Rules are effective in helping you ensure operational efficiency across your Gladly workflows, but it's also important to recognize limitations on what Rules can be used for. Review current operational limitations below.
FAQ
Rules can’t be used to prioritize one Channel over another
Rules can’t be used to prioritize one Channel over another. For example, you can’t create a Rule to always route an SMS message before a chat message.
Routing is always based on which message is the next due or has the most overdue SLA. See Routing Priority by Channel for information on how Gladly prioritizes Contacts from various Channels.
Rules do not act or apply on closed Conversations
Once a Conversation is closed, no automated actions set as Rule can be performed on it.
Rules do not apply to Conversations in Waiting status
Once a Conversation's SLA has been fulfilled and the Conversation moves to a Waiting status, due-date-based Triggers (such as Conversation due date is Overdue) are no longer valid for that Conversation. The Conversation no longer has an active due date for Rules to evaluate against.
If you need to take action on a Conversation that is in Waiting status, an Agent must do so manually.
Rules do not fire on Conversations handled by Gladly AI until handoff
When a Conversation is being handled by Gladly AI, Rules will not execute on incoming messages in that Conversation. Rules only evaluate and fire after the Conversation has been handed off from Gladly AI to a human Agent.
This means that any Rule logic, including auto-replies, keyword-based routing, Topic application, spam filtering, and Conversation closing, will not take effect while the Conversation remains with Gladly AI.
For example, if you have a Rule that applies a Topic based on a keyword in the message body, that Rule will not fire on messages that are received while the Conversation is being handled by Gladly AI. The Rule will only evaluate after the handoff occurs.
Rules do not execute ahead of routing phone calls
Rules that route inbound phone calls to a certain Inbox may not execute properly because phone calls can route ahead of any Rules. This only applies to phone calls but not voicemails.
Prioritize and route messages based on set business hours
All SLAs are determined based on calendar hours. For example, if your SMS SLA is set to 5 hours and a text comes at 10 PM when you are closed, the SMS will become overdue at 3 AM even if you are still closed. Still, you can set up SLA Business Hours to report on Contacts received within your normal operating hours.
Detect 'to' or 'from' addresses for messages that are not SMS, Email, or Phone
A Rule can only determine the "to" or "from" address based on email or phone number, not based on the Customer Profile. Therefore, you must configure this type of Rule with a specific email address or phone number, and it can only be applied to emails, SMS, or voice callers.
The SLA clock starts before Rules finish executing
The SLA clock begins the moment a Contact enters the queue, not after Rules finish running. This means that any time spent on Lookup Adaptor calls, Rule evaluation, and Action execution counts against the SLA.
For example, if your Chat SLA is set to 30 seconds and a Lookup Adaptor call takes 12 seconds, only 18 seconds remain for Rule execution and routing before the SLA is breached. Keep this in mind when building complex Rule chains or when using Lookup before Rules with a custom adaptor.
Triggers are not retroactive
Time-based Triggers evaluate at the precise moment a Conversation or Task reaches the defined threshold. If the threshold has already been exceeded when the Rule is created or activated, the Rule will not fire on those Conversations retroactively.
For example, if you activate a Rule with the Trigger Conversation due date is Overdue by 60 minutes, it will only fire on Conversations that reach exactly 60 minutes overdue after the Rule is activated. Conversations that are already 61 or more minutes overdue will not be affected.