TG-Staff Session Dispatch Configuration Guide: Round-Robin vs Online-First Rules Explained

When your Telegram Bot customer support team expands from one person to multiple, a practical question arises: Who should get the new incoming user sessions? Relying on manual coordination or first-come-first-serve not only kills efficiency but also leads to duplicate handling or long wait times for users.

TG-Staff’s Session Dispatch feature is designed to solve this pain point. It allows you to configure assignment rules at the project level, ensuring every new session is automatically and orderly routed to the right agent. This article breaks down the two core rules—Round-Robin and Online-First—and walks you through the setup step by step, helping you build an efficient customer support response system.

What Is TG-Staff Session Dispatch and Why Does Your Team Need It?

Session Dispatch is a mechanism that automatically assigns new incoming Telegram user sessions to specific agents based on preset rules in a multi-agent environment. Without a dispatch system, multi-agent support can descend into chaos:

• Users are replied to by multiple agents simultaneously: Fragmented communication, terrible user experience.
• Some agents idle while others are overwhelmed: Uneven workload, team morale suffers.
• Users wait long for a response: Especially during peak hours, potential customers are lost.

TG-Staff solves these problems with project-level dispatch rules. You don’t need to write any code—just a few clicks in the web console to enable smart, automatic session assignment, making team collaboration smooth and orderly.

The Two Core Dispatch Rules: Round-Robin vs Online-First

TG-Staff offers two dispatch rules: Round-Robin and Online-First. They work differently and suit different team scenarios. Your choice depends on team size and response time requirements.

Round-Robin: Balanced Workload in Order

How it works: The system maintains an agent list and assigns new sessions sequentially (round-robin) to authorized agents. For example, agents A, B, C are all online: first session goes to A, second to B, third to C, fourth back to A, and so on.

Use cases:

• Stable agent headcount with roughly concurrent online hours.
• Teams aiming for fair workload distribution, avoiding favoritism or neglect.
• Regular support scenarios where response speed is not extremely critical.

Pros: Most balanced workload—each agent handles roughly the same number of sessions. Cons: If an agent temporarily goes offline, their “turn” may delay session assignment until the next online agent picks it up.

Online-First: Prioritize Response, Minimize Waiting

How it works: When a new session comes in, the system first checks which agents are currently online, then assigns it to an online agent using round-robin logic. Only when all authorized agents are offline does it fall back to standard round-robin (queuing sessions until an agent comes online, then assigning in order).

Use cases:

• Agents with irregular working hours (e.g., part-time, different time zones).
• Teams requiring fast response times, wanting users to be immediately handled by an online agent.
• Shift-based support teams needing messages prioritized for current active agents.

Pros: Shortest user wait time, maximizing use of available online staff. Cons: Online active agents may take on more sessions, slightly less balanced workload compared to pure round-robin.

How to Configure Session Dispatch Rules in TG-Staff Project Settings

Configuration is straightforward, no technical background needed. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Enter Project Settings

1. Log in to the TG-Staff App Console.
2. In the left navigation bar, find and click the Project (your Telegram Bot) you want to configure.
3. On the project details page, click the “Project Settings” tab at the top.

Step 2: Select Dispatch Rule and Agent Scope

1. On the project settings page, locate the “Session Dispatch” module.
2. Select Dispatch Rule: Click the dropdown menu and choose “Round-Robin” or “Online-First”. The default is usually Round-Robin.
3. Configure Project Agent Scope: Decide which agents can receive sessions for this project. Two options:
   • All Agents: All agents with access to this project will participate in dispatch.
   • Specific Agents: Select specific agents from the list. These agents must already have operation permissions for the project. This is useful for dividing teams by skill group (e.g., Chinese support group, English support group) or by work shift.

Step 3: Save and Verify Configuration

1. Click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.
2. After saving, verify the configuration by:
   • Sending a test session: Use another Telegram account to send a message to your bot. Check the console “Session List” to see if the session is automatically assigned to the expected agent.
   • Checking agent reception: Have different agents log in to the console and see if they receive the newly assigned session.

