## Overview

**Smart Routing** decides **which agent** each conversation goes to and **how many** conversations
each agent receives — automatically. Instead of distributing manually, the platform applies
**policies** to every new conversation, balancing the load and improving response time.

Beyond new conversations, the engine runs a **periodic sweep** over the inboxes with a bound policy:
conversations that are already **open and unassigned** — including the ones that were already sitting
that way before you turned routing on — are distributed automatically, oldest first. You don't have
to reassign them by hand or build a flow for it.

Two policy types work together:

- **Routing policy**: sets the distribution **strategy** and the priority order.
- **Capacity policy**: sets the **load limits** per agent and per inbox.

Management is done by the **account administrator** in **Settings → Smart Routing**, including a
**ready-made templates** section to start with one click.

## Prerequisites

- **Administrator** profile (or a custom role holding the routing-management permission).
- The **Smart Routing** feature enabled on the account. If the item is missing from the Settings
  menu, talk to the account owner.
- Inboxes and agents already configured — the policies bind to them.

## Step by step

1. Open **Settings → Smart Routing**.
2. To start fast, use the **ready-made templates**: apply a routing archetype (Round-robin,
   Load balanced, Skill-based, Fair distribution) or a capacity one (Default capacity, Ignore old
   conversations) — or **load all defaults** at once.
3. Or build from scratch: under **Routing policy**, pick the strategy, priority and options.
4. Under **Capacity policy**, set the per-inbox limits, exclusion rules and participating agents.
5. **Bind the policy to an inbox** — from then on every new conversation is auto-assigned, and the
   periodic sweep takes care of the backlog that was already unassigned.
6. Watch the distribution on real conversations and tune the policies as the operation evolves.

## Settings & options

**Routing strategies:**

| Strategy | How it distributes |
| --- | --- |
| Round-robin | Rotates conversations equally among agents. |
| Balanced | Assigns to the agent with the **fewest** open conversations. |
| Skill-based | Prefers agents on the conversation's team, then rotates. |

**Conversation priority:** oldest first, or the ones waiting the longest for a reply.

**Additional routing-policy options:**

- **Fair distribution**: caps how many conversations an agent receives within a time window.
- **Reassign on unassign**: automatically re-routes the conversation if the assigned agent is removed.
- **Enable/disable**: pauses a policy without deleting it.

**Capacity policy:**

- conversation limit per inbox;
- exclusion rules (for example, by conversation age);
- agents bound to the policy.

**Ready-made templates:** applying a template is **idempotent** — if you already edited a
same-named policy, your edit is **never overwritten**.

### Sweeping unassigned conversations

Routing doesn't act only at the moment a conversation is born. Periodically, the platform walks the
inboxes with an **enabled** and **bound** policy and distributes the conversations that are **open
and unassigned** — using the same strategy, the same priority and the same capacity and fair-
distribution limits as the automatic path.

- It reaches the existing backlog: old unassigned conversations enter the sweep queue.
- It honours the order set in **Conversation priority**.
- It distributes in batches per round, so the team isn't flooded at once — a large backlog is drained
  over a few rounds.
- It only acts on inboxes bound to an enabled policy. Disabling or unbinding the policy stops the
  sweep.

### Conversations owned by a robot

A conversation assigned to a robot remains under its responsibility even while open.
Creating, reopening or removing a human assignment does not authorize routing to remove the robot.
An explicit handoff to a person releases the robot and lets the inbox policy route the conversation.
The periodic sweep also preserves conversations assigned to a robot.

Each routing assignment records the selected agent and the name of the policy that made the decision
in the conversation. The activity of a person or flow that initiated the action remains available.

### Linking to an inbox

1. Go to **Settings → Inboxes → (your inbox) → Collaborators/Agents tab**.
2. In the **Smart routing** panel, pick an active policy and click **Link policy**.
3. Once linked, the routing engine takes over assignment: the inbox's **automatic assignment**
   toggle is turned off automatically (and restored when you unlink).
4. Use **Switch** to replace the policy in charge or **Unlink** to return to the inbox's native
   behavior.

If the account has no policies yet, the panel offers a shortcut to create one from the ready-made
Smart Routing templates.

### Integrated operation

The Smart Routing screen gathers, in a strip of **shortcuts**, the modules that operate alongside
distribution — so routing, capacity, schedules, queues and permissions live in one place. The
shortcuts appear according to the features enabled on the account:

- **Team Management** — when the feature is on: **Monitoring** (real-time board),
  **Schedules** and **Queues**. This is where you control which agents/teams take part in service and
  how load is tracked.
- **Roles & Access** — when granular permissions are on: manage the roles (e.g. Sales Rep and Sales
  Manager) that authorize each agent.
- **Agents** — the account's agent list.

The shortcuts only **navigate** to each module; nothing changes when you click.

## Use cases

- **Balance the team**: the balanced strategy prevents one agent from piling up conversations.
- **Specialty service**: skill-based routing sends to the right team first.
- **Overload protection**: a capacity policy caps simultaneous conversations per agent.
- **SLA**: prioritize the longest-waiting conversations to cut response time.
- **Clear the backlog**: when you turn routing on in an operation that already has conversations
  sitting unassigned, the sweep distributes that backlog on its own, with no manual step.

## Tips, limits & best practices

- Combine routing + capacity: the strategy picks **who**, the capacity avoids **overloading**.
- Make sure agents are **available** (online) — policies distribute to whoever can serve.
- Review capacity limits as the team grows or during demand spikes.
- Template applies are recorded in the audit trail (when enabled).

## Troubleshooting

- **The item is missing from Settings**: the feature is not enabled on the account.
- **Conversations are not being assigned**: confirm the policy is **enabled** and **bound** to the
  right inbox, and check that agents are available.
- **Old conversations are still unassigned**: the sweep only reaches inboxes bound to an **enabled**
  policy and needs available agents. If the backlog is large, wait a few rounds — it drains in
  batches.
- **One agent receives too many conversations**: review the strategy and add a capacity policy with
  limits.
- **Conflicts with automation rules**: if a rule also assigns agents, align both so they don't overlap.

## See also

- [Automation & Flows overview](/hc/ajuda/articles/automation-flows-overview-en)
- [Automation rules: triggers, conditions and actions](/hc/ajuda/articles/automation-flows-regras-de-automacao-en)
- [Governance & LGPD](/hc/ajuda/articles/administration-governanca-lgpd-en)