How to Configure Skill Groups?

Skill groups define which dialogue topics each operator can handle. You assign topics and operators to skill groups so that incoming requests are routed to the right specialists.

When You'll Need This

You need to organize operators by areas of expertise (e.g. technical support, sales, billing).
You need to route dialogues to operators who work with specific topics.
You need to change which topics an operator can receive.

What's Important to Know

Skill group — a set of topics and operators. Operators in a skill group receive only dialogues for topics assigned to that group.
Topics — must be created first in Topics. Skill groups reference topics.
Automatic distribution — when a dialogue arrives, the system assigns it to an operator whose skill group includes the dialogue topic.
Normatives — for each group you can set the time to accept a new request and the time to respond to client messages. Group settings override global ones; if not set, the global setting is used.
Email for tickets — you can specify a default sender email for tickets assigned to this group.
All topics, including future ones — only a root admin can make a group receive every topic automatically, existing and new. See section 4.
Allowed sender email addresses — an extra list of addresses (choose several from mailboxes connected to the instance) from which operators in this skill group can send messages in Operator Line. This list is independent of Default sender email: both are stored separately. If the list is empty and unchanged, it may be omitted on save.

Before You Start

You are logged in with supervisor or administrator rights.
You have access to operator panel settings.
Topics are already created.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Open Skill Groups Settings

Go to the Settings module through the menu or directly at /settings-page.
In the sidebar, expand the Core entities group.
Click on "Skill groups" (/settings-page/skill_groups).
A page with a list of existing skill groups opens.

2. Create New Skill Group

On the skill groups page, click the "Create" or "Add" button.
In the form:
- Name — enter a descriptive name (e.g. "Technical Support", "Sales Team").
- Topics — select one or more topics that operators in this group will handle.
- Operators — select operators to add to this skill group.
- Active — enable to make the group available for distribution.
- Request acceptance normatives — maximum time (in seconds) for an operator to accept a new dialogue; warning threshold (in percent).
- Response time normative — maximum time (in seconds) to respond to a client message; warning threshold (in percent).
- Default sender email — email address for tickets assigned to this group (if not set, the global address is used).
- Allowed sender email addresses — pick one or more addresses from connected mailboxes. Operators in this group will see them among outbound “From” options when working with email in Operator Line (together with the group's default address, if set). To remove all extra addresses, clear the field before saving.
Click "Save" to create the skill group.

3. Edit Existing Skill Group

In the list, find the skill group and click on it to open the edit form.
Change the name, topics, operators, normatives, default sender, or Allowed sender email addresses as needed. The form has collapsible sections: basic parameters, acceptance and response normatives, topics, email for tickets (default sender and extra addresses), operators.
Click "Save" to apply changes.

4. All Topics, Including Future Ones (Root Only)

Use it for a catch-all group such as "Support" that should accept requests on any topic. You no longer add each new topic to it by hand.

Sign in as a root admin. Other roles do not see this option.
Open the skill group and expand the Topics section.
Turn on All topics, including future ones.
- The topics tree shows every topic checked and becomes read-only.
- The Topics in group: N line shows how many topics the group has now.
Click "Save".

What happens after saving:

The group immediately gets every existing topic, confidential ones included.
Every new topic, and every topic restored from deleted ones, is added to the group automatically. No action in the group is needed.
Admins without root rights see the topics tree of this group locked, with a note that topics are assigned automatically. They edit the other group fields as usual.

To go back to manual selection, a root admin turns the option off. Topics already added stay in the group. You can then uncheck the topics you don't need and save the group.

5. Delete Skill Group

In the list, find the skill group.
Use the delete action (if available).
Confirm deletion. Operators will no longer receive dialogues for topics that were only in this group.

What Happens Next

New dialogues with a topic assigned to the skill group will be offered to operators in that group.
Operators can be in multiple skill groups.
If no operator in the matching skill group is available, the dialogue may wait in the queue or be distributed according to system rules.
Operators in this group see addresses from the default sender field and from Allowed sender email addresses in email “From” options (deduplicated for their skill groups). If an operator belongs to several groups, the list may combine addresses from all of them.

How to Verify Everything Worked

Create a skill group with a topic and operator.
Send a test message to a bot that uses that topic.
Check that the dialogue is assigned to an operator from the correct skill group.
For a group with All topics, including future ones, create a new topic and open the group: the Topics in group counter went up by one and the new topic is checked.
Add test allowed addresses for the group, sign in as an operator in that group, and confirm they appear in the email “From” selector in a dialogue.