched with the other Zoho products and serve as a central Knowledge repository?

      • Zoho Flow - Update record in Trackvia

        Hello, I have a Flow that executes correctly but I only want it to execute once when a particular field on a record is updated in TrackVia. I have the trigger filters setup correctly and I want to add an "update record" action at the end of the flow to

      • Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Desk Help Center for End Users

        Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to enhance the client-facing Help Center in Zoho Desk with comprehensive accessibility features, similar to those already available on the agent interface. 🎯 Current

      • Filtering repport for portal users

        Salut, I have a weird problem that I just cannot figure out : When I enter information as administrator on behalf of a "supplier" portal user (in his "inventory" in a shared inventory system), I can see it, "customer" portal users can see it, but the

      • How to add application logo

        I'm creating an application which i do not want it to show my organization logo so i have changed the setting but i cannot find where to upload/select the logo i wish to use for my application. I have seen something online about using Deluge and writing

      • Zoho Projects - Q2 Updates | 2025

        Hello Users, With this year's second quarter behind us, Zoho Projects is marching towards expanding its usability with a user-centered, more collaborative, customizable, and automated attribute. But before we chart out plans for what’s next, it’s worth

      • Rename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task

        So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in this

      • Option to Empty Entire Mailbox or Folder in Zoho Mail

        Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Mail that would allow administrators and users to quickly clear out entire folders or mailboxes, including shared mailboxes. Current Limitation: At present, Zoho Mail only

      • Create new Account with contact

        Hi I can create a new Account and, as part of that process, add a primary contact (First name, last name) and Email. But THIS contact does NOT appear in Contacts. How can I make sure the Contact added when creating an Account is also listed as a Contact?

      • BUTTONS SHOWN AS AN ICON ON A REPORT

        Hi Is there any way to create an action button but show it as an icon on a report please? As per the attached example? So if the user clicks the icon, it triggers an action?

      • in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Q

        in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Quantity Returned\ pls check the recording fetch_salesorder

      • Estimates with options and sub-totals

        Hi It seems it would be great to be able to show multiple options in an estimate. For instance I have a core product to which I can add options, and maybe sub-options... It would be great to have subtotals and isolate the core from the not compulsory items. Thanks

      • Rate Limiting in Zoho Flow (OpenAI API)

        Hi Everyone, We are facing some issues when using Zoho Flow as we have a deluge script running which is making external calls to OpenAI endpoint. Sometimes the response takes more than 30 seconds meaning the script will timeout. We want to implement a

      • Optional Items Estimate

        How do you handle optional items within an estimate? In our case we have only options to choose with. (Like your software pricing, ...standard, professional, enterprise) How can we disable the total price? Working with Qty = 0 is unprofessional....

      • Important Update : Zendesk Sell announced End of Life

        Hello Zendesk users, Zendesk has officially announced that Zendesk Sell will reach its End of Life (EOL) on August 31, 2027 (Learn more). In line with this deprecation, Zoho Analytics will retire its native Zendesk Sell connector effective October 1,

      • Zoho Sheets

        Hi, I am trying to transition into Zoho sheets, I have attached the issues encountered. Server issues, file trying to upload for more than 30 mins, even once uploaded my data aren't loaded. Simple calculations are not working I have attached the sample.

      • Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values

        Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next couple

      • Zoho CRM + Zoho FSM : alignez vos équipes commerciales et techniques

        La vente est finalisée, mais le parcours client ne fait que commencer ! Dans les entreprises orientées service, conclure une vente représente seulement la première étape. Ce qui suit — installation, réparation ou maintenance régulière — influence grandement

      • Top Bar Shifting issue still not fixed yet

        I mentioned in a previous ticket that on Android, the top bar shifts up when you view collections or when you're in the settings. That issue still hasn't been fixed yet. I don't wanna have to reinstall the app as I've noticed for some reason, reinstalling

      • Power of Automation:: Automate the process of updating project status based on a specific task status.

