Assignment Rule form

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Assignment Rule form

    The Assignment Rule form in ServiceNow’s Advanced Work Assignment (AWA) allows managers to create and configure rules that automate routing of work items to agents. This form provides various options to tailor assignment behavior based on availability, skills, shifts, and auto-acceptance criteria, ensuring efficient workload distribution in customer service or ITSM environments.

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    Key Features

    • Name and Application: Define the assignment rule’s name and associate it with a specific application, defaulting to Global.
    • Assign by: Choose the method for routing work items:
      • Last Assigned: Assigns to the agent idle the longest.
      • Most Capacity: Assigns to the agent with the greatest workload capacity.
    • Auto-assign Handling: Enables automatic acceptance of work items, preventing manual acceptance or rejection by agents. Display options determine how interactions appear in agent inboxes and workspace tabs.
    • Rejection Handling: Allows agents to reject work items and supports automatic reassignment after a configurable timeout. Timeout settings include duration and agent presence state after timeout. Note: Not available with auto-assign enabled.
    • Skill Handling: Supports skill-based routing by enabling skills, evaluating skill levels to prioritize qualified agents, or enforcing mandatory skills for assignment.
    • Shift Handling: Assigns work based on agent shift schedules with options to:
      • Enable shift-based assignment requiring planned schedules.
      • Add time constraints such as required work duration and continuous availability.
      • Select agents based on least or most time left in their shifts.

      This feature requires activation of the Advanced Work Assignment plugin along with Workforce Optimization for Customer Service or ITSM plugins.

    Key Outcomes

    • Improved work distribution leveraging agent availability, skills, and shift patterns.
    • Reduced manual intervention through auto-assignment and auto-acceptance options.
    • Flexible timeout and rejection handling ensures work items do not remain unassigned.
    • Integration with Workforce Optimization enables scheduling-aware assignments for better resource utilization.

    When creating or changing an Advanced Work Assignment assignment rule, the Assignment Rule form contains the following fields.

    Table 1. Assignment Rule form
    Field Definition
    Name Name of the assignment rule.
    Application Name of the application to which this assignment rule belongs. The default application is Global.
    Short description Brief description of the assignment rule.
    Assign by Type of assignment. Select one of the following values:
    • Last Assigned: Routes a work item to the agent who has gone the longest without being assigned work.
    • Most Capacity: Routes a work item to the agent who has the greatest availability for handling the work.
    Auto-assign handling Work items are automatically accepted without agents having to select Accept or Reject.
    • Enable auto-assign work items: Select this option to have work items automatically accepted on behalf of agents. Agents are unable to manually Accept or Reject work items.
    • Display options: Select one of the following values:
      • Select Inbox card to accept the chat interactions and add them to the agent inbox. Agents can open the accepted interaction from the inbox.
      • Select Inbox card and workspace tab to accept chat interactions and open a tab for each accepted interaction.
    Rejection handling Work items are rejected and handled.
    • Allow agents to reject: Enable agents to reject work items in their inbox.
    • Reassign on timeout: Enable reassignment of work items not accepted or rejected by agents within the specified timeout period:
      • Timeout value (Days and Hours, Minutes, Seconds): Length of time allowed for an agent to accept or reject a work item before the assignment times out (ends) and is reassigned to another agent.
      • Timeout presence state: Agent availability state after the timeout occurs: Available, Away, or Offline.

    This tab isn't available when auto-assign handling is activated.
    Skill handling Skill-based work assignments.
    • Enable skills: Route work items to agents with the appropriate skills. When selected, the Evaluate skill level and Enforce mandatory skills check boxes appear cleared.
    • Evaluate skill level: Route work items to the most qualified agents based on their skill level.
    • Enforce mandatory skills: Route work items to agents with required skills.
    Shift handling Work items are assigned to agents based on shifts.
    • Enable-shift based assignment: Assign work items to agents based on time available in their shifts.
    • Add time constraints: Add the time required to complete work items in shifts and whether agents should be continuously available for the required time period.

      This field appears only when the Enable shift-based assignment option is selected.

    • Agent criteria: Select an agent based on the time left in the agent's shift.

      This field appears only when the Enable shift-based assignment option is selected.

      Available options:

      • Least time left in shift: Assign a work item to an agent from a group of available agents based on the least amount of time available in their shifts.
      • Most time left in shift: Assign a work item to an agent from a group of available agents based on the maximum time available in their shifts.
    • Time required: Time required to complete a work item.
    • Available continuously for the required time: Assign work items to agents who are continuously available for the required time period without any breaks in a shift. Agents who don’t have the minimum time required in their shifts aren’t considered for work item assignments.
      Note:
      The Shift handling field is available only if the Advanced Work Assignment plugin (com.glide.awa) is activated and the Workforce Optimization for Customer Service plugin (com.snc.wfo.csm) or the Workforce Optimization for ITSM plugin (com.snc.wfo_itsm) plugin, or both, is activated. As a manager, you must have planned schedules for agents to assign them shifts. For more information, see Scheduling in Workforce Optimization for Customer Service and Scheduling in Workforce Optimization for ITSM.

    This field appears only when the Add time constraints option is selected.