Round Robin Quick Start

Playlist is the easiest way to set up round robin ticket assignment in Zendesk. Watch the demo or follow the steps below to set up round robin in just a few steps.

1. Authorize API access

Once you have installed the app, go to Playlist setup (P icon on the left navigation bar) and click on Authorize.

2. Enable Round Robin

Playlist setup > Round Robin > Settings. Click Enabled.

Once enabled, you'll see a couple of settings.

Batch Size

The max number of tickets that should be automatically assigned to an agent per job. Since our scheduled job runs once every minute, this effectively means the max number of tickets per minute.

Note: only applies to the Round Robin routing model for queues (does not apply to Least Active routing model).

Inbox limit

The number of open tickets (status = Open) an agent can have before Round Robin stops assigning tickets to them. The agent will be eligible to receive more tickets after responding to tickets and dropping below this limit.

Automatic idle

Enable if you'd like to automatically set an agent to Away or Invisible after a period of inactivity. This could be useful if agents forget to make themselves unavailable before going on break or ending their shift.

3. Create your first queue

Playlist setup > Round Robin > Queues > Add queue.

Select a view that will serve as your queue and click on "Create queue."

Use SLA

By default, Round Robin will prioritize tickets by created date (first in, first out). If you have implemented SLA policies in Zendesk and enable "Use SLA," tickets will be prioritized by Next SLA breach. For new tickets, Next SLA breach is generally the First reply time.

Routing model

Choose a routing model (distribution type/algorithm):

Routing model	Description
Round Robin	Default. Equally distribute tickets to agents in a circular fashion.
Least Active	Route to the agent with the least amount of open tickets (i.e. the most available agent) first.

Rotate between

Choose to rotate between agents or group members:

Rotate between	Description
Agents	Manually select agents that should receive tickets from the queue
Group members	Members of selected groups will receive tickets from the queue (drastically reduces overhead of managing queues). For more details, please see rotating between group members.

Then, select groups or agents that should receive tickets from the queue and save.

4. Agent status

As an admin or supervisor, you can manage the status agents through the Team dashboard.

Playlist setup > Round Robin > Team

Each agent also has the ability to update their own status.

That's it! There are more advanced settings that you can customize, but that's all you need to get started.

5. Scheduled jobs

Round Robin assigns tickets in batches. Our scheduled job runs every minute. It checks for unassigned tickets in each queue and automatically assigns them to the appropriate, available agent.

Skills-Based Routing

If you're on the Zendesk Enterprise plan, you can leverage Playlist to automatically push tickets to the right agents based on their skills. See how it works.

Enhanced Guided Mode With Playlist Button

If Round Robin isn't the right fit for your team, you can try using the Playlist Button instead. It empowers your agents to assign tickets to themselves with the click of a button.

The Playlist Button systematically prioritizes tickets for the agent (based on rules that you define) and assigns it to them. It's an alternative to Zendesk's Guided mode and the perfect tool for teams that prefer a "first come, first serve" model. The feature is available for all Zendesk plans.

Here's a quick demo:

Advanced Workflows

Playlist is more than just a round robin app. It also comes with other advanced workflows.

Reporting on Tickets Assigned by Playlist

Playlist updates custom fields on every ticket assigned by the app, providing an audit trail. You can easily report on these fields to measure the adoption of Playlist with tools like Explore or Looker. See How can I report on Playlist usage? to learn more.

Agent Availability Reports (Total Online Time)

With Playlist, you'll also have access to agent availability reports (i.e. total time spent in each status), which you can run directly from the app.

To access the reports, go to Playlist setup > Round Robin > Reports.