Setting up WFM general tasks for non-ticketing work

Set up general tasks to track non-ticketing work like breaks and meetings. As an admin, you can create tasks, assign team permissions, and set voice statuses to optimize agent time. Customize tasks to log as paid or productive time, and connect workstreams for schedule adherence. These tasks help manage agent activities outside of ticketing, improving overall workflow management.


Zendesk Workforce management (WFM) general tasks are tasks that you set up to track
agent activities or tasks that take place outside of Zendesk. General tasks are also sometimes
known as AUX codes or AUX states in a call center.
For example, you may want to set up general tasks to track time for necessary
activities such as lunch, breaks, meetings, training, and so on. By setting up general tasks,
you can track agents’ time spent on non-ticketing work.
This article contains the following topics:

Creating WFM general tasks

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About WFM general tasks



Creating WFM general tasks

Before creating general tasks, it’s recommended to align with other stakeholders
in your organization on what types of general tasks you’ll need.
You must be a WFM admin to create general tasks.
To create general tasks

In Workforce management, click
Settings in the navigation bar, then select General tasks.
Click the Add icon ( ).
Enter a Name.
Choose a descriptive name so that agents know what it
is when they see it on their schedule, or clock into it from the WFM time tracker app in
Zendesk Support.

(Optional) Enter a Description to describe the purpose of the task.
Set the Team permissions. By default, a new task is available to all of your
teams, but you can restrict the task to certain teams only.
Select a color for the new task. The color you select will appear on the Agent activity
page and to agents in Zendesk Support. A preview of the color you select appears, and you
can adjust it as needed.

In the Occupancy section, toggle the Log this general task as paid time and the
Log this general task as productive time sliders to the on or off position. If
you choose to turn either setting on, then the new task is included in the total paid
time or productive time when calculating your occupancy rate.
To see the
Productive time option, you must turn on the Paid time setting. All productive time
tasks are included in paid time. To learn more, see About paid time and productive time general
tasks.


Under Talk status settings, set the status for the voice channel the agent will
appear in when they clock in to this general task.

For example, if the general task
is for a meeting or lunch break and the agent will be away from Zendesk, select the Away
status. Setting the voice status associated with a general task helps you optimize your
agent's time, by reducing the number of actions they need to perform efficiently, as
they won't need to update their voice status manually.


Note: General tasks currently synchronize with your agents’ voice states only when omnichannel routing is turned off. When omnichannel routing is turned on, general tasks do not
synchronize with your agents’ unified agent statuses.

You can select between the following options:


No change


Online


Away


Transfers only


Offline



(Optional) Under Schedule adherence customization select workstreams. By
connecting workstreams to this general task you can ensure that the workstreams’
activities are also taken into consideration when calculating the agent’s schedule adherence.
Click Save.