Create a Distribution Policy (AP Helpdesk)

Written by Uday Kumar Updated

Who this is for. SuperAdmins. Access. Requires the TEAM_MANAGEMENT permission and the feature enabled for the tenant. See the Roles and Access Reference. Applies to. AP Helpdesk. The same screen serves both products.

A policy is created first and given its rules afterwards. Creating it binds the policy to one SmartFlow. The rules decide who actually gets the work.

Before you start

  • You must have SuperAdmin access to create or manage distribution policies.
  • The SmartFlow Skill you want to link the policy to must already exist in your tenant.
  • Teams or users you plan to assign work to must already be set up in Team Management or User Management.

Important: A SmartFlow Skill can be linked to only one active distribution policy at a time. If the linked SmartFlow is stopped, the distribution policy is automatically deactivated and becomes read-only.

Create a distribution policy

  1. Select Add Distribution Policy. The page opens at Distribution Policies > New Policy.

  2. Enter the Policy Name. It is required. It must be unique.

  3. Add a Policy Description.

  4. In SmartFlow, choose the skill the policy applies to. It is required, and it binds the policy to one skill, source and mailbox. The list offers only SmartCustomer and SmartVendor agents that do not already have a policy. An agent can carry only one, and a SmartVendor agent appears only where AP Helpdesk or AP Invoices is active on it.

  5. Select Create. Cancel discards the policy.

The New Policy page, with the Policy Name, Policy Description and SmartFlow fields and the Create button

Figure 1. The New Policy page.

The Assignment Rules area states plainly that assignment rules can be added after creating the policy. Creating the policy is step one of two. On its own it distributes nothing, and the list will show Distributed Tasks as zero indefinitely.

Why a SmartFlow is not listed

Each cause has its own remedy. Edit the policy that already exists, accept that the flow is out of scope, or activate the function on the agent first.

Table 1. Why a SmartFlow is not listed

Cause

What to do

The agent already has a policy

Edit the existing policy rather than creating a second.

The agent is neither SmartCustomer nor SmartVendor

Distribution policies cover those two only.

A SmartVendor agent with neither AP Helpdesk nor AP Invoices active

Activate the function on the agent first.

Next steps

  1. Add assignment rules to the policy. See Build Assignment Rules.

  2. Confirm the team the rules target has a manager and members.

  3. Activate the policy.

  4. Check Distributed Tasks on the list after a day; still zero means no rule is matching.

Activate or deactivate a policy

New policies are created in the Active state by default. To stop a policy from assigning work:

  1. On the Distribution Policies page, locate the policy.
  2. Select the Status toggle to set it to Inactive. Existing assignments are retained; no new assignments are made.

To re-enable the policy, select the toggle to set it back to Active.

Note: If the linked SmartFlow is stopped, the distribution policy is automatically deactivated and becomes read-only.

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