Required Conversation Attributes

Support Portal allows workspace administrators to designate specific custom attributes as mandatory for conversation resolution. When required attributes are configured, agents cannot resolve a conversation until every designated field contains a value — ensuring that structured operational data is captured consistently across every interaction, regardless of volume or agent turnover.

Operational objective

Required conversation attributes address a persistent data quality challenge: agents resolving conversations without recording the structured metadata that downstream processes depend on. In high-volume environments, this omission degrades reporting accuracy, complicates root-cause analysis, and undermines compliance reporting.

Enforcing attribute completion at the point of resolution serves three governance functions:

• Data completeness — Every resolved conversation carries the metadata your organization needs for classification, trending, and audit. There are no gaps to backfill after the fact.
• Process standardization — Agents follow a uniform data capture protocol regardless of team, shift, or inbox. This eliminates inconsistency between individuals or departments in how conversations are categorized.
• Regulatory traceability — In environments where incident classification or service categorization is mandated — telecom fault management, government citizen service desks, regulated financial operations — required attributes provide a mechanism to enforce and demonstrate compliance with those mandates.

Enterprise scenarios

How enforcement works

Required attribute enforcement activates at the point of resolution. When an agent attempts to resolve a conversation — either individually or as part of a bulk operation — the platform evaluates whether all designated attributes have values.

If every required attribute already contains a value (populated earlier during the conversation, set via automation, or applied through the conversation sidebar), resolution proceeds without interruption.

If one or more required attributes are missing, the platform presents a completion interface listing every unfilled mandatory field. The agent must provide values for all listed attributes before resolution can proceed. There is no option to bypass or defer — the conversation remains in its current state until the data capture requirements are satisfied.

This enforcement model is intentionally strict: it ensures that data quality controls cannot be circumvented by agents under time pressure or during high-volume periods.

Configuring required attributes

Configuration is restricted to administrators and is managed at the workspace level. All conversations across every inbox in the workspace are subject to the same required attribute set.

To configure enforcement, navigate to Settings > Conversation Workflows and locate the Attributes required on resolution section. Select Add Attributes to open a selector listing all conversation-level custom attributes defined in the workspace.

Choose one or more attributes from the selector. Each selected attribute is immediately enforced — agents will be required to provide a value for these fields before resolving any conversation going forward. No additional save step is necessary; the enforcement takes effect as soon as attributes are added to the list.

To remove an attribute from the required list, select the delete icon next to it in the configuration interface. Removing an attribute from the required list does not delete the attribute itself or clear any values already recorded on conversations — it only removes the enforcement constraint.

Prerequisites

Required attributes draw from the pool of conversation-level custom attributes defined in your workspace. Before configuring enforcement, ensure the attributes you intend to require have been created and appropriately typed. See Custom Attributes for guidance on defining custom attributes, including supported data types and naming conventions.

Only conversation-level attributes can be designated as required. Contact-level attributes are not eligible for resolution enforcement, as they describe the contact rather than the interaction.

Agent experience during resolution

When an agent selects Resolve on a conversation that is missing one or more required attribute values, the platform presents a completion interface listing every unfilled mandatory field. Each field renders with the appropriate input control for its data type — a text field for text attributes, a date picker for date attributes, a dropdown for list attributes, and so on.

The agent provides values for each listed attribute and then selects Resolve conversation to simultaneously save the attribute values and complete the resolution. If the agent is not ready to resolve, they can dismiss the interface and return to the conversation without changes.

This interaction is designed to be lightweight. Agents who populate required attributes earlier in the conversation — through the sidebar attribute panel or via automated rules — will not encounter the completion interface at all. The enforcement prompt only appears when gaps exist.

Supported attribute types

Any conversation-level custom attribute can be designated as required. The following data types are supported, each with its corresponding input control at the resolution prompt:

For attributes where classification consistency is critical — such as fault categories or incident types — the List type is recommended. Predefined options eliminate free-text variation and produce cleaner data for reporting and analysis.

Bulk resolution behavior

When agents perform bulk resolution on multiple conversations simultaneously, required attribute enforcement applies to each conversation individually. Conversations that already satisfy all required attributes are resolved normally. Conversations with missing values are excluded from the bulk operation, and the platform notifies the agent which conversations could not be resolved and why.

This prevents bulk operations from bypassing data quality controls. Agents must address the missing attributes on excluded conversations individually before those conversations can be resolved.

Operational considerations

• Administrator-only configuration — Only administrators can add or remove attributes from the required list. Agents and custom roles without administrative access cannot modify enforcement settings.
• Manual resolution scope — Required attribute enforcement applies to manual resolution actions (individual and bulk). Resolution triggered through the API does not enforce the attribute check, allowing automated workflows to resolve conversations programmatically where appropriate. Organizations that use API-based resolution should implement equivalent data validation in their integration logic if attribute completeness is a requirement.
• Attribute deletion handling — If a custom attribute definition is deleted from the workspace, it is automatically removed from the required list. No manual cleanup is necessary.
• No inbox-level granularity — Required attributes are configured at the workspace level and apply uniformly to all inboxes. If different inboxes require different mandatory fields, consider using Automation to pre-populate attributes based on inbox context, or coordinate with your workspace architecture to separate distinct operational domains.

Governance and compliance considerations

Data quality as a governance control

In regulated environments, the completeness and consistency of operational data is not optional — it is a compliance obligation. Telecom operators reporting service disruptions to national regulators, government agencies producing citizen service metrics, and financial institutions classifying customer complaints all depend on structured, complete data attached to every interaction.

Required conversation attributes transform data capture from a best-effort practice into an enforced control. By making attribute completion a prerequisite for resolution, the platform ensures that the data feeding downstream reports, audits, and regulatory filings is complete by design rather than by discipline alone.

Alignment with reporting and audit requirements

Required attributes work in concert with the platform's reporting capabilities. When every resolved conversation carries a consistent set of classification metadata, reports built on that data are reliable without manual correction or gap-filling. This is particularly relevant for:

• Periodic regulatory filings where completeness is a submission requirement
• Internal quality audits where data gaps trigger non-conformance findings
• Trend analysis where inconsistent categorization produces misleading results

Periodic review

Review your required attribute configuration periodically to ensure it remains aligned with current operational and regulatory needs. As reporting requirements evolve or new compliance mandates take effect, the required attribute set may need to expand or adjust. Conversely, removing attributes that are no longer operationally relevant reduces unnecessary agent friction without compromising data quality.

Related capabilities

• Custom Attributes — Define the custom attributes that can be designated as required. Attribute types, naming, and configuration are managed separately from enforcement.
• Automation — Configure operational rules that pre-populate attribute values based on conversation context, reducing the frequency with which agents encounter the resolution prompt.
• Reports — Access reporting interfaces that consume the structured data captured through required attributes.
• Custom Roles — Control which agents have administrative access to configure required attributes and other governance settings.