Queues and exclusions – Assembled

Plans and permissions:

Plan: Pro or Enterprise plan
Add or change queues, fallback queues, and exclusions: Admin role, or a custom role with Queue configuration set to Can configure queues
View queues, exclusions, and recent cases: Admin role, or a custom role with Queue configuration set to Can configure queues or Can view queue configurations
To start using queues, contact our team.

Use Queues and exclusions to sort the cases coming in from your contact platforms into queues, so you can forecast and staff each kind of work separately. You can also exclude cases you don’t want to plan for, such as automated or bot-only conversations. On this page, tickets and conversations are called cases.

To open it, go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.

For advice on how many queues to create and how to structure them, see Queue design best practices.

Navigating Queues and exclusions

The page has these parts, in order:

Item	What it’s for
Add queue	Add one queue with Add manually, or several with Import from CSV file. See Add a queue.
More actions menu	The caret next to Add queue. Use Search by platform ID to find one case, or Download case data to export cases. See Check each queue and Export case data.
Time range	Last hr (the default), Last 8hr, Last day, or Custom. Sets the period for the count cards and for the case count in the Queues table.
Count cards	Assigned to queue, No queue, one card for each channel, and Excluded. Select a card to see its cases. See Check incoming volume.
Queues	Every queue with its Channels, Platform, Rule, Rule priority, and number of cases in the time range. Search for a queue, or filter by Platform or Channel. Select a queue’s name to open it.
Fallback queues	The queue that gets a platform’s cases when they don’t match any queue’s rules. Appears once you’ve added a queue. See Set fallback queues.
Exclusions	Rules that leave cases out of Assembled’s planning and reports. See Exclude cases.

To make the Queues table easier to read, select the gear icon (Configure columns) and hide Rule. This also hides Rule priority.

How queues work

A queue groups the cases that the same team members work, so Assembled can forecast volume and calculate staffing for it. For example, if specialized team members answer marketing questions, a Marketing queue separates those cases so you can forecast and staff for those people. If VIP cases need a faster response, a VIP queue lets Assembled forecast their volume and calculate the staffing you need to meet that target.

Each case counts toward at most one queue at a time. Cases in a child queue also count toward its parent queue.
A queue’s Case matching rules decide which cases it gets. Separate rules on a queue are combined with OR, so a case that matches any one of them counts toward the queue.
Within a rule, you can combine conditions with AND or OR. See Combine conditions in a rule.
When a case matches rules on more than one queue, the higher Rule priority wins. From highest to lowest, the levels are Higher, High, Medium, Low, Lower, and None.
If two queues’ rules have the same priority, the case goes to the queue whose name comes first alphabetically.
Cases that match an exclusion are left out of Assembled’s planning and reports. Cases that match no queue’s rules go to the platform’s fallback queue, if you’ve set one, or show as No queue.
Changing a queue’s rules changes where new cases go. You can also choose to re-sort past cases.
A queue’s Service level and Target response time aren’t set on this page, but in its staffing parameters, under Configure staffing > Service level goal. See Staffing parameters.

Add a queue

Important: When you save a queue, you can choose to re-sort past cases under its rules. This can change historical forecasts and reporting.

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.
Select Add queue, then Add manually. To add several queues from a file, select Import from CSV file instead.
Enter the Queue name.
Under Details, choose the Channels for the queue. Optional: choose a Parent queue.
Optional: if you use AI agents, enter a Queue description under AI agent handoff. AI routing uses it to decide whether to hand a conversation off to this queue.
Under Case matching rules, select Add rule, then choose the Platform. Only contact platforms you’ve connected to Assembled are listed.
Set the rule’s condition:
- Ticket property: the field on the case to match on.
- Matching method: how to compare the field with the keyword. See Matching methods.
- Keyword: the value to look for in the field.
Select Next: Rule priority, choose a Rule priority, check the preview, and select Save rule. For example, if a case matches a High rule on one queue and a Low rule on another, it goes to the queue with the High rule.
Select Save queue.
In Apply new ticket rules, choose what happens to past cases:
- No, leave past tickets in existing queues.
- Yes, re-assign past tickets according to updated rules and regenerate upcoming forecasts. Choose this if your forecast needs to reflect the queue changes.
If you chose to re-assign past tickets, choose how far back under Include all tickets since: Last month, Last 3 months, or Last 6 months.
Select Continue.

The Edit queue rule dialog for Salesforce over a child queue, with the rule Origin is exactly Inbound. Numbered callouts mark Ticket property (1), Matching method (2), Keyword (3), and the Next: Rule priority button (4).

The queue appears in the Queues table. To check which cases it gets, see Check your queue setup.

