---
sourceDocument: Australia Conversational Interfaces
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/conversational-interfaces

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Conversational Interfaces

ft:clusterId :

    - convint

bundleId :

    - convint

workflow :

    - Platform


---

# Using Agent Affinity

# Using Agent Affinity {#ariaid-title1}

* Release version: Australia
* 
* Updated March 12, 2026
* 
* ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read

Summarize  
![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI  
This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.  

## Summary of Using Agent Affinity

Agent Affinity is a feature of Advanced Work Assignment (AWA) that enhances work item assignment based on agents' work history, related tasks, or account team roles.
This functionality helps ensure that the same agent is assigned to similar work items, improving continuity and customer experience.
Show full answer Show less  

## Key Features

* **Affinity Types:**
  * **Historical:** Assigns agents based on past interactions with the same customer.
  * **Related Task:** Assigns agents who have previously worked on related tasks.
  * **Account Team:** Assigns agents based on their role in the account team (available only to Customer Service Management customers).
* **Queue Association:** Affinity rules can be linked to AWA queues, with up to three rules per queue. The assignment engine prioritizes agents based on the order of affinities.

## Key Outcomes

By utilizing Agent Affinity, ServiceNow customers can expect:

* Improved efficiency in work item assignments, ensuring appropriate agents are selected based on relevant criteria.
* Enhanced customer satisfaction as familiar agents handle ongoing issues, promoting quicker resolutions.
* A streamlined process for managing agent assignments that considers availability and capacity.  
Agent Affinity is an Advanced Work Assignment feature that lets you
assign work items by an agent's work history, related task, or account team affinity.
Advanced Work Assignment assigns work items to agents by their availability,
capacity, and skills. You can use Agent Affinity to customize this AWA assignment process and identify the agent best suited for the
work item. Agent Affinity ensures that the same agent is assigned to a similar
work item instead of orienting a new agent every time.  
Note:  
Agent Affinity rules do not override assignment eligibility or constraints that are specified on AWA assignment rules.  
The types of affinities are:

Historical
:   Identifies the best agent based on the agent's history of serving the same customer.

Related task
:   Identifies the best agent based on the agent's past assignments of related tasks.

Account team
:   Identifies the best agent based on the agent's responsibility or role in the account
team.  
Note:  
Account team affinity is available only to Customer Service Management customers.
Affinity rules are associated with AWA queues. Up to three rules can be associated with each queue. The affinity order determines how the assignment engine ranks the agents. The agent with the higher order affinity rule is considered as the best agent first.

The following example shows how AWA uses Agent Affinity to determine the best agent for a work item. In this example, AWA is configured to use all three affinities in this order:
related task affinity, account team affinity, and historical affinity. George Warren, who is a
customer at the Boxeo company, has a router problem. George previously contacted support to
report an issue. That case was assigned to agent Ned. The primary support agent for Boxeo is
agent John. Within the past seven days, another agent, agent Beth, addressed a chat with Boxeo.

The next time George initiates a customer service chat from the case page, the case is
automatically added as a related task to the chat interaction. Agent Affinity
uses the related task affinity to look for an agent who has fulfilled past assignments for a
related task. Because agent Ned was assigned to a related task on the record, AWA assigns the work item to agent Ned if available with
capacity.  
Figure 1. Example of related task affinity

If agent Ned is unavailable or doesn't have the capacity, AWA
uses the account team affinity. AWA looks for another agent
based on an agent's responsibility or role in the account team. Because agent John is the
primary support agent for the Boxeo company, AWA assigns the
work item to Agent John if available with capacity.  
Figure 2. Example of account team affinity  
If agent John is not available, AWA uses the historical affinity and looks for an agent that has recently interacted with the company. This information is stored on the Agent Affinity screen. Because agent Beth addressed a chat with Boxeo within the past seven days, AWA assigns the work item to agent Beth if available with capacity. Figure 3. Example of historical affinity