<style>p { margin: 0; }span.fr-emoticon.fr-emoticon-img { background-repeat: no-repeat !important; font-size: inherit; height: 1em; width: 1em; min-height: 20px; min-width: 20px; display: inline-block; margin: -0.1em 0.1em 0.1em; line-height: 1; vertical-align: middle; } span.fr-emoticon { font-weight: normal; font-family: "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "NotoColorEmoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", "EmojiSymbols"; display: inline; line-height: 0; } blockquote { border-left: solid 2px #5e35b1; color: #5e35b1; margin-left:0; padding-left:5px;}blockquote blockquote{ border-color: #00bcd4; color: #00bcd4;}blockquote blockquote blockquote{ border-color: #43a047; color: #43a047;} table.grid{ border-collapse: collapse;} table.grid td, table.grid th { border: 1px solid #ddd;} .fr-fic.fr-dib{ display: block; margin: 5px auto;}.fr-fic.fr-dib.fr-fir{ text-align: right; margin: 5px 0 5px auto;}.fr-fic.fr-dib.fr-fil{ text-align: left; margin: 5px auto 5px 0;}.fr-fic.fr-dii{ float: none; margin: 5px auto;}.fr-fic.fr-dii.fr-fil{ float: left; margin: 5px auto;}.fr-fic.fr-dii.fr-fir{ float: right; margin: 5px auto;}img.fr-dib.fr-fir { margin-right: 0; text-align: right;}img.fr-dib.fr-fil { margin-left: 0; text-align: left;}img.fr-dib { margin: 5px auto; display: block; float: none;}img.fr-bordered { box-sizing: content-box; border: solid 5px #CCC;}img.fr-shadow { box-shadow: 10px 10px 5px 0px #cccccc;}img.fr-rounded { border-radius: 10px; -moz-border-radius: 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 10px; -moz-background-clip: padding; -webkit-background-clip: padding-box; background-clip: padding-box;}</style><p><strong>In this guide we will cover:</strong></p><p><strong>- What is Load Balancing?</strong></p><p data-pasted="true"><strong>- Determining how to Load Balance</strong></p><p><strong>- Load Balancing Tickets</strong></p><p><strong><br></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">What is<strong data-pasted="true"> Load Balancing?</strong></span></strong></p><p data-pasted="true">Load Balancing is a method of distributing Tickets which assigns Tickets based on the number of Tickets assigned to each Agent. Load Balancing will identify the Agent with the fewest Tickets assigned to them and assign the new Ticket accordingly. This is helpful for ensuring all Agents have an equal workload. Load Balancing can also be configured to account for an Agent's status. This prevents Tickets being assigned to Agents who are not available. </p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Determining how to Load Balance</strong></span></p><p>You can determine which Agents are included in the Load Balance calculation based on their Agent profile, Team, and Status. In order for an Agent to be assigned a Ticket via Load Balance they will require the settting "Exclude this Agent from automatic assignment (Load Balance, Round Robin etc)" to be disabled in the Details tab of their Agent Configuration. Similar to the Agent level setting, in order for a Team to be included in Load Balanced Tickets, they will require the setting "Include in Load Balance Calculations" to be selected in the Details tab of the Team's Configuration. </p><p><br></p><p>To prevent Agents being assigned Tickets when they are not available, you can exclude Agent's from Load Balance when they have a particular status. In Configuration > Teams & Agents > Agent Status, against each status you can toggle the option "Include Agents with this Status in Load Balance and Round Robin for Tickets not linked to a Chat" for Agents to receive Load balanced Tickets when in this status. If you would like Agents to receive Ticket's linked to a chat while in this status you can also toggle the option "Include Agents with this Status in Load Balance and Round Robin for Tickets not linked to a Chat".</p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjQ1ZjFmNzM3LWY2YTUtNGY4Yi1iZjZlLWE3NTA0NTQzMTJiYyJ9.yPMOQt7oBhxtAj9h41INjgRdIR6eBwfGV4gXXLKvbcg" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="745" height="904"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 1. Including a status in Load Balance</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true">In Configuration > Tickets > General Settings, you will also find the option "Only Round Robin and Load Balance to logged in Agents". When selected, assigning Tickets via Load Banance Robin will exclude Agents who are not logged in to Halo from Ticket assignment. This is recommended as it will stop Agents that are not currently using Halo to be included in Ticket assignment.