Set up routing in Amazon Connect based on agent proficiencies

Following is an overview of the steps to set up routing based on agent proficiencies:

1. Create predefined attributes for routing contacts to agents

   • You create the predefined attributes that you want to use to make a routing decision. In the next step, you can use predefined attributes individually, or you can combine them by using the AND or OR operators to form a routing step.

2. Assign proficiencies to agents in your Amazon Connect instance

   • You select predefined attributes and associate them with an agent. All available agents that meet a routing step requirement of a contact within the same queue will be considered for a match.

3. Set routing criteria

   • Use the Set routing criteria flow block to set a routing criteria manually or dynamically.

4. Transfer to queue

   Use the Transfer to queue flow block to transfer the contact to a queue. After the contact is transferred, Amazon Connect runs the routing criteria.

Example of how to use agent proficiencies for routing

Consider a scenario where a contact enters a queue General Inbound Queue and two agents, Agent1 and Agent2, are available. A customer who speaks French is seeking assistance regarding AWS DynamoDB. This is their second time calling regarding the same issue and you would prefer to match them with an expert in AWS DynamoDB. In order to preserve the customer experience, you want to implement the following routing requirements:

• First look for an agent who is highly proficient in French (>=4) and an expert in AWS DynamoDB (>=5) for the first 30 seconds.

• If an agent is not found at this time, look for an agent who is highly proficient in French (>=3) and highly proficient in AWS DynamoDB (>=5) for the next 30 seconds. The requirement for French is relaxed to further expand the pool of eligible agents to meet the requirement.

• If no join is made at this point, look for an agent who is proficient in French (>=3) and highly proficient in AWS DynamoDB (>=4) and keep looking until an agent is found. Here the AWS DynamoDB requirement is relaxed to expand the pool of eligible agents who meet the requirement.

  Note

  For regulatory or compliance use cases you can use the Never Expire option for the expiration timer to ensure any agent who is joined on the contact meets a minimum requirement.

To route the contact to the above requirements, complete the following steps:

1. Create predefined attributes: For example, add Technology as a predefined attribute in User Management, Predefined Attributes with AWS DynamoDB as one of the values.

   Name	Value
   Technology	AWS Kinesis
   Technology	AWS DynamoDB
   Technology	AWS EC2
   Technology	AWS Neptune

   Note

   Connect:French is already available as a value in system attribute Connect:Language as a predefined attribute. You can use this in your routing criteria. You can also add up to 128 customer languages as values to Connect:Language.

2. Associate proficiencies to users: There are 2 agents, Agent1 and Agent 2, who speak French and are proficient in AWS DynamoDB as shown below. In User Management, Show Advanced Settings associate the following proficiencies to the Agent1 and Agent2.

   Agent Name	Predefined Attribute	Value	Proficiency Level
   Agent1	Technology	AWS Kinesis	2
   Agent1	Technology	AWS Dynamo DB	5
   Agent1	Technology	AWS EC2	4
   Agent1	Language	French	3
   Agent1	Language	English	4
   Agent2	Technology	AWS Dynamo DB	3
   Agent2	Technology	AWS EC2	5
   Agent2	Technology	AWS Nepture	5
   Agent2	Language	French	4
   Agent2	Language	English	3

3. Set routing criteria: Use this flow block to create the following routing criteria manually or dynamically using JSON that is created by invoking a Lambda function as shown in a potential Inbound flow. Create the following routing criteria:

   1. Step 1: connect:Language(connect:French) >=4 AND Technology (AWS DynamoDB) >=5 [30 seconds]

   2. Step 2: connect:Language(connect:French) >=4 AND Technology (AWS DynamoDB) >=4 [30 seconds]

   3. Step 3: connect:Language(connect:French) >=3 AND Technology (AWS DynamoDB) >=4 [Never expire]

   The following image shows an example inbound flow that is configured for routing by agent proficiencies. This flow includes the following blocks: Invoke AWS Lambda function, Set routing criteria, Set working queue, Transfer to queue, and Disconnect / hang up.

   

4. Transfer to queue: After the contact is transferred to the "General Inbound Queue," Amazon Connect immediately starts running the routing criteria. The following steps occur before the contact is joined to Agent1.

   1. Routing Step 1: For the first 30 seconds (no match) as neither agent has an AWS DynamoDB proficiency >= 5, Amazon Connect does not match with any agent.

   2. Routing Step 2: In the next 30 seconds (no match) as neither agent is both highly proficient (>=4) in both French and AWS DynamoDB

   3. Routing Step 3: As soon as the previous step expires, Amazon Connect finds the available agent, Agent1 (French 3, AWS DynamoDB 4) is proficient in French and highly proficient in AWS DynamoDB. Therefore, the contact is matched with Agent1.