        Hello Everyone, Today, I am pleased to showcase the capabilities of a custom function that is available in our Gallery. To explore the custom functions within the Gallery, please follow the steps below. Click Setup in the top right corner > Developer

      • Celebrating Connections with Zoho Desk

        September 27 is a special day marking two great occasions: World Tourism Day and Google’s birthday. What do these two events have in common (besides the date)? It's something that Zoho Desk celebrates, too: making connections. The connect through tourism

      • Attention API Users: Upcoming Support for Renaming System Fields

        Hello all! We are excited to announce an upcoming enhancement in Zoho CRM: support for renaming system-defined fields! Current Behavior Currently, system-defined fields returned by the GET - Fields Metadata API have display_label and field_label properties

      • Billing Management: #3 Billing Unbilled Charges Periodically

        We had a smooth sail into Prorated Billing, a practice that ensures fairness when customers join, upgrade, or downgrade a service at any point during the billing cycle. But what happens when a customer requests additional limits or features during the

      • No bank feeds from First National Bank South Africa since 12 September

        I do not know how Zoho Books expects its customers to run a business like this. I have contacted Zoho books numerous times about this and the say it is solved - on email NO ONE ANSWERS THE SOUTH AFRICAN HELP LINE Come on Zoho Books, you cannot expect

      • Zoho CRM Calendar | Custom Buttons

        I'm working with my sales team to make our scheduling process easier for our team. We primary rely on Zoho CRM calendar to organize our events for our sales team. I was wondering if there is a way to add custom button in the Calendar view on events/meeting

      • Sync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)

        Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:

      • Citation Problem

        I had an previous ticket (#116148702) on this subject. The basic problem is this; the "Fetch Details" feature works fine on the first attempt but fails on every subsequent attempt, Back in July after having submitted information electronically and was

      • Open Sans Font in Zoho Books is not Open Sans.

        Font choice in customising PDF Templates is very limited, we cannot upload custom fonts, and to make things worse, the font names are not accurate. I selected Open Sans, and thought the system was bugging, but no, Open Sans is not Open Sans. The real

      • Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ?

        Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ? If not, can we take this as an idea and deploy in future please? Thanks

      • Failing to generate Access and Refresh Token

        Hello.  I have two problems: First one when generating Access and Refresh Token I get this response:  As per the guide here : https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/#oauth (using server based application) I'm following all the steps. I have managed to get

      • Zeptomail 136.143.188.150 blocked by SpamCop

        Hi - it looks like this IP is being blocked, resulting in hard bounces unfortunately :( "Reason: uncategorized-bounceMessage: 5.7.1 Service unavailable; Client host [136.143.188.150] blocked using bl.spamcop.net; Blocked - see https://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?136.143.188.150

      • Apply transaction rules to multiple banks

        Is there any way to make transaction rules for one bank apply to other banks? It seems cumbersome to have to re-enter the same date for every account.

      • How to bulk update records with Data Enrichment by Zia

        Hi, I want to bulk update my records with Data Enrichment by Zia. How can I do this?

      • Need Guidance on SPF Flattening for Zoho Mail Configuration

        Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get some advice on optimizing my SPF record for a Zoho Mail setup. I use Zoho Mail along with several other Zoho services, and as a result, my current SPF record has grown to include multiple include mechanisms. My Cloudflare

      • Is there an equivalent to the radius search in RECRUIT available in the CRM

        We have a need to find all Leads and/or Contacts within a given radius of a given location (most likely postcode) but also possibly an address. I was wondering whether anyone has found a way to achieve this in the CRM much as the radius search in RECRUIT

      • How do I split a large CSV file into smaller parts for import into Zoho?

        Hi everyone, I’m trying to upload a CSV file into Zoho, but the file is very large (millions of rows), and Zoho keeps giving me errors or takes forever to process. I think the file size is too big for a single import. Manually breaking the CSV into smaller

      • Is Zoho Sheet available for Linux ?

        Is Zoho Sheet available for Linux ?

      • Next Page