Matching methods

Method	Matches when the field…
is exactly	Is the keyword.
is not	Isn’t the keyword.
contains	Contains the keyword.
does not contain	Doesn’t contain the keyword.
starts with	Starts with the keyword.
matches wildcard (*)	Matches the keyword, where an asterisk stands for any text. For example, `happy birth*` matches both `happy birthday` and `happy birthnight`.
is empty	Has no value.
is not empty	Has any value.

Ticket properties by platform

The ticket properties you can match on depend on the platform and the fields it sends. Some examples:

Platform	Example ticket properties
Amazon Connect	Channel, Initiation method, Queue ARN, Queue name, Routing profile ARN, Routing profile name
Intercom	Assignee ID, Ticket Tag
Kustomer	Assigned Team, Channel, Tag (tag ID), Queue Name, Queue ID
Salesforce	Origin, Owner ID, Status, Is Deleted, Record Type ID
Zendesk	Brand ID, Group ID, Ticket Tag, Ticket Form ID, Ticket Type, Via Channel

If your company uses the case lifecycle model, rules for units of work match on their own fields. For the fields you can use, see Case lifecycle model (Salesforce Service Cloud) and Case lifecycle model (Amazon Connect).

Combine conditions in a rule

A single rule can combine conditions with AND, so a case only matches when it meets all of them.

For example: your Tier 1 queue should only get cases tagged tier1 that came in through the web. Two separate rules would also pick up tier1 cases from other channels, and web cases without the tag. One rule with Ticket Tag is exactly tier1 AND Via Channel is exactly web matches only cases that meet both conditions.

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions and, in the Queues table, select the queue’s name.
Under Case matching rules, select Add rule and choose a platform, or open the menu next to an existing rule and select Edit rule.
Set the first condition’s Ticket property, Matching method, and Keyword, such as Ticket Tag is exactly tier1.
Select Add rule inside the rule dialog. An operator and a new, empty condition appear.
Change the operator from Or to And.
Fill in the second condition, such as Via Channel is exactly web, then select Next: Rule priority.
Check the rule preview, set the Rule priority if needed, and select Save rule.
Save the queue. If Assembled asks whether to re-sort past cases under the new rules, choose an option and select Continue.

The Edit queue rule dialog for Salesforce with two conditions joined by an Or operator and the condition menu open. Numbered callouts mark Add rule (1), the Or and And operator (2), Next: Rule priority (3), and Make rule group (4).

Nest conditions

You can nest AND and OR logic up to two levels deep. In the rule dialog, open the menu next to a condition and select Make rule group, then add that group’s conditions with Add rule in this group. Continue to the rule priority as usual. If editing leaves a nested condition without its parent, it becomes the parent condition.

Edit or delete a queue

Edit: in the Queues table, select the queue’s name, make your changes, and select Save changes. If you changed its rules, choose whether to re-sort past cases.
Delete: open the queue, open the Queue actions menu, and select Delete queue.

Set fallback queues

A fallback queue gets the cases from a platform that don’t match any queue’s rules. You can set one fallback queue for each platform. The Fallback queues section appears once you’ve added a queue.

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.
Under Fallback queues, select Add fallback queues.
In Edit default queues, choose a queue for each platform, and select Save default queues.

If a platform has no fallback queue, its cases that don’t match any rules are counted in the No queue card.

Exclude cases

Exclusions leave specific groups of cases out of Assembled and your forecast, such as marketing inbounds, automations, or bot-only chats. They use the same ticket properties and matching methods as queue rules.

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.
Under Exclusions, select Add exclusion.
Choose the platform, then set the conditions the same way as for a queue rule. To combine conditions, use Add rule and the Or or And operator.
Select Save rule.

The exclusion appears in the Exclusions table. To change or remove it, open the menu in its Actions column and select Edit exclusion name, Edit exclusion rule, or Delete.

Keep in mind: Exclusions don’t have a rule priority. A case that matches an exclusion is excluded, whichever queue rules it also matches.

Check your queue setup

Queues are the foundation for forecasting and staffing, so a wrong queue rule or exclusion causes problems in everything built on it. Check your setup after you add or change rules.

Check incoming volume

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.
Choose a time range: Last hr, Last 8hr, Last day, or Custom. The default is Last hr.
Review the count cards: Assigned to queue, No queue, one card for each channel, and Excluded.
Select a card to open View cases, which lists the cases in that group with their creation time, channel, and queue. To export them, select Download, then Cases or Units of work.

