Troubleshoot Task Distribution

Written by Uday Kumar Updated September 23, 2026 14:03

Who this is for. SuperAdmins and anyone working AP Helpdesk tasks. Applies to. AP Helpdesk only. See the Roles and Access Reference.

A task reached the wrong person, or nobody at all. Two of the six checks below are not rules.

Check the rule

Work down this list for a task that reached the wrong person or nobody. Two of the checks are not rules.

Is it a task rule? A document rule never assigns a task, however well its conditions match. Check the tab the rule sits under. Both tabs number their rules from their own sequence, so the same Rule ID can exist on each.
Is Assignee Hold holding the thread? Where it is on, a reply on a thread that already carries a task goes to that thread’s existing assignee. See Build Assignment Rules (AP Helpdesk).
Was a task created at all? Task Suppression on the agent stops the agent raising a task for some messages. No task means nothing for a rule to assign.
Is the person eligible for AP Helpdesk? Tasks reach only users whose role covers AP Helpdesk, and documents only users whose role covers AP Invoices. A rule pointing at someone without the right access still matches, and the task is left unassigned. This is the most common surprise on an agent running both products, because the rule really is correct and the access is what is missing.
Where does the rule sit in the order? A broader task rule above it wins first. Order is counted within the Task Rules tab alone.
Is there a default assignee at the end of Task Rules? A rule with no conditions on the document tab does nothing for tasks. Each tab needs its own.

Questions that come up often

Each of these has a different cause from a rule that simply did not match.

Table 1. Common questions

What you see	Why
The rule looks right and the task is still unassigned.	The person the rule names is not eligible for AP Helpdesk. The rule matches, the assignment is discarded, and the task is created without an assignee.
A follow-up on a thread went to the wrong person.	Assignee Hold routed it to whoever already owns a task on that thread. See Task Rules for AP Helpdesk.
No task was created at all.	Task Suppression on the agent stops a task being raised for some messages. There is nothing for a rule to assign.
The same Rule ID appears twice.	Each tab numbers its rules from its own sequence, so a document rule and a task rule can share an ID. Quote the tab as well as the ID.
A rule cannot be switched off.	Individual rules are created, deleted and reordered, not disabled. To stop a whole policy, set its Status toggle off.
A team cannot be deactivated.	The team is the target of an assignment rule. Repoint or remove the rule first.

Worked examples

The shapes that come up most often when routing tasks.

Table 2. Task routing recipes

What you want	Conditions and action
Everything from one company to the person who owns that relationship	`Email From Domain contains` the domain, assign to that user.
One billing contact to a specialist	`Email From in` that single address, assign to the specialist.
Escalate anything mentioning a credit hold	`Email Subject contains CREDIT HOLD`, set Priority to High and assign to a user.
Raise the priority of one intent	`Detected Intent in` the intent, set Priority to High.
Split the vendor book alphabetically across the team	`Vendor Name range starts with A` paired with `range ends with G`, assign to a user. Repeat for the other bands.
Route one legal entity to its own team	`Entity in` that entity, assign to the team.
Give everything else an owner	A rule with no conditions at the end of the Task Rules tab, assigned to your team.

Symptoms on the policy list

You can spot a broken policy without opening it. Certain row patterns are diagnostic, and each has a specific fix.

Table 3. What the columns tell you

Pattern	Means	Fix
Distributed Tasks zero on an active policy	It has rules but nothing matches, or it was only just created.	Open it and check the assignment rules.
Policy Rules shows no badge	The policy has no rules. Creating it was only half the job.	Add assignment rules.
SmartFlow Skill reads [N/A]	The SmartFlow behind it no longer exists.	Retarget or delete the policy.
Status inactive	It distributes nothing while inactive.	Activate it, or leave it if that is intended.

A SmartFlow can carry only one policy. If the agent you want is not offered when creating a new policy, it already has one. Edit that rather than creating another.

A policy that assigns nothing

Creating the policy binds it to a SmartFlow. It does not yet decide who gets the work. Until assignment rules are added, Distributed Tasks stays at zero indefinitely and the queue continues to arrive unassigned.

Table 4. Zero distributed tasks

Cause	Fix
No assignment rules	Add them. See Build Assignment Rules (AP Helpdesk).
Rules exist but match nothing	Widen the conditions, or check the SmartFlow is the one receiving the work.
The policy is inactive	Activate it. Note the list opens filtered to Active, so an inactive policy is hidden.
The target team has no members	Add members, or retarget the rule.

Related information

For the document side, see Troubleshoot Document Distribution.
For the attributes a task rule can test, see Task Rules for AP Helpdesk.
For the rule builder and rule order, see Build Assignment Rules (AP Helpdesk).