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

    • Introducing AI-powered Assessments & Zoho's native LLM, Zia

      We’ve shipped a cleaner, faster way to create assessments in Zoho Recruit. 🚀 Instead of manually building question banks or copying old templates, you can now generate ready-to-use assessments in just a few clicks, all tailored to the role you’re hiring

    • Sync more than one Workdrive

      Hello Please I'm facing some difficulties since some days. In my company we have many zoho accounts in different organisations. And I have to find a way to sync all these Workdrives. I spend many hours to search it on zoho Workdrive but no solution. Could someone help me ? Any idea how I can achieve it ? Thanks in advance. Regards

    • Cannot update Recurring_Activity on Tasks – RRULE not accepted

      Hello, I am trying to update Tasks in Zoho CRM to make them recurring yearly, but I cannot find the correct recurrence pattern or way to update the Recurring_Activity field via API or Deluge. I have tried: Sending a string like "RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1"

    • Zoho writer unable to merge documents to PDF with basic fonts in Hebrew or fonts from my computer

      I created several forms that will be merged into PDF files through Zoho Writer and I am unable to receive the PDF in the basic fonts of the Hebrew language or in the fonts I have on my computer. The writer exports to PDF an exchange font that looks very

    • Create a list of customers who participated in specific Zoho Backstage events and send them an email via Zoho CRM

      How to create a list of customers who participated in specific Zoho Backstage events and send them an email via Zoho CRM? I was able to do a view in CRM based on customer that registered to an event, but I don't seems to be able to include the filter

    • Unable to enable tax checkboxes

      Hi Zoho Commerce Support, I'm writing to report an issue I'm having with the tax settings in my Zoho Commerce store. I've created several tax rates under Settings > Taxes, but all of them appear with the checkbox disabled. When I try to enable a checkbox,

    • Zoho Projects app update: Voice notes for Tasks and Bugs module

      Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.9.37) of the Zoho Projects Android app update, we have introduced voice notes for the Tasks and Bugs module. The voice notes can be added as an attachment or can be transcribed into text. Recording and attaching

    • Search Records returning different values than actually present

      Hey! I have this following line in my deluge script: accountSearch = zoho.crm.searchRecords("Accounts","(RS_Enroll_ID:equals:" + rsid + ")",1,200,{"cvid":864868001088693817}); info "Account search size: " + accountSearch.size(); listOfAccounts = zoho.crm.searchRecords("Accounts","(RS_Enroll_ID:equals:"

    • Making digital signatures accessible to all: Introducing accessibility controls in Zoho Sign

      Hi there! At Zoho Sign, we are committed to building an inclusive digital experience for all our users. As part of our ongoing efforts to align with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), we’re updating the application with support that will go

    • Super Admin Access to All Courses and Spaces in Zoho Learn

      Dear Zoho Learn Team, We hope this message finds you well. We are using Zoho Learn extensively for internal and agent training. While managing our courses and spaces, we encountered a significant limitation regarding admin access and course management.

    • Updating Subform Record from other Form

      Just wanted to ask how to properly approach this. I have 2 forms and would like to trigger an auto update on the subform once record submitted. block below only updates 1 row for each recordRow in input.AV_System { AssetRecord = Site_Asset_Services[SOR_No

    • Shared values: From classroom lessons to teaching moments in customer service

      While the world observes Teachers’ Day on October 5, in India, we celebrate a month earlier, on September 5, to mark the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a great teacher, renowned scholar, educationist, and advocate for empowerment.

    • Print checks for owner's draw

      Hi.  Can I use Zoho check printing for draws to Owner's Equity?  This may be a specific case of the missing Pay expenses via Check feature.  If it's not available, are there plans to add this feature?

    • Introducing Profile Summary: Faster Candidate Insights with Zia

      We’re excited to launch Profile Summary, a powerful new feature in Zoho Recruit that transforms how you review candidate profiles. What used to take minutes of resume scanning can now be assessed in seconds—thanks to Zia. A Quick Example Say you’re hiring

    • [New Release 2024] Create and embed custom capabilities across CRM with Kiosk Studio, our latest no-code tool

      [Update | New series] We've started publishing a series of posts on Kiosk Studio. It's called Kiosk Studio Sessions and you can check out the first one here! [Update | 15 Oct} Session #2 is live! This one will look at how to create a kiosk for your call

    • Revenue Management: #10 Common Mistakes while Recognizing Revenue

      We are at the end of the series on Revenue Management, covering how different businesses recognise revenue. Even with clear standards like ASC 606 and IFRS 15 in practice, businesses often struggle with the nuances of revenue recognition. Especially growing

    • Zoho Projects MCP Feedback

      I've started using the MCP connector with Zoho Projects, and the features that exist really do work quite well - I feel this is going to be a major update to the Zoho Ecosystem. In projects a major missing feature is the ability to manage, (especially

    • Windows Desktop App - request to add minimization/startup options

      Support Team, Can you submit the following request to your development team? Here is what would be optimal in my opinion from UX perspective: 1) In the "Application Menu", add a menu item to Exit the app, as well as an alt-key shortcut for these menus

    • integarting attachments from crm to creator

      when i tried to integrate pdf attachments from crm to creator via deluge i am getting this error {"code":2945,"description":"UPLOAD_RULE_NOT_CONFIGURED"} the code i used is attachments = zoho.crm.getRelatedRecords("Attachments","Sales_Orders",203489100020279XXX8);

    • Product details removed during update from other system

      We maintain our product details in an other system. These details are synchronized with Zoho at the end of each day, through an API. This has worked perfectly sofar. But last Monday, all product codes and some other product data have been wiped during

    • Search Option

      🚫 Current Limitation: As of now (September 2025), Zoho FSM lacks a global search functionality, which makes it difficult to quickly: Find specific Work Orders by number or keyword Search for customer records or contact info Locate assets, jobs, or service

    • Mobile Chat Window - Full Screen

      Hello, The mobile chat window takes up the full screen, which is highly confusing for most customers! Using a desktop machine, I see the same happens when reducing the browser width to 800px or below. This suggests that it responsive web design, causing the switch to full screen. Can we fix this very annoying behaviour ourselves using a custom css file? If so, can you please let me know how? Thanks

    • Is it possible to customize ZC Themes?