</p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true">Similarly, Tickets in particular statuses can be excluded from Round Robin. Against each Ticket status (Configuration > Tickets > Ticket Statuses) you can set the status to "Include in Load Balance calculations". </p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6ImRkZDVkNTdlLWVlYTctNDgzOS05Yjg4LThiMGZhMjg5ZmJhNyJ9.iCl9wT03dsH2-W5vt4gDEvWuEiV9_ADhCorIo71c360" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="963" style="width: 965px; height: 854.504px;" height="855"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 2. Including a Ticket status in Load Balance</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true">To include Tickets that are currently on SLA Hold in the Load Balance calculation, select "Include Tickets on SLA hold in Load Balancing" in Configuration > Tickets > General Settings. </p><p><br></p><p>Load Balancing can also be set to account for the Agent's estimated time per Ticket. To enable this, select "Load Balance based on remaining Estimate time" in Configuration > Tickets > General Settings. In order for this calculation to take place, the "Estimated Time" field should be added to the Field List of each Ticket Type, or a default "Estimated Value" should be set per Ticket Type. Since some Tickets take longer to complete than others, using this option allows Tickets to be assigned based on the Agent's capacity rather than simply the quantity of Tickets. </p><p><br></p><p>Against each Ticket Type you can set a "Minimum interval between load balance to each Agent". This is the number of minutes after a Ticket has been Load Balanced to an Agent before they can receive another Load Balanced Ticket. Below this is the option to "Exclude Agents with more than X Tickets from Load Balance". If an Agent has more Tickets than the number set here they will no longer be eligible to receive Load Balanced Tickets of this type. By default this value is the total number of Tickets regardless of Ticket Type, however,this can be set to only count this Ticket Type by selecting "Only count Tickets of this Ticket Type in the maximum allowed Tickets". To set a different limit per Agent or Team, select the "Configure limits per Agent for this Ticket Type" and/or "Configure limits per Team for this Ticket Type", and add the Agent/Team and their corresponding maximum allowed Tickets to the table. These Agent specific limits can also be configured in the Preferences tab of an Agents profile. </p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjdiZTRiMGM4LWQ2ZGEtNDQzMy04MmJmLTg3YTIzN2Q4ZTBiZSJ9.wZ0dLOLI0kUyJUcoyryZ_t89vDuViZk1VwbiLF0nPTM" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="972" style="width: 974px; height: 504.67px;" height="505"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 3. Ticket Type Load Balance limits</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Load Balancing Tickets</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Load Balancing new Tickets</strong></span></p><p>If you would like Tickets to be automatically Load Balanced upon creation you can set this per Ticket Type. In Configuration > Tickets > Ticket Types, head to the Defaults tab of your chosen Ticket Type. Select "Load Balance" in the "Agent" dropdown. Once saved, this Ticket Type will assign to the Agent with the fewest assigned Tickets upon creation.</p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6ImM2NWNhOTM5LTcyZWQtNDllYy1hNmU2LTQ4ZmZmYWE4ODc2MSJ9.kOYsQuS95EijqNSq9RS9bhwijKvqMfrZIyAxA02qMYo" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="1072" style="width: 1074px; height: 360.046px;" height="360"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 4. Default Agent</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true">If you would rather only use Load Balancing on manually raised Tickets, head back to Configuration > Tickets > General Settings, and enable "Show Load Balance on the New Ticket Screen". Against your Ticket Type you will need to add the field "Agent" to the Field List.</p><p><br></p><p>Now when a Ticket is logged manually you will be able to set the "Team/Agent" field to "Load Balance".</p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjYwYjI1ODM1LTdlN2YtNDhiNS05NTk0LTFkMzJkY2Y4NTIzNCJ9.XiyfMVN2PrISe7FEBhbGv_nKN5OPcgjulAQ7jG2JArk" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="1077" style="width: 1079px; height: 543.6px;" height="544"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 5. Team/Agent dropdown</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Load Balancing on an Action</strong></span></p><p data-pasted="true">If you would like Load Balancing of Tickets to happen on a specific Action you can enable "Show Load Balance on the New Action screen" in Configuration > Tickets > General Settings. This is useful for allowing Agents to use Load Balancing to re-assign, or escalate Tickets to another Team. </p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true">Against your Action ensure you have added "Re-Assign" to the Field List. </p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjFlOTJmNGU4LWQzNmMtNDc0ZC05YTFmLTUwNjNlNzBkMDNmNiJ9.z0d-T9DtZlRDrpdblUtjlKb-m3hPG22rMkLFi2tcYhY" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="1085" style="width: 1087px; height: 398.428px;" height="398"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 6. Re-assign field on an Action</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true">Now when this Action is used Load Balance can be selected in the "Team/Agent" dropdown.