Skills describe what your agents are good at, and how good they are at it. You define a skill once, for example English or Technical Knowledge, and then give it to the agents who have it, each with a proficiency level from one to five stars. Supervisors and administrators can then see each agent's strengths at a glance in Agent Management.
Skills live in Settings, under Work Environment. This article covers defining skills, giving them to agents, and the second route from the agent side. For queues, which are set up separately, see Queues.
Watch the walkthrough
What you can do
| Action | Where | What it does | Permission needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| See the skills and who has them | Settings, Work Environment, Skills | Lists every skill with its agent count and status | Agent Management |
| Add a skill | Skills tab, Add Skill | Creates a new, active skill | Agent Management |
| Give a skill to agents, rate them, or take it away | Row menu, Manage Agents | Assigns agents with a star level, changes levels, removes agents | Agent Management |
| Delete a skill | Row menu, Delete | Removes a skill nobody has | Agent Management |
| Set the skills of one agent | Administration, Identity management, Agent Management, row menu, Skill | Assigns and rates skills for a single agent | Agent Management |
Agent Management is a permission in the Settings group (Administration, Identity management, Roles, Permissions). The Skills tab appears in Work Environment only for roles that have it. The tab is available to tenant users, not to the host.
Set up skills in three steps
- Define the skill. In Settings, Work Environment, Skills, select Add Skill, type the name and save.
- Give it to the right agents. Open the row menu, choose Manage Agents, pick the agents, set their stars and save.
- Check the result. Open Agent Management and look at the Skills column, or open Manage Agents again: the agent count in the list should match.
Review the levels from time to time. An agent's proficiency is a number you set by hand, so it stays as it is until you change it.
The skills list
Open Administration, Settings, Work Environment, then the Skills tab. The page reads Manage skills available for agent assignment. Inactive skills cannot be assigned to users.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Skill Name | The name of the skill |
| Agents | How many agents have the skill, for example 4 agents |
| Status | Active or Inactive |
| Menu icon | The row menu, described below |
Under the table, a line such as 2 skill(s) · 2 active counts your skills.
Select the agent count to see who has the skill.
The popover lists the assigned agents with their current status, for example Offline. View all agents takes you to Agent Management.
Add a skill
Select Add Skill.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Skill Name | Required. Up to 100 characters. Must be unique: if the name is taken, SESTEK AgenticCX answers A skill with the same name already exists. |
Save stays disabled until you type a name. A new skill is always active, and it starts with no agents.
You cannot rename a skill or switch it between active and inactive on this screen.
The row menu
Select the menu icon at the end of a row.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Manage Agents | Opens the assignment dialog |
| Delete | Deletes the skill. It is greyed out while any agent still has the skill |
Hover over the greyed-out Delete to see why: Remove from all users first to delete. Remove the agents first, then delete the skill.
Manage agents for a skill
Choose Manage Agents in the row menu.
The dialog title is Manage Agents followed by the name of the skill, for example Technical Knowledge.
Already assigned lists everyone who has the skill. Each row shows the agent's name and user name, and a five-star proficiency. Select a star to change the level. Select the x at the end of a row to take the skill away from that agent.
To add agents, open Select agents..., tick one or more people, and select Add.
The new agents appear in a New list with a green New badge and a default of three stars.
- Set each agent's stars one by one, or set the stars in the Apply to new row and select Apply to give every new agent the same level.
- Nothing is stored until you select Save. Cancel closes the dialog and discards the changes.
Remove everyone
Unassign All removes the skill from every assigned agent.
SESTEK AgenticCX asks first: {Skill} will be removed from {N} user(s). Their proficiency levels for this skill will also be deleted. The skill definition will not be deleted - only the user assignments will be removed. If you remove the last agent one by one instead, you are asked You are removing the last agent from this skill. Do you want to continue?
Set the skills of one agent
You can also work from the agent side. Open Administration, Identity management, Agent Management.
The Skills column shows each agent's skills with their stars. The list shows only users who have the agent role.
Open the menu at the end of an agent's row and choose Skill.
The dialog is titled Skill Management with the agent's name, and says Only active skills can be assigned to users.
- Pick a skill in Select skill and select + Add. Its level starts at three stars.
- Set the stars. The name of the level appears under the skill name.
- Select the x to take a skill away.
- Select Save.
| Stars | Level |
|---|---|
| 1 | Beginner |
| 2 | Elementary |
| 3 | Intermediate |
| 4 | Advanced |
| 5 | Expert |
Every selected skill needs a level. If one has none, you see Please assign a level to every selected skill. If the skill you need is not in the list, the link Not in the list? Go to Settings > Work Environment > Skills takes you back to define it.
Agent Management can also filter the list by Skill (with Match any or Match all) and export it. The export contains a Skills column.
Good to know
- A skill belongs to agents, not to queues. Queues have no skill setting, and the routing method for queues is Longest Idle Time. See Queues for how queues are set up.
- Removing a skill from an agent also removes the agent's level for it.
- Skill names are unique within your tenant.
- Defining a skill does nothing until you assign it to agents. A skill that nobody has can be deleted.