Nimbus requires a distribution policy to define escalation over time for ringing calls. A distribution policy can consist of multiple distribution levels. Each distribution level defines skill criteria, acting like a filter to pool and select (available) users for call distribution. 

Prerequirements

Contact Center - Please note that distribution policies are a Contact Center feature . Both services and users need the Contact Center license.

To use this feature you need to make sure the following criteria are met: 

  1. Skills and Responsibilities need to be created first. (lightbulb) As for all data entities, their visibility follows Organization Unit constraints.
  2. At least once service needs a Contact Center license applied in the Service Administration and configured for skill-based distribution.
  3. Users need to be Contact Center licensed to enable their Skills and Responsibilities tab and according Responsibility Profiles .
  4. Finally, Users need to be added as Agents or Owners of the service. This is done via Permissions tab, located in the Service Administration

The distribution order algorithm

To achieve skill-based distribution and policies, we to cover the following steps:

  1. Create Skill Categories - Your users need to be defined for targeted call distribution. As you define Skills and Responsibilities you freely define these criteria of selection first, e.g. a specific Language or Product proficiency.
  2. Assign Skills and Responsibility to Users - this must be done for each of your Contact Center users individually.
  3. Create Distribution Policies - Multiple levels of distribution can be part of a policy. Think of a filter that escalates the levels during an incoming call, based on your skill and responsibility criteria.
  4. Apply the Policy to your Services - Lastly, in order to take effect in call routing, a policy needs to be assigned to a Contact Center licensed Service type. 

(question) This sounds complex. Is there an example? Yes, we've prepared a concept page that explains the Distribution Order algorithm behind Nimbus in more detail. 

(lightbulb) Click on the tabs learn more.

(info) You can also read our Use Case - Setting up a Contact Center which guides you through all these steps in a basic end-to-end scenario.

Creating Distribution Policies

(tick) Requirement: Before you can create and configure a distribution policy, make sure you have defined Skills and Responsibilities to continue with the next steps.

General Policy Details

  1. Within the Configuration (Admin) , head to " Distribution " > " Distribution Policy "
  2. Create a new policy and pick a name that either reflects the intent (e.g. for general-purpose response teams) or a special division (e.g. Sales Team).
  3. Assign an Organization Units that also will determine, where this policy is visible / applicable.

  4. Define the Distribution Order that should apply for the distribution algorithm when multiple agents meet the same criteria:

    Order DescriptionNotes 
    Longest Idle (default)Will prefer the Agent which are longest available, even with more qualified agents present.

    If a selected Agent is currently unavailable due to any reason (call decline, RONA, IM presence) the Agent is selected.

    This is done regardless of skills or qualifications meeting the policy criteria.

    Best Qualified

    Will prefer the Agent which is most suitable for the task.

    • User skills and their levels are compared against each other.
    • If more than one skill is available, they are treated with same priority
    • On equal match, longest Idle will be used as fallback.
    • Higher responsibility will be ignored 

Preferred and Last User Routing

(lightbulb) OPTIONALLY you can also enable "Preferred User Routing" within your policy. You can think of this as a list of users that will always be the first line of defense in your service, regardless of the distribution levels that follow.

To configure this:

  1. Optionally Enable "Preferred User Routing" → further options become available

    OptionDescription
    Preferred User Routing

    (tick) This feature requires your preferred users to be defined via Power Automate Flow, using the Nimbus Connector "UpdateTask" flow action.  Note that preferred users need a Contact Center license applied in order to be selectable.

    (info) Preferred User Routing works as follows:

    • Attempts to connect preferred users within the defined → Waiting Time. 
    • Applies the order algorithm among all defined preferred users:
      • First: Priority – there can be users with the same priority, as defined via "UpdateTask" flow action
      • Then: Longest Idle
    • Preferred users will stay on top of the distribution list in all following levels. The "Order" setting of the policy (e.g. "Best Qualified") does not apply as preferred users can be from outside the team and not necessarly require defined skills. → Instead, their own order (priority, longest idle) applies.

    KNOWN LIMITATION  Per default, Agents of a service only get tasks distributed when they are considered "selectable", as defined per User States rules. Selectability can also be influenced via Distribution Service Settings . For preferred users these settings for "Available when away / busy" are currently ignored.


    Preferred User Routing Limitations

    KNOWN LIMITATION Service "Conversation Distribution" settings are currently ignored on preferred users which are not assigned to that particular service.

    Example: 

    1. For the service's distribution policy "preferred users" are enabled. Users are configured as follows:
      1. User A is preferred in the service
      2. User B is the usual skilled user in the service
    2. Distribution Service Settings are set to "Busy = Not Selectable"
    3. Scenario: As a call gets distributed, both users are "Busy" in their MS Teams client:
      1. Preferred User A will get an invitation being in Busy presence.
      2. When turn of User B comes, they will not get an invitation being in Busy presence.

