If operating hours
If Operating Hours checks whether the current time is included in a configured operating hours slot. It is useful whenever you want to connect a conversation to a live agent only when a team is actually open, so users do not wait for an agent that cannot reply.
You can create different working hours for different teams or departments (for example, Sales and Support), and this is also very useful for international teams working across time zones.
Where to find the action
In Tiledesk Design Studio, you can find it here: Most used actions → If Operating Hours
How to use it in your flow
Place If Operating Hours right before Transfer to a Human. Whenever the chat is supposed to be connected to a live agent, the system checks if it is currently inside the team’s operating hours.
Green endpoint
If the current time is within operating hours, the green endpoint is triggered and the flow can continue to Transfer to a Human.
Red endpoint
If the current time is outside operating hours, the red endpoint is triggered. You can route users to an offline path (collect email or phone number, or ask them to leave a message).
How to configure the action
Choose which operating hours to check
Under Check operating hours, choose one of these options:
Option A: General (project-wide) Use this when the same opening hours apply to the whole project. The General operating hours refers to your whole project.
Your customers cannot ask for an agent during offline hours, and their requests will be automatically put in the Unassigned conversations queue.
Option B: Selected time slot (team-specific) Use this when different teams need different schedules. For example, you can set a dedicated time slot for your Sales team, and another one for Support.
How to create operating hours and time slots
To configure the general opening hours or create additional time slots, follow this guide: Define the Operating Hours
Once your operating hours and time slots are set, come back to Design Studio and select General or a Selected time slot in the action configuration.
What to do on the red endpoint (offline)
When the red endpoint is triggered, it means the current time is outside the selected operating hours.
Common offline paths include:
Ask for email and/or phone number so you can contact the user later
Ask the user to leave a message describing the issue or request
Provide an alternative self-service option (FAQ, knowledge base) and offer follow-up
In this tutorial example, we inform the user that the Sales team is currently outside operating hours, and we ask them to leave a message. The message can then be handled by the team when they are back online.
Hope this helps.
If you need further assistance, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. You can also visit our website for more AI Agent use cases: www.tiledesk.com.
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