---
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


---

# AWA group queue priorities

# AWA group queue priorities {#ariaid-title1}

* Release version: Australia
* 
* Updated March 12, 2026
* 
* ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 4 minutes to read

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## Summary of AWA Group Queue Priorities

The group queue priority feature in ServiceNow's AWA (Agent Workspace Assignment) allows administrators to set preferences for work item assignment among different queues for specific agent groups.
This is particularly useful when groups or agents have limited capacity and multiple queues contain matching work items.
The feature automatically creates group queue priority records for each group and queue combination, with a default priority order value of 100.
Show full answer Show less  

## How Group Queue Priorities Work

Administrators can adjust the priority order values to define a hierarchy of queue preferences for each group. For example, if an English agent group is eligible for two queues---Chat queue and P1 Chat queue---assigning a higher priority order to the P1 Chat queue causes the assignment engine to preferentially assign work items from that queue when agents have capacity.

The priority order determines the sequence in which queues are considered for assignment within each group, enabling tailored workload management and ensuring critical queues receive priority attention from agents.

## Group Queue Priority Processing: Tiers and Assignment Runs

AWA processes priorities in tiers, where each tier corresponds to a set of groups with the same priority level across their eligible queues. Assignment happens in rounds, expanding eligible agents based on these tiers:

* **Tier 1:** Agents in groups with the highest queue priority assignments are considered first.
* **Subsequent Tiers:** Agents with lower priority queue preferences are considered in later rounds.

This tiered approach influences how work items are distributed, as groups in earlier tiers may consume more work items earlier, potentially affecting available capacity for agents in lower tiers.

## Impact on Work Item Distribution

Because of the tiered assignment process, groups prioritized in earlier tiers may receive a larger share of work items within a queue. This dynamic can affect workload balance and should be carefully managed when configuring group queue priority hierarchies.

## Example of Complex Priority Setup

In scenarios with multiple groups and queues, priority orders create multiple assignment runs. For instance, when three groups are eligible for three queues with different priority orders assigned, the system performs several assignment rounds, rotating queue-to-group assignments based on priority tiers. This ensures fair and orderly distribution of work items according to configured preferences and agent capacity.

The example demonstrates how agent capacity and queue priorities interact to determine final work item assignments across multiple queues and groups.

## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

* **Control workload distribution:** Prioritize queues for specific agent groups to optimize agent utilization and meet service level goals.
* **Flexible assignment logic:** Use tiered priority ordering to manage complex environments with multiple queues and agent groups.
* **Improved efficiency:** Ensure agents focus on higher priority work items first while balancing capacity across all eligible queues.  
Use the group queue priority feature to set a queue or work item preference for a given group of agents. For a given group or agent with limited capacity, this feature controls which queues should be preferred if matching work
items are found in both.

For each group defined across the eligibility pools for a given queue, a corresponding group queue priority record will automatically be created for that group and queue combination. The order defaults to 100.

## Example {#awa-group-queue-priorities__section_t1w_x5y_23c}

The admin has configured two AWA queues: chat queue and P1 chat queue.

* Chat queue has one eligibility pool with two groups: Spanish agent group and English agent group.
* P1 chat queue has one eligibility pool with one group: English agent group.

{#awa-group-queue-priorities__ul_n1b_1vy_23c}

The admin creates three group queue priority records, each with the default order of 100:
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_wc2_dvy_23c__entry__3}

| Group | Queue | Order |
|-|-|-|
| Spanish agent group | Chat queue | 100 |
| English agent group | Chat queue | 100 |
| English agent group | P1 chat queue | 100 |
[ ]

{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_wc2_dvy_23c}

Since both group queue priority records for the English agent groups have the same order of 100, work items across both queues are equally considered during assignment.

If the admin then changes the order of one of the group queue priority records to 200:
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_rky_hvy_23c__entry__3}

| Group | Queue | Order |
|-|-|-|
| Spanish agent group | Chat queue | 100 |
| English agent group | Chat queue | 200 |
| English agent group | P1 chat queue | 100 |
[ ]

{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_rky_hvy_23c}  
The English agent group now has a group queue priority hierarchy of two levels:

1. Level 1: Work items in the P1 chat queue
2. Level 2: Work items in the chat queue
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_dkd_nvy_23c}

With the above hierarchy, agents in the English agent group will prefer work items in the P1 chat queue over the chat queue. The assignment engine prioritizes assigning P1 chat queue work items to the English agent group. It only
assigns regular chat queue work items to this group if agents still have free capacity.

