Rules and ticket classifications

IT Support agents use Queue → Rules to save repeatable decisions. Enabled assignment and priority rules run after the assistant's routing proposal and override the corresponding proposed values. They are not a general workflow scripting language, and saving a routing rule does not immediately reassign every existing ticket.

Create a rule

Open Queue, then Rules.
Read existing rules before adding one, including their On/Off state, last result and any Needs an assignee warning.
Select Add a rule.
Enter a recognizable Name.
Choose Kind and complete its fields using the procedures below.
Leave On ticked to enable it, or untick it to store it without running it.
Select Save rule. Confirm that its card shows the condition and intended action.
Verify the result on an authorized real workflow when the organization is ready for use. Check the ticket's actual assignee, status and routing reason; a saved rule card alone does not prove it has run.

If validation fails, the form stays open with the reason. Correct the missing name, match value, target, threshold, reply text or required-field selection and save again. Closing the form with Cancel discards its unsaved changes.

Assign by System or Department

Choose Assign by System or Department.
Under When, choose System or Department.
Under is, choose the exact classification value.
Under Assign to, choose an IT Support colleague, Any assistant, or a named enabled front-line assistant when offered.
Save and review the card's condition and target.

Matching is exact, not a keyword search in the description. A human destination during an assistant's routing turn is shown as a suggestion while the assistant keeps troubleshooting. That human destination becomes an actual assignment when it hands off. An assistant-target rule does not take back a ticket during a hand-off to a person.

If the target leaves IT Support or a named assistant becomes unavailable, the rule is skipped. A Needs an assignee warning or last-result line explains the issue. Select Fix it or the change button, select a valid target and save. Do not assume the ticket went to the departed person.

Set priority by System

Choose Set priority by System.
Choose When System is and a Priority: Low, Normal, High or Urgent.
Save the rule and inspect routing reasons when it next matches.

Assignment and priority rules are applied over the assistant's proposal. More than one matching rule can write the same field, with a later processed match replacing an earlier value. The editor does not offer a rule-order or numeric-priority control, so avoid conflicting rules for the same condition. Use clear, nonoverlapping conditions and disable obsolete rules. A manual card or ticket-field change does not rerun routing rules on that edit.

Escalate when no reply

Choose Escalate when no reply.
Enter a positive Hours without a reply from IT.
Save with On enabled.
Read its Last result or select Check time rules now to run the time checks immediately.

This rule is narrower than a general service-level timer. It checks New and In Progress tickets that have a human assignee or an assistant hand-off summary, finds the most recent requester-role message, and waits the configured elapsed hours from that message. An ordinary agent reply after it prevents escalation. An IT-only note is not an agent reply for this test.

Eligible work moves up one step: Low → Normal → High → Urgent; Urgent remains Urgent. An IT-only escalation note is recorded and agents receive the update. The same requester message is escalated only once, including when multiple escalation rules exist; this is not a repeated hourly escalation ladder. Waiting on Requester, Completed, and purely assistant-held tickets without a human assignee or hand-off summary are excluded. The threshold is elapsed time, not business hours.

Auto-close resolved tickets

Choose Auto-close resolved tickets.
Enter positive Days a resolution may sit unanswered.
Save with On enabled.
Inspect the last result, or use Check time rules now.

A ticket qualifies only when it is Waiting on Requester, Resolution Details is nonempty, it has an ordinary agent reply, no requester-role message follows that reply, and the specified elapsed days have passed since that last agent reply. A blank resolution or an IT note by itself does not qualify. Closure sets Completed, records an Agent resolution and completion date, and adds an explanatory conversation line.

Automatic closure currently does not enforce Required before Completed rules or issue the same resolution-question card as manual completion. If every closed record must meet mandatory fields, leave automatic closure off and complete tickets manually. It is not a business-calendar timer or a deletion/retention rule. A requester can reopen the ticket by replying.

Required before Completed

Choose Required before Completed.
Under Must be filled before Completed, tick the fields you require. Offered fields include System, Priority, Department, IT Definition of the Issue, Resolution Details and Assigned to.
Save with On enabled.
When manual completion is refused, use the displayed missing-field list and rule name to fill the ticket, then retry.

These checks apply to manual ticket/card edits, batch completion and accepted close suggestions. If several enabled required rules apply, the first failing rule is reported; further requirements may appear after you fill those fields. Assigned to means a human assignee for this check; assistant ownership is separate. Assistant resolution and automatic time-rule closure currently use separate paths and do not enforce these requirements. Configure those paths accordingly when your process requires mandatory completion data.

Canned replies

Choose Canned reply.
Give it a descriptive Name and write The reply.
Save it with On enabled.
Open a ticket as an agent and choose Canned replies by the composer.
Select the saved title. Review and edit the text inserted into your draft, then Send.

Selecting a saved reply appends its text to an existing draft. It does not send it, fill placeholders automatically, assign the ticket or change status. Disabled canned rules are not offered. Reopen the ticket page after changing canned replies if its picker has not refreshed.

Maintain and check rules

Select a rule's change button to edit it, then Save rule. Use its On/Off button to toggle it without deleting its definition. From the edit form, Delete asks you to confirm removal from the Rules list. Turning a rule off or deleting it does not undo ticket changes it already made.

Check time rules now runs escalation and auto-close checks, not assignment/priority routing. It can change eligible live tickets immediately. Review the thresholds and intended effect before using it. Scheduled checks run while the server is running, normally once a minute; outages or failures delay them. The Last line reports when and what a rule last did or why it skipped work.

Classifications and human-only work

Ticket System, Department, Status and Priority selectors use available organization choices. Ticket imports may add historical System, Department or Priority choices; see Importing existing records. The Rules panel is not a general choice-list editor. The initial employee About list remains the built-in list even when imported tickets contain additional classifications. Have an agent classify those tickets using the available ticket-detail choices.

For categories that should go straight to people, review Assistant → Always hand straight to a person, separate from the routing rules. Select the intended Systems there and save the Assistant settings. See AI providers and model jobs and Assistant functions and permissions for the wider assistant configuration. Manual Take over remains available on assistant-held tickets.

How Any assistant is chosen

Only enabled front-line assistants are candidates. Empeiro first narrows to those whose Takes these Systems first include the ticket's System. If none match, it considers all enabled front-line assistants. Within that pool, the one picked longest ago is chosen; team position breaks a tie. This is turn-taking, not selection by lowest queue load or current online presence. A named assistant target skips this automatic selection. The ticket retains its assistant until reassignment or an allowed specialist pass.