Issue with Skill-Based Assignment in AWA Despite Mandatory Skill Enforcement

[Vadla Srimaan]

Hi Community,

I’ve configured AWA with strict skill matching for a queue called Global Support NA - EDM. The logic is:

• If Requested for Country = Japan, assign to Alex Tanaka or Maya Lin.
• If Short Description contains “OTP”, “EIB”, or “Primary HRBP”, assign to Chris Wong.
• If both conditions are met, priority should go to Alex or Maya.

All skills and determination rules are correctly set, and mandatory skill matching is enabled.

In testing:

• Requested for = Japan
• Short Description = “OTP”
• Alex and Maya were offline
• Chris was online but lacks the Japan-specific skill

Yet, the case was assigned to Chris. Is this due to fallback behavior within AWA because Chris is in the same assignment group?

How can I prevent assignment unless a fully skilled agent is available?

Thanks!

[Corina Toma]

Hello, 

What you're seeing is likely due to fallback behavior. 

Even with mandatory skill matching enabled, AWA may still assign work to an agent in the same assignment group if:

• No agents match all required skills.
• The fallback behavior is triggered to avoid unassigned work.

Here are some things you can try:

Double-check the Skill Matching Settings:

• Go to Advanced Work Assignment > Queues > [Your Queue].
• Ensure “Mandatory Skill Matching” is enabled.
• Disable “Allow partial skill match” if present.

Review the Routing Conditions:

• In Routing Rules, confirm that the logic requires all skills.
• Use “Match All Skills” rather than “Match Any”.

Modify the Queue Behavior:

• Set the queue to hold work if no matching agent is available.
• Avoid fallback to group members without required skills.

Use Agent Availability Constraints:

• Ensure that offline agents are not considered unless explicitly allowed.
• You can configure Agent Affinity logic.

Add a Wait or Escalation Mechanism:

• If no skilled agent is online, configure AWA to hold the case until one becomes available.
• Optionally, trigger a reassignment workflow after a timeout.

You can define a tiered skill match, where Japan-specific skill has higher weight than keyword match. For more complex logic, you can use scripted routing conditions to enforce stricter rules.