FAQ about unified routing in Customer Service, Omnichannel for Customer Service

Applies to: Dynamics 365 Contact Center—embedded, Dynamics 365 Contact Center—standalone, and Dynamics 365 Customer Service

This article contains the FAQs that you as an administrator, supervisor, or agent might have about unified routing.

General

What SKUs must I have to get unified routing?

You must have the Customer Service Enterprise license. See prerequisites for licensing information.

What happens to my current workstreams after unified routing is installed?

For messaging channels, use the migration utility to migrate the workstream and associated routing rules. For routing records, you can configure new workstreams and rules in unified routing. More information: Migrate workstreams created in Omnichannel Administration.

What are the implications when migration is in progress?

There's no downtime involved when you're migrating the workstreams, but we recommend that you perform the migration during low load or off hours.

Why do I see workstreams that I didn't create in Omnichannel Administration?

These workstreams were created either in the Customer Service admin center or Customer Service Hub app. In the Omnichannel Administration app, you see all the workstreams irrespective of the app that was used to create them. We recommend that you manage the workstreams in the same app that you used to create them.

How do I migrate my configurations from the Omnichannel Administration app to the Customer Service admin center app?

To migrate the messaging workstreams, you can use the Unified Routing Migration Application. For information on the migration tool and instructions, see Migrate workstreams created in Omnichannel Administration.

Note

After you migrate the workstreams, you'll be able to manage them in the Customer Service admin center app. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the app before migrating. More information: Get started with Customer Service admin center.

Can I manage my workstreams in the Omnichannel Administration app post migration?

No. Although you see the migrated workstreams in the old admin app as well, we recommend that you manage the migrated workstreams in the Customer Service admin center app.

What are the implications when I start the migration process for the workstreams?

There's no downtime when you're migrating the workstreams, but we recommend that you perform the migration during low load or off work hours.

Is it possible to roll back the migration?

To roll back the migration, you need to contact Microsoft Support.

How can I migrate the entity routing workstreams?

Entity routing workstreams must be recreated in Customer Service admin center and the rules must be manually recreated in the new workstream.

If you need further help, contact Microsoft Support.

Can I create workstreams for routing records in the Omnichannel Administration app after upgrading Omnichannel for Customer Service to 2021 release wave 1?

No. After upgrade, you'll no longer be able to create workstreams for routing records because they won't work as expected. We recommend that you start using the Customer Service admin center app to create and manage routing of records.

Does unified routing support activity routing?

Yes. Unified routing supports routing activities, including email.

What happens to my existing queues after I migrate to unified routing?

The existing queues are automatically migrated to unified routing.

Why aren't the records being routed after unified routing is enabled?

Verify whether you configured an intake rule and mapped it to a basic routing rule that's active.

Can I route any record type by using basic routing?

No. Basic routing can be used for cases only. To route any record type, use unified routing.

Is there a priority among queues? Can we use the field Group Number or Priority? Does it affect the order of the case assignment?

Yes, you can use Group Number to prioritize queues. Queues are ordered from highest to lowest priority when work items are assigned. This means that a smaller group number has a higher priority than a bigger queue number. For example, a queue with group number 1 is prioritized over another queue whose group number is 2. Learn more at How unified routing prioritizes work items.

Can I pause the assignment of a case?

No. It's not possible to pause the assignment of a case.

Can agents pick work items of records to which they don't have permissions?

Yes, agents can pick the work item even if they don't have permission to access the record. However, they can't view the details and the conversation is closed. For more information, refer to the note in Set up record routing.

Can supervisors assign work items pertaining to inaccessible records?

Yes. However, the conversation is closed if agents don't have sufficient permission to access the records.

Can I export a unified routing configuration and sign in to another environment?

Yes, you can export a configuration with unified routing content for the record type and live chat channel. For more information, see the following articles:

I have two workstreams (W1, W2) and four queues (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) and a case (C1) is assigned to Q2. Is it possible to now reassign C1 to Q3?

Yes. It's possible to reassign a case to another queue. On the case form, select Save and route to reassign the work item from one queue to another queue.

A case remains with the agent that it was initially assigned to and therefore the corresponding workstream for cases doesn't have the agent affinity toggle.

How are unassigned work items in a queue handled if no matching agent is found?

The unassigned work item remains in the queue until you manually assign it to an agent or route it to another queue. More information: How assignment rulesets work

Can advanced queues be associated with a mailbox?

