Creating Ticket Assignment Rules

Creating Ticket Assignment Rules

Assignment rules help you automatically assign the tickets that are received in your Zoho Desk. The rule based on certain specified conditions can route tickets to the appropriate department and further assign ownership to it. While this makes sense for new tickets, you can also trigger an assignment rule when tickets are updated in your help desk.

Ticket Assignment Workflow
  1. Create a Direct Assignment rule.
  2. Add targets to the rule.
  3. Define the rule criteria and assignment values.
  4. Save the rule.

Notes:
  • Assignment rules are applicable only for the Tickets module.
  • Only users with Profile permission for managing Help Desk Automation can access this feature.
  • Assignment rules are available only in the Professional and Enterprise editions of Zoho Desk.
  • You can create a maximum of 10 rules and 20 rules per department in the Professional and Enterprise editions respectively.
  • Each rule can be associated with a maximum of 5 targets.
  • You can associate up to 25 different criteria in each rule entry.

To set up an assignment rule:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Assignment Rules under Automation.
  3. In the Direct Assignment Rules List page, click New Direct Assignment in the upper-right area.
  4. In the New Direct Assignment Rule page, do the following:
    • Enter the Rule Name.
    • Specify the Execution Criteria for the rule.
      You can choose either Ticket Creation or Ticket Updation or both.
  5. Click Add Target.



  6. In the Add Target page, do the following:
    • Ticket coming to: Select the department where you would receive the tickets.
    • Criteria: Enter criteria for the rule.
    • You can associate up to 25 criteria using AND / OR operators.
    • Move ticket to: Select the department were you want the tickets to be moved.
    • Assign ticket to: Select the agent who should be assigned as the owner of the tickets.
  7. Click Save.



Workflow Rules vs. Assignment Rules
Though both the workflow rules and the assignment rules can be used to assign tickets, here are the two primary differences between them:
  1. Unlike workflow rules, assignment rules can be used to route the support tickets to the appropriate department.
  2. While more than one workflow rule can be triggered for a ticket, it is only the first target (matching criteria) that is executed in an assignment rule. All the other targets will cease to trigger.

Deactivating Assignment Rules
You can activate or deactivate the assignment rules at any time. When you deactivate a rule, it will be labeled as Inactive. Assignment rules can be reactivated, when needed.
To deactivate assignment rules:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Assignment Rules under Automation.
  3. In the Direct Assignment Rules List page, click to open a rule.
  4. In the Rule Details page, uncheck the Active option.
  5. Click Save.
You can also click the toggle to activate or deactivate all the assignment rules in one go.

Deleting Assignment Rules
Assignment 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.
To delete assignment rules:

  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top bar.
  2. In the Setup Landing page, click Assignment Rules under Automation.
  3. In the Direct Assignment Rules List page, click the Delete icon (  ) for the corresponding rule.
  4. Click OK to confirm.

Notes:
  • The option to route tickets between departments is visible only when you have more than one department.
  • The 'Assign ticket to' field will list only those agents who are active and confirmed in your Zoho Desk.
  • The assignment rules will be triggered even when a ticket is split (create) or merged (update).
  • You can disable a department only when it is removed from the rule targets.
  • Deactivating an agent will also deactivate the rules associated with that agent.
  • Assignment rules are the first to be executed followed by workflows, SLAs and notification rules in that order.

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