The Sales desk and Service desk sections of Settings → Routing set how each desk at a store works: who takes new work and how it is shared out, desk hours, after hours and calls. When a customer waits too long, AutoBook Agent answers them; a customer's own rep keeps the work (only a new lead, a customer with no rep, and service-desk work move to whoever is working). Nobody is reminded and no manager is paged.
Every store routes new customers through desks, from the day the store is created. The first two sections of Settings → Routing are the Sales desk and the Service desk, for the store picked at the top. Sales and Service are equal: each desk has its own people, its own hours and its own number.
Who gets a customer
1
The customer's own rep
A customer who already has a rep goes to that rep first. A caller who has a rep is never moved to a different rep: their call rings only that rep, and a message is taken if the rep can't answer. A missed call or voice message from that customer stays with their rep unless the rep is away.
2
Takes new work
The reps with the Takes new work role on this desk (set on each person in Staff & Roles, under Stores & desks). Distribution decides who is offered a new customer: Longest waiting goes next, Take turns, Everyone at once, Fewest open customers, or Shared pool (first to take it). Someone on leave today, or not seen in AutoBook (web or app) in the last 7 days, is skipped.
3
Service: the usual advisor first
On the Service desk, a task with no owner goes first to the advisor on the customer's open ticket, then to their usual advisor (the advisor on their last finished ticket at this store in the past 12 months), as long as that person still works the Service desk and is available. Otherwise the desk shares it out as above.
When a customer waits too long
The person a customer is waiting on gets one push. Nobody is reminded about the same thing, and no manager is paged. Reps own their customers: work about a customer who has a rep stays with that rep, even when they are off or on leave. Nothing moves and nobody else is pushed. If the rep has not acted by the deadline and a customer message is waiting, AutoBook Agent answers it with its best complete reply, so the customer is never left with nothing, and how it went shows on Rep review.
Work about a customer with no rep, and Service-desk work, moves to whoever is working that desk when nobody has acted by the deadline: the new person gets one push. If nobody is working, it stays where it is and AutoBook Agent still answers the customer.
A new lead nobody has replied to moves the same way. The desk shares it out in its Distribution order.
| What is waiting | Deadline (working minutes) |
|---|
First reply to a new sales lead | 30 |
A customer asking for a person | 30 |
A held reply waiting for approval | 30 |
A missed call | 30 |
A document, voice message or inquiry | 120 |
First reply to a service request | 60 |
An urgent or safety service request | 30 |
AutoBook Agent's own first reply to a customer is instant. The deadlines are for the first reply from a person. They count only working minutes: the person's own hours, else the desk's hours, else the store's hours. Days off, holidays, lunch and leave never count. Someone who is away (on leave today, or not seen in AutoBook for a week) has no working minutes, so what waits on them moves at once. The exception is a Sales customer who has a rep: what they are waiting on stays with that rep, and AutoBook Agent answers the customer at the deadline. Only a new lead nobody has answered, a customer with no rep, and Service-desk work move.
Hours, after hours and calls
The Sales hours / Service hours row sets the desk's clock: Uses the store’s hours (the default) or Own hours, a weekly grid. When a desk has its own hours, AutoBook Agent tells customers on that desk's conversations its hours ("our service desk is open until 6"), and that desk's deadlines, follow-ups and after-hours calls run on them. Holidays stay the store's. A week with no open day is not saved. The After hours row shows one fixed rule, the same at every store: New work waits for the desk to open; calls take a message. Calls ring the reps' AutoBook app, 15 seconds each. A rep without the app installed and signed in can't be rung, and the page says so beside their name; if nobody who takes new work can be rung, the desk warns Nobody on this desk can be rung. Transferred phone calls follow the same desks: the Phone calls section at the bottom of the page says so.
Who can change these settings?
Anyone who can manage the store's facilities (managers and administrators by default). Everyone else sees the page read-only. Who is on each desk is set on each person in Staff & Roles, under Stores & desks.
Can the timers be changed?
No. AutoBook sets every deadline; the page shows them so the desk reads end to end.
How do managers see what slipped?
Not by alerts. Overnight, AutoBook reviews each case where a rep was needed once the rep's part is over, and managers read the reviews on Rep review under Reports.