Project Agent Scope: Control Who Receives Conversations

Correctly configuring the “Project Agent Scope” is key to successful conversation distribution. It determines which agents the distribution rules apply to.

• All Agents: Suitable for small teams where everyone has the same responsibilities and whoever is available takes the conversation.
• Specified Agents: Suitable for teams of a certain size that need fine-grained management.
  • Group by Skill: For example, assign the agent scope of the “Pre-sales” project to the sales team, and the “After-sales Support” project to the technical support team.
  • Group by Work Shift: For example, create separate projects or configure different agent scopes for “Day Shift” and “Night Shift” teams.
  • Permissions First: Note that you can only select agents who already have operation permissions for the project. If you cannot find an agent, you need to assign the corresponding project permissions to them in “Agent Management” first.

Best Practices and Common Misconceptions for Conversation Distribution

• Misconception: As long as distribution is configured, all conversations will be automatically assigned.
  • Truth: If all specified agents are offline, conversations will enter a waiting queue and will not be automatically assigned to offline agents. In this case, it is recommended to use the “Online First” rule, or ensure that each shift has enough online agents during scheduling.
• Best Practice: Choose rules based on team size.
  • Small teams of 3-5 people online simultaneously: Round Robin is fair enough.
  • Teams of 10+ people with shifts or part-time agents: Online First can significantly improve response speed.
• Best Practice: Regularly check agent status.
  • Ensure agents are logged into the Web console and are in “Online” status. Offline agents will not participate in any distribution.

Session Routing + Diversion Link: Build a Complete Traffic and Conversion Funnel

TG-Staff’s session routing feature works seamlessly with Diversion Links to create a full closed loop from ad traffic to human agent support.

Typical Flow:

1. Ad Campaigns: Place a TG-Staff generated diversion link (magic link) in Facebook, Google, or Twitter ads, e.g., https://app.tg-staff.com/abc123.
2. User Click: When a user clicks the link, the system automatically captures their IP, browser info, device type, and UTM parameters from the URL.
3. Bot Redirection: The user is redirected to your Telegram Bot, triggering an automatic welcome message or command flow.
4. Human Handoff: When the user needs human assistance, the session is automatically assigned to an available agent based on your configured session routing rules (round-robin or online-first).

When handling a user, agents can see the diversion link source and attribution data in the user profile, enabling more targeted service. This pipeline is a powerful tool for cross-border, overseas, and Web3 teams to achieve multi-channel traffic attribution and efficient customer conversion.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can round-robin and online-first be enabled simultaneously?

A: No. In TG-Staff project settings, you can only select one routing rule. The online-first rule automatically falls back to round-robin when all agents are offline.

Q: I set “designated agents,” but new sessions are not assigned to anyone. Why?

A: Please check two things: First, whether the designated agents have been granted operation permissions for this project (this needs to be assigned in agent management first); second, whether these agents are currently “online” in the Web console. If all designated agents are offline, sessions will enter the waiting queue until someone comes online.

Q: Will modifying the routing rule affect ongoing sessions?

A: No. Changes to the routing rule only apply to new sessions created after the modification. Sessions already assigned and in progress will continue to be handled by the current agent and will not be reassigned or interrupted.

Q: Can I use the session routing feature in the free trial version?

A: Yes. The TG-Staff free trial includes the session routing feature, allowing you to try both round-robin and online-first rules to evaluate which one better suits your team’s needs.

Q: How can I view the number of sessions received by each agent?

A: In the TG-Staff console, you can view each agent’s session handling count, average response time, and other data in the “Session History” or “Agent Statistics” (Pro version) modules, helping you evaluate routing effectiveness and agent workload.

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Take action now: Configuring session routing is the first step to improving the efficiency of multi-agent teams. Sign up for the TG-Staff free trial and experience both round-robin and online-first rules. For more detailed configuration instructions, please refer to the TG-Staff official documentation. If you encounter any issues during configuration, feel free to contact the support Bot @tgstaff_robot for real-time assistance.