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Intelligent Work Distribution

Assignment Rules automatically distribute work to team members based on configurable strategies. When combined with the Automation System, assignments happen instantly as work arrives, ensuring optimal team utilization and faster response times.

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Prerequisites

Before using Assignment Rules, your app must have these specific field types:
  • Assignment Group field (group type) - Defines the pool of users who can receive assignments
  • Assignee field (user type) - The individual user who receives the assignment
The Assignment Group field must be populated with actual users before running the Make Assignment automation. An empty Assignment Group field will cause the automation to fail.
These fields are required for Assignment Rules to function. Without them, the Make Assignment action cannot determine who to assign work to.

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Critical Setup Requirement

Before running any Make Assignment automation: Ensure your Assignment Group field contains the group of users who should receive assignments. This is the most common cause of assignment failures.
The Assignment Group field acts as the pool of available users. If this field is empty when the automation runs, the Make Assignment action will fail because it has no one to assign the work to.

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Assignment Strategies

Assignment strategies determine how work is distributed among team members. Each strategy optimizes for different business needs.

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Distributed Work

How it works: Evenly distributes assignments across all available team members to balance workload. Best for:
  • Teams with similar skill levels
  • Work that requires consistent distribution
  • Preventing burnout from uneven assignment loads
  • Customer support and general tasks
Example: Support tickets are automatically distributed among all available support agents, ensuring no single agent becomes overwhelmed.

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Setting Up Assignment Rules

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Creating Your First Assignment Rule

  1. Navigate to Assignment Rules in your app settings
  2. Click ”+ Rule” to create a new assignment rule
  3. Configure the rule:
    • Title: Descriptive name for the rule (e.g., “Support Ticket Assignment”)
    • Description: Optional details about when this rule applies
    • Assignment Strategy: Select your preferred distribution method

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Assignment Rule Configuration

Title Guidelines:
  • Use descriptive names that explain the rule’s purpose
  • Examples: “High Priority Customer Issues”, “Technical Support Routing”, “Sales Lead Distribution”
Description Best Practices:
  • Explain when the rule applies
  • Include any special conditions or criteria
  • Document the expected outcome

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Integration with Automation System

Assignment Rules work seamlessly with the Automation System through the Make Assignment action. When an automation triggers assignment:
  1. Event occurs (e.g., new record created, status updated)
  2. Assignment Group field is validated - must contain group of users for assignment to proceed
  3. Automation triggers containing Make Assignment action
  4. Assignment Rule activates using the configured strategy
  5. Best available user from the Assignment Group is selected
  6. User is assigned to the Assignee field automatically

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Make Assignment Action

The Make Assignment action uses your Assignment Rules to:
  • Verify Assignment Group contains users - action fails if the field is empty
  • Evaluate available users in the Assignment Group
  • Apply the assignment strategy (e.g., Distributed Work)
  • Select the optimal assignee based on current workload and availability
  • Update the Assignee field with the selected user

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Implementation Examples

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Customer Support Automation

Setup: Automatically assign incoming support tickets to available agents Prerequisites:
  • Assignment Group field must be populated with Support Team group
  • Support Team group must contain active users
Support Ticket Created → Make Assignment
  → Assignment Group: Support Team (populated with group of users)
  → Strategy: Distributed Work
  → Result: Ticket assigned to least busy support agent
Assignment Rule Configuration:
  • Title: “Support Ticket Distribution”
  • Description: “Distribute incoming support tickets evenly among available support agents”
  • Strategy: Distributed Work

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Sales Lead Routing

Setup: Route qualified leads to appropriate sales representatives 
Lead Qualified → Make Assignment
  → Assignment Group: Sales Team
  → Strategy: Distributed Work
  → Result: Lead assigned to available sales rep
Assignment Rule Configuration:
  • Title: “Sales Lead Assignment”
  • Description: “Assign qualified leads to sales representatives based on current workload”
  • Strategy: Distributed Work

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Project Task Distribution

Setup: Assign project tasks to team members automatically 
Task Created → Make Assignment
  → Assignment Group: Project Team
  → Strategy: Distributed Work
  → Result: Task assigned to team member with lightest workload

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Advanced Assignment Patterns

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Conditional Assignment

Combine Assignment Rules with automation logic for sophisticated routing: 
Issue Created → IF priority = "High"
  → Make Assignment (Senior Support Group)
OTHERWISE
  → Make Assignment (General Support Group)

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Multi-Stage Assignment

Create assignment workflows that escalate through different groups: 
Ticket Created → Make Assignment (Level 1 Support)
  → IF unresolved after 2 hours
  → Make Assignment (Level 2 Support)

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Workload-Based Routing

Use assignment rules to automatically balance work distribution: 
New Order → Make Assignment (Fulfillment Team)
  → Result: Order assigned to team member with current capacity

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Assignment Rule Management

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Modifying Existing Rules

  1. Select the rule from your Assignment Rules list
  2. Update configuration as needed
  3. Save changes to apply immediately to new assignments

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Rule Prioritization

When multiple assignment rules could apply:
  • Most specific rule takes precedence
  • Recently created rules override older ones
  • Manual assignments always override automatic rules

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Monitoring Assignment Performance

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Assignment Analytics

Track how well your assignment rules are performing:
  • Distribution fairness: Are assignments evenly distributed?
  • Response times: How quickly are assigned items being addressed?
  • Completion rates: Are assignments being completed efficiently?

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Optimizing Assignment Rules

Review assignment patterns regularly to ensure optimal distribution:
  • Monitor team member workloads
  • Adjust strategies based on performance data
  • Update rules as team composition changes

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Best Practices

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Rule Design

Clear naming: Use descriptive titles that explain the rule’s purpose Specific descriptions: Document when and why the rule applies Strategic selection: Choose assignment strategies that match your workflow needs

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Team Structure

Balanced groups: Ensure Assignment Groups have appropriate team member distribution Skill alignment: Match assignment groups to work types and required expertise Capacity planning: Consider team member availability and workload capacity

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Automation Integration

Event-driven assignment: Trigger assignments based on meaningful events Conditional logic: Use IF conditions to route work appropriately Performance monitoring: Track assignment effectiveness through automation history

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Troubleshooting

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Common Issues

Assignment failures or no assignments happening:
  • Most common: Verify Assignment Group field is populated with group of users before running automation
  • Confirm Assignment Group and Assignee fields exist in your app
  • Verify group of users in Assignment Group are active and available
  • Ensure automation with Make Assignment action is published
  • Check automation logs for error details
Uneven distribution:
  • Review current team member workloads
  • Verify assignment strategy is appropriate for your use case
  • Check for manual assignments that might skew distribution

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Assignment Rule Validation

Before implementing assignment rules:
  1. Test with sample data to verify expected behavior
  2. Review team member availability and capacity
  3. Monitor initial assignments to ensure proper distribution
  4. Adjust rules based on real-world performance

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Getting Started

  1. Add required fields to your app (Assignment Group and Assignee)
  2. Populate Assignment Group field with the group of users who should receive assignments
  3. Create your first assignment rule with Distributed Work strategy
  4. Build an automation using the Make Assignment action
  5. Test the workflow with sample data
  6. Monitor performance and adjust as needed
Assignment Rules require the Automation System to function. Make sure you have automations configured with the Make Assignment action to see assignments in action.
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