How do you set up queues and case assignment?

Required tools

• Overview of who knows what — The competency map forms the basis for the queue allocation.

Design the queue structure

1. 1.Share by expertise, not by organizational chart

   The question is who can resolve the issue, not which department they belong to. A queue for billing questions and one for technical issues makes sense. A queue for each employee does not — then you have reinvented the inbox.

2. 2.Decide who has access to each queue

   A queue without defined members is a queue no one feels responsible for. Also be clear about who is responsible when no one picks up an item — this is usually the team lead.

Set up the allocation

1. 3.Create the queues and route the cases into them

   Queues are created in the Customer Service settings. You then define rules for where cases are routed—typically based on the recipient address, case type, or customer.

2. 4.Choose between picking and allocation deliberately

   Let caseworkers pick cases themselves when the team is small and mature—it provides flexibility. Use automatic assignment when volumes are high or when some people systematically pick the easiest cases. Both approaches work; what does not work is leaving it unclear.

3. 5.Set up notifications for cases that remain unresolved

   The biggest risk with queues is that a case gets left unattended because everyone assumes someone else will handle it. An alert when a case has remained unassigned for a set number of hours eliminates almost the entire problem.

4. 6.Measure wait time, not just resolution time

   Look at how long cases remain in the queue before someone picks them up. If that wait is long, it does not help that the actual resolution is quick—the customer will still experience poor service.