# Skills

### Overview

The Skills feature in the Support application helps you manage and route incoming tickets efficiently. By defining and assigning specific skills to agents, you can ensure that tickets are handled by the most qualified team members based on language, expertise, or other attributes.

***

### Skill Types

When creating a new skill, you can choose from the following types depending on what you want to track:

#### 1. Multi Select

Use this type when agents can have multiple applicable options.

Example:

* Skill: Languages
* Values: English, Spanish, French, German

  At the agent level, you can select all the languages that an agent speaks.

#### 2. Single Select

Use this type when only one value applies per agent.

Example:

* Skill: Support Tier
* Values: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3

  An agent can only belong to one support tier at a time.

#### 3. Yes/No

Use this type for binary attributes.

Example:

* Skill: Allowed to handle VIP customers
* Values: Yes / No

> 💡 Note:

> The *Skill Value* represents the specific option selected for that skill (for example, “English” for a language skill or “Tier 2” for a support tier skill).

***

### Assigning Skills to Agents<br>

Once skills have been created, you can assign them to individual agents through the Agents menu.

Each agent’s profile will then display the skills and their corresponding values.

This setup allows you to route tickets intelligently based on these skills.

***

### Routing Tickets Using Skills

After setting up skills and assigning them to agents, you can use Action Rules to determine when a skill applies to a ticket.

Example:

* If a ticket is created by a VIP customer, you can automatically apply the skill “VIP Handling: Yes” to that ticket.

In Flows, you can trigger actions when a skill changes on a ticket or feed item.

For example, using the “Assign to Agent” step, you can ensure the ticket is routed only to agents with the required skills.

***

### Queue Management and Skill Availability

At this time, it isn’t possible to keep a ticket in a central queue if no agent with the required skill is available.

If no matching agent is found, the system will route the ticket to another available agent.

When using the “Assign to Agent” step, routing will prioritize agent availability. However, if no skilled agent is online, the ticket will still be assigned.

***

### Preventing Tickets from Being Assigned to Offline Agents

To avoid assigning tickets outside of working hours, you can add a Business Hours check before the assignment step in your workflow.

This ensures that tickets are only routed to agents when they’re actively online and within designated working times.

### Summary

| Multi Select  | For multiple applicable values | Languages spoken (English, Spanish, French) |
| ------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- |
| Single Select | For one applicable value       | Support Tier (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3)       |
| Yes/No        | For binary conditions          | Allowed to handle VIP customers (Yes/No)    |


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.bird.com/applications/inbox/inbox/admin-guide/skills.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.