Rule resolution reference

When you have multiple opening-hours rules, the obvious question is: which one applies to a given conversation? This reference covers the resolution logic.

The matching matrix

Opening hours are assigned per team and channel on the Coverage tab of Settings → Opening hours. Each row is a team, each column is a channel, and each team and channel pair is one cell. A conversation uses the cell for its team and its channel — there are no team-only or channel-only rules, and no scoring between rules.

Each cell is set to one of four values:

• Inherit — Use the workspace default rule (shown as Inherit (rule name)), or always open when there is no default
• Always open — Treat the conversation as inside opening hours
• Always closed — Treat the conversation as outside opening hours
• A named rule — Use that rule’s schedule

Explicit Always open and Always closed assignments override the workspace default. If a cell is pinned to one of those values, Atender uses that result directly.

Inherit means “use the workspace default.” It is what a cell with no assignment does.

The All channels column sets every channel cell in the team’s row at once. It shows Mixed when the team’s channels differ — check each channel’s cell to see which rule applies.

Worked example

Coverage for two teams:

• Premium — Premium Email — Premium Hours
• General — Default Email — Inherit

A conversation routes to the Premium team on the Email channel. Resolution:

1. Atender reads the Premium / Email cell → Premium Email applies.
2. No other cell is consulted.

Same conversation but on Web chat instead:

1. Atender reads the Premium / Web chat cell → Premium Hours applies.

A General-team conversation on Web chat:

1. The General / Web chat cell is on Inherit → the workspace default rule applies, or always open if there is no default.

Assignment mode example

Your workspace default opening hours are Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:00.

You then set the Premium team’s Email cell to Always open.

Resolution:

1. A Premium-team conversation on Email uses Always open immediately.
2. The workspace default is ignored for that cell.
3. The conversation is treated as inside opening hours even on Saturday or outside 09:00–17:00.

A Premium-team Web chat conversation whose cell is left on Inherit follows the workspace default: Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:00.

When a cell has no assignment

A cell with no assignment inherits the workspace default rule. If the workspace has no default rule, the cell is always open. Downstream features that read opening hours then behave like this:

• SLA timers — use the workspace’s default opening hours. This is also what a conversation with no team yet uses. Only when the workspace has no default rule do SLA timers count continuously (no pausing — same as if Ignore office hours were on)
• Automation rules with schedule restrictions — schedule restrictions evaluated as “always inside hours” (the rule fires regardless)
• IVR Is Open node — defaults to closed (caller routes to the after-hours branch)
• Web chat widget — uses the workspace’s default opening hours (shows as available if there is no default rule, or if the widget has no default team)

The safest move is to promote one rule to default with Promote to default on the Rules tab, so every cell left on Inherit has real hours.

Only one rule per cell

Each team and channel cell holds at most one assignment, so two rules can’t tie for the same conversation. To change which rule applies, pick a different value in that cell.

Stopping a rule from applying

The Rules tab has no active toggle for opening-hours rules. A rule applies wherever it is assigned on Coverage. To stop it applying — for example, after a holiday schedule ends — set those cells back to Inherit or to another rule.

Audit trail

When a feature reads opening hours for a conversation, it records which rule applied. SLA badges and IVR flows expose this in their respective dashboards. If a rule fires (or doesn’t fire) when you didn’t expect it, this audit trail tells you why.

See also

• What are Opening Hours?
• Set up your team’s opening hours
• Set up channel-specific SLAs — SLA assignments use a different, specificity-scored model