Zendesk Chat integration

Plans and permissions:

• Connect the Zendesk Chat integration: Admin role, or a custom role with Configure third-party integrations set to Can configure third-party integrations
• Set up queues for Zendesk Chat: Admin role, or a custom role with Queue configuration set to Can configure queues
• Map Zendesk Chat agent states: Admin role
• Connecting also needs a Zendesk admin account.
• To map agent states, a custom role needs the Admin base role.

Use the Zendesk Chat integration to bring your chats and your team’s chat states into Assembled, so you can forecast, staff, and track adherence for chat. Zendesk Chat needs your Zendesk Support connection, so connect Zendesk Support first. For Zendesk Messaging, which comes in through Zendesk Support, see Zendesk Messaging.

To connect it, go to Configure > Third-party integrations.

How the Zendesk Chat integration works

• Assembled connects to Zendesk Chat with OAuth and read access, using the Zendesk admin account of the person who connects it. If that account loses access, the integration stops syncing.
• Assembled reads Zendesk Chat data at up to 200 requests a minute, so your Zendesk Chat API usage goes up.
• Chats come into the Chat channel.
• By default, chats aren’t combined with Zendesk Support tickets. If a chat becomes an email ticket, Assembled doesn’t get its later status changes.
• Because of this, a chat that becomes an email ticket stays in the Chat channel, its reopens aren’t counted, and Monitor > Real-time overview shows no open, pending, or on-hold chat tickets.
• To combine chats with Zendesk Support tickets, contact our team to talk through what changes.
• Agent states come from Zendesk Chat’s agent timeline: Online, Away, Invisible, and Offline. A team member who’s online with an active chat shows On chat.

Keep in mind: Zendesk Chat agent states reach Assembled about five minutes late, because Zendesk Chat makes them available only after a delay. At 6:00 PM, for example, Assembled knows team members’ states up to about 5:55 PM. Our team can turn on faster agent state updates, but they don’t include the On chat state or occupancy metrics.

Prepare Zendesk Chat

Before you connect, check with your Zendesk admin:

• Channel: chats need the chat value in Zendesk’s channel field.
• Fields for queues: if you’ll split chats into several queues in Assembled, make sure each chat has the field you’ll split on, such as Department Id or Ticket Tag.

Connect Zendesk Chat

1. Go to Configure > Third-party integrations and select Available. To find the card, enter Zendesk Chat in Search integrations.
2. On the Zendesk Chat card, select Connect integration. If the button reads Requires Zendesk authorization, connect Zendesk Support first.
3. Sign in to Zendesk with your admin account and approve access for Assembled.

The Zendesk Chat card moves to In use with a Connected tag. It lists a row for each sync, such as Tickets sync and Agent states sync.

Check that your Zendesk Chat data is coming in

1. On Configure > Third-party integrations, check that each row on the Zendesk Chat card is green. If a row is red, hover over it to see the error. A 401 or 403 error usually means the account that connected Zendesk Chat lost access: reconnect it with a Zendesk admin account.
2. Go to Monitor > Real-time agent analysis. To see only one platform, select Add filter and choose Source. Check that team members’ chat states match Zendesk Chat, allowing for the five-minute delay.
3. Go to Schedule > Staffing timeline, choose Chat in Channels, and select Contacts above the chart. Actual contacts should follow your Zendesk Chat volume.

If states or volume are missing, or don’t match Zendesk Chat, see Missing or incomplete integration data.

Add people from Zendesk Chat

1. Go to Manage team > People management.
2. Select Add people, then Import from Zendesk.

You can also use Add manually, Import from CSV file, or the API. See Add people from Zendesk for how Zendesk roles map to Assembled roles.

Set up queues for Zendesk Chat

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions and add queues with rules for the Zendesk Chat platform. For the steps, see Queues and exclusions.

Zendesk Chat queue rules can use Department Id and Ticket Tag, and the chat’s engagement details: Department ID (Engagement) and Skills Requested (Engagement).

Chats with no channel aren’t brought into Assembled.

Map Zendesk Chat agent states

1. Go to Configure > Agent states.
2. On the Mappings tab, use the Platform filter to choose Zendesk Chat.
3. Select Edit agent state mappings and match each state to your events.

For more, see Agent state mappings.

How Zendesk Chat data maps to Assembled