Help › Recipes
Get alerted when service level slips or a caller waits too long
One rule for the trend, one for the caller who's been forgotten.
This is for admins who run to a service-level target, such as 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds. You'll end up with two rules: one that notices when the queue as a whole is falling behind, and one that notices a single caller left waiting far too long.
What you'll set up
- A service level rule. It's measured over the last 30 minutes and checked every 5, so it's steady, and slow to react.
- A longest wait rule. It's read about once a minute, so it reacts fast.
Steps: service level
- Go to Rules and choose New rule. Choose the queue in On which queue.
- In Watch for, choose Service level (answered within a target).
- Set Answered within to 20, 30 or 60 seconds, whichever matches your target.
- Leave Channel on Voice calls. Tasks and voicemails wait minutes by design, and mixing them in can breach the target while every caller is answered quickly.
- Set Below to your target percentage, such as 80.
- Set For at least to 10 minutes or more, so one slow spell doesn't page anyone.
- Choose When this fires and Pages, then Create rule.
A queue with no contacts in the last 30 minutes has no service level, so a quiet night never pages anyone.
Steps: longest wait
- Choose New rule again, and the same queue.
- In Watch for, choose Longest wait, and set Above in seconds: 300 is 5 minutes.
- Choose a Channel if you want calls only, leave For at least on Any single reading, and choose When this fires and Pages. Then Create rule.
Try it safely first
Both rules start Pending and page nobody for 7 days. Choose Review on each to see how often it would have paged, and how many of those fell between 10 pm and 6 am. Service level rules can be noisy on a small queue, where a few slow calls move the percentage a lot. If the count looks wrong, change the threshold (which restarts the 7 days); if it looks right, choose Promote to live.
Once the longest-wait rule is live, Simulate on its card shows who would be reached, and when. Simulate doesn't cover service level; book a practice drill on that rule instead.
Variations
- A notification for the trend, a call for the caller. Use Push only — no call, ever on service level, and Push, then call on longest wait. See Call at night only when it's serious.
- Voicemail left too long. A second longest-wait rule with Channel set to Tasks (including voicemail) and a longer threshold, such as 1800 seconds.
- Every queue. Leave On which queue on Every queue. Each queue is judged on its own figures.