How lead routing works in Default

Lead routing in Default picks 1 person from a queue to own each inbound lead, CRM record, or meeting. The queue holds the people, the queue’s routing policy decides who goes next, and Default records every decision. This page explains what the routing engine does once a queue has been chosen. To set up routing for a specific CRM, see Salesforce lead routing and HubSpot lead routing.

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Lead routing in Default at a glance

Every routing decision in Default follows the same 4 steps:

1. A routing step starts. A workflow reaches a Round-Robin node, or someone books a Team event that a queue hosts.
2. A queue is chosen. The queue comes from the Round-Robin node’s Queue field, from an earlier node such as Match Default Record, or from a Rules of Engagement rule.
3. The queue’s policy picks 1 member. Default removes members who cannot take work right now, scores the rest with the policy’s distribution rule, and breaks any tie.
4. Default records the decision. Later workflow nodes act on the chosen member. For example, an Update Record node writes that person as the record owner in Salesforce or HubSpot.

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Where routing runs in Default

A workflow can start from any trigger, including a form submission, a CRM record change, or a call from your own server through the API.

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Queues and routing policies in Default

A queue in Default is a named group of people plus a pointer to 1 routing policy. The routing policy is a separate, reusable object that holds the rules: 1 policy can drive many queues. Each policy edit creates a new version, and every queue that uses the policy runs the new version. See Policies for every option.

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How Default picks a member from a queue

Once a queue has been chosen, Default runs these steps in order:

1. Active members. Default starts from the queue’s active members. A member whose assignments are paused in the queue is skipped.
2. Calendar check for meetings. When the queue books a meeting, Default removes members who have no connected, active primary calendar. A Round-Robin or Rules of Engagement node only assigns an owner, so it skips this check.
3. Availability exclusions. Default then removes members that the policy’s Availability tab excludes. By default, only Exclude members currently out of office is on. It covers out-of-office time set in Default or on the member’s calendar.
4. Distribution rule. Default scores the remaining members with the policy’s distribution rule.
5. Tiebreaker. If 2 or more members share the best score, the policy’s Tiebreaker rule decides.
6. Queue order, then join order. If members are still tied, the order an admin set by dragging rows in the queue since the last reset decides. Without that order, the member who joined the queue first wins.
7. Record. Default saves the decision with the policy version it used and the scores of every member it scored.

If no member is left after the first 3 steps, a Round-Robin node fails and the workflow’s run log shows the error.

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Distribution rules in Default

The distribution rule is the main way Default scores queue members. Each policy has 1 rule, set on its Assignment tab:

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Round robin in Default

Take turns equally is round robin in Default. For each member, Default keeps a count:

• Assignments since the last reset, for the assignment units the policy routes.
• Minus assignments that were credited back.
• Plus calibration credits an admin granted.

The member with the lowest count wins. For example, if 3 members hold 4, 4, and 3 assignments, the member with 3 receives the next lead. When 2 members share the lowest count, the tiebreaker decides.

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Weighted distribution in Default

Weights let some members of a queue take a larger share of its work. To use them, turn on Enable weighted distribution on the policy’s Assignment tab. It is off by default. Then set each member’s weight in the queue with Change weight. With weighted distribution on:

• Take turns equally divides each member’s count by their weight. A member with a weight of 2 receives about 2 assignments for every 1 that a member with a weight of 1 receives.
• Most available calendar time multiplies each member’s free time by their weight.
• A member with a weight of 0 receives an assignment only when no eligible member has a weight above 0.

With weighted distribution off, Default gives every member the same weight, whatever the queue shows. Weighted distribution is not available with Least recent assignment.

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Tiebreakers in Default

A tiebreaker in Default picks the winner when 2 or more queue members share the best score. Set it with Tiebreaker rule on the policy’s Assignment tab: When the distribution rule is Least recent assignment, only Random is offered. If members are still tied after the tiebreaker, Default uses the order an admin set by dragging rows in the queue’s members table, then the order in which members joined. This mostly matters on a new or reset queue under Recency, where nobody has an assignment yet. See Ranking.

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Resets, calibration, and credits

Default keeps queue counts fair over time with 3 controls:

• Assignment reset schedule on the policy’s Assignment tab clears assignment counts and calibration credits on a schedule: Never (the default), Monthly, or Quarterly. To reset a policy’s counts at any other time, use the routing_policy_reset tool on the Default MCP server (beta).
• Calibration adjusts 1 member’s count, for example to bring a new member up to the queue average so they do not receive every new lead. See Calibration.
• Credit Behavior gives a member a turn back when a meeting they received is cancelled, reassigned to another member, or marked as a no-show. Enable crediting and each of the 3 toggles below it are on by default. Credits apply to meetings.

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When a CRM owner assignment counts in Default

A Round-Robin node picks a member right away. The pick counts toward that member’s total only after a later node uses it. The same applies when a Rules of Engagement rule chooses a queue and the node picks a member from it. Default counts the assignment when all of these are true:

• A later Create Record or Update Record node writes the chosen member into the record’s owner field, and the write succeeds.
• The field is the standard owner field: Owner ID on a Salesforce Lead, Contact, Account, or Opportunity, or the owner property (hubspot_owner_id) on a HubSpot Contact, Company, or Deal.
• The value comes from the node that picked the member: Latest assigned user after a Round-Robin node, or Latest resolved user after a Rules of Engagement node. A fixed user or typed text writes the owner but does not count.
• The queue’s policy includes Objects in Assignment Units.

Each successful owner write counts once. If a workflow writes 1 pick to 2 records, for example a contact and its company, the member’s count goes up by 2. Counted assignments appear in Routing under Assignments, on the Object assignments tab. If a workflow run stops before the owner write, the pick does not count, and the next lead can go to the same member.

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Review a routing decision in Default

Default keeps a detail view for every counted assignment. In Routing, select Assignments, choose Object assignments or Meeting assignments, and open a row. The detail view shows:

• The record or meeting, and the Assigned member.
• Queue configuration: the settings that applied, such as Distribution Strategy and Tiebreaker Strategy.
• Reasoning: Scored Members with each member’s score, Tie-breaker applied when there was a tie, Selecting by queue position or Selecting by join order when those decided, and Determined Member.

For a workflow, the run log also shows what each node did, including the member a Round-Robin node assigned.

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Meeting routing and the Slots Rule

When a queue hosts a Team event in Default, the policy’s Slots Rule on the General tab sets how the booking page offers times: Most available calendar time requires All Active Members. See Events to add a queue as a host. Related: Lead routing software from Default