Limited Availability—We are currently in Limited Availability (LA) across all Data Centers (DCs) for this feature. We will continue onboarding customers who require this feature until we reach General Availability (GA).

On the Queues list page, you can optionally turn on the Transfer to the same agent toggle button to allow contacts to be routed to the original agent who transferred them.

This setting applies to all queues of the tenant.

You can enable this setting to prevent contacts from getting stuck when no other agents are available. It also enhances operational flexibility, reducing wait times and optimizing resource use in contact centers with limited staff.

Create a queue

Before you begin

You must configure the following entities in the given sequence before creating a queue:

1

Sign in to Control Hub.

2

Select Services > Contact Center.

3

From the Contact Center navigation pane, select Customer experience > Queues.

4

Click Create queue.

5

In the General section, perform the following:

  1. In the Name field, enter the name of the queue.

    Queue name can’t exceed 80 characters. It can contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens.

  2. In the Description field, enter the short description of the queue.

  3. From the Contact direction drop-down list, choose an option:

    • Inbound queue—An inbound queue is where the customer contact waits before the system assigns the customer to an agent or a dial number (DN).
    • Outdial queue—An outdial queue serves as a holding place for outbound customer contacts (calls, chats, emails) that need to be assigned to an agent or a dial number (DN) for an outbound interaction. It is a crucial component for managing outbound calls initiated by agents or automated campaigns.

    The selection in this step changes the options in the Contact routing settings section.

  4. In the Channel type field, choose a channel type from the available options—Chat, Email, Social channel, or Telephony.

    • By default, this field displays the Telephony option for an Inbound queue. Create a call distribution group to add one or more teams to a queue. To distribute calls to additional teams, create multiple call distribution groups. Call distribution operates independently of other queue logic defined in the flow.
    • The system disables this field if you select Outdial queue option in Contact direction field.
    • You can create related distribution groups, based on the option selected in this field. Accordingly, the system displays the following options:
      1. Chat—Chat distribution
      2. Email—Email distribution
      3. Social channel—Conversation distribution
      4. Telephony—Call distribution
6

In the Contact routing settings section:

  1. If you select Inbound queue option in Step 5 (c), you can Configure non skill-based routing or Configure skill-based routing and then continue with Step 7.

  2. If you select the Outdial queue option in Step 5 (c), Outbound campaign switch displays in the Contact routing settings section. If this switch is turned ON, you can Configure non skill-based routing or Configure skill-based routing and then continue with Step 7.

7

In the Advanced Settings section, perform the following:

  1. Turn ON or OFF the Service monitoring switch to specify whether users can monitor the calls. This setting is available for the Telephony channel type.

  2. Turn ON or OFF the Allow recording switch to specify whether the system can record all the calls for this queue. This setting is available for the Telephony channel type.

  3. Turn ON or OFF the Allow pause/resume for calls switch to specify whether the agents can pause and resume a call recording. For example, the agent can pause call recording while discussing sensitive information from the customer, such as credit card details.

    Agents can use this feature if your organization administrator enables the Privacy Shield feature in the Webex Contact Center service configuration.

  4. If you turn ON the switch in (c) above, the Recording pause setting is available. This setting specifies the time in seconds, after which the recording resumes automatically. This setting is available for the Telephony channel type.

  5. In the Service level threshold field, enter the time that a customer request can be in a queue before the system flags it as outside the service level. If you complete a customer service request within this time interval, the system considers it within the service level.

  6. In the Maximum time in queue field, enter the time after which the contact (all media types) is terminated.

  7. In the Default music in queue field, choose the name of the audio (.wav) file to play for calls when the calls arrive or wait in the queue. This is the default audio file. For more information, see Manage audio files.

    If Play Music isn’t configured in the Queue Contact activity, then the default music file is played.

  8. (Optional) In the Time zone (routing strategies only) field, choose the time zone of the channel, if your organization administrator enables Multiple Time Zone for your enterprise.

Configure non skill-based routing

In the Contact routing settings section, turn off the Use skills-based routing for this queue switch. In this section, you can:

  • Assign agents by teams to the queue and add the teams to distribution groups. These groups reduce wait times by distributing contacts to more teams. For more information, see Team-based assignment.
  • Assign agents to the queue. For more information, see Agent-based assignment.

Team-based assignment

1

For non skill-based queues with team assignment, Longest available is chosen as the default routing pattern in the Routing pattern section.

2

In the Call distribution section, click Create a group. This option is available only if you select the Telephony option in the Channel type field. If you select Chat, Email, or Social channel in the Channel type field, then Chat distribution, Email distribution, and Conversation distribution fields are respectively displayed.

3

In the Group modal that appears, enter the following:

  1. Priority—By default, the priority is set to one. This value is incremental as you add more groups.

  2. Add group after—Enter a value in seconds to set the switch time to move to the next group in case of non-availability of agents.

