Setup Skill Based Routing in Salesforce Omni Channel

We had recently configured Salesforce Omni-Channel for one of our German-based automotive clients. In the setup, we have used the queue-based routing to assign work (case) to the agents.

Later, for business requirements, they requested that the work be assigned to agents based on their skills, rather than randomly. For example, if a case requires knowledge of both “Finance” and “German,” it will only be assigned to agents who possess both skills.

For this business requirement, we configured skill-based routing in the Salesforce Omni-Channel. In this tutorial, I will explain what skill-based routing is and how to set up skill-based routing in Salesforce Omni channel from scratch.

What is Skill-Based Sharing in Salesforce Omni-Channel?

In Salesforce Omni-Channel, skill-based routing assigns cases to support agents based on their skills. It ensures that incoming work is assigned not just to any available agent, but to the right agent based on their skills.

Setup Skill Based Routing in Salesforce Omni Channel

The first requirement is that you should have already set up Salesforce Omni Channel with queue-based routing.

To set up routing in Salesforce Omni Channel based on agent skills, we need a list of the skills that agents must have to resolve different work items.

Now we will follow the steps below to set up the skill-based routing in the Salesforce Omni-Channel.

• Enable Skill-Based Routing
• Create Skills
• Assign Skills to Users in Service Layout
• Create Service Resources for Agents
• Assign Skills to Agents
• Define Skills-Based Routing Rules
• Enable Skills-Based Routing Rules

Enable Skill-Based Routing in Salesforce Omni-Channel

1. Navigate to the Salesforce Service setup. We use the Service Setup to configure Service Cloud features, such as Omni-Channel and Case Management.

2. In the quick find search, select Omni-channel settings. In the Omni-Channel setup, turn on Enhanced Omni-Channel Routing.

After this, select the checkbox Enable Skills-Based and Direct-to-Agent Routing, and click Save.

With this, the skill-based routing feature is enabled in the Omni-Channel setup.

Create Skills in Omni-Channel

After enabling the skills-based routing, we create the skills that will later be assigned to agents.

1. In the Quick Find, search and select “Skills.”
2. In the Skills setup, click on the New button. In the next window, enter the details like Name and Developer Name for the skills and click Save.

In this, we don’t need to select the Users and Profiles. We will assign the skills to users later in the Service Resource.

Here, I have added six skills that we will assign to the users, which are English Support, German Support, Vehicle Purchase Assistance, Loan & Finance Support, and Order & Billing.

Add Skills to the Service Resource Layout

Now, we need to add the skills to the related list of the Service Resource object page layout. To do so, follow the steps below.

1. On the setup, go to the Object Manager tab.
2. Enter Service Resource in the Quick Find box and select the Service Resource object.
3. In the setup, click on the page layout tab and select Edit.

4. In the page layout setup, select Related Lists, then drag the field Service Resource Skills to the Related Lists section and save the changes.

Create Service Resources for Agents in Omni-Channel

Now we need to create service resources, where each service resource represents an individual agent.

1. To create a service resource, click on the app launcher and select Service Resources.

2. In the Service Resource setup, click on the New button and enter the details below.
   • Enter the Agent Name; for this, I have used the User Name.
   • For the User, click on the lookup and select the user (agent).
   • Select the Resource Type as Agent.
   • Select the Active checkbox. A service resource must be active to receive work items.
   • At last, click Save.

In this configuration, I have created two service resources as shown in the image below.

After this, we need to add skills to the users that we have added in the Service Resources.

Assign Skills to Agents in Salesforce Omni-Channel

To assign skills to agents in Salesforce Omni-Channel for skill-based routing, follow the steps below.

1. Navigate to the Service setup of Salesforce. From the App Launcher, search and select Service Resources.
2. Click on the Service resource that we have created by adding the user. Then go to the details tab and click the New button in Service Resource Skills.

3. From the Skill dropdown, select the skills that you want to assign to the agent. After this, select the start date and time, then click Save.

Optionally, we can also add skill level 1 (novice) – 10 (expert).

The service resource’s skill now appears in their Skills related list.

With this, we have added skills to the agent. Now, we need to define skills-based routing rules.

Check out: Salesforce Omni Channel Skill Based Routing Via Flow

Define Skills-Based Routing Rules in Omni-Channel

To route work by skills, we need to define the mappings between work-item field values and skills. For that, we will create one skill mapping set for each object.

In this setup, we will define the routing for the Case object.

1. In the Service Setup, search and select Skills-Based Routing Rules in the quick find. Then in the next window, click on New Skill Mapping Set.

2. In this step, name and developer name for the mapping set, and select the type of object to be routed. In this configuration, I have selected the Case object.

After this, click on the Next button.

3. Select the fields from the object that you want to map with agent’s skills.

4. For the selected fields, we need to choose the field value and the skill. Here, we can also set the skill level and add additional skills.

After selecting the field value, skill, and skill priority, click Done.

Enable Skills-Based Routing Rules From the Routing Configuration

The routing configuration used by the queue through which the case is routed must be enabled to utilize skills-based routing rules.

Now, we need to locate the routing configuration associated with the queue.

1. In the Setup, search and select Queues in the Quick Find box.
2. Open the queue assigned to the Omni Channel in Edit mode.

3. From the queue details, note the routing configuration name in the Configuration with Omni-Channel Routing section.

4. Navigate to the service setup, then search and select Routing Configurations from the quick find.

5. Edit the routing configuration that is used by the queue through which the work item is routed.
6. Select the checkbox Use with Skills-Based Routing Rules and add the available skills to the routing, then click Save.

With this, we completed the configuration of the skill-based routing for the Salesforce Omni-Channel. Now, the cases will be assigned to the agents based on their skill set.

Check out: Status-Based Capacity Model in Salesforce Omni Channel

Test the Skill-Based Routing in Salesforce Omni Channel

Now, to test the automated skill-based assignment of cases to the agents, we will create a case and see if it will be assigned to the queue in the omni-channel.

Follow the steps below to test the skill-based routing in Salesforce Omni channel.

1. From the App Launcher, navigate to the service console.

2. In the Case setup, create a new case record and select the field values that were mapped with agent skills.

3. After creating the case, go to the details section of the case records. Here, change the owner with the queue that is configured in Omni-channel routing.

4. If the selected field values are matched with the user’s skills, then the case will be assigned to that user in the queue.

As we can see, the case is assigned to the queue based on the agent skills that we have mapped in the routing configuration.

Check out: Set Up Secondary Routing Priority in Salesforce Omni-Channel

With this, we have successfully configured skill-based routing in Salesforce Omni-Channel.

This setup ensures that incoming cases are assigned only to agents who possess the required skills, improving the work management in the organization.

I hope this tutorial helped you understand the complete process of setting up skill-based routing in Salesforce Omni-Channel. With the above steps, you can now implement it in your Salesforce org to route work based on agent capabilities.

Abhijeet

Abhijeet is a skilled Salesforce developer with experience in developing and integrating dashboards, data reports, and Salesforce applications. He is also skilled at optimizing processes and flow automation processes, coding, and executing complex project architecture. Read more about us | LinkedIn Profile.