## Group queue priority processing: tiers {#awa-group-queue-priorities__section_aqb_vvy_23c}

AWA uses tiers as a series of assignment rounds. In each round, AWA expands the pool of eligible agents based on group queue priority tiers. Each tier represents a set of groups at the same level and indicates how those groups prioritize a queue relative to other
queues they qualify for.
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_psq_wvy_23c__entry__3}

| Group | Queue | Order |
|-|-|-|
| Spanish agent group | Chat queue | 100 |
| English agent group | Chat queue | 200 |
| English agent group | P1 chat queue | 100 |
[ ]

{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_psq_wvy_23c}  
For the above group queue priority configuration, the tiers are organized as follows:

1. Tier 1:
   1. Consider English agent group for P1 chat queue
   2. Consider Spanish agent group for chat queue
   {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_lj3_cwy_23c}
2. Tier 2: Consider English agent group for chat queue
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_bdw_bwy_23c}

The ordering within each tier is negligible since all work items across queues in the same tier are equally considered.  
The above tier ordering translates into the following rounds of assignment:

1. Assignment run #1
   1. Assign work items in P1 chat queue, with agents from English agent group
   2. Assign work items in chat queue, with agents from Spanish agent group
   {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_nd5_rzy_23c}
2. Assignment run #2: Assign work items in chat queue, with agents from English agent group
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_f2z_qzy_23c}

## Side effect of tier organization {#awa-group-queue-priorities__section_djj_5zy_23c}

A side effect of the tier setup is that the Spanish agent group may receive more work items under the chat queue. This is due to the system considering the group earlier during the first run of assignment. Agents from the English
agent group may be assigned work items in the P1 chat queue during the first assignment run. As a result, they will have less capacity to handle work items assigned in the second assignment run. Both factors influence the likelihood of
groups in later tiers in receiving work items.

These side effects are important because the group queue priority setup hierarchy across different groups may also affect the distribution of work items within a queue.

Consider a more complex scenario where three groups are all eligible for three different queues, with the following group queue priority setup:
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_i2b_b1z_23c__entry__3}

| Group | Queue | Order |
|-|-|-|
| 1 | A | 10 |
| 1 | B | 20 |
| 1 | C | 30 |
| 2 | A | 300 |
| 2 | B | 100 |
| 2 | C | 200 |
| 3 | A | 2 |
| 3 | B | 3 |
| 3 | C | 1 |
[ ]

{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_i2b_b1z_23c}  
The assignment process is organized into three tiers, since the maximum hierarchy across all three groups is three levels. There will be three runs of assignment:

1. Assignment Run #1
   1. Queue A, with agents from group 1
   2. Queue B, with agents from group 2
   3. Queue C, with agents from group 3
   {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_wb5_f1z_23c}
2. Assignment Run #2
   1. Queue A, with agents from group 3
   2. Queue B, with agents from group 1
   3. Queue C, with agents from group 2
   {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_w3b_31z_23c}
3. Assignment Run #3
   1. Queue A, with agents from group 2
   2. Queue B, with agents from group 3
   3. Queue C, with agents from group 1
   {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_ly4_k1z_23c}
{#awa-group-queue-priorities__ol_yv2_f1z_23c}  
If each group has one agent having capacity 2, where agent 1 is in group 1, agent 2 is in group 2, and agent 3 is in group 3, then assignments are made in the following manner:{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_ebx_41z_23c__entry__2}

| Scenario | Outcome |
|-|-|
| 2 work items in each queue | * Agent 1 gets two items from Queue A * Agent 2 gets two items from Queue B * Agent 3 gets two items from Queue C {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ul_upy_wj1_g3c} |
| 3 items in Queue A and 3 items in Queue B | * Agent 1 gets two items from Queue A * Agent 2 gets two items from Queue B * Agent 3 gets the last item from Queue A * Agent 1 gets the last item from Queue B {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ul_w1j_1k1_g3c} |
| 6 items only in Queue C | * Agent 3 gets the first two items from Queue C * Agent 2 gets the next two items from Queue C * Agent 1 gets the last two items from Queue C {#awa-group-queue-priorities__ul_c3m_ck1_g3c} |
[ ]

{#awa-group-queue-priorities__table_ebx_41z_23c}