Set up skills, create a rating model, and assign agents

Omnichannel for Customer Service offers a suite of capabilities that extend the power of Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise to enable organizations to instantly connect and engage with their customers across digital messaging channels. An additional license is required to access Omnichannel for Customer Service. For more information, see the Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing overview and Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing plan pages.

As an administrator, to create skills, you need at least one skill type in the system. For example, to add Spanish as a skill, you need a skill type called Language. You must first create a skill type and then create skills.

Create skill types

  1. Sign in to the Dynamics 365 instance.

  2. Select Settings > Customizations > Customize the System.

  3. Select Option Sets from the left pane.

  4. Double-click the Bookable Resource Characteristic Type from the list. A new window opens.

  5. Select the Add icon under the Options container.

  6. Type a name for the Label field. For example, Language.

  7. Select Save to save the skill type.

  8. Create as many skill types as required.

  9. Select Publish to publish the customization changes.

    Create skill type.

Manage skill settings in skills hub

Skills hub in Customer Service admin center helps you seamlessly create and assign skills to your agents. Use the Skills hub page to create and edit, add and remove users to skills and manage their proficiency.

  1. In Dynamics 365, go to Customer Service admin center.

  2. In the site map, select User management under Customer Support.

  3. Select Manage for Skills hub. The Skills hub page displays the skills, skill types, proficiency scales, and intelligent skill find models.

Manage proficiency scales

Create or update proficiency scales that are used to rate agent proficiency in the assigned skills.

  1. On the Skills hub page, select Manage in Proficiency scale area.

  2. To create a proficiency scale, on the Proficiency scale dialog, select Create, and do the following:

    • Scale name: Enter a scale name.
    • Minimum rating value: Enter the minimum value.
    • Maximum rating value: Enter the maximum value.

    Note

    You can enter positive values only as minimum and maximum rating values.

    • Level names: Enter names for each rating value, such as average, good, and excellent.
  3. Select Create.

If you'd created proficiency scales in the classic experience, you can update them in the classic experience only.

Create skills in skills hub

  1. On the Skills hub page, select Manage in the Skills area.

  2. On the Skills page, select Create.

  3. On the Create Skill dialog, select a skill type in the Skill type list, and then enter a name for it in Skill name.

  4. To add the skill to users, in the Users section, select Add, and then select the users.

  5. Select Add selected users.

  6. To add proficiency, select the users who will be assigned the same proficiency, select Update proficiency, and select a value from the dropdown list. The proficiency value is assigned for the selected users.

  7. Select Create. The skill is created and assigned to the selected users.

  8. To update the users for a skill, select a skill, and on the Edit Skill dialog, perform the steps to add users and attach a proficiency value.

Create skills using the classic experience

  1. In Dynamics 365, go to one of the apps, and perform the following steps.

    • In the site map, select User management in Customer Support.
  2. For Skills, select Manage.

  3. Select New.

  4. Specify the following in the New Skill page.

    Field Description Example value
    Name Specify the name of the skill. Spanish
    Note:
    The name must be unique.
    Type Select a skill type from the dropdown list. Language
    Description Provide a description of the skill. This record is used to define the skill level of the Spanish language.
  5. Select Save.

After you save, the Users (Agents) section appears. In this section, you add the agents and rating value. More information: Assign agents to the skill

Rating value of skills

When you add a skill to an agent, you also need to rate the proficiency of the skill. This enables the system to do an exact or closest match against the requirement of a conversation and distribute the conversation accordingly. You can use the default rating model, edit it, or create a new one to match the needs of your organization.

You must provide the minimum and maximum rating value. Also, in the Rating Values section, you must create rating value text against each score between the minimum and maximum rating value. This text appears when you're updating an agent's skill and proficiency.

Create a rating model

You can create rating models in the Customer Service admin center or Omnichannel admin center app.

  1. Perform the steps by using one of the following apps.

    • In the site map of Customer Service admin center, select Insights in Operations.

    • In the site map of Omnichannel admin center, select User attributes in Advanced settings.

  2. In the Skill-based routing section, select Manage.

  3. On the Omnichannel Configuration page, in the Rating Model section, select New Rating Model.

  4. Specify the following in the New Rating Model page.

    Tab Field Description Example value
    General Name Specify a name for the rating model. Language rating model
    General Min Rating Value Provide a minimum rating value. 1
    General Max Rating Value Provide a maximum rating value. 10
  5. Select Save. The Rating Values section appears.

  6. Select New Rating Value. The New Rating Value page appears.

  7. Specify the following.

    Field Description Value
    Name Specify a name for the rating value. ★★★★★★★★★★
    Note:
    This is an example value.
    Value Provide a value. 10
    Note:
    This is an example value.
  8. Select Save and Close to save and add the rating value to the grid.

  9. Select New to add other rating values and repeat steps 4 and 5.

  10. Select Save to save the rating model changes.

We recommend that you use a rating model with minimum value as 1 and maximum value as 10, and define the rating values accordingly.

For example:

Rating value name Value
★★★★★★★★★★ 10 star
★★★★★★★★★ 9 star
★★★★★★★★ 8 star
★★★★★★★ 7 star
★★★★★★ 6 star
★★★★★ 5 star
★★★★ 4 star
★★★ 3 star
★★ 2 star
1 star

Add agents as bookable resource in the classic experience

Add the agents as a bookable resource so that you can assign skills to them. This task is required for classic experience only and not for the new skills hub experience.

  1. Go to the users page in any of the administrator apps.

  2. Select a user from the list and select the Omnichannel tab.

  3. Select New Bookable Resource in the Skills Configurations section. The New Bookable Resource page appears.

  4. Specify the name of the user in the Name field.

  5. Select Save.

Assign agents to skill

Important

Support for the Omnichannel Administration app ended on April 30, 2022, and the app was removed in July 2023. We recommend that you use the Customer Service admin center app to configure the latest features, such as unified routing and voice channel. More information: Omnichannel Administration app is deprecated

  1. Do one of the following:

    • In the site map of Customer Service admin center, select User management under Customer support, and then select Manage for Skills.
    • In the site map of Omnichannel admin center, select User attributes under Advanced settings, and then select Manage for Skills.
  2. Select a skill from the list for which you want to assign the agents.

  3. Select New Bookable Resource Characteristic in the Users (Agents) section. The Quick Create: Bookable Resource Characteristic pane appears.

  4. Select an agent name for the User (Agent) field. Only the name of the agents who are added as Bookable Resources appears in the dropdown list.

  5. Select a rating value from the list. The values that appear are based on the rating model and rating values that you created. More information: Rating value of skills.

  6. Select Save and Close. The agent you added is displayed in the grid.

    Assign agents to skill.

  7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 to add more agents to the skill.

  8. Select Save.

Alternatively, you can also add a skill to the user (agent). More information: Manage users.

See also

Overview of skill-based routing
Manage users
Model data tables as skills