Trying WFM for free using workforce activity tracking

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) is an AI-driven operational tool that helps support teams optimize staffing by predicting ticket volume and automating agent schedules. By analyzing historical Zendesk data, it generates precise forecasts to ensure the right number of agents are available at the right times. Beyond scheduling, it provides managers with real-time visibility into agent activity and adherence, tracking whether team members are working on assigned tasks or taking breaks. Agents are also empowered to manage their own time through shift-swapping and paid time off (PTO) requests directly in the Zendesk interface.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Workforce activity tracking helps you monitor agent activity in real time across email, messaging, and voice channels. It provides insights like average handle time and activity breakdowns, enabling better management of team performance. You can view, filter, and manage agent tasks without manual status updates. The feature is free to try and can be turned on or off anytime to evaluate workforce management capabilities.</p>
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<p class="p" dir="ltr">Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) is an AI-driven operational tool that helps
support teams optimize staffing by predicting ticket volume and automating agent
schedules. By analyzing historical Zendesk data, it generates precise forecasts to
ensure the right number of agents are available at the right times. Beyond scheduling,
it provides managers with real-time visibility into agent activity and adherence,
tracking whether team members are working on assigned tasks or taking breaks. Agents are
also empowered to manage their own time through shift-swapping and paid time off (PTO)
requests directly in the Zendesk interface.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Workforce activity tracking includes essential features, such as agent activity
tracking and performance metrics, at no additional cost, so admins can evaluate
workforce management capabilities.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">This article covers the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_jjm_d3l_fjc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_rwv_hdd_xmb">About workforce activity
tracking</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_qny_nnl_fjc">Getting started with
workforce activity tracking</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_erc_hyl_pjc">Using workforce activity
tracking</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xvl_5ql_fjc">Turning off workforce
activity tracking</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_rwv_hdd_xmb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About workforce activity tracking</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Workforce activity tracking lets admins track agent activity in real time
and view scheduled activities over time to help keep work aligned with planned
workflows. It includes the core performance indicator <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443376913818-WFM#topic_xwv_3n4_52c__a_h_t" target="_blank">average handle time</a> (AHT), which helps
measure efficiency.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_rwv_hdd_xmb__image_alv_bnl_fjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_lite_agent_activity_agents.png" width="850"></p>
<div class="p" dir="ltr">Workforce activity tracking automatically maps tickets into <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443314489242" target="_blank">workstreams</a> and supports agent activity tracking across
the following default channels:<ul class="ul" id="topic_rwv_hdd_xmb__ul_pjd_fnl_fjc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Email</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Messaging</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Voice</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">This information is available to admins for 24 hours. Workforce activity tracking
doesn’t store historical data, and this information isn’t available to other
roles.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Specifically, admins can use the following features:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_rwv_hdd_xmb__ul_bbc_dnl_fjc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Real-time agent activity:</strong> Monitor what agents are working on as
it happens. Get instant visibility into team activity with real-time dashboards
and live insights.<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Unlike <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443347506970" target="_blank">agent activity tracking in WFM</a>,
this information is available to admins for only 24 hours. Workforce
activity tracking doesn’t store historical data or make this information
available to other roles.</div>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Tracking by group and agent</strong>: View activity aggregated by group
or drill down into individual agent performance. This includes both <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828237722" target="_blank">Zendesk default groups</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408894175130" target="_blank">custom groups in your account</a>.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Agent activity management</strong>: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6487941570970" target="_blank">Add, edit, and delete agent
activities</a>. Note that adding, editing, and deleting agent activity tasks
is restricted to the past 31 days.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Agents won't need to update their status manually because the system
automatically handles <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443347506970-About-the-Agent-activity-page#topic_evy_c2d_tzb" target="_blank">activity tracking</a>, which improves
efficiency.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">In Support, by clicking the <strong class="ph b">Workforce Management</strong> icon (<img class="image" height="16" id="topic_rwv_hdd_xmb__image_dbc_dnl_fjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_logo_icon.png" width="16">) in the top-right corner, agents
can open the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443354661402" target="_blank">time tracker</a> to view the ticket number and time spent on
