AWA: Agent being assigned incident although they have reached max capacity

trangdan106
Tera Contributor

49m ago

Hello everyone, as the title, I have set up AWA and an agent with the capacity of 1 but the agent kept being assigned more work although they don't have capacity left:

Here is the Service Channel configuration with no Agent Capacity Overrides.

trangdan106_0-1778852638695.png

Here is the Queue configurations:

trangdan106_1-1778852666360.png

 

Here is the assignment rule:

trangdan106_2-1778852681420.png

I can't find anywhere that have this same problem. I was expecting that once there is a record that matched the utilization condition and the document consumed the agent capacity, it should other records in the queue and once the document has been handled, other records will consume the agent capacity.

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Ana39
Tera Expert

42m ago

this was helping me: 

What you’re describing is usually caused by one of these AWA behaviors:

  • the work item is not actually consuming capacity
  • the work item leaves the queue state too early
  • the capacity model is based on Available Capacity but the work item never transitions into a “busy” state
  • the assignment rule keeps matching because the previous work is no longer considered active
  • or the queue/work item configuration is missing the fields AWA uses to track active work

And yes — intuitively your expectation is correct:

Agent capacity = 1
→ one assigned active work item
→ no more assignments until capacity is released

That is exactly how AWA should behave.

Most common root cause

The assigned record is not consuming capacity after assignment

This happens a LOT with custom tables or partially configured AWA setups.

AWA only counts work items toward capacity if:

  • the work item is in a state considered “active”
  • AND the work item is properly associated with the service channel/work item configuration

If the item:

  • immediately changes state
  • leaves the queue
  • or isn’t tracked as active work

then AWA thinks:

“Agent is free again 👍”

…and assigns more work.

Classic AWA chaos goblin 👹

First thing to verify

Check the Work Item Size / Capacity settings

In your Queue configuration:

Verify:

  • Capacity
  • Work item size
  • Advanced work assignment settings

Especially:

 

 
Work Item Size
 

 

 

If empty or misconfigured, capacity calculations can behave unexpectedly.

VERY important

Capacity is based on ACTIVE assigned work

Not merely:

 

 
Assigned to = agent
 

AWA checks whether the item is:

  • assigned
  • active
  • in-progress according to the work item rules

If your records stay in:

  • New
  • Ready
  • Pending Queue
  • or custom states

AWA may not count them correctly.

Check this specifically

Go to:

Agent Workspace → Agent → Capacity

or inspect:

  • awa_agent_presence
  • awa_work_item
  • awa_agent_capacity

You should see:

  • active work item count
  • consumed capacity

If consumed capacity remains 0 after assignment:
👉 that’s the problem.

Another common issue

Queue assignment condition keeps re-triggering

If your assignment rule matches records repeatedly, AWA can assign additional work because:

  • previous work items are not marked active
  • or work items are completed instantly

Check whether:

  • records remain in queue
  • or are removed immediately after assignment

Check the Service Channel setup carefully

The critical configuration is:

Work Item Table

and:

Advanced → Utilization

Make sure:

  • the table supports AWA lifecycle properly
  • the records remain “open”
  • the state field is mapped correctly

BIG hidden gotcha

If this is a custom table:

You often must configure:

  • State field
  • Assignment field
  • Active conditions
  • Capacity consumption logic

Otherwise AWA treats assignments as stateless routing events.

What I would verify in order

1. Is capacity actually consumed?

Check:

 

 
awa_work_item

After assignment:

  • does a work item exist?
  • does it show capacity consumed?

2. Does the work item remain active?

If the work item instantly becomes:

  • closed
  • unavailable
  • completed

capacity is released immediately.

3. Verify presence state

Agent must be:

  • Available
  • Correct presence state
  • Matching capacity model

4. Verify work item size

Test explicitly:

 

 
Work Item Size = 1
Agent Capacity = 1

5. Check for Agent Capacity Overrides

You said none exist — good.

But ALSO verify:

  • no dynamic capacity rules
  • no presence capacity overrides

One thing MANY people misunderstand

AWA does NOT work like a hard database lock.

It’s more like:

 

 
Available Capacity
=
Max Capacity - Active Work Consumption
 

 

 

So if AWA does not recognize the work as “active consuming work,”
the agent still appears available.

That’s almost always the real issue.

My strongest suspicion from your description

I’d bet one of these is happening:

Most likely

The assigned record is not being counted as an active work item after routing.

OR

Second most likely

The work item size/capacity configuration is incomplete.

Quick debugging trick 🔥

Temporarily:

  • set agent capacity = 1
  • create ONE record
  • assign it
  • immediately inspect:

 

 
awa_work_item.list
and:

 

 
awa_agent_capacity.list

If capacity consumed remains 0:
you found the problem.

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