Best practices and tips for tracking agent activity in WFM

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Use tracking in Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) to monitor agent activity across Zendesk, external websites, and other tools. This article provides best practices and tips for tracking agent activity so you can understand how agents spend time, improve reporting accuracy, and support schedule adherence.</p>
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<strong>Add-on</strong>
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<td>Workforce Management (WFM) or Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)</td>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Track one activity at a time to monitor agent time across Zendesk and external sites using a browser extension. Adjust tracking settings, disable autotracking for managers, and use task lock carefully. Ensure schedule adherence by matching activities to tasks. Use automations for forgotten clock-outs and keep Zendesk tabs in one window. Map URLs precisely for accurate tracking with the browser extension.</p>
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<p class="p">Use tracking in Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) to monitor agent activity across Zendesk,
external websites, and other tools. This article provides best practices and tips for tracking
agent activity so you can understand how agents spend time, improve reporting accuracy, and
support schedule adherence.</p>
<p class="p">This article covers the following topics</p>
<ul class="ul">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_nz1_2hx_hjc">Best practices for tracking agent activity
in WFM</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_szy_cmx_hjc">Tips for tracking using the browser
extension in WFM</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related articles:</p>
<ul class="ul">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443354661402" target="_blank">Starting and ending your day in the Zendesk WFM time tracker</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6676772528026" target="_blank">Tracking agent time spent outside of Zendesk</a></li>
</ul>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_nz1_2hx_hjc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Best practices for tracking agent activity in WFM</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Keep these best practices in mind when tracking agent activity in WFM:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_nz1_2hx_hjc__ul_z4j_fgn_kjc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Track one activity at a time.</strong> WFM activity tracking is linear and sequential. At
any point in time, an agent can be in only one activity. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443347506970" target="_blank">About the Agent activity page</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use the browser extension for external websites.</strong> You can track activity in
Zendesk and use the browser extension to track activity on external websites. Unmapped
websites aren’t tracked, which helps maintain agent privacy. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6676772528026" target="_blank">Tracking agent time spent outside of Zendesk</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use the WFM tracking settings to configure how agent activity is captured</strong> in your
organization. Autotracking is on by default and you can adjust the setting one by one or
in bulk. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443329357210" target="_blank">Activating and deactivating auto-tracking and task
lock</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Turn off autotracking for managers and team leads.</strong> You can deactivate
autotracking for individual agents or in bulk from the Team members page. It's recommended
to deactivate autotracking for managers and team leads so their activity doesn’t skew team
metrics. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7446325512730" target="_blank">Editing WFM team member tracking settings</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use task lock carefully.</strong> Task lock can be overridden by WFM automations or
browser extension activity tracking. This gives managers and admins more control over
tracking.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Be aware that schedule adherence depends on activity.</strong> Agent adherence to schedule
is defined by the agent’s activity. The activity is compared with the scheduled task for
that period. To stay in adherence, agents should work on the scheduled task.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use an automation for forgotten clock-outs.</strong> Sometimes agents forget to clock out
and end their day, which causes their last activity to continue for hours, or even days,
until they return to work. To maintain accurate reports, implement a WFM automation that
runs when an agent is clocked into a task for more than three hours and automatically
performs these actions: Clock out user, Delete Timesheet, and End day. Three hours on one
activity is typically the most effective threshold for triggering this automation. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443374423066" target="_blank">Creating WFM automations to manage agent activity</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Keep Zendesk tabs in one browser window.</strong> For the most accurate results, keep
Zendesk tabs in one browser window. WFM can identify which tab is active in that window,
but it can’t identify a specific active tab across multiple browser windows.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use unified agent statuses to track agent activity.</strong> When you use unified agent
status synchronization, task lock isn't required. Instead, when an agent isn’t actively
working on a ticket, their tracked activity is represented by their unified agent status.
The status remains active unless the agent changes it manually or starts working on a
ticket. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5133523363226#topic_qhd_xfk_13c" target="_blank">About unified agent statuses</a>.</li>
</ul>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_szy_cmx_hjc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Tips for tracking using the browser extension in WFM</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Use these tips to track activity more accurately with the browser extension:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_szy_cmx_hjc__ul_htr_ws4_kjc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Keep in mind that the browser extension tracks mapped websites.</strong> You can map
either an entire domain or a specific URL within a domain. Each mapped domain or URL is
tracked separately.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Note that WFM adds a wildcard to mapped URLs.</strong> When you map a URL to unified agent
status or a general task, WFM always adds a wildcard to the end of the URL. For example,
if you define <em class="ph i">www.zendesk.com</em>, it’s stored as <em class="ph i">www.zendesk.com/\*</em> and every
page in that domain is tracked.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Be aware that the longest matching URL is used.</strong> If multiple mapped URLs match the
open page, the system uses the longest matching URL to log the activity and provide the
most precise tracking information.</li>
</ul>
</div>
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