      I understand you can choose a layout and customize Brand Color, App Header, Menu, and Sub-Menu components, but can you override some of the default theme settings with CSS or a config file? For example, - Table highlight color - Listview auto filter highlight

    • Is it possible to create Custom function-based Lookup field in Zoho CRM

      Is it possible to create a custom function-based lookup field in Zoho CRM? If so, how? Use case: Need to fetch users from Zoho Projects into a dropdown field in Zoho CRM.

    • @mention in comments no notification

      Hi, hope someone can help. When we @mention someone in the comments in Zoho Creator, how is that user notifed as we don't get anything on email or in the app notifications. 

    • Add "Running Balance" column to Account Transaction Reports

      Hello, Currently Zoho Account Transaction Reports give you the opening balance, then lists the transactions, then provides the closing balance.  It would be great if you could add a column on the far right that shows the "Running Balance" on the account after each transaction.  There are many times when analyzing or tie-ing out transactions that this would be very helpful.  I currently have to frequently run a tape on my adding machine to get balance totals after a specific transaction on the list.

    • Unified customer portal login

      As I'm a Zoho One subscriber I can provide my customers with portal access to many of the Zoho apps. However, the customer must have a separate login for each app, which may be difficult for them to manage and frustrating as all they understand is that

    • WhatsApp Channels in Zoho Campaigns

      Now that Meta has opened WhatsApp Channels globally, will you add it to Zoho Campaigns? It's another top channel for marketing communications as email and SMS. Thanks.

    • error : Object code : 6500

      b3 = map(); b3.put("name", "Test Project Name"); updateprojects2 = invokeurl [ url :"https://projectsapi.zoho.eu/restapi/portal/era0130/projects/169495000000928007/" type :PUT parameters: b3 connection:"in2" ]; info b3 ; info updateprojects2; ------------

    • I got unknown charge from Zoho

      Good day, I need help disputing a charge I don't know from, zoho. I have ZohoMail and ZeptoMail. I purchase credits for ZeptoMail, and for ZohoMail I am not subcribed.

    • How can I see content of system generated mails from zBooks?

      System generated mails for offers or invices appear in the mail tab of the designated customer. How can I view the content? It also doesn't appear in zMail sent folder.

    • Zadarma + Zoho CRM Integration – Missed Calls Saved as Contacts Instead of Leads

      Hello everyone, I’m looking for input from anyone with experience using the Zadarma + Zoho CRM integration. Currently, I’m seeing that missed calls are automatically being created as Contacts instead of Leads. From a CRM perspective, this doesn’t make

    • Function 56: Automatically enable the option for customers to pay via bank account

      Hello everyone and welcome back to our series! One of the key features of Zoho Books is its integration with multiple payment gateways, allowing you to receive online payments for your invoices. This ensures faster payments, automates payment tracking

    • Attach Files to Your Notecards and share them on the go!

      Hey everyone! We’re excited to share a feature many of you have been asking for — you can now attach files directly to your text notecards and share with ease! 🙌 This update was built with your feedback in mind, especially for those who wanted a simple

    • Can i connect 2 instagram accounts to 1 brand?

      Can i connect 2 instagram accounts to 1 brand? Or Do i need to create 2 brands for that? also under what subscription package will this apply?

    • Workdrive on Android - Gallery Photo Backups

      Hello, Is there any way of backing up the photos on my android phone directly to a specific folder on Workdrive? Assuming i have the workdrive app installed on the phone in question. Emma

    • Integración Books para cumplir la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu)

      Hola: En principio, en julio de 2025, entra en vigor la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu). ¿Sabéis si Zoho va a cumplir con la ley para cumplir con la facturación electrónica conectada a Hacienda? Gracias

    • YouTube Live #1: AI-powered agreement management with Zia and Zoho Sign

      Hi there! We're excited to announce Zoho Sign’s first YouTube live series, where you can catch the latest updates and interact with our Zoho Sign experts, pose questions, and discover lesser-known features. We're starting off by riding the AI wave in

    • How to add a % Growth column for year-over-year comparison (2024 vs 2025)

      Hello, I am trying to build a monthly revenue comparison between 2024 and 2025 in Zoho CRM Analytics. My current setup is: Module: Deals (Affaires) Filter: Stage = Closed Won Date field: Closing Date Grouping: By Month Metrics: Sum of Amount for 2024,

    • How to searchByCriteria records that are under approval?

      I need to search for both approved and pending approval records Is that possible with this method? Or I need to a different method? var priceReqID = $Page.record_id; log(priceReqID); var records = ZDK.Apps.CRM.Price_List_Item.searchByCriteria("Price_Request:equals:"

    • Next Page