Why Tickets Bounce Between Assignment Groups (And How to Stop It)
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2 hours ago
A common challenge in many ServiceNow environments is the excessive reassignment of Incidents and Requests. Tickets are passed from one assignment group to another before reaching the correct team, increasing resolution time and frustrating both users and support staff.
This typically results in:
Longer mean time to resolve (MTTR)
Poor user experience despite “green” SLAs
Increased escalations and manual coordination
Inaccurate reporting on team performance
Root Causes
The most frequent causes of ticket bouncing include:
Overly complex or inconsistent category structures
Missing or incorrect CI or service selection
Assignment rules based on outdated logic
Unclear ownership of services or support groups
Manual triage replacing automation
Solution: Route Tickets Correctly the First Time
The most effective way to stop reassignment churn is to focus on front-end accuracy and ownership, not downstream cleanup.
Simplify Categorization
Reduce category depth and duplication
Align categories to how users describe issues, not internal team structures
Use Service or CI-Based Assignment
Assign based on Business Service or CI whenever possible
Avoid generic catch-all assignment groups
Enforce Ownership
Ensure every service and assignment group has a clearly defined owner
Make ownership mandatory and reviewed regularly
Automate Routing
Use assignment rules or Flow Designer to route tickets immediately
Eliminate manual triage where rules are predictable
Measure and Correct
Track reassignment count per ticket
Use reassignment trends to identify gaps in routing logic
Outcome
When tickets land in the correct group the first time:
Resolution times decrease
User satisfaction improves
Escalations drop
Reporting becomes more accurate
Key takeaway: Every reassignment is avoidable friction. Fixing routing at intake delivers more value than any downstream optimization.
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