No, you can't configure a mailbox for advanced queues. If you want to use or manage queue mailboxes, we recommend that you use basic queues only.

Work item assignment

Why does the queue have unassigned work items?

For work items to be assigned automatically, the queue must be a private queue with at least one agent.

Can I increase the limit on assignment offer of work items to agents?

Yes, you can update the limit. More information: How the limit on offering a work item repeatedly to an agent works

Does unified routing offer the same conversation when agent declines it or after the notification times out?

The declined conversation isn't offered to the agent anymore and agent is removed from priority but can be offered other conversations. However, if they're the only eligible agents, the system offers the same conversation up to three times or the configured limit.

Route to least-active agent

For which channel is the routing to least-active agent feature available?

The feature is available for the voice channel only.

Does the agent sign-in time affect the calculation of the least active agent?

The agent’s "last capacity release time for a voice call" is the only parameter used by the least-active assignment method. The agent sign-in times don't affect the capacity release time.

How is a tie-breaker scenario resolved if two or more agents have the same capacity release time?

If the last capacity release time is the same for two matching agents, then assignment is done in a round-robin manner.

How does routing to the least active agent work when a new agent signs in?

When a new agent signs in to the Customer Service workspace app, their "last capacity release time" isn't available in the system. Therefore, the system considers that the agent is the least active among the matched agents, and assigns the next work item to them.

Intelligent skill finder

Is intelligent skill finder available in all geographical regions?

Intelligent skill finder requires AI Builder to create and train the machine learning model. If AI Builder isn't available in the customer region where unified routing is, the customer gets a generic error when trying to set up the model.

Can I use intelligent skill finder with email activities?

Yes. Intelligent skill finder can be enabled for any entity that's enabled for routing by using any text-based field. For email body skill finder, another step is required because email body (description) includes HTML tags that can impact the machine learning model. You extract the text from HTML, copy it into another text field, and then configure the machine learning model against the new field.

How do I make sure that the right skills are attached to the work items when the machine learning-based model is in use?

  • Ensure that agents are trained to attach correct skills, review, and correct any incorrectly attached skills.
  • Review the skill finder model to make sure that the training data is correct and retrain the model periodically to improve it.

Capacity profiles

I have a work item labeled with two capacity profiles and three agents who match at varying levels. Which agent is eligible for assignment?

If two of the agents match one each of the required capacity profiles and the third agent matches on both the required capacity profiles, then the work item is assigned to the third agent. More information: Use capacity profiles

Deprecation of diagnostics

What is diagnostics for unified routing and why is it being deprecated?

Routing diagnostics lend visibility into how routing decisions are made for work items in contact centers. It was deprecated with a better alternative of Azure Application Insights for end-to-end conversation diagnostics.

What is the alternative to routing diagnostics after it's deprecated?

Customers can use Azure Application Insights, which is our one-stop solution to get a comprehensive view of end-to-end conversation diagnostics.

Do I need to perform any migration steps to start using Application Insights?

No. Application Insights is a separate tool where diagnostics can be queried specific to your business requirements. After you enable it, data events are available in application insights data storage and you can query the data to get the details.

How do I enable application insights?

To enable application insights, you need to set up a connection of your Dynamics 365 Customer Service environment with Azure Application Insights. More information: Set up a connection with Azure Application Insights

Note

Application Insights can be enabled for managed environments only. When an environment is managed, it allows you greater visibility and control with the capabilities that allow admins to manage Power Platform at scale. More information: Managed Environments overview

Do I need to purchase any add-on to use application insights?

A pay-as-you-go pricing model is associated with Azure Monitor. The Application Insights tool in Azure Monitor helps you monitor the availability, performance, and usage of your Dynamics 365 apps. Azure Monitor charges you for the features you use. When you set up Application Insights for ingestion, retention, and export of data, Azure Monitor charges you based on this use. More information: Pricing

Can all my users access application insights? How do I give access for everybody?

Application Insights is meant for developer, support, and admin personas. Users with these roles and responsibilities can be set up to access Application Insights using Azure role-based access. More information: Assign Azure roles using the Azure portal

Not everyone in my organization can write queries. How do they use application insights?

We provide sample queries for common questions that customers seek answers to. These samples would be available within the blade in Application Insights for you to run or modify to suit your question.

Data that I'm looking for isn't available in Application Insights. How do I raise a request for more data events?

We'll iteratively add more data events for diagnostics. Follow the documentation for more updates.

Overview of unified routing
System requirements for Omnichannel for Customer Service
Set up unified routing for records