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Escalation Schedule

Overview

Before the chat takes action on an escalation request, the system looks at the following three factors in chronological order:

  1. On/Off Switch- Administrators can manually turn the Live Agent Engine on/off for their company at any time, regardless of the predesignated business schedule or agent availability.

On/Off Switch For Live Agent Engine

  1. Escalation Schedule- Administrators can program escalation to automatically turn on during certain times throughout the week. For example, Monday-Friday, 9 am - 5 pm. Note that the escalation schedule can be turned off entirely so the system only checks the on/off toggle and agent availability.

  2. Agent Availability- If the switch is toggled on and you are working within scheduled escalation hours, the system will look at agent availability. If no agents within a specific team are marked online, the system will assume that there are no agents available and will not escalate the conversation.

It's critical that agents are marking themselves online and offline when applicable, especially when within escalation hours. For more information, please visit this page: Set Your Availability

Adjust Your Escalation Schedule

The Escalation Schedule is the setting to control the predefined dates and times that conversations should be escalated to a live agent. Sometimes, you may need to turn this on or off outside of the hours you initially set. To do so, administrators with content editing access can follow the steps below:

  1. Login to the Satisfi Labs Dashboard

  2. Navigate to Studio -> NLP Manager -> Responses

  3. Change the dropdown next to the search bar to "Response Name"

  4. Search for the following response name: live_person

  5. Select the response name that mentions the schedule: live_person_schedule, live_person_[team name]_schedule

  6. Select Edit and make the appropriate changes (reference the examples below)

  7. Publish the response

Are you getting an error when publishing? Note there should not be a comma placed after the final range of the schedule.

Example of the Escalation Schedule within the Response Library

Examples

1. Recurring Days of the Week

Set specific days of the week + hours as shown below. Please note that there should not be a comma placed after the final range of the schedule.

#JSON
[
  { "inbox_id":"default",
    "timezone":"America/New_York",
    "sun":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "mon":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "tue":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "wed":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "thu":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "fri":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "sat":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"]
 }
]
JSON#

2. Weekly Hours + Specific Dates

You can also define specific days with different opening times, and you can omit weekdays that are closed like this:

#JSON
[
  { "inbox_id":"default",
    "timezone":"America/New_York",
    "mon":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "tue":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "wed":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "thu":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "fri":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "2024-11-28":["09:00 AM","10:00 PM"]
 }

JSON#

3. Specific Dates

You can also omit weekly times altogether and only schedule specific times and dates:

#JSON
[
  { "inbox_id":"default",
    "timezone":"America/New_York",
    "2024-01-01":["09:00 AM","11:00 AM"],
    "2024-01-01":["01:00 PM","05:00 PM"],
    "2024-01-02":["09:00 AM","10:00 PM"],
    "2024-01-03":["09:00 AM","10:00 PM"],
    "2024-01-04":["09:00 AM","10:00 PM"]
 }
]
JSON#

4. Days Off/Holidays

You can also schedule specific dates to be off by adding the specific date with 00:00:00 times: 

#JSON
[
  { "inbox_id":"default",
    "timezone":"America/New_York",
    "mon":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "tue":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "wed":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "thu":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "fri":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "2024-01-01":["09:00 AM","10:00 PM"],
    "2024-07-29": ["00:00:00","00:00:00"]
 }
]
JSON#

Time Zone Codes

UTC...............................   UTC
Eastern Time .....................   America/New_York
Central Time .....................   America/Chicago
Mountain Time ....................   America/Denver
Mountain Time (no DST) ...........   America/Phoenix
Pacific Time .....................   America/Los_Angeles
Alaska Time ......................   America/Anchorage
Hawaii-Aleutian ..................   America/Adak
Hawaii-Aleutian Time (no DST) ....   Pacific/Honolulu
London Time.......................   Europe/London

Schedule FAQs

Do I have to use an escalation schedule?

No! The escalation schedule can be turned off entirely so the system only checks the on/off toggle and agent availability.

How do I adjust my schedule for holidays?

In your live person schedule response, add the specific date you'd like to adjust (ex. 7/29). Add in the following time range ["00:00:00","00:00:00"] and hit save.

#JSON
[
  { "inbox_id":"default",
    "timezone":"America/New_York",
    "mon":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "tue":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "wed":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "thu":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "fri":["07:00 AM","5:00 PM"],
    "2024-07-29": ["00:00:00","00:00:00"]
 }
]
JSON#
Can we update the away message across all teams?

Yes! While in your Response Library, admins can search for response names titled "live_person". Once searched, you will see the full list of prewritten responses that correspond with the Live Agent Engine. Look for the ones titled unavailable or outside of hours and make any needed changes. For more information on how to update a prewritten response, click the link here: Prewritten Plus Responses

Can agents update the schedule?

No, only administrators with content editing rights can update the schedule.

If agents are online, but it's outside scheduled escalation hours, can agents be assigned conversations?

No, since the system always looks at escalation hours before agent availability. However, agents can always intercept conversations and assign it to themselves at any time.

Can I have two sets of escalation schedules for my two escalation teams?

Yes! There can be two schedule responses within the response library, designated for each team.

Why aren't conversations escalating even though I'm online?

Ensure the following:

  • Check with your company administrator that you are working within the scheduled escalation hours.

  • Have your company administrator check that you are assigned to the correct team. Note that if your company has multiple teams and no agents are available within that specific team, the conversation will not be escalated. This includes if there are agents online on other teams.

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