Availability Routing: Skip Anyone Who Is Out, at Lunch, or Over Capacity
Assigning work to someone who is offline just delays it. Assigner uses availability routing to check who is actually free right now, skipping anyone out, on break, or over capacity, so each item goes to a person who can pick it up and start.
In short
Agent availability routing is a method of assigning work only to people who are currently available, automatically skipping anyone who is offline, on break, out of office, or already over their capacity. Assigner checks availability at the moment of assignment and routes each ticket, lead, or task to someone who can actually work it now, rather than dropping it on an empty desk where it waits. Availability comes from status, schedules, and time-off, plus your capacity limits, so being technically online but already full still counts as unavailable. This keeps queues moving because items are not parked with people who cannot respond, and it protects response times without a manager manually reshuffling assignments. The same logic runs across support, sales, and ops, so one absence does not create three separate backlogs. Every skip is explainable, showing that an item passed a person because they were out or at capacity and landed with the next available fit. Assigner is designed to keep work with people who can act on it, not to guarantee instant handling, and the availability and capacity rules stay yours.
What you get
Availability routing, built for support, sales, and ops teams
Only assigns to who is free
Assigner checks live availability and routes each item to someone who can pick it up now, not to an empty desk.
Respects breaks and time-off
Status, schedules, and out-of-office all feed availability, so people on lunch or leave are skipped automatically.
Over capacity counts as busy
Being online but already full still means unavailable, so work does not pile onto someone who cannot take more.
Explainable skips
Each item shows it passed someone because they were out or at capacity, so the routing is transparent, not arbitrary.
How it works
From incoming work to the right available person, in four steps
Set status and schedules
Let people mark themselves available or away, and feed in schedules and time-off so availability reflects reality.
Set capacity limits
Define how much each person can hold, so being full counts the same as being out when work is assigned.
Assigner skips the unavailable
Each incoming item routes past anyone out or over capacity and lands with the next available person who fits.
Review the skips
Every assignment shows who was skipped and why. Adjust schedules and caps so coverage stays accurate.
Questions buyers ask
Frequently asked questions
What is availability routing?
Availability routing is a method of assigning work only to people who can act on it right now, automatically skipping anyone offline, on break, out of office, or over capacity. Assigner checks availability at the moment of assignment and routes each ticket, lead, or task to the next available fit, so nothing gets parked on an empty desk while it ages in the queue.
How does availability-based assignment work?
The router reads live signals before it assigns: online status, working-hours schedules, time-off, and how much open work each person already holds against a capacity limit you set. Anyone out or at capacity is passed over, and the item lands with the next available qualified person. Assigner records the skip reason, so you can see who was passed and why.
Does being online but busy count as available?
No. In Assigner, capacity is part of availability, so a person who is technically online but already holding their maximum open items is treated as unavailable and skipped. This stops work from piling onto someone who cannot take more while others sit idle, and it keeps the queue moving toward people who genuinely have room to respond.
What happens if no one is available?
Assigner uses a fallback so a request never stalls unassigned. If no qualified person is available, you can route the item to an overflow group, a manager, or a hold queue, or relax the rule to widen the pool, depending on how you configure it. Every fallback is logged, so you can see when coverage ran thin and adjust schedules or caps.
Can availability routing respect working hours and time zones?
Yes. Schedules and time-off feed availability, so people are only assigned during their working hours and are skipped on lunch, after shift, or on leave. For distributed teams, this means a lead arriving overnight routes to someone whose shift is active rather than sitting until morning, and every assignment shows it went to an available person.
Stop hand-sorting your incoming work
Let Assigner route every ticket, lead, and request to the right available person by skill, workload, and availability, using rules you control. Every assignment shows why. Works beside the tools you already use, no black box.