Check each queue

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions and choose a time range.
In the Queues table, check the case count column, which shows how many cases each queue got in that time range. It’s named for the range: Cases last hr (the default), Cases last 8hr, Cases last day, or Cases in range for a custom range. Zero cases often means a rule is set up incorrectly.
Select a queue’s case count to open View cases. It lists Cases, which matched the queue, and Cases from other queues, which didn’t.
- For cases that matched, the panel shows the field that sent the case to the queue. For example, a case is in an Outbound queue because its tag field is phone_outbound, which matches one of the queue’s rules.
- For cases that didn’t match, the panel can show why, such as an exclusion rule that matched the case even though its tag was phone_outbound.
Select a case to see all its fields, and download them as JSON if you need to.

The case data dialog for a case opened from View cases, with the case’s channel and queue, a Download JSON button, Table and JSON views, and the case’s fields

To find one case, select More actions (the caret next to Add queue), then Search by platform ID. This opens View cases with Search by ID selected.

If a case isn’t where you expect, see A case isn’t in the queue you expect.

Units of work

If your company tracks units of work, such as with the Salesforce case lifecycle, the count cards, View cases, and the Queues table also show units of work. In View cases, the Cases tab shows each case with its units of work (its history), and the Units of work tab shows each unit of work with the others for the same case. In the Queues table, a units column, such as Units last hr, shows the number of units of work in each queue in the time range you chose.

Export case data

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.
Select More actions (the caret next to Add queue), then Download case data.
In Export contact data, choose the Time range. You can export up to 24 hours at a time.
Under Contact data type, choose Case (ticket) data or Unit of work data.
Optional: select Include additional details about queue rule matching. The export then includes the values of the fields your queue rules use, such as tag or group ID.
Optional: choose a Platform (optional) and a Filter.
Select Export CSV.

If the time range has too many cases to include matching details, Assembled offers Export without details, or you can choose a shorter time range.

You can also export the cases in any View cases panel: select Download, then Cases or Units of work.

Troubleshooting

A case isn’t in the queue you expect

A case you expect to see in a queue can be missing from it, or a queue can show fewer cases than you expect. This is usually caused by how your queue rules and exclusions are set up, so you can fix it in Configure > Queues and exclusions. Assembled checks exclusions first, then queue rules from the highest Rule priority to the lowest, then the platform’s fallback queue, and anything left over shows as No queue.

Cause	How to tell	What to do
An exclusion matched the case	When you find where the case went, it’s counted in the Excluded card, or View cases says an exclusion rule matched it. Exclusions are checked before any queue rules.	In the Exclusions section, edit or remove the exclusion so it no longer matches the case. See Exclude cases.
A higher-priority rule on another queue matched the case	When you find where the case went, it’s listed under Cases from other queues, and that queue’s Cases list shows which field matched its rules.	Important: Saving a queue with changed rules asks whether to re-sort past cases, which can change historical forecasts and reporting. Raise the Rule priority of the rule on the queue you expect, lower the other rule’s priority, or narrow the other rule with an AND condition (see Add a queue).
The case doesn’t match any queue’s rules	When you find where the case went, it’s in No queue or a fallback queue. Select the case and compare its fields with the rule’s ticket property, matching method, and keyword on the queue you expected it in.	Important: Saving a queue with changed rules asks whether to re-sort past cases, which can change historical forecasts and reporting. Add a rule to the queue, or correct the existing one, such as a misspelled tag or a field that changed in your contact platform.
Assembled can’t see the field the rule uses	When you select the case to see all its fields, the field is empty, even though it has a value in your contact platform. This is most common with Salesforce, when the integration user can’t see every field on cases.	The user that connects your contact platform to Assembled might not have access to every field. Give that integration user access to the field in your contact platform, then check the case again.
You’re looking at the wrong time range	The case was created outside the time range you chose.	Choose a time range that includes when the case was created: Last hr, Last 8hr, Last day, or Custom. Or search for the case by its ID.

If it still doesn’t look right, chat with our team and include the case’s ID and the contact platform it came from, the queue you expected it in and where it is now, screenshots of the queue’s rules and of the case’s fields in View cases, and what you’ve already tried.

Find where a case went

Go to Configure > Queues and exclusions.
Choose a time range that includes when the case was created: Last hr, Last 8hr, Last day, or Custom.
Open the More actions menu next to Add queue, select Search by platform ID, and enter the case’s ID from your contact platform.
Check where the case went: counted in the Excluded card, listed under Cases from other queues if it’s in another queue, or in No queue or a fallback queue.
If it’s in another queue, in the Queues table, select that queue’s case count, and find the case under Cases. The count follows the time range you chose, such as Cases last day. The panel shows which field matched the queue’s rules.
Select the case to see all its fields.