What is Message Assignment?
If you assign a conversation to a group or member, all messages in that conversation will go to that group or member. When they mark the assignment as completed, that conversation will be reverted to its default route with a thread update indicating the assignment was completed and by whom.
For example, if a patient texts your office number with a question about billing, anyone in the main inbox group can assign that conversation to Billing. Billing will be able to see past messages for context and pick up the conversation from there. Once they’ve solved the billing issue, they can mark the assignment complete, and that conversation will go back to the front desk.
However, there is a setting in your Organization's Preferences that allows you to adjust the assignment workflow. This setting will allow the billing group, listed above, to close the conversation once the assignment is marked complete.
How do I assign a message?
A new conversation or message will always start in the default route for the channel being used or the forwarded route for the patient. If you'd like to assign a message somewhere other than the default route, simply click the lightning bolt icon at the top of the page and a new window will open to the right.
By default, the Groups list will be selected, but you can toggle back and forth between Patient Message Groups and Members. Select the group or member you'd like to assign the message to and the active conversation will leave the group it's currently listed under and be placed in the task list for the group or member you've assigned it to.
You will know which member is online while you are assigning a message directly to them. If a Member is offline, you will receive the notification below.
I have assigned a message to a Member or group but now I can't see it. Why?
If you've assigned the message to another member it will only reside in their Assigned to Me task list until they choose to click Complete Assignment in the menu. If you assign the message to group, you'll have to be a member of that group in order to access it. If you aren't a member of the group, as an Administrator you can add yourself to the group by navigating to groups then selecting yourself and clicking update. If you aren't an Administrator, then ask your Administrator for access to the group.
Note: Once a member is deactivated, all conversations assigned to them will be automatically closed.
What happens when I complete an assignment?
When an assignment is completed, the conversation is sent back to the default route (group or member) with a thread event showing who completed the assignment and when. However, if you have the Closing Conversations Options toggled on as described below.
Can I close a conversation after it was assigned instead of it coming back to our main Inbox?
Yes. As an Organization Administrator, you can change the Preferences of your organization to allow for a conversation to be completely closed out by an Assignee. In order to make this change, you'll need to navigate to Settings in the upper right of the page and scroll down to Organization Preferences. On this page you’ll see a section for Closing Conversation Options.
By default, "Allow Closing by Assignee" will be turned off. If you enable it, when an assignee navigates to complete their assignment, they will see a message that the conversation will be closed out.
By selecting Assignment Complete when closing is allowed by the assignee, the conversation will NOT go back to the default route, however, the thread event indicating that the conversation was closed and by whom is available on the Contact's message history under Contacts.
To learn more about this setting, visit Organization Preferences.