> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usefini.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Escalation and hand-back > Choose the human handoff path, trace team routing, and return an open native ticket to Fini. Escalation decides who handles the next customer message. Ticket creation, human assignment, and closing a ticket are separate actions: a new native ticket can still be handled by Fini, and a closed ticket can still belong to a human. ## Choose the handoff path | Path | What starts it | Where the teammate works | What happens to Fini | | - | - | - | - | | Automatic native escalation | Fini's response classifies the conversation as **Escalated to Human Agent** | **Tickets**, for native widget or email | Native human handling pauses automated answers. Tag routing can choose a team and available teammate. | | Failure escalation | Fini encounters an internal error while generating a reply | **Tickets**, for native widget or email | The conversation escalates to a human instead of going silent. | | Manual takeover | A teammate assigns a person, manually selects a group, or sends a customer reply | **Tickets** | Human handling starts immediately. A reply also assigns the ticket to its sender. | Every native takeover path sets **Conversation Status** to **Escalated to Human Agent** and locks it against AI updates. This applies to automatic escalation, a human reply, assignment, and group selection. This is why the status badge changes when a teammate replies. An escalation message is not proof that a teammate has been assigned. Check the ownership indicator, **Group**, and **Assignee** independently. ## What the customer sees For native ticketing, the customer stays in the same widget thread or email conversation throughout. Fini sends its escalation message, then human replies appear under the teammate's configured alias. Email replies arrive threaded on the original message. In the Fini widget, customers can see their past conversations and start a new one. A new conversation starts with Fini regardless of who owned the previous conversation. The customer does not see internal assignee changes, ticket closure, or hand-back to Fini. Those actions do not send customer-facing notifications; tell the customer what you have done in a **Reply**. ## Failure escalation If Fini encounters an internal error while generating a reply, it escalates the conversation to a human instead of going silent. This can happen even when the request does not match a business escalation reason you recognise. Review the thread and **AI Steps**, then have a teammate pick up the conversation. ## Automatic escalation into Tickets ### Configure the decision and destination separately Use the AI agent's [Behavior instructions](https://docs.usefini.com/en/configuration/prompts.md) and [Intent Rules](https://docs.usefini.com/en/automations/rulebook.md) to define when human help is required. For example, your policy may require a human for a customer request that cannot be completed with the available tools. Verify that the resulting conversation is classified as **Escalated to Human Agent**. Use [Agent groups](https://docs.usefini.com/en/ticketing/agent-groups.md) to decide which team receives that escalation. Map operational tags, such as `Billing` or `Technical support`, to the group that handles them. A routing tag by itself does not pause Fini or send the ticket to a teammate. **1. Fini escalates the native conversation** The widget or native email conversation enters human handling. Fini pauses automated replies, even if no routing tag matches or no teammate is available. Later customer messages remain in the same conversation for the human team. **2. Routing finds a group** Tags from the escalating turn are checked first. Earlier conversation tags are the fallback, newest first. The first tag with a group mapping wins. There is no separate configurable business-priority field for competing routing tags. **3. The group selects an eligible teammate** The teammate must have joined the workspace, belong to the group, be online, not be out of office, and have spare capacity. **Round robin** prefers the member idle longest since a group assignment. **Least loaded** prefers the fewest open tickets and uses idle time to break ties. **4. A teammate answers** Open the ticket, review the thread and customer context, then send a **Reply**. **Needs reply** remains until a human customer-visible reply is the latest turn. Fini's handoff message and internal notes do not clear it. ### If routing cannot assign someone | Situation | Result | What your team should do | | - | - | - | | No tag maps to a group | Automatic routing does not choose a team or assignee. The native conversation is still in human handling. | Monitor **Unassigned** and choose a **Group** or **Assignee** manually. | | A group matches, but nobody is eligible | The ticket stays in that group with no assignee. Fini remains paused. | Have an eligible group member pick it up or assign it manually. Do not assume AI will cover the wait. | | Someone already owns the ticket | Automatic escalation routing preserves the existing assignee. | Review the current owner before changing assignment. | | The ticket already has a group but no assignee | When escalation routing retries, it retains that group rather than switching based on a newer tag. | Check that group's membership, availability, and capacity. | When a customer returns and the assignee is offline or out of office, reassignment can return the ticket to its group and select another eligible member. Without a group it becomes unassigned. That is reassignment between humans, not hand-back to AI. ## Manual takeover You do not need to wait for an automatic escalation. In **Details**, select a teammate under **Assignee** or choose a **Group**. Either action moves the native conversation into human handling and pauses Fini. Selecting a group does this even when no group member is eligible. Sending a **Reply** also takes ownership and assigns the ticket