About workforce management automations

Zendesk Workforce management (WFM) automations are designed to streamline repetitive tasks. Automations allow you to manage certain agent activities automatically, such as ending agents' days when they forget to clock out.


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Verified AI summary ◀▼
Workforce management automations help you manage agent activities automatically, reducing manual tasks like correcting timesheets. Set conditions for actions such as clocking out agents or sending notifications. Automations activate based on events, tasks, and durations you define, applying to all or specific agents. Note that these automations work only on activities occurring after setup, not retroactively.


Zendesk Workforce management (WFM) automations are designed to streamline repetitive
tasks. Automations allow you to manage certain agent activities automatically, such as
ending agents' days when they forget to clock out.
Similar to Zendesk automations, WFM automations perform an action when the conditions you
define are met. Automations can reduce your manual workload and increase efficiency and accuracy.
This article contains the following sections:

About WFM
automations
Structure of a WFM
automation
How WFM automations
work

Related articles

Creating workforce management automations to
manage agent activity



About WFM automations

Similar to Zendesk automations, WFM automations perform actions when the conditions
you define are met. WFM automations are focused on managing agent activity.
Some examples of automation uses include:

Correcting recorded time if agents forget to clock out for the
day.
Moving agents from a task or workstream to a general task or untracked
time.
Ending the workday for agents who forget to clock out.
Sending a notification message.



Note: When the unified agents status synchronization
is turned on, the only actions that automations can perform are to clock out
users, delete timesheets, end the day, and send a message.

By setting up automations, managers are freed up from performing the repetitive tasks
related to correcting agent timesheets.


Structure of a WFM automation

WFM automations have a set structure. You can think of the structure as an if
statement. For example:
If an agent is [Clocked in] to [task] for over [20m] then [clock out
agent]
The structure of a WFM automation consists of:

A Run event, that determines when the automation activates. The
default event is Clocked into, but it can be changed to Early
to or Late to. The Clocked into event means that
the automation will run after a specified duration since an agent clocks
into a task, status, or workstream. These automations can be used, for
example, to notify managers when agents have been working on a task for
too long, such as handling calls for over two hours, and switch agents
to a different task, such as following up on pending tickets or
participating in training activities.
The Early and
Late to events consider the agent’s adherence to their scheduled start
and end times. The Early to event runs on a specified duration before an
agent’s scheduled start or end time. The Late to event runs after a
specified duration beyond an agent’s scheduled start or end time.
These automations can be used, for example, to remind agents
that they have clocked in earlier than expected, or to prompt them to
clock out if they are working beyond their scheduled shift, such as when
handling extended customer calls. They can also be used by managers to
promote adherence to labor policies by preventing unauthorized overtime
and undertime, while improving agent compliance through automated
corrective actions.

One or more tasks (this can be any of your workstreams, unified agent
statuses, or general tasks), or a condition (End day or Start day) that the
event is related to.

A set duration. This measures how long the agent must be clocked into
a task, unified agent status, or workstream for the automation to run. The
Early to event runs on the specified duration before an agent’s scheduled
start or end time. The Late to event runs after a specified duration beyond
an agent’s scheduled start or end time.
The actions that the automation will perform. Choose from the
following predefined actions:
Clock out user, Delete timesheet (this involves removing the agent's
activity from both the agent activity page and
related reports), End day

Clock out user, End day

Send a message. The users you select will receive a push
notification in their Agent Workspace in Zendesk
Support.
Shift user to general task
Note: This action is not available when
the unified agents status
synchronization is turned on on your
account.

Shift user to untracked time
Note: This action is not available when
the unified agents status
synchronization is turned on on your
account.



A list of agents that the automation applies to. Automations can
apply to all agents in an account or only specified agents.




How WFM automations work

Similar to Zendesk automations, WFM automations execute actions when
defined conditions are met. The conditions for a WFM automation consist of the
specified event that runs the automation, a task, and a duration of time.
When these conditions are met, the corresponding action is performed
for the designated agents.


Note: Automations don't run retroactively. Actions are performed for agent
activities that occur after the automation is created. Additionally, the
Clocked into event automations run for new tickets only after they're saved
for the first time.