that task.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_rwv_hdd_xmb__image_gtm_mnl_fjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_lite_agent.png" width="850"></p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_qny_nnl_fjc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Getting started with workforce activity tracking</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">To get started viewing your agents’ activity on tickets translated into workstreams,
turn on activity tracking.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">To turn on workforce activity tracking</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_qny_nnl_fjc__ol_ctv_snl_fjc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Click the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Zendesk product menu</a> in the top bar,
then select <strong class="ph b">Workforce management</strong>.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Click <strong class="ph b">Try free version</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_qny_nnl_fjc__image_jl5_14l_fjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_free_version.png" width="850"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">Track agent activity</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_qny_nnl_fjc__image_vzn_l4l_fjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_lite_agent_activity.png" width="450"></p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note tip">
<span class="tiptitle">Tip:</span> After activation, you can <a class="xref" href="#topic_xvl_5ql_fjc">turn off workforce activity tracking</a> at any
time by deselecting agent activity tracking on the Account settings page
in WFM.</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save and start</strong>.<p class="p">You’re automatically directed to the WFM <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443347506970" target="_blank">Agent activity page</a>, where your
agents’ activity starts synchronizing.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_erc_hyl_pjc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Using workforce activity tracking</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">After your agents’ activity is synced, you can start using the Agent
activity page to do the following:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_erc_hyl_pjc__ul_hjt_1zl_pjc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Monitor your agents’ activity and view what they’ve been working on.
To learn more, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443347506970#topic_ub5_whd_tzb" target="_blank">Monitoring agent activity in WFM</a>.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Filter the page by group, agent name, email address, date, or folder.
To learn more, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6443347506970#topic_ey3_5hd_tzb" target="_blank">Viewing and filtering agent activity in
WFM</a>.<div class="p">
<div class="note important">
<span class="importanttitle">Important:</span> Unlike agent activity in WFM, Workforce activity
tracking includes both <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828237722" target="_blank">Zendesk default groups</a> and
<a class="xref" href="http://pport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408894175130" target="_blank">custom groups in your
account</a>.</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Open tickets related to an agent's activity.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">View an agent's AHT and the activity breakdown by channel in the
summary panel.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">To view an agent’s activity using workforce activity tracking</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_erc_hyl_pjc__ol_ijt_1zl_pjc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Workforce management</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_erc_hyl_pjc__d8e21" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_agent_folder_icon.png" width="16">
<strong class="ph b">Monitoring</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Agent activity</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Click the name of the agent whose activity you want to view. <p class="p" dir="ltr">The agent’s activity details expand.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_erc_hyl_pjc__image_ctk_kzl_pjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_lite_agent_activity_hover_over.png" width="800"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Hover over an entry to view additional information, such as the channels or task
the agent is working on and the ticket ID.</li>
<li class="li">Click the agent activity task to open the associated ticket in Zendesk
Support.</li>
<li class="li">Use the summary panel on the right to view the agent’s AHT and activity
breakdown across email, messaging, and voice.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_erc_hyl_pjc__image_pzr_qzl_pjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_lite_summary_panel.png" width="800"></p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_xvl_5ql_fjc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Turning off workforce activity tracking</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">After activation, you can turn off agent activity tracking in Account
settings in WFM. However, doing so means synced activity is lost, agent activity
tracking stops, and the Agent activity page is hidden. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">You can still reactivate workforce activity tracking, but you’ll need to
sync agent activity again.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">To turn off agent activity</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_xvl_5ql_fjc__ol_fzq_4rl_fjc">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Workforce management</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_xvl_5ql_fjc__d8e260" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/gear_icon.png" width="16">
<strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Account settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Deselect <strong class="ph b">Track agent activity</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_xvl_5ql_fjc__image_uy1_vrl_fjc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_lite_account_settings.png" width="850"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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