Departments 🏢

Departments give you the power to distribute conversations and assign various agents to specific departments. For example, you can create a department entitled "Sales" and assign specific conversations to that department. To start using departments, follow the steps below:

Getting Started

Go to:
```
Settings > Miscellaneous
```
- Add, delete, and manage the departments. After saving, reload the page.
Go to:
```
Users > Agents
```
- Edit an agent. You will see a new field where you can set the department of the agent.
Reload the page and you're done! In the Conversations area, you will now see an option to set the department.

Settings ⚙️

Display in Dashboard

Displays the departments' list in the chat dashboard and forces users to choose a department before starting a conversation.

Display Images 🖼️

Displays the department image instead of the department color.

Display in Conversation List

Displays the department color in the conversation list of the admin area.

One Conversation per Department

Restrict users from opening multiple conversations within the same department, allowing only one conversation to be active per department.

Label

Replace the label Departments (plural) with another text. The name is displayed in the admin and tickets area.

Label Single

Replace the label Department (singular) with another text. The name is displayed in the admin and tickets area.

Dashboard Title

Set the title of the chat dashboard list. Default: Departments.

How it Works 🔧

Access Control:
- Agents and admins can only access conversations, users, and agents that have been assigned to their specific department.
- Admins with no assigned department always see the conversations of all departments.
Notifications:
- When an agent is assigned to a new department, an email notification is sent to all of the agents assigned to the new department.
General Department:
- The General department is global and gives agents access to all conversations within all departments. Also, all agents without a department are automatically assigned to the General department.
Automatic Assignment:
- To automatically assign a department to the user conversations, you can enter the JavaScript variable:
```
var SB_DEFAULT_DEPARTMENT = ID;
```
- Into the pages where the chat is displayed, replace ID with the department ID. For more details check the APIs here.
Chatbot Integration:
- The chatbot can assign a department to the active conversation via Dialogflow actions.

Assigning a Department

You can assign a department to a conversation in several ways:

Dashboard Selection 🖥️

Via:
```
Settings > Miscellaneous > Departments settings > Display in dashboard
```
- This setting will force the user to choose a department when starting a new conversation.

Automations ⚙️

Via:
```
Settings > Automations > More
```

JavaScript 📜

Via the JavaScript variable:
```
var SB_DEFAULT_DEPARTMENT = ID;
```
- Enter this code into the pages where the chat is displayed and replace ID with the department ID. For more details check the API here.

API Integration

Via API

By setting up and using departments, you can streamline your customer support and ensure that conversations are handled by the most appropriate agents, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. 🌟

Conditional Actions Notifications