❓ Frequently asked question or initial context
Can a different work schedule be configured for each support group in Atom?
Yes, it is totally possible. This allows you to define when a specific group is available to receive conversations and what happens if a customer writes outside of that schedule.
Schedule configuration is essential to ensure organized support and automate responses when your team is not online.
🤓 Explanation
From the Groups module in Atom, each group can have a customized support schedule. This configuration determines:
At what times conversations are automatically assigned to agents.
If a message will be sent to the customer outside of business hours.
What happens if a customer writes outside the configured schedule.
Depending on the options you keep enabled, Atom can:
Automatically assign the conversation to an agent in the group.
Keep the conversation active with the bot.
Send an automatic response informing your support hours.
⚙️ Step by step: How to configure work schedule
To configure a specific work schedule per group, follow these instructions:
Go to Settings > User Management > Groups.
Select the desired group and click the Edit icon.
Enable the Custom schedule option.
Select the time zone corresponding to the country or region of the group.
Click Add schedule and indicate:
Days of support.
Hours of start and end.
Configure the following additional options according to your operation:
Assign outside schedule: Enable or disable the assignment of conversations to agents outside business hours.
Out of schedule message: Allows you to send a quick response to customers who write outside the configured schedule.
Quick response: Select a previously created response that has the "Out of schedule" category.
Click Save to confirm the configuration.
💬 Quick response example: "Dear customer, we are currently out of service. Our support hours are Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 17:00. As soon as we are available, one of our agents will contact you."
✅ Possible solutions and scenarios
📌 If conversations are not being assigned correctly outside business hours:
Verify that the Assign outside schedule option is enabled.
If enabled, the conversation will be assigned to an available agent and the quick response will be sent.
If disabled, the conversation will remain with the bot until an administrator manually assigns it.
📌 If you want to prevent customers from waiting outside business hours:
Activate the Out of schedule message option to inform customers about your service hours and reduce their expectations of an immediate response.
📌 If there are agents connected outside business hours:
If a conversation arrives outside business hours but there are agents in assignable status, the conversation will be assigned.
If a conversation arrives within business hours but there are no assignable agents, it will be randomly assigned to any agent in that group.
📌 In automated tasks:
Automated tasks do not consider the group's schedule. For example: if a task is scheduled to execute 20 minutes after the customer writes, the system will send it even if business hours have already ended.
📝 Additional notes
⏱️ Considerations about first response time:
First response time is measured from when the conversation is assigned to the agent.
If a customer writes outside business hours and the conversation is assigned hours later (when the workday begins), the timer starts from that assignment, not from the initial message.
🕒 How schedule configuration affects reports:
The "Business hours" filter is strictly defined from this group configuration.
It is used to determine in reports whether a conversation was assigned within or outside operating hours.
This is extremely useful for measuring compliance with your service level (SLA) or response time.
Keep control of your support times! 🚀
Correctly configuring your groups' work schedules ensures that your customers always receive an appropriate response and that your performance metrics are accurate and transparent. ✅