    Waiting Time

    (hh:mm:ss)

    (tick) Applies when "Waiting Time" toggle is enabled. 

    Defines the time at which preferred users are considered first before distribution levels come into effect. 

    • Default: 00:00:10
    • Min: 00:00:05
    • Max: 23:59:59

    (lightbulb) During this time, users are considered as "Level 0", also reflected as such in the Nimbus frontend UI where applicable.

    (lightbulb) After the time has expired, preferred users will be pooled with other users from Distribution Level 1...x users, and still preferred in the selection.

    (lightbulb) When waiting time is disabled, the 1st distribution level criteria are applied immediately, but preferred users are also taken into consideration.

  2. Optionally Enable "Last User Routing" 

    OptionDescription
    Last User Routing

    (tick) This feature requires "Preferred User Routing" to be enabled.

    (lightbulb) You can use this option standalone without Power Automate involvement last users get automatically added to the list of preferred users.

    (info)  Last User Routing works as follows:

    • The last user will be automatically added to the list of preferred users with priority "-1" (top priority above even preferred users).
    • Attempts to connect last users within the defined → Waiting Time. A "Last User" is any user with a successful user session being established between same caller and same service. This includes:
    • Anonymous callers are not tracked and thus not associated with "Last Users".

    Last User Routing Threshold

    (dd:hh:mm)

    Time until a user is not considered as "Last User" anymore. After the threshold is passed the top-priority is cleared.

    • Default: 07:00:00
    • Min: 00:00:05
    • Max: 30:00:00
    • If Waiting Time toggle is set to false, skip waiting, proceed directly with 1st Distribution, but take preferred users into consideration.

Additional Notes

  • The "Distribution Order" setting in your General Policy details (Longest Idle / Best Qualified) applies only for "non" preferred users. Once you define a user as "preferred" they are taken out of the regular distribution pool and treated according to their own order algorithm.
  • User States and system flags such as RONA or Off-Duty States can prevent Preferred- or Last User Routing, meaning regular distribution levels will come into effect if none of the preferred / last users are currently available.
  • If users get their Skills and Responsibilities removed they can still be be considered for "Preferred / Last User" routing, as Priority / Longest Idle state apply.
  • Note that preferred users do not need to be assigned agents of services, but need to have the Contact Center license applied in order to be selectable. If users get their license removed, they remain on the preferred list for any ongoing session. However they can not be selected as "preferred" for future sessions.

Distribution Level definition

  1. Within the "Levels" tab of a policy you can add additional levels (e.g. to escalate your Agent selection) or remove them down to one.

  2. For each level you can specify the following details:


    		Description
    NameName of the level, mainly required for reporting reasons.
    Activation Time
    (hh:mm:ss)    		Call waiting time until this policy level should activate. 
    The Distribution Order algorithm will always start at the 1st level (00:00:00) for any incoming call.
    Skills / Responsibility Levels
    • Adds one or several Skills and Responsibilities as requriement to the according level entry.
    • You can then adjust the sliders to allow for a smaller or wider range on that particular skill.

    (lightbulb)We recommend to start with the experts (higher levels) first and gradually expand the user pool by widening the filter criteria.

  3. Add further levels (columns) and skills (rows) as needed and adjust the skills / responsibility sliders.

  4. Save your policy with a descriptive name (e.g. based on the skillsets required).

Related Notes

  • Only one level and its search criteria applies at a time. Previous levels are disregarded once the next "Activation time" is reached.
  • If a task was not accepted by an agent, the check will be performed again according to the currently active distribution level, until the next "Activation Time" is met.
  • When the last level is reached within a policy, it remains active until the task is canceled - either by caller abort, task cancelled in workflow, queue timeouts, etc.
  • With multiple agents available, the "Order" is applied (→ configured in "General" tab)

Assign the policy to a service

Your policy will not apply until assigned to a service.

  1. Head to the Service Administration > Choose any Contact Center licensed service> "Distribution Tab"
  2. Ensure the User Assignment Type is set to "Skill-based". (lightbulb) Services using different User assignment types cannot use this feature.
  3. Assign the Distribution Policy you created in the previous step.

(lightbulb) Note that this is a setting exclusive to administrators. Nimbus portal users and team owners may not change the policy.

(question) Is the policy not visible for assignment? Make sure to check the Organization Units on both the policy and service each and reassign if needed.

(question) Can't change Distribution Policy and/or User Assignment Type? Please read if all requirements at the top of this page are met.

Related Pages and Concepts