Project Customer Service Distribution Range Configuration Guide: Session Assignment Strategy for Designated Agents vs. All Agents

When your Telegram community or Bot customer service team grows from 2 to 10 or even 20 people, a most overlooked yet critical issue arises: who should handle new conversations? Without clear rules, either all agents rush to grab conversations, or no one takes responsibility, causing user timeouts.

TG-Staff’s project customer service distribution range is the core configuration to solve this problem. It determines which agents are authorized to receive and handle conversations for a specific project. This article provides an in-depth comparison of the “All Agents” and “Designated Agents” modes, offering a complete guide from configuration to best practices to help you develop an efficient session assignment strategy based on your team size and business needs.

Why Project Customer Service Distribution Range is Key to Session Management

Simply put, the project customer service distribution range defines a “customer service pool” for a Telegram Bot project. In the TG-Staff console, you can set this pool to include all agents (All Agents) or only specific agents (Designated Agents).

This setting directly affects:

• Agent handling efficiency: Prevents irrelevant agents from receiving conversations outside their scope, reducing distractions.
• User wait time: A reasonable distribution range ensures conversations are quickly assigned to the right person, minimizing handoffs.
• Team collaboration model: Is it all-hands-on-deck or dedicated roles? The distribution range lays the foundation for your team’s division of labor.

Many teams start with the “All Agents” mode, but as projects increase and agents grow, they encounter chaos and unclear responsibilities. Switching to “Designated Agents” often immediately improves service quality.

Understanding the Core Differences Between the Two Distribution Modes

In TG-Staff, there are two modes for project customer service distribution range. The table below quickly compares their core differences:

Feature	All Agents	Designated Agents
Suitable team size	Small teams (3-5 people)	Medium to large teams (10+ people)
Assignment logic	All agents with project permissions can receive	Only selected agents can receive
Responsibility clarity	Low, may lead to unclaimed or duplicate claims	High, accountability per person
Configuration flexibility	Simple, no extra selection needed	Requires manual add/remove of agents
Use cases	Small Bot with full participation, testing phase	Professional customer service teams, multi-project, multi-language support

Mode 1: All Agents — Maximizing Resource Utilization

Use cases:

• Small team (3-5 people), all members involved in customer service.
• Project in early testing phase, wanting all agents to familiarize with workflows.
• Low business volume, no need for fine-grained division.

Assignment logic: When the distribution range is set to “All Agents,” any agent with project permissions can view and handle new conversations in the web portal. Combined with session distribution rules (e.g., “Round Robin” or “Online Priority”), the system automatically assigns new conversations to agents in the pool.

Advantages:

• Simple configuration—just select “All Agents” in project settings.
• High resource utilization; all agents can handle conversations, suitable for stable traffic.

Potential issues:

• With many agents, the “someone else will handle it” mentality may cause delayed responses.
• No specialization (e.g., Chinese vs. English support); all agents must handle all types of inquiries.

Mode 2: Designated Agents — Fine-Grained Operations and Clear Accountability

Use cases:

• Professional customer service team (10+ people) needing project, language, or skill group support.
• Sensitive projects (e.g., Web3 transactions, financial advice) requiring dedicated staff.
• Need clear ownership for each conversation for performance evaluation.

Configuration: In the TG-Staff console’s project settings, switch the distribution range to “Designated Agents,” then select specific members from the agent list. Only selected agents can see and handle conversations for that project.

Advantages:

• Clear responsibility; each conversation has a designated agent, reducing blame-shifting.
• Specialized service: assign agents by language or skill, e.g., fluent English speakers handle overseas users.
• Stricter access control: non-designated agents cannot see project conversations, preventing data leaks.

Caveats:

• If all designated agents are offline, new conversations cannot be assigned, leaving users stuck at the bot’s auto-reply stage. Ensure shift coverage or combine with appropriate distribution rules (see below).

Complete Steps to Configure Project Customer Service Distribution Range in TG-Staff

Below are the specific steps to configure the distribution range in the TG-Staff console. Ensure you are logged in and have project administrator permissions.

1. Log in to the Console: Visit https://app.tg-staff.com/ to enter your team space.
2. Enter Project Settings: In the left navigation bar, click “Projects”, find the Bot project you want to configure, click the project name to enter the details page, and then select “Settings”.
3. Find the Distribution Scope Option: In the “Session Distribution” area, you will see the “Project Customer Service Scope” dropdown menu. The default option is “All Agents”.
4. Select a Mode:
   • To use “All Agents”, no additional action is required.
   • To use “Specified Agents”, select this option, then click “Add Agents”.
5. Add Specified Agents: In the pop-up agent list, check the agents you want to participate in the project. You can search by name or email. After confirming, click “Save”.
6. Save Settings: Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page. The configuration takes effect immediately, and new sessions will be assigned according to the new rules.

Verify Configuration: You can have a test user send a message to the Bot, and then observe which agents can see the session in the Web portal. If set to “Specified Agents”, only the selected agents will see the new session notification.