</p><p><br><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjY2YjdhZjU4LTNlYTItNGFiOC05ZmNhLWNkNTUwY2JlOGJlNyJ9.nqovSZyhc74-uzBZ9LiGYsF0xB9fzn1ji3XrJxdnooM" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="801" style="width: 803px; height: 387.044px;" height="387"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 7. Re-assigning on an Action</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Load Balancing on a schedule</strong></span></p><p>When Load Balancing on a schedule you can choose to configure your schedule per Team or Ticket Type. </p><p><br></p><p>To set your schedule per Team, first navigate to Configuration > Tickets > General Settings. Here set the "Scheduled Load Balancing configuration type" dropdown to "Configured per Team". Now head into Configuration > Teams & Agents > Teams, and against each Team select "Run Load Balance on unassigned Tickets on a schedule". This will show an Integer field where you can set the number of minutes to wait before unassigned Tickets will be Load Balanced out. Below this is the option to "Automatically assign the next available Unassigned Ticket when an Agent closes a Ticket". This is almost instant, quicker than the regular scheduled Load Balance. </p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjA5NTI5NzFmLTJiYTktNGNjYy05ZGQzLWMwMjQ4YWQwMWIyNiJ9.-6oorTlRYO0SwU4_pcc0HlgqujU7m2ASuAEqoduGWHo" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="1140" style="width: 1142px; height: 621.393px;" height="621"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 8. Load Balancing on a schedule </strong></span></p><p><br></p><p>If you would rather set your schedule per Ticket Type, navigate to Configuration > Tickets > General Settings. Here set the "Scheduled Load Balancing configuration type" dropdown to "Configured by Ticket Type". Now head into Configuration > Tickets > Ticket Types, choose a Ticket Type, head into the Setting tab and select "Run Load Balance on unassigned Tickets on a schedule". This will show an Integer field where you can set the number of minutes to wait before unassigned Tickets will be Load Balanced out. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" data-pasted="true">Below this is the option to "Automatically assign the next available Unassigned Ticket when an Agent closes a Ticket". This is almost instant, quicker than the regular scheduled Load Balance. </span></p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjRkM2IxMDBlLWVlZGYtNDQzNi1iZTJkLTI0ZDk2YzJlMzI4OSJ9.cl8jTBDKMxiIIvXp5Xg-t_SB6roWmz55Oh-b0ZFJveQ" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="1136" style="width: 1138px; height: 520.316px;" height="520"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 9. Load Balancing on a schedule</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Increase the Speed of Initial Load Balance when Load Balancing Tickets on a Schedule (v2.238+)</strong></span></p><p>Each Agent status can be configured so that as soon as an Agent moves into this status an automation runs to check to see if there are any appropriate Tickets to Load Balance and if the Agent has capacity to be Load Balanced these Tickets. </p><p><br></p><p>This can help speed up the intial Load Balance when Load Balancing unassigned Tickets on a schedule as it can take a few minutes for the assignment scan to kick in. This means if an Agent has no Tickets in their queue before switching to a Load Balance-available status it can take a few minutes before they are assigned a Ticket. When this functionality is enabled, Tickets will be checked and Load Balanced as soon as an Agent switches to this status, saving them needing to wait for the schedule to run before being assigned a Ticket. This is particularly useful for teams who begin their shift/day with no Tickets in their queue and work at a fast pace. </p><p><br></p><p>To set this up head to Configuration > Teams and Agents > Statuses > select a status that makes agents available for Load Balance > enable "Queue a System Automation to Load balance Unassigned Tickets to the Agent".</p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://halo.haloservicedesk.com/api/attachment/image?token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpZCI6IjZjZmZhZTJmLWVmOTYtNDU5MC04YmUzLTE3YTQ2Y2Y0ODUwOCJ9.04sfY6UxxIwrFu8ljNHG48V76n7M1xxIptL_r6Fta5g" class="fr-fic fr-fil fr-dib" width="854" style="width: 856px; height: 633.042px;" height="633"></p><p data-pasted="true"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" data-pasted="true"><strong>Fig 10. Queue a System Automation to Load balance Unassigned Tickets to the Agent</strong></span></p><p><br></p><p>Once enabled you will need to choose the Ticket Type and/or Team to Load Balance tickets from. If a Ticket Type is chosen, only Tickets of this type will be assigned out when Agents switch to this status. If a Team is chosen, only Tickets currently assigned to this Team (but not to an Agent) will be assigned out. At least one of these criteria fields must be set. </p><p><br></p><p><strong><em>Note: The Agent Status "Queue a System Automation to Load balance Unassigned Tickets to the Agent" is enabled for must also have Load Balance enabled, so "Include Agents with this Status in Load Balance and Round Robin for Tickets not linked to a Chat" and/or "Include Agents with this Status in Load Balance and Round Robin for Tickets linked to a Chat" must be enabled on this status. </em></strong></p><p><br></p><p>Now, when an Agent switches to this status, the 5 oldest unassigned Tickets will be checked to see if they can be Load Balanced to this Agent (based on oldest ticket ID first). If any of the 5 can be Load Balanced, they will be. If only 1 of the 5 meets the criteria, only this one will be assigned. </p><p><br></p><p>This takes into account other Load Balance configuration, such as Load Balance limits (for the Team/Agent/Ticket Type) and if Tickets on SLA are allowed to be Load Balanced. </p>
