Assigning preferred agents to work on tasks

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Assigning preferred agents to work on tasks

    Preferred agents are those most familiar with specific customer contexts and are favored by customers, such as on-site technicians or those linked to customer contracts and entitlements. ServiceNow enables assigning these preferred agents to tasks dynamically through methods like auto-assignment with agent recommendations or appointment booking.

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    Key Features

    • Dynamic scheduling integration: Assign preferred agents automatically when tasks are created or appointments are booked.
    • Auto-assign using agent recommendation: High priority tasks can be assigned to preferred agents by dragging and dropping tasks in the Dispatcher Workspace calendar. Tasks can be scheduled concurrently, with reallocation of existing tasks to accommodate new high-priority work.
    • Appointment Booking integration: Customers booking appointments via the customer service portal have their tasks automatically assigned to preferred agents, streamlining task allocation based on customer preferences.
    • Configuration requirements: Preferred technicians must be linked to customer accounts, and matching criteria must be configured in dynamic scheduling to enable automatic assignment.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensure preferred agents are correctly associated with customer accounts and configured in dynamic scheduling to leverage automatic task assignment.
    • Use Dispatcher Workspace to manage scheduling by easily assigning high-priority tasks to preferred agents, optimizing resource utilization.
    • Leverage Appointment Booking to enhance customer experience by automatically routing service requests to the most suitable agents without manual intervention.

    Expected Outcomes

    • Improved task assignment accuracy by matching tasks with agents best suited to the customer’s needs.
    • Increased operational efficiency through dynamic scheduling that adapts to task priorities and agent availability.
    • Enhanced customer satisfaction by consistently involving agents familiar with their specific contexts and preferences.

    Preferred agents are agents who are most familiar with the context of tasks they've been assigned and are preferred by customers. For example, they could be agents who work on-site at a customer premise or are associated with the customer contracts or entitlements.

    You can assign preferred agents to tasks using dynamic scheduling when you assign tasks using any of the following methods:
    • Auto-assign using agent recommendation
    • Book an appointment using Appointment Booking
    Here are a few scenarios on how tasks can get assigned to preferred agents.
    Note:
    The preferred technicians must be added to the respective customer accounts and the preferred technician matching criteria must be added to the dynamic scheduling configuration.
    In this example, let's define the roles as follows:
    Table 1. Preferred users and their roles
    Role Name
    Customer of Acme Corporation George Warren
    Dispatcher Lisa Ray
    • Mona Lisa
    • Alex Ray
    • Lynda Caraway
    		 Preferred technicians for Acme Corporation account

    Scenario 1: Auto-assign using agent recommendation

    This example shows how tasks that are high priority can get assigned to preferred agents.

    Note:
    Lisa Ray is logged in as a dispatcher.
    1. Navigate to Field Service > Dispatching > Dispatcher Workspace
    2. Locate a task for Acme Corporation that must be assigned to a preferred technician. Let's say Mona Lisa is the preferred technician available to work on this task.
    3. Drag the task and drop it to Mona Lisa's schedule in the calendar. The task has now been scheduled.
    4. Now, a high-priority task from Acme Corporation enters the task queue. This task must be assigned to the same preferred agent Mona Lisa and has to be scheduled at the same time when the previous task was scheduled.
    5. Drag the task to Mona Lisa's schedule in the calendar. This task automatically takes the time slot of the previously scheduled task and that task moves to the next available schedule that is available for Mona Lisa.

    Scenario 2: Book an appointment using Appointment Booking

    This example shows how when a customer books an appointment, it’s automatically assigned to the preferred agent.

    Note:
    George Warren is logged in as a customer of Acme Corporation.
    1. Navigate to the customer service portal.
    2. Select a service that requires an appointment.
    3. Select the desired time slot and select Select.
    4. Select Submit.

      Navigate to Field Service > Dispatching > Dispatcher Workspace and see that the task has been assigned to the preferred agent Mona Lisa.

    For more information on adding a preferred agent to a work order task see, Assign preferred agents to tasks.