You can create escalation rules in the administration interface. This article explains how to create and use escalation rules.

What are escalation rules?

Basic function

The rules are used in scheduling. They define

Who receives an appointment in their mailbox
How often reminders are sent for unprocessed appointments
Who is notified if the appointment has not been completed after a defined time has elapsed

Where can you find escalation rules?

You can find escalation rules in the administration interface in the workflow area.

First step: Configure reminders

Define regular agent

The first stage of the rule defines the regular processor. You have two options:

Set agent directly: You set the agent directly in the rule
Leave agent open: You leave the agent open so that it is only set in the appointment scheduling

Notification on due date

The set agent receives the appointment in their mailbox when it is due.

Additional e-mail notification: If the agent has activated e-mail notifications in their user settings, they will also be notified by e-mail.

Setting reminders

You can also set reminders. Reminders are sent by e-mail if the appointment has not yet been completed.

Example:

You set 2 reminders at intervals of 2 days
A reminder e-mail is sent on the 3rd day
Another reminder e-mail is sent on the 5th day
This only happens if the appointment has not been completed by then

Exclude weekends

You can exclude weekends.

This is how it works:

You can exclude weekends via the "Weekend" setting
2 days apart then means 2 working days
An appointment that is due on Friday will only be reminded again on Tuesday if there is an interval of 2 working days

Second and third level: Configure escalation

Set up escalation levels

As a rule, you can optionally set a second and third level. These define the escalation.

When does an appointment escalate?

An appointment escalates if it is still not completed within the set interval after the last reminder.

Example:

You have set 2 reminders at intervals of 2 days
A reminder is sent on the 3rd day
A reminder is sent on the 5th day
The appointment escalates on the 7th day

What does escalation mean?

Escalation means that the appointment is also placed in the mailbox of the user set in the escalation level.

Important to know:

The appointment is then in both mailboxes
Both users can complete the appointment
If one of them completes the appointment, it remains in the other's mailbox
However, the appointment is marked as completed

Reminders at escalation levels

You can also set reminders on the two escalation levels. The behaviour here is similar to that described above for the regular agent.

End of reminders

If an appointment reaches the top level defined and the maximum number of reminders, the system stops the reminders.

Special cases and important notes

Subsequent changes to rules

If you subsequently change a rule, this affects planned appointments, but not past appointments.

Important: This also applies if past appointments are still unfinished and are in the reminder phase or in the escalation phase.

Example:

An appointment was due yesterday
Yesterday, user A was entered as the recipient at the first escalation level
The appointment is still escalated to user A even if user B has since been entered in the rule instead
The change is only taken into account for new appointments created today or appointment executions from the next day (for recurring appointments)

Recurring appointments with an open agent

The same also applies to recurring appointments if the agent is usually left open and is only set in the appointment scheduling.

Important: If you change the agent in the appointment planning, the change only applies to future executions of the appointment.

Deactivated users

If a user is set in a rule who has been deactivated in the meantime, the system behaves as follows:

The appointment is placed in their mailbox
However, further reminders are skipped
The appointment immediately escalates to the next level, if available

Users without an e-mail address

If you are using a user for whom no e-mail address has been stored, no reminders can be sent.

System behaviour:

A warning is issued in the system event log
Nothing else happens
The reminder loop continues to run as normal
The next reminder is tried again

Scheduling in the process

Extended scheduling

Along with the introduction of escalation rules, the scheduling function on the "Appointments" tab in the process has also been expanded.

New options

You now have the following new options:

Multiple appointments per case: You can create more than one appointment per case
Freely set sender: You can freely set the sender under which the appointment ends up in the recipient's mailbox
- The currently logged in user is used here as a default setting