Workflow: Replacing the Out of Office app with omnichannel routing

The omnichannel routing (OCR) feature reassigns open tickets. This allows businesses to fully replace the Out of Office app. This transition offers improved agent availability management and more advanced routing capabilities. This article compares Out of Office app features with omnichannel routing capabilities. It provides a step-by-step guide to transition from the Out of Office app to manage agent availability and tickets with omnichannel routing. This workflow article includes the sections below:
Prerequisites
Why replace the Out of Office app?
Feature comparison
How to replace the Out of Office app with OCR
Alternative: API Integration
Best practices
Prerequisites
Zendesk Suite (Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus) or Support (Professional or Enterprise) plan
Omnichannel routing activated and configured
Custom agent statuses
Why replace the Out of Office app? The Out of Office app manages agent availability and ensures that tickets aren't routed to absent agents. The app also reassigns their open tickets. Omnichannel routing supports the features below:
Agent status management across channels, such as email, messaging, chat, and voice
Automatic ticket routing based on availability and capacity
Real-time control and visibility over agent workloads
Native experience to manage agent workload and ticket reassignment
Preservation of an Out of office status during idle timeouts and disconnection events
These capabilities render the Out of Office app redundant and make omnichannel routing a more scalable alternative. Feature comparison The table below shows the supported features between the Out of Office app and omnichannel routing:







Feature
Out of Office app
Omnichannel routing


Manually mark agents as out of office
Yes
Yes, through status change


Prevent the assignment of tickets to unavailable agents
Yes
Yes, and doesn't block manual assignments


Integration with routing logic
No
Yes


Auto-assignment based on availability and capacity
No
Yes


Real-time visibility in Admin Center
No
Yes


Reporting capabilities
Limited
Full analytics in Explore


API support for custom workflows
No
Yes


How to replace the Out of Office app with OCR To replace the Out of Office app with omnichannel routing:
Step 1: Define a custom unified agent status
Step 2: Configure idle timeout and disconnection statuses for the Out of Office status
Step 3: Activate reassignment for reopened and open tickets
Step 4: Train agents
Step 5: Deactivate the Out of Office app
Step 1: Define a custom unified agent status
In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Omnichannel routing Agent statuses


Create a custom status named Out of Office

Under Channel routing, set the Email, Messaging, and Talk channels to Offline. This prevents the assignment of tickets to agents when they are on the offline status.
Set the Groups that this configuration applies to
Click the Create agent status button to create this custom status

Step 2: Configure idle timeout and disconnection statuses for the Out of Office status
In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Omnichannel routing Status timeouts

In the Out of office row of the table, set the Disconnection status to Keep current status

Click Save

Step 3: Activate reassignment for reopened and open tickets
Edit the omnichannel routing configuration

Select Turn on reassignment for reopened tickets

Choose the tickets you want omnichannel to handle, such as Email or Messaging, and specify the Out of Office custom unified agent status as the required status
Select the Ticket priority that this configuration applies to
Scroll down and select Auto-reassign open tickets

Choose the tickets you want omnichannel to handle, such as Email or Messaging, and specify the Out of Office custom unified agent status as the required status. Select the Ticket priority that you want this applied to. For example, apply this to all ticket priorities.
Scroll down and select Reassign tickets through queues, then click Save. Omnichannel routing re-routes reassigned tickets through queues.

Step 4: Train agents Ensure agents know how to set their status and the implication of the setup:
From the Zendesk Agent Workspace, agents click their profile picture and choose the appropriate status
Status persists across sessions and disconnection events, but agents set it automatically through the API or business rules
Step 5: Deactivate the Out of Office app After you configure and test OCR, deactivate and remove the Out of Office app. Alternative: API Integration For custom out-of-office workflows, use the omnichannel routing API. Omnichannel Routing API capabilities:
Programmatically set agent availability status
Trigger automatic reassignment
Integrate with external scheduling systems
API endpoint: PUT /api/v2/routing/agents/{agent_id}/availability To set the agent to unavailable: curl https://yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/api/v2/routing/agents/123/availability \
-u email@example.com/token:api_token \
-X PUT \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"availability": {"status": "unavailable"}}' Integration scenarios:
Sync with Google Calendar or Outlook
Integrate with HR time-off system
Automate based on WFM schedules

Note: Manual status updates require agent discipline. Unlike the automated Out of Office app, agents must remember to update their status. For more information, see Omnichannel routing API. Best practices
Encourage agents to update their unified status at the start and end of each shift to maintain accurate availability data
Monitor agent status reports
Update internal documentation and notify your support team of the changeover