Impact of Distribution Scope on Session Distribution Rules

The distribution scope determines “who is eligible to receive”, while the session distribution rules (Round Robin / Online First) determine “how to assign”. The combination of the two produces different practical effects.

Round Robin + Specified Agents — How to Ensure Fair Polling

When the project distribution scope is set to “Specified Agents” and the distribution rule is “Round Robin”, the system will only poll among the specified agent list. This means:

• Only the 3 agents you selected will receive new sessions in order.
• Other agents, even if online, will not be polled.
• The polling order is based on the agents’ receiving order, ensuring fairness.

Best Practice: If you have 5 agents responsible for a Bot but want 3 of them to handle 80% of the sessions and the other 2 as backup, you can set these 5 as specified agents and use the “Online First” rule (see below) to let the primary agents take priority.

Online First + All Agents — Automatic Takeover Mechanism During Peak Hours

When the project distribution scope is set to “All Agents” and the distribution rule is “Online First”, the system will do the following:

1. When a new session arrives, it is first assigned to currently online agents.
2. If multiple agents are online, the system selects the one who has been idle the longest.
3. If all agents are offline, the system falls back to the “Round Robin” logic, but since no agents are online, the session remains in the Bot auto-reply stage until an agent comes online.

Peak Hour Scenario: Suppose your Bot experiences a traffic surge during a promotional event. Setting “All Agents + Online First” allows all online agents to automatically take over sessions without manual assignment. When traffic decreases and some agents go offline, the system adjusts automatically.

Strategies for Linking Distribution Scope and Session Transfer

Session transfer is a frequent operation in customer service collaboration. The distribution scope directly affects which agents an agent can transfer conversations to:

• All Agents Mode: Agents can transfer conversations to any authorized agent in the project. During transfer, the system lists all online agents for selection.
• Designated Agents Mode: Agents can only transfer conversations to other agents designated for the same project. The transfer list automatically filters to show only designated agents.

Transfer Records: All transfer operations are recorded in the session history, including the transferrer, receiver, and time. This helps track conversation flow and analyze team collaboration efficiency.

Practical Advice: If your team uses the “Designated Agents” mode, we recommend setting a “duty agent” for each project as the default transfer target. When an agent encounters a complex issue they cannot handle, they can directly transfer to the duty agent to ensure uninterrupted conversation.

Best Practices: Choosing Distribution Scope Based on Team Size

Based on TG-Staff’s plan design (Standard supports 3 agents, Professional supports 20 agents), here are some specific recommendations:

Team Size	Recommended Mode	Reason
3-5 people	All Agents	Small team, no need for detailed division; All Agents mode is simple and efficient
6-10 people	Designated Agents (by project)	Project division starts; recommend assigning 3-5 core agents per Bot
10-20 people	Designated Agents (by skill)	Requires language and skill specialization; Designated Agents mode ensures clear responsibility

Configuration Checklist

Following the steps below can effectively reduce session loss and duplicate assignments:

FAQ

Q: If a project is set to “Assigned Agents” but all assigned agents are offline, how will new conversations be handled?

A: If the project’s routing scope is set to “Assigned Agents” and all assigned agents are offline, new conversations cannot be assigned and users will remain in the bot auto-reply phase. It is recommended to also configure “Round Robin” as a fallback rule, or ensure the assigned agents have shift coverage. TG-Staff’s conversation routing rules support an “Online First” mode; if all agents are offline, it falls back to “Round Robin”, but only if there are online agents within the routing scope.

Q: Can “All Agents” and “Assigned Agents” be changed anytime after creating a project?

A: Yes. In the TG-Staff console under “Project Settings”, you can switch the routing scope at any time and add or remove assigned agents. Switching does not affect ongoing conversations, but new conversations will be allocated according to the new rules.

Q: When using “Assigned Agents” mode, how can I ensure conversations are not leaked to non-assigned personnel?

A: In TG-Staff’s project permission settings, you can set the operational scope for each agent. If set to “Assigned Agents”, only the added agents can see and handle conversations for that project. Other agents, even if logged into the web portal, will not see the conversation list under that project.

Q: What restrictions does the routing scope have on conversation transfers?

A: If a project is set to “Assigned Agents”, agents can only transfer conversations to other agents also assigned to that project. If set to “All Agents”, agents can transfer conversations to any agent with permissions within the project. Transfer records can be viewed in the conversation history.

Q: My team has 20 agents, but only 5 are responsible for a specific bot. Which mode should I choose?

A: It is strongly recommended to select “Assigned Agents” mode and add those 5 agents as assigned personnel. This way, the other 15 agents will not receive conversations from that bot, avoiding distractions and ensuring clear conversation responsibility.

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Act Now: Sign up for a free trial of TG-Staff (3 days) and configure your first project routing scope. Visit https://app.tg-staff.com/ to get started. For assistance, refer to the official documentation or contact the support bot @tgstaff_robot.