Missing the Cue: Critiques of Dataverse Queues

Introduction

While building a custom Dataverse solution for a client, we encountered a scenario that required employees to triage and prioritize incoming service requests. Queues seemed like the perfect tool to use in this scenario – they did all of this and allowed managers to have insight into individuals’ workloads and work items.

We proposed queues as a solution and got down to building the solution, both sides were looking forward to using the tool... until the first demo.  

If you’re unfamiliar, let’s cover some basics about them and then return to the story.

FAQs About Queues

What function do they provide?

Queues help prevent duplication of work by creating a system to identify a single responsible party for an item – no more “oops, I didn’t know you had started that.” They also allow users to see all work available to them and work they are currently assigned. Using routing rulesets, Dynamics users can automatically direct items to certain queues based on criteria.  

What are they?

Queues are a tool in Dataverse to line up items to work on. Instances of Dynamics 365 utilize queues, so they’re not uncommon to encounter. They provide an organized way to identify priority and assign responsibility to a user. You can have queues based on any number of distinctions, such as service area, topic or geography / location. Users have their own personal queues that show the items they are currently assigned.  

Note that queues do not change the ownership of the original record – they are a separate way of denoting the party responsible for the record.

What can they be used for?

Often, queues are used for communication records, such as emails or phone calls, and for tasks. Mailboxes can be connected to queues to automatically route incoming mail into Dataverse as a queue item. Custom entities can also be enabled for queues; following a previous example of mine, I would consider creating a queue for my custom “maintenance request” table – even one for each location, so the correct team sees their work requests.

Queues can even contain items across multiple tables; for example, all incoming communication from clients, such as emails and phone calls, can live in the same place. It provides a consolidated location for all items; one table does not need to take priority over another.  

Why Didn’t Queues Work Out for Our Client?

Due to the high volume of incoming work items, their employees were pressed to process the items in the queues quickly. Their critiques of the tool were mainly related to this struggle.

Too many clicks

To add items to a personal queue, users need to (1) select an item in a queue and then (2) press the “Pick” button in the command bar. A system confirmation dialog would ask the user whether they wanted to remove the item from the original queue, so another click was required to (3) confirm.  

Once it was added to their personal queue, users need to navigate to their queue (4) and then (5) open the record to begin their work. We placed the personal queue and the work queues at the top-level navigation of the model driven app to reduce the number of clicks required just for navigation.

No automatic refresh

Another critique our clients had of queues was a lack of automatic refresh. Due to the high turnover of items in the queues, they were concerned they would have delays in service if queues were not automatically refreshed.  

In Con-queue-sion

Queues are a useful tool available in Dataverse; they’ll organize and help distribute work items, but from a UI perspective, there seem to be some missing features that leave users wanting more (or less clicks). I think the user interface could use a few updates to create a more intuitive experience. It’s possible that some of these challenges could be overcome with a few event handlers, but an option for configuration would be preferable.  

I’d love to know if others have encountered these challenges and overcome them with some innovative solutions! Are there other things you would change about queues? I’d want a more intuitive user interface that requires less clicks to get things done.