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

 Release :

    - brazil

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Brazil Conversational Interfaces

ft:clusterId :

    - convint

bundleId :

    - convint

workflow :

    - Platform


---

# AWA group queue priorities

# AWA group queue priorities {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Brazil  
Updated September 10, 2026  
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## Summary of AWA Group Queue Priorities

The AWA group queue priority feature allows ServiceNow customers to set preferences for work item assignment among multiple queues for specific groups of agents.
This capability is essential when agents have limited capacity and are eligible for multiple queues, enabling controlled prioritization of which queue's work items should be assigned first.
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## How Group Queue Priority Works

For each group within the eligibility pools of a queue, a group queue priority record is automatically created with a default order value of 100. Adjusting these order values establishes a hierarchy that governs the preference of work items assigned to agents in that group across different queues.

For example, if an English agent group is eligible for both a "chat queue" and a "P1 chat queue," setting a higher order priority (e.g., 200) on the chat queue compared to the P1 chat queue (100) causes agents in that group to prefer work items from the chat queue last, focusing first on the P1 chat queue.

## Group Queue Priority Processing: Tiers and Assignment Rounds

Group queue priorities are processed in **tiers**, which represent levels of assignment rounds. Each tier consists of groups with the same priority level, and the assignment engine processes work items tier by tier:

* Within a tier, assignments consider all eligible groups equally.
* Higher tiers are processed first, assigning work items to agents with higher priority queue preferences.
* Subsequent tiers assign remaining work based on lower priority levels.

This tiered approach means that groups with higher priority in earlier tiers will receive work items first, potentially reducing capacity for groups in later tiers and affecting the overall distribution of assignments.

## Practical Implications and Example Scenarios

Because of tiered processing, the distribution of work items can vary significantly:

* Groups in earlier tiers may receive more assignments within a queue, influencing workload balance.
* In complex setups involving multiple groups and queues with different priority levels, assignments occur across multiple rounds reflecting the hierarchy of priorities.

For instance, with three groups and three queues, each group's priority order across queues defines the assignment sequence in three rounds, ensuring that agents receive work items according to configured preferences and available capacity.

## Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

* Enables fine-grained control over work item assignments across multiple queues for shared agent groups.
* Helps optimize agent workload by prioritizing queues where their skills or business priorities are highest.
* Supports complex assignment scenarios with multiple groups and queues, improving efficiency and fairness.

By configuring group queue priorities thoughtfully, customers can tailor agent work allocation to meet operational goals and improve service delivery outcomes.  
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, with the order set to a default of 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 will try to assign all work items under the P1 chat queue to the English agent group,
before trying to assign any work items under chat queue to that same group (assuming some 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, since they will be considered earlier during the first run of assignment. Since agents from English agent group may have
been assigned work items in the P1 chat queue in the first assignment run, 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 as this implies that the group queue priority setup hierarchy across different groups could 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}