Receive and Manage Escalations
Open in CMSThis tutorial explains how supervisors receive, claim, and complete escalations in real time in the Escalation Queue.
The example continues the Atlas test from Configure Escalation: an employee asked Atlas for an exception to approve a USD 1.2 million project. In this test, Rina Wijaya, Kirana's operations lead, sent the request from the Preview chat herself, so she appears both as the Requester and as the supervisor who handles the case.
Before you start
- Escalation is configured in the CMS and you have one test escalation. If not, complete Configure Escalation first.
- You can sign in with an account that is assigned as a supervisor for this agent.
Step 1: Open the Escalation Queue
On the CMS Escalation page (Conversation → Escalation), click Open Preview Queue to test, or Open Published Queue for the live queue. The Escalation Queue button in the top card opens the queue too. Sign in if you are asked to.
The queue opens in a new browser tab. In preview mode, an orange DRAFT PREVIEW badge sits next to the Escalation Queue title, so you can tell it apart from the live queue. Your name and the role Supervisor show in the top-right corner.
Use the preview queue when you validate configuration changes, and the published queue for live operations.
Step 2: Get to know the workspace
The page is split into two panes:
- Left pane: Active Requests, with a badge that counts the pending cases (for example 1 Pending), a Search topic... box, the filters, and the list of escalations.
- Right pane: the details and actions of the selected escalation. Until you select one, it says "Select an escalation to view details".
Each card in the list shows how long ago the case was raised, the requester, the topic and area, the agent, the trigger, and the start of the reason, with a status badge and a flag for the urgency.
On smaller screens, the details open on their own page with a Back button.
Step 3: Watch the connection status
The indicator in the header shows whether real-time updates are flowing:
- Live: new and updated escalations appear automatically.
- Reconnecting…: a temporary interruption.
- Disconnected: updates may not arrive until the connection is back.
Do not work through high-priority cases while the status is Disconnected. Reload the page first, because the list may not be current.
Step 4: Turn on sound notifications (optional)
Click the speaker icon in the header (Enable sound notifications) to hear an alert when an escalation is created or updated. This helps when you keep the queue open in a background tab. Click it again to turn sound off.
The moon or sun icon next to it switches the queue between dark and light mode.
Step 5: Filter the queue
Click Filter to show the filters (Hide collapses them again):
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Agent | The agents you supervise, for example Atlas |
| Status | All, Pending, In Progress, Completed |
| Urgency | All, Low, Medium, High, Critical |
| Area | Free text, for example Kirana Group |
| From / To | A date range |
Use Search topic... to find a topic, for example Approval limits. Active filters show as chips above the fields; CLEAR ALL removes them.
As a triage routine, filter on Pending and High or Critical urgency first, then narrow by area.
Step 6: Open and review an escalation
Click the case in the list. The right pane shows Escalation #B75F06A1 with the status Pending, the urgency High, when it was created, and Unclaimed. It has these sections:
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Requester | The user's name, here Rina Wijaya. A user who was not signed in and gave no name shows as "User not logged in". |
| Communications | Email and Phone, each with a copy button. The email opens your mail app; the phone number opens a WhatsApp chat. The local number from the chat was stored with the country code: 6281200000000. |
| Case Context | Topic (Approval limits), Area (Kirana Group), Escalation Trigger (Decision outside the SOPs) and Escalation Reason, written by the agent. |
| AI-Generated Intelligence Summary | A short recap of the conversation with a Recommended follow-up, in the summary language you set in the CMS. |
| Message History | The conversation itself. See Step 8. |
The summary is generated automatically the first time someone opens a case that does not have one yet. It is generated once per case, because each summary is a billable model call. If it fails, click Retry. For Atlas, the summary says that the agent could not grant an exception under its authority and recommends contacting the requester promptly to verify the delegation or alternate-approver process before the vendor deadline.
The share icon next to the action button copies a link to this escalation, so you can send it to a colleague.
If the organization has Privacy Mode on, the message history shows no content and the AI summary is a generic, content-free text instead of a real recap. Supervisors are staff too, and privacy mode withholds content from everyone.
Step 7: Claim the escalation
Click CLAIM TICKET. The status changes to In Progress, the header shows Claimed by Rina Wijaya, and the card in the list says the same, so other supervisors know who owns the case. If two supervisors claim at the same moment, only the first claim succeeds.
A Resolution note field now appears at the top, with the hint "Required — Complete button enables once filled". The COMPLETE button stays disabled until you write a note. Other supervisors see "Resolution note can be edited only by claimer." instead of the field.
Claim as soon as you decide to handle a case, to avoid duplicate work.
Step 8: Read the conversation
Scroll down to Message History and click SEE CONVERSATION. The thread shows the user's and the agent's messages, without system or tool messages. HIDE THREAD collapses it again.
For Atlas, the thread shows the request for an exception, Atlas's reply that it cannot approve an exception and its request for a name and phone number, the contact details, and Atlas's confirmation that it handed the request to the Operations duty supervisor.
Read the latest user messages first, then check the trigger and reason to confirm the urgency. Use the AI summary as a speed-up, but verify key facts in the conversation before you act.
Step 9: Write the resolution note
Handle the case outside the queue as needed, for example by calling the requester. Then describe in Resolution note what happened, what you did, and whether follow-up is still needed. For Atlas:
Called Rina. The Regional Director's delegate in the Delegation of Authority register (Deputy Regional Director) will approve today. Exception not needed.
As soon as the note has text, COMPLETE turns green and becomes clickable.
Step 10: Complete the escalation
Click COMPLETE. The status changes to Completed, and a Resolution Summary at the top shows your note with "Resolved 5 Oct 2026, 01:42 GMT+7 by Rina Wijaya." In the list, the card is greyed out with the Completed badge.
Release a claimed case
If a case was claimed by someone who cannot finish it, an agent Owner, Contributor or Admin sees a Release button on the In Progress case. Release returns it to Pending, so another supervisor can claim it. Supervisors without one of those roles do not see the button.
Check the result
- Trigger one escalation from a test conversation, as in Configure Escalation.
- Check that it appears in the queue while the indicator says Live, without reloading.
- Claim it with CLAIM TICKET from a supervisor account.
- Check that the AI summary appears and that SEE CONVERSATION shows the thread.
- Write a resolution note and click COMPLETE. The case shows Completed with your Resolution Summary.
If every step works, your supervisor workflow is ready.
Next steps
- Next in the journey: Send Escalation Events to a Webhook, to notify your ticketing or chat tools automatically.
- Adjust the rules: go back to Configure Escalation to refine trigger conditions or supervisor scopes.