Assignment overview
Assignment rules define how leads and opportunities are automatically distributed to sellers. When you create a lead or opportunity that meets specific conditions that have been defined in assignment rules, the system automatically assigns the record to the appropriate seller. The automated process saves time and optimizes the workload across your sales team.
Before you learn how to set up the application and create different assignment rules, you'll need to review this process in more detail to better understand how it works. This module examines leads, but opportunities work the same way.
When you create a lead that meets the rule criteria, the system considers the following factors to help determine how to assign leads:
How many active leads are already assigned to sellers
When a seller was last assigned a lead
Basic lead distribution
Two types of basic algorithms for lead distribution are:
Round robin - The system examines all matched sellers of the lead and assigns it to the one who was assigned a lead least recently.
Load balancing - The system examines all matched sellers of the lead and assigns it to the seller who has maximum available capacity. This method helps to ensure that all salespeople are equally busy and minimizes uneven workloads.
The following sections examine each algorithm in more detail.
Round robin
When a lead comes enters the system, the application identifies potential sellers who can work on the lead based on the selection criteria that's been defined in the assignment rules. The following table shows an example of what this process might look like. The algorithm has identified three sellers, each having been assigned a different lead recently on June 12, 2023.
| Seller | Last assigned a lead |
|---|---|
| Seller 1 | June 12, 2023, at 11:00 |
| Seller 2 | June 12, 2023, at 10:00 |
| Seller 3 | June 12, 2023, at 12:00 |
A new lead is created on June 12, 2023 at 13:30. Because Seller 2 was last assigned a lead at 10:00, the system assigns the lead to Seller 2 and then the algorithm updates the last-assigned lead time for Seller 2 as June 12, 2023 at 13:30.
In the following scenario, another lead has been created; however, this time, only Seller 2 and Seller 3 match the required attributes to work on the lead.
| Seller | Last assigned a lead |
|---|---|
| Seller 2 | June 12, 2023, at 13:30 |
| Seller 3 | June 12, 2023, at 12:00 |
Because Seller 2 was more recently assigned a lead, the system assigns the lead to Seller 3 and then updates the last-assigned lead time for Seller 3 to the time of routing.
Load balancing
Load balancing works differently than the round robin algorithm. The goal of load balancing is to ensure that all salespeople are equally busy and to minimize uneven workloads. Each seller has a capacity defined for them, and it represents the number of items that they can have assigned to them at one time.
The following table shows three sellers, each with an available capacity. A new lead has been created, and the system has identified the following three sellers as a match based on criteria that's been defined in the assignment rule.
| Seller | Available capacity |
|---|---|
| Seller 1 | 10 |
| Seller 2 | 12 |
| Seller 3 | 15 |
Because Seller 3 has the most available capacity of all eligible sellers, the lead is assigned to Seller 3. The system updates Seller 3's capacity to reflect the reduced capacity, as noted in the following table.
| Seller | Available capacity |
|---|---|
| Seller 1 | 10 |
| Seller 2 | 12 |
| Seller 3 | 14 |
The next lead that comes in and identifies these sellers will also be assigned to Seller 3 because they still have the most capacity available.
The above-mentioned scenarios represent simple scenarios. Other considerations can affect how items are assigned, such as the work schedule. Seller capacity and work schedules are examined in more detail later in this module.
For more information, see Understand lead distributions in assignment rules.
Now that you've learned about the basics of how items are automatically assigned to sellers in Sales, you can learn about the process for setting up assignment rules.