There is a one-click drill-down in the real-time metrics for queues table which shows you a list of the routing steps in use for active contacts on the queue. You can find the definitions for the routing step specific metrics under Real-time metrics definitions in Amazon Connect.

Contact record, contact event stream, and agent event stream updates for agent proficiencies

Models have been added for proficiency routing in the following sections:

• Data model for Amazon Connect contact records

• Agent event streams data model in Amazon Connect

• Contact events data model

Frequently asked questions

• Are queues still relevant?

  • Yes, queues are still necessary. The routing criteria is only activated when a contact is enqueued. Agent proficiencies provide additional control to target specific agents within a queue.

• When should we model something as a proficiency instead of modeling it as a queue?

  • This is a business decision. You should consider the impact on the number of queues you can eliminate and consolidate while using agent proficiencies.

• Do agent proficiencies work across all channels?

  • Yes, routing using agent proficiencies works for all channels.

• How do I remove a routing criteria?

  • You can interrupt a routing criteria using a customer queue flow.

  • You can also update the routing criteria this way.

• How many times can I change a routing criteria?

  • You can change the routing criteria up to 2 times. However, only the latest 3 routing criteria updates are stored on the contact record.

• With agent proficiencies, do queue priority and delay operate as usual?

  • Yes, queue priority and delay operate as they already do in a non-agent-proficiencies environment.

• Which operators are supported for creating a routing criteria?

  • The following Boolean operators are supported:

    • AND

    • OR

  • The following comparison operators are supported:

    • >=

  • You can also define a range of minimum and maximum proficiency levels such as:

    • connect:English(1-3)

    • connect:Chat(4-4)

  • You cannot use the same attribute more than once in an expression. For example, connect:English(1-3) AND connect:English(5-5) are not allowed.

  • NOT (for exclusion) - You can use the NOT operator to exclude agents with certain proficiencies when routing such as:

    • NOT connect:French(1-5)

• Which characters can be used for predefined attributes?

  • The pattern for predefined attribute name and value is ^(?!(aws:|connect:))[\p{L}\p{Z}\p{N}_.:/=+-@']+$. For example, it can contain any letter, numeric value, whitespace, or _.:/=+-@' special characters, but can't start with aws: or connect:.

• Can I add the same attribute multiple times in a routing criteria?

  • Yes, you can the same attribute multiple times in a routing criteria.

• When triggering a transfer (quick connect), is it possible to set the routing criteria?

  • You use the Set routing criteria block in the transfer flow to set the routing criteria on the transferred contact segment. It is not possible to carry forward the routing criteria of previous contact to the new contact segment created after an agent has been joined.

• What happens to the routing criteria if a contact is being transferred queue to queue, before it was routed?

  • The routing criteria starts from the first step in the new queue in case a contact was transferred before being joined to an agent. For this, we carry-forward the routing criteria of previous contact to the new contact segment created due to queue transfer.

• Does the contact record have a snapshot of the proficiencies of the matched agent?

  • No, the contact record does not carry the proficiencies of an agent.

  • The agent event stream does have a snapshot of the agent's proficiencies at the time of joining.

• Can we search for an agent by proficiency using APIs?

  • No, this is not supported.

• What happens if we delete an attribute if it is on an active contact?

  • You can delete an attribute that is used on active contacts. However, any routing step with that attribute will not find a matching agent and the contact stays in the queue until the routing criteria expires.

  • All new contacts with that attribute start taking the error branch on the Set routing criteria block in the flow.

• What happens to the routing criteria steps / expiration when an agent rejects a call?

  • Routing considers a join to be complete when an agent accepts the contact and a join is completed. When an agent rejects a contact, the routing engine continues to run through the routing criteria with the timer continually running.

• Will the agent who rejected the step be part of the pool when routing runs again?

  • Yes, the agent continues to be a part of the pool when routing runs again.

• How does security work for agent proficiencies?

  • For information about the required security profile permissions, see Required security profile permissions for managing predefined attributes.

• Are historical metrics available?

  • No, historical metrics are not available in analytics.

  • The contact record, agent event stream, and contact event stream contain all the required information.

• Where can I find a sample Lambda function for setting routing criteria?

  • For a sample Lambda function for setting routing criteria, see Set routing criteria.

• What happens to the routing criteria set on a contact if the contact is being transferred to an agent queue?

  • The routing criteria has no effect on contacts present in an agent queue. If a contact with routing criteria is transferred from an agent queue to a standard queue, then the routing criteria is forwarded to the new contact segment created due to queue transfer.