This field is enabled if the group's preference is set to something other than the first option.

4

Choose one or more teams to add them to the group.

5

Click Save. This adds the groups to the Group details list.

6

Repeat this process to create the required groups with specified time delays. To continue with other settings, go to Step 8 under Advanced Settings.

Agent-based assignment

1

For non skill-based queues with agent assignment, in the Agent assignment section, choose Agents to assign agents directly to the queue. Use this pattern to send contacts to the next available agent in the preconfigured order. The process repeats till the contact is assigned to an agent.

The system chooses Circular as the default routing pattern in the Routing pattern section for non-skill-based queues with agent assignment.

  1. In the Agents section, search and select the required agents by name or Email ID. You can add a maximum of 1000 agents to this queue, in the desired routing order.

  2. (Optional) Turn on the Edit agent order switch and drag and drop agents to change their order in the list. You can also use the up and down icons in the Action column to move up or down the agent position in the list.

2

To continue with other settings, go to Step 8 under Advanced Settings.

Configure skill-based routing

In the Contact routing settings section, turn on the Use skills-based routing for this queue switch to route contacts to agents with a required skill set. After you have turned ON this switch, you can view the skill assignment types. You can:

  • Assign skills to queues—Configure skill requirements for this queue. Only agents who meet the criteria can support contacts.
  • Assign skills in flows—Configure skill requirements each time this queue is used in a different flow. Assign teams to ensure that agents who meet the criteria are always available. For more information on flow activity set-up, see Queue Contact.

Once you create the queue, you can't change this.

Assign skills to queues

To assign skills to queues, choose Assign skills to the queue in the Skill assignment type field and configure the following:

1

In the Agent assignment field, the Skill requirements card is chosen by default.

2

In the Routing pattern field, choose one of the following routing patterns:

  • Longest available—If multiple agents meet the same skill requirements for the queue, the system chooses the agent who has been available the longest.
  • Best available—If multiple agents meet the same skill requirements for the queue, the system chooses the agent with the highest proficiency in the required skill.
3

In the Skill requirements section, click Add skill requirements. The Add skill requirements modal appears.

4

Choose the required skill matrix for this queue:

  • Skill type
  • Skill name
  • Condition
  • Skill value

These field values are populated from the Skill definition page. Based on the chosen skill parameters, the New skill requirements section displays the skill requirements.

5

Click Add skill requirement to add more skill requirements to this list.

6

Click Save to go back to the Create queue page.

The Skill requirement details section shows the list of skill requirements added to this queue.

7

(Optional) Click View assigned agents to view the list of agents matched to the chosen skill requirements of this queue.

8

To continue with other settings, go to Step 10 under Advanced Settings.

Assign skills in flows

To assign skills in flows, choose Assign skills in flows in the Skill assignment type field and configure the following:

1

In the Agent assignment field, by default, Teams card is chosen to assign agents to the queue.

2

In the Routing pattern field, choose one of the following routing patterns:

  • Longest available—If multiple agents meet the same skill requirements for the queue, the system chooses the agent who has been available the longest.
  • Best available—If multiple agents meet the same skill requirements for the queue, the system chooses the agent with the highest proficiency in the required skill.
3

In the Call distribution section, click Create a queue to combine multiple teams to create a Call Distribution Group. This option is available only if you select the Telephony option in the Channel type field. If you select Chat, Email, or Social channel in the Channel type field, then Chat distribution, Email distribution, and Conversation distribution fields are respectively displayed.

4

In the Group modal that appears, enter the following:

  • Priority—By default, the priority is set to one. This value is incremental as you add more groups.
  • Add group after—Enter a value in seconds to set the switch time to move to the next group in case of non-availability of agents.

The system enables this field if the group's preference is set to something other than the first option.

5

Choose one or more teams to add them to the group.

6

Click Save. This adds the groups to the Group details list.

7

Repeat this process to create the required groups with specified time delays.

8

To continue with other settings, go to Step 10 under Advanced Settings.

Edit a queue

1

Sign in to Control Hub.

2

Select Services > Contact Center.

3

From the Contact Center navigation pane, select Customer Experience > Queues to view the list of queues.

4

Click the queue that you want to edit.

The queue opens in editable mode.
5

Edit the details of the queue refer to steps in create a queue section to edit the fields.

6

Click Save to save the edits else click Cancel to discard the changes.

Delete a queue

Before you begin

Ensure that the queue that you want to delete is in an inactive state.

1

Sign in to Control Hub.

2

Select Services > Contact Center.

3

From the Contact Center navigation pane, select Customer Experience > Queues to view the list of queues.

4

Click the queue that you want to delete.

5

Click the delete icon on top right of the page.

6

Click Delete in the confirmation pop-up message to delete the queue.