Send each request to the cheapest model or tool that fits

Fields

• Customer email or message
• Earlier messages in the thread, if any

Questions

1. Does the request give enough detail to act on without asking a clarifying question? Yes / No

   Read the request and any earlier messages in the thread. Yes: It is clear what the customer wants and which account, item or feature it concerns, so the assistant can act or answer. No: The assistant would first have to ask what the customer means, which account or item, or what went wrong.

2. Which route in the routing policy should handle this request? Choice

   Read the request, any earlier messages and the routes in the context. If the request asks for several things, choose the route for the part that needs the most; that is, of the options that fit any part, choose the one lowest in the list.

   • No reply needed An auto-reply, a thank-you with nothing asked, or spam.
   • Help centre answer Answered from the published help articles with no need for this customer's records.
   • Account lookup Needs this customer's own records through the account tool, but changes nothing.
   • Account change Asks for a change the assistant may make with its tools, such as the billing period, seats or billing contact.
   • Large model Needs troubleshooting over several steps, an integration or API answer, long writing or reasoning.
   • Person Asks for something the policy sends to a person, such as a refund, a waived charge, an exception or a promise made by staff.

3. How much work does a good answer to the request take? Scale

   Read the request and any earlier messages. Rate the work a good answer needs, whoever gives it, leaving out any calculation the billing tool will do.

   • Single fact One lookup or one sentence answers it.
   • A few facts Two or three facts or steps, each answered on its own.
   • Multi-step Four or more steps, or steps where each depends on the one before, or a long piece of writing.
   • Expert work Open-ended analysis or debugging a specialist would do.

4. Does answering the request need data from this customer's own account? Yes / No

   Read the request and any earlier messages. Yes: A good answer needs this customer's own records, such as their plan, seats, invoices, usage or tickets. No: The published help articles or general knowledge are enough.

5. Does the request ask to change, create, cancel or pay for something? Yes / No

   Read the request and any earlier messages. Yes: The customer asks for something to be changed, created, cancelled, applied, refunded or paid, on their account or elsewhere. No: The customer only asks a question or asks for information.

6. Does the request ask for anything on the policy's list for a person? Yes / No

   Read the request, any earlier messages and the list for a person in the context: a refund, credit, discount or waived charge; an exception to the terms; anything staff are said to have promised; a security incident or suspected takeover; a request for personal data or its deletion; a legal threat or a complaint. Yes: At least one part of the request is on that list. No: No part of the request is on that list.

7. Does a full answer need a calculation, such as a price, a saving or a prorated amount? Yes / No

   Read the request and any earlier messages. Do not do any calculation yourself. Yes: A full answer needs a number worked out, such as a total, a saving, a prorated charge or a difference between two prices. No: No number needs to be worked out. Quoting a published price is No.

8. Does the customer say they cannot use the product or are blocked from work right now? Yes / No

   Read the request and any earlier messages. Yes: The customer says the product is down for them, they cannot log in, or their team is blocked from working now. No: The customer says nothing of the kind. A request that is merely wanted soon is No.

Lens columns

enough_detail, enough_detail_probability, route, route_probability, complexity, complexity_average, needs_account_data, needs_account_data_probability, changes_something, changes_something_probability, reserved_for_person, reserved_for_person_probability, needs_calculation, needs_calculation_probability, blocked_now, blocked_now_probability