to the sender, including when another teammate was assigned. Check the current assignee before replying to avoid taking over a colleague's work accidentally. Manual assignment to a specific teammate does not enforce the availability or capacity restrictions used by automatic routing. Choosing **Unassigned** leaves human handling in place and preserves the group. Choosing **No group** clears the group but does not remove the current assignee. > [!WARNING] > > Unassigning, leaving an internal note, changing priority, or closing a ticket does not return it to AI. Use **Hand back to Fini** explicitly when that is the intended outcome. ## When to hand back Hand back after completing a specific manual action, such as a refund, account check, or setting fix, once you have told the customer what you did. Fini can handle the next message if further help is needed. Keep human ownership and close the ticket yourself when the customer is upset, is disputing an outcome, has asked for a human by name, or the topic is compliance-sensitive. When the conversation is finished, **Close ticket** rather than handing back. Hand-back applies only to this conversation. A new conversation later starts with Fini regardless of who owned the previous one. ## Hand back to Fini Hand-back resumes AI for the next customer message; **Close ticket** removes work from the open queue. These controls are independent. ### Before you hand back The ticket must be numbered, open, and in an active native human-agent session. The latest customer-facing turn must be a human **Reply**. An internal note does not count. If Fini sent the escalation message but nobody has replied yet, the teammate must reply before handing back. **1. Answer the latest customer message** In **Reply** mode, send the answer or the handoff context the customer needs. Do not leave their latest message unanswered: Fini does not replay it when you hand back. **2. Check that the ticket is open** If the **Closed** banner is present, click **Reopen**. On an open native human-owned ticket, **Hand back to Fini** appears in the header beside **Close ticket**. **3. Click Hand back to Fini** If the button is disabled, the latest customer-facing turn is not a human reply. Hover over it to see the instruction to reply first. If the customer sends another message before you hand back, answer that message too. **4. Verify that ownership changed** Confirm the header now says **Fini is handling this conversation**. The hand-back button disappears because there is no active native human session. The customer stays in the same thread; hand-back sends no message of its own. **5. Verify the next turn in a test conversation** Send a new customer message. It goes through the normal AI workflow, including the agent's rules and reply behavior. Hand-back does not guarantee a visible answer if those rules call for silence or another escalation. ### What changes, and what stays | Ticket property | After successful hand-back | | - | - | | Reply ownership | Fini handles subsequent customer messages. | | Customer-visible message | None is sent by the hand-back action. | | Conversation and history | The same conversation continues. | | Queue state | The ticket stays open. | | Assignee and group | Preserved; an assigned name does not by itself mean AI is paused. | | Priority and subject | Preserved. | | Conversation Status | **Escalated to Human Agent** changes to **Waiting for Customer**. Another status deliberately set by a teammate is preserved. | | Human status lock | Released so subsequent AI processing can update Conversation Status. | ### Worked example: a complimentary-coins request 1. Fini escalates a customer's request for complimentary coins. 2. The assigned teammate checks the account and replies that the customer is not eligible. 3. The teammate clicks **Hand back to Fini**. 4. The customer replies, "ok, thank you", and Fini answers without a human reply. 5. The teammate closes the ticket when satisfied that the conversation is finished. If the customer writes a follow-up before hand-back, the teammate must answer that follow-up first. Leaving an internal note is not a substitute. ## Troubleshooting > **Fini escalated without a reason I recognise** > > An internal error during reply generation can trigger [failure escalation](https://docs.usefini.com/en/ticketing/escalation-and-handoff.md#failure-escalation), even without a matching business escalation reason. Review the thread and **AI Steps**, then pick up the ticket so the customer is not left waiting. > **The hand-back button is missing** > > Check whether the ticket is closed or already handled by Fini. Reopen a closed native ticket first. A conversation without a ticket number also lacks the native ticket actions. > **The button is visible but disabled** > > Send a customer-visible human reply to the latest message. The latest relevant turn must be a human Reply, not a customer message, Fini's escalation message, or an internal note. The server also checks this condition, so a newly arrived customer message can require another reply. > **The ticket is assigned, but Fini is answering** > > An assignee can remain after hand-back. Read the ownership indicator, not just the assignee, to see who handles subsequent messages. > **Nobody is available, and Fini has stopped answering** > > This is a human-owned queue item awaiting pickup. Automatic routing does not fall back to AI when capacity is exhausted. Assign an appropriate teammate and answer the customer before handing back. > **Closing the ticket did not resume automated replies** > > Closing only parks the ticket outside the open queue. Reopen it, answer any unanswered customer message, and use **Hand back to Fini** if AI should resume. ## Related topics - [Work a ticket](https://docs.usefini.com/en/ticketing/working-tickets.md) - [Ticketing overview](https://docs.usefini.com/en/ticketing/overview.md) - [Set up ticketing](https://docs.usefini.com/en/